Winnipeg and then Thunder Bay

What's this thing? I'll give you a hit: the NIPs ain't bad.


The drive to Winnipeg was fine. My rig will do about 95 kph with a big death oscillation occurring about every 10 min. Needless to say I like dual lane roads. If you drive 85 then it's pretty stable all the time - but that's a bit slow.

We went to see a Rodin exhibit at the WAG. Bronze sculpture is REALLY hard core. Foundries are cool. There was also an impressive Chris Pratt exhibit. That man has spent many hours behind his little brushes. I am only mentioning this because, for the first time ever, I actually had a really satisfying experience at an art gallery. Pretty good eh Ag?

More carnage east of Kenora. This time the fatalities were front page news in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay. I like the dual lane roads.


Noise canceling headphones, 279 albums on the MAC dual arms rests and front/rear heat. This is how it's done. I'm still impressed with the AWD Astro Van. It seems like a pretty good bang for the buck.


The Thunder Bay apartment I lived in circa 1998-99. Yet another low-budget basement. I've been six feet under for some time now.


This is where I acquired 12% of my current knowledge. The main lecture hall at Lakehead U.



This hall-art was in progress while I was at LU. Everyday I came to school there was an impressive amount of new progress by this possessed artist. I would have needed about 100 pics to cover the 200 foot mural. They batteries died after the first two. I'm sure you get the picture.

Leaving Vancouver and going East.

Leaving the old apartment. I didn't have much time at the end so I had to leave a few things....


One last visit from the police. On the day of the move my neighbor had his motorcycles stolen and one ended up in my backyard!


The old Van. White Beauty. I tried to pack this thing up but my belongings didn't fit. Once it was completly sardined a huge pile of things remained in my living room. I didn't want to pull a trailer with this questionable hulk and it's too big for Montreal anyway so I made a last minute purchase of a new Van suitable for towing a big uhaul trailer. I wanted to tow a small trailer but my friend PatR called be from the snowy trans-canada and strongly advised against a single axle trailer with no brakes. This was probably good advice and I am v.happy with the uhaul 6x12.

Anybody looking for a nice white van? (Dec 07 update: I love this van. I put 5k on her deep in the wilderness of BC back in October. You can't beat the simplicity of old carbd V8s)


The new Van hitched up at uhaul. I think the chains are supposed to be crossed so I crossed them later.


One last trip to Xantrex on the way out. The idea was to test the two hour old Van on the SFU hill. Success! You're rolling the dice when you buy a new vehicle with no inspection or significant test drive!


Stopping to check on the Van after the first big haul up the mountains. So far so good but it was really scary driving up the mountain. The weigh scale said the van weighed 5500 Lbs and the trailer weighed 3500 Lbs. That's 9000 Lbs to haul up and over the mountains to Montreal.

The toll booth. If you can make it here that's a good sign.


Near Revelstoke. Still pretty snowy. Not too cold though. Maybe -5C.


The aftermath of the previous day's snow. Yikes.


Alberta. Yay! This drive from Invermere on the 93 was the worst yet. I'm pretty sure that if the Van wasn't AWD I would have have had serious problems. The weather was extreme. I am very impressed with the uhaul trailer. The braking system works very well - much better than I had expected.


More carnage.


3 hours of this! Up to 1800 meters - that's way up in the mountains.


Finally you can see the road. Apparently by this point a couple of trucks had been swept of the road in an avalanche near the BC/AB border. They had to close the road. Luckily I was through.


Same Van. Same trailer. In Canmore at Amy and Chris' place. They have the same Van too.

Big trouble almost. This rock got stuck in the wheel and make a huge smoke show. Luckily I noticed it in time and the damage to the tire seems minimal.

The sidewall is pretty chewed up but it's still holding air.

The prairies. Grain towers and flatness. It reminds me of the Australian outback. Blue and brown. Where's the snow? Where's the winter? It was above zero from Calgary to Winnipeg.

You can see Regina coming for 30 minutes.