9:45 AM-6:30 PM (5:30 get-up time)
Thank you, Lord, list:
Sunshiney day to drive back into the mountains
Passing lanes around slow trucks
People who repair these roads even if I get impatient while they are doing it
Smell of pine underfoot
Clouds and evergreens reflected in water
Sunlight on snowy peaks
Mom's cell phone is actually off
Promise of good weather to explore Jasper National Park
Late start to the day. Would you believe it's already time to change the oil again? Have I mentioned the distances up here?
Or you could say it was an early start to the day. At about 3:30 AM Steve and I woke to a pinging. (When Mom takes her hearing aids out, she can sleep through anything.) Before we went to sleep (in a comfortable Days Inn with fridge, microwave, TV and a bed for each of us to stretch out at little more than half the price of the night before with none of those things), Mom had clarified, "The alarm clock IS turned off, isn't it?" We have all been awakened at way too early an hour by hotel alarm clocks set by previous occupants. We verified that, as far as one can understand a strange alarm clock, it was turned off. So the pinging at 3:30 was very irritating.
Steve pulled out my mattress looking for the plug. No, that was the cord to the lamp. He pulled out Mom's mattress. (She never stirred.) Got it.
Ping. Louder than before.
It was Mom's cell phone, telling her the battery was low and she needed to plug in. She thought it was turned off, but obviously it wasn't because she had received an ATT text earlier in the day,reminding her that she was abroad and although she could use her cell phone, international charges would apply.
Where was her phone? Not in her purse. Here it was beside her bed. Now, how do you turn this thing off? The only thing worse than figuring out how to turn off a hotel alarm clock (and not have it ring again after a ten-minute snooze) is figuring out how to turn off someone else's cell phone.
Ping. Still louder. You really do have to plug in if you don't want your phone to go dead. Dead was what we wanted. I even suggested throwing it int he toilet.
Finally, Steve figured it out. Black screen. Silence. Back to bed. But I don't think he more than dozed the rest of the night.
When we did get up and get the oil change, we then set out across the prairie. Looks kinda like prairie, doesn't it? Instead of wilderness we have wide fields and distant farms.
It's Sunday so we let a gospel CD be our worship time. An old group called "Melody Four." The bass made Steve keep thinking of his dad.
At Grand Prairie, Alberta (sounds kinda prairie, doesn't it?) we turned south on Hwy 40, Bighorn Highway. Didn't see any bighorn, but we left behind the strip malls, traffic and all services. We were definitely ready for bathrooms by the time we hit the Big Cache visitor center. We also left behind the fields. The way became more and more rolling and definitely wilderness. After Big Cache, it was downright beautiful. We had to remind ourselves that we weren't yet on the scenic route. The Big Cache Visitors Center people advised us to stop at Kelly's Bathtub in . William Switzer Provincial Park. Good advice. I took a walk around this small lake while Mom and Steve napped in the car.
Then we reached Canada 16. NOW we were on the scenic route.
We have two nights in this lovely Best Western Suite complete with ski locker and mountain view. Tomorrow should be LOTS of fun. Can't go to bed until I get the laundry done--the curse of travel.
Afghan update: Prairie is a good place to knit. Mountains are not.
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