Day 10 - is it only the tenth day away from home?

Being away this long has its affects on us.  We forget where we are when we wake up in the night and wonder: which way to the bathroom in this hotel room?  Not remembering the room number and using the key card on all the doors until one lights up!  Becoming used to eating in restaurants and preferring to eat in or go to a grocery store and make our own meal.

So staying two nights in one location at Radium was a wonderful, restful opportunity. We had one more visit in Three Hills, AB on this day (Wednesday) so it was nice to feel refreshed and ready to end our tour well.

The alarm woke us up at 7 am.  Groan!  We had showered the night before so all we had to do was get up, dress and pack up our belongings.  Funny how quickly we can spread out our few items when we stay 2 nights in one location!  We gathered our phone chargers, filled empty water bottles and coffee travel mug and checked out.  

I felt a little sad leaving our mountain paradise.  I smiled when a couple sheep blocked traffic as they crossed the road.  We wound our way through the canyon by the hot springs.  The weather and roads were mostly clear along our intended travel route so we drove on.  We soaked in the mountain views, the awesome snow-covered peaks and flowing river below.  We noted the tall, bare evergreen trunks, evidence of forest fires of years gone by.  The clouds hung low and played peek-a-boo with the Kootenays.  The highway was two lane and in good condition all the way until it joined the fourlane heading to Banff.

Just like that we were out of the high altitude and cruising on the fourlane.  Alberta-bound!  We covered some of the same ground as our initial drive out to BC and so we didn't stop but just enjoyed the drive.

As we left the mountains, they were partially hidden behind cloud/fog.  The prairies opened up before us and strangely I didn't feel that same sense of relief I used to when leaving what felt claustrophobic to me!  Soon we were approaching Calgary and some construction zones.  We missed our turn to catch the Stoney Plain Road north.  So we drove on the TransCanada/16th Avenue right through the big city!  That's how it always used to be and it turned out to be a bit of "memory lane" as Walter pointed out old familiar sights.  We passed by Peter's Drive Inn - resisting the temptation to grab burgers and milk shakes like we often did in our dating/early marriage days!  It was only mid-morning and we were to have lunch in Three Hills at noon.  We kept going!

We took a back way to Three Hills and avoided traffic.  The wind had picked up and snow flurries arose.  But we arrived on time for a lovely lunch.  Our meeting was with two sisters who are interested in ministry with NCEM.  It was such an encouraging couple of hours and we finally said good-bye at nearly 3 o'clock.  I will be expecting an application or two in my email!

Our momentum was beginning to wane as we headed east.  We kept an eye on the weather app/highway hotline and decided not to take the TransCanada as we normally would.  Staying north would seem to avoid the winter driving conditions.  A spring storm was hitting southern SK/ MB!  We got as far as Kindersley, SK (spanning 3 provinces in one day!) and booked into our favourite hotel chain, yes, you guessed it:  Best Western!  They gave us a 20% off coupon for Montana's next door and we ate a late supper.  Tasty!  

Walter had a couple of phone calls to make before we could call it a night.  I got into PJ's and did my almost-daily blog.  It felt good to know we were on the homestretch.  We snuggled under the blankets and fell instantly to sleep!