Back in Canada

It was a full three days of driving, but a half day less than I took driving down to Yuma. I arrived at my son's about 8 p.m. on Monday evening. After a visit with my son, his girlfriend, and the granddog Sage, it was ready for a good night's sleep. 

I did get away from Yuma by 8 a.m. arriving in Ely, Nevada about 4:30 p.m. I stayed at the Hotel Nevada. It has a casino and a Dennys restaurant on the main floor and six floors of hotel accommodations. My friend S had suggested it and had warned me the main floor was very smokey as the casino permits smoking. She wasn't wrong but the room was fine and the price was right. The bathroom was small but sufficient for my needs and the water pressure for my shower was great. 

I had taken a different route to Vegas through Needles. I'm not certain if it was imagination but the distance around Vegas seemed shorter than my trip taking me to Laughlin in the fall. Traffic was backed up coming in from Henderson but after 15 minutes or so I was out of it and on the freeway. 

Sunday morning I left Ely for Dillon, Montana about 8 a.m. arriving at 5 p.m. local. I'd lost an hour crossing from Idaho to Montana  so it was a similar driving day. But, and no disrespect to folks from Idaho, the scenery is often pretty boring. There was a good amount of traffic around Pocatello, though it thinned out as the majority seemed to be heading to Salt Lake city. 

I stayed at a Quality Inn just off the I-15 in Dillon. They offered a free breakfast and wrre a short drive to downtown Dillon. I ate at a restaurant/bar Cranny's. It's a casual restaurant, one orders at the counter and it is delivered to your table. Non-alcoholic drinks are self-serve along with condiments and cutlery. I went with a burger and fries with a Beltian Belgian beer. Good food!

Some of you had commented that a storm and high winds had impacted Montana on Saturday.  I spent a bit of time checking highway and weather conditions on Saturday evening. I'd made my decision to take the I-15 to Canada which would have me crossing at Coutts, Alberta. I had it in my mind that I'd overnight at Medicine Hat before driving the rest of the way Tuesday morning. 

Since I returned Monday evening you'll know I changed that plan. I had stopped for a short break at Helena, Montana  and checked the highway conditions again. All the highways north and east were reported as clear so as Patsy would say, the "jello jiggled". Instead I headed to Morgan to the Mouncy crossing. 

I reached the border about 4 p.m.  There was one vehicle ahead of me and it appeared the driver was having a rough day. Some of the contents had been pulled out and two officers were going back and forth from the vehicle to the office. 

My stay was short, about 5 minutes. After asking and receiving my answers to the requisite questions and reviewing my passport the officer moved a pylon so I could start my drive in Saskatchewan.

Swift Current was the closest possible hotel, about a 90 minute drive. And that's only 2 1/2 hours from Regina. I thought about stopping and then I heard the weather report calling for potential freezing rain overnight. That made my decision for me. So we end were I started the post. Happy to be back in Canada and hoping for warmer weather soon!

Here's Sage and Kota (the car who thinks he is a dog).

Today is a day off for me. I've got errands to run but those can wait until tomorrow.