My 22 hour trip.

It's not really the way I'd like to do a trip but yesterday I flew to Edmonton with my cousin Craig to pick up a Chevy Equinox that he bought. I got up at 4am to get ready and we got back at about 2am the next day. What follows is an hour by hour account. (near as I can remember) There's time changes from here to Edmonton but I'll stick with CDT.

4am

Got up at my parents after a crappy nights sleep. I went to bed at 11:30pm and of course lay there for an hour thinking, "I have to get to sleep. I gave myself plenty of time to get ready and by 4:30am was anxious to get going. My aunt picked me up 5 minutes later and we were off to Winnipeg.

5am

We got to the airport at about 5:20am. My second time there this week and I'm going again tomorrow. Ugh. On a side note I think the new terminal is going to look great. When we went through security they gave my backpack the once over. They didn't find my container of burts bees lip balm I forget to mention during the "Creams liquids or Gels" interogation. Suckers. While we were waiting to board there was a couple across from us. He was wearing a turban and they both looked Indian. He had a small book he was looking at while murmurming what I'm guessing was morning prayers. I think he was Muslim. I liked the fact he was doing that. It says a lot about his faith. I know people who would sit there and think, "He's so wrong, it's too bad he's muslim. I think I along with a lot of people could learn a lot from him on how to actually care about our faith.

6am

We were flying Westjet. I love Westjet and here is one example. At the boarding desk the lady at the counter stood in front of it and said the PA wasn't working, and then went on to do her announcements. If it was Air Canada they probably would have delayed the flight until the PA was fixed so they could do the announcements properly. It was a very emtpy flight. Pretty much everyone got a window seat.

7am

Flying. Didn't sleep

8am

We got to Edmonton. The airport literally looks like it was built in the middle of know where. We were picked up by the guy that Craig was buying the vehicle from and drove to the guy's house so he could get his truck. He lives 2 or 3 miles east of Sherwood Park if you care.

9am

Went to Staples so Craig could fax in his stuff to get a temporary permit from MPI. A bit of a hassle since it involved faxing some documents to MPI, they fax back a form, Craig signs it and faxes it back, then they fax back the permit. A little time consuming.

10am

Had coffee and a muffin at Second Cup next to the Staples. Muffin was ok, coffee was terrible, yuck gross. We both dumped most of ours out.

11am

We were finally on our way after filling up and picking up a meat pie and some Pepsi at 7-11. Now you'd think that we'd have music playing the whole time. Nope. We brought audio books. We listening to a couple of Hercule Poirot short stories. I don't remember much. I finally fell asleep.

12pm

more sleep

1pm

woke up. The next story we listened to was The Hedge Knight by George R. R. Martin. He is one of my favourite fantasy writers. This is a short story that takes place about 50 years before his Fire and Ice series. Very cool.

2pm

still listening still driving.

3pm

see last entry

4pm

We arrived in Saskatoon. We were both hungy by then and Craig suggested we go to McDonalds. I was fine with that so we went in. The line-up wasn't that long when we got in but seriously? The service was sloooooooow. How long does it take to make a Big Mac? I had a little fun with the counter person. She slapped the tray down and put the paper thing on to it. It was two sided with advertising on one side and health info on the other. She initially put it down with the health info up but the flipped it around. When she turned around to get the drinks I flipped it back. When she came back she looked at it and then flipped it back again. While she was wandering around looking for my food (it was terrible) I flipped it back. She came back with the fries and put them one without flipping the sheet. VICTORY!!!!!

5pm

Dropped in at Angie and Trevor's place in Saskatoon. She's pregnant and the baby is due in a week and a half. I kenw were just driving through so I didn't call ahead or warn them that I might drop in. Craig was actually kind of excited that we were going to surprise someone. Well they were home and very surprised. We probably could have spent a few hours there but only spent 20 minutes. It was worth it. Craig loved their dog. His name is Malthazaar and he is a 150 lbs mastif. The sweetest gentlest 150 lbs dog you'll ever meet. With that we were on our way again.

6pm

I'm getting tired a driving. We actually listened to the radio a bit during this time.

7pm

Still driving. And no I didn't give Craig advice on being a dad. His wife Rochelle is due in August. I didn't want to scare the poor guy.

8pm

Arrived in Regina. We stopped to stretch our legs and pick up some coffee and then Craig let me drive. YAY!!!

Started another story, The Hades Project by Rober Ludlum abridged. We had brought along Angels and Demons by Dan Brown but it's 19 hours. Who wants to start a story you can't finish.

9pm

Wow, I love driving through Saskatchewan. (note the sarcasm)

10pm

After a coffe, pepsi and half a bottle of water I had to stop in Virden to pee.

11pm

A short while later we stopped in Brandon to fill up and grab some food. We went to Subway. Thank goodness we got there when we did. The guy had one speed. It was "I don't want to be here" slow. Just after we got there about 10 kids walked in. I think they're still waiting for their subs.

12am

Driving and listening. Started getting a little tired too. I can tell I'm getting really tired when I start seeing things in my periphery.

1am
Pulled into my parents Driveway at 1:50am. Of this was just when the climatic "He did it!!" moment happened in the story we were listening too. I still need to listen to the epilogue of the story. Maybe next trip.

2am
Checked emails, updated status on facebook and went to sleep. mmmmm sleep.