1. The biggest story of the day was Scott’s engine failure in Estevan, SK, Canada. For the third of four days (if my count is correct) they had to pull apart the engine. This time it wasn’t fixable. A call went out to the jeep community far and wide. A miracle arrive in the form of Ron Fitzpatrick, a saint who overnighted the parts Scott needed to Minot, ND, that Russ will pic up on his way through that city today. He will then cross the border and deliver the parts to Scott and Bob, who will attempt to reassemble the wagon and get back on the road.
Bob burnt the back of his hand on a hot manifold:
Seems like Bob found himself some medicine for the burn! Scott certainly deserved a drink, too!
2. Meanwhile, Merlin and Joe drove to Canada, stopped to pick up Rick from Scott, along with stickers and other supplies for the group, then drove south back across the border in hopes they can visit Glacier National Park before turning north for Dawson Creek.
3. Merlin wrote about yesterday’s drive, “North Dakota, endless prairie, welcoming folks, abandoned homesteads and town sites, ancient threshing machines standing sentinel on hilltops, a ghostly testamant to farmers long gone, a vastness that is beautiful and humbling. I love North Dakota.”
4. The final piece of the Scott-wagon puzzle is Russ Lawton, who left Paris, Illinois, yesterday and, because he left after everyone else, will be able to pick up the engine parts in Minot, ND, and deliver them to Scott in Canada. Truly a team effort!
5. Marcel and Dario trailered Andreas Gruson’s truck through Theodore Roosevelt park, where they had fun photographing the truck. Later, they made it across the border at Regway. Had a full proctology exam at the border. But all is good. They spent the night in Moose Jaw and are heading for Edmonton this morning.
6. Bill finally got to the middle of Canada yesterday. Later on, he met up with Jim Fowler at Miller’s campground, where they are spending the night. Bill has been dealing with rain, sun, rain, sun for the late couple of days.
7. Today Marty heads for Rob’s place in Spanaway, Washington. The next morning they will head for the Canadian border. Marty is ready to go, while Rob received his rebuilt radiator in time to install that (and a big shout out to 112th radiator for finishing it in less that 24hours!). It seems all of us had last minute issues to deal with!
8. Team Patterson and Operation Pineapple started a beautiful morning in the ski town of Fernie. Their search for a bank led them to the downtown area, which had some wonderful little shops. At the Fernie Meat Market they found a 3rd generation butcher whose grandfather started the shop in 1926. Ann bought some pepperoni and some smoked garlic sausage (both non-beef and gluten free) that was amazing!
While in Fernie, they found some more jeep signers:
After Fernie, they drove east over Crows Nest pass.
It didn’t take long before they dropped from of the tree-lined mountains onto the flat plains of eastern Alberta.
From there they wound their way to the city of Vulcan. It turned out to be a pretty cool place with a variety of Star Trek themed elements.
This is the town’s visitor center. There’s all kinds of Star Trek stuff inside.
The Sci-Fi geek she is, Ann couldn’t resist getting some ears and a shirt and posing.
Wednesday should bring more interesting adventures!