Grasshopper

11 hours ago, Marcel said:

When my brother passed away in 2013 I flew into Calgary rented a car and drove to Manitoba to identify and to bring him home... It was summer... All I can remember from the trip is that it's extremely flat.. No trees.. Nothing... Nothing upon thousand of km of farmers fields... I won't never want to live there.... 

The flatness of the prairies freaks me out.  Every time I drive through them I have a day where my brain feels like it is melting.

It's like you are travelling without moving.....nothing changes you are right.....I thought about living in Saskatchewan but decided there was no way I could deal with the flatness.

Drove further into Ontario today and it was nice to see some corners, hills and trees!

I survived a really difficult day today and overcame some challenges, so on a positive note, I am alive tonight.

...so besides the scary road conditions and almost going sideways a few times today, there was this..... 

WTF....is there something wrong with the van?

.....thank goodness no, just this big truck on fire ready to blow up as I drive by.....

16 hours ago, XTreme said:

-25C?

Those roads must be really dangerous?

As @Marcel was saying the white outs are scary and for a few days that is all we had to deal with.  Once we got the vehicles turned over it was clear roads but super windy and lots of dry blowing snow.  The fun part is when the semi trucks decide to pass you, kicking up more snow and you basically lose all visibility for a few seconds.

Today on the other hand was a "check your pants" kind of day.    The snow was getting compacted and turning into ice.  I had two occasions where I almost lost it and started going sideways, but recovered.  Scared the poop out of me, thankfully my motorcycle experience on snow helped me recover.

Now there is a snow storm coming to the area we are driving into and so between that and fatigue we have decided to stay in one place for a few days.  Short drive tomorrow and then a break for a few days. 

Today was a super cold start again at -25c, but start we did.  The 4Runner struggled today, but he got going, the van seemed to have it a bit easier.  

It was a beautiful sunrise as we started the day.  The van looks like it is driving into the sun...

My day went like this....

Vehicle started in -23c weather 

Drove 500kms and saw lots and lots and lots of white stuff....everything just white, up down and all around  <insert twitching>

Entered into another new Province, Saskatchewan 

Lost another hour across another time line . 

Made it safely to destination and now for some pics...

I am nominating @Slowlycatchymonkey

I'm not really sure how to explain my reason, she just needs to be nominated for her overall positive style. 

Just now, Pedro said:

Adventure, that’s the word you want. Otherwise it’s just silly.

Adventure, silly, lethal, fun, stressful, happy, sad.....all of the above.  I find living on the road and travelling is wonderful in serving up all the emotions, sometimes all in one day.  

Regardless, I know what you are saying and for me the feeling of being truly alive is what counts. 

14 hours ago, XTreme said:

That looks lethal for driving! 

Lethal is a good word to describe it....

Crazy day of driving. 

We left the mountains this morning in the wind and snow and it carried on like that all the way into Brooks, Alberta, where we stopped for the night.  So we went from sheltered mountain highways to nothing but fields around us.

The wind and blowing snow made for an interesting drive. 

It's a cool -17c right now. Not much time for smiles and scenery today, so here are a few driving pics. 

3 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

It’s a bit now n then so here you go. 

I love these machines. 

The skill and effort put into making these gorgeous things mean you can buy a machine that’s 100 years old and it still works perfectly. 

Saville Row tailors still use these old singer sewing machines because there’s no other machine that comes close to the quality of the neat top stitch. 

I’ve wanted one for a long time and did buy one in 2019 but when I picked it up the needle plate was missing. It was very frustrating at the time because the guy I bought it from just kept saying it must have fallen off in his garage and he’d post it to me…… grrrr.

I’ve poured over hundreds of these machines and it’s extremely rare to find one with the gold paint intact. The gold paint (and it really is gold) used is protected by a thin layer of shellac and is easily damaged usually where your hand would rest to push the fabric through. 

I’m very excited that this machine is going to be mine. I feel pretty lucky to have bought a piece of history, as if I’ve walked into a museum and bought a gorgeous exhibit. 

Anyway I know it’s unlikely to be anyone on here’s thing but I’m certain there are a few who appreciate the mechanical beauty of it. 

It was a choice between one from 1928 and this one from 1955. I wanted the 1928 one just because of it’s age and the lovely domed bentwood case but this one was in significantly better nick and is sold by Singer sewing machine centre who serviced it and demonstrated it’s in good working order.

 

Bit of geek out history- 

1858 SINGER brand introduces the first lightweight domestic machine “the Grasshopper” @Grasshopper  

Expanding fast with nearly a million square feet of space and almost 7,000 employees they produced on average 13,000 machines a week in Scotland,

In the First World War sewing machine production gave way to munitions. The Singer Clydebank factory received over 5000 government contracts, and made 303 million artillery shells, shell components, fuses, and aeroplane parts, as well as grenades, rifle parts, and 361,000 horseshoes. It’s labour force of 14,000 was about 70% female at war's end.

From its opening in 1884 until 1943, the Kilbowie factory produced approximately 36,000,000 sewing machines

At the height of its productiveness in the mid 1960s, Singer employed over 16,000 workers but by the end of that decade, compulsory redundancies were taking place and 10 years later the workforce was down to 5,000. Financial problems and lack of orders forced the world's largest sewing machine factory to close in June 1980, bringing to an end over 100 years of sewing machine production in Scotland. The complex of buildings was demolished in 1998

 

 

 

 

Oh I love stuff like this.  My grandma had a beautiful Singer and then my mom had it for awhile.  As a kid I was not bad at using it, but I think I would need some practice now.  I should think about getting a sewing machine for making some curtains and stuff for my new home.

Thanks for sharing.

9 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

Are you joking your the only one here doing anything interesting at the moment keep it up 
I googled the train 

 

Hey thanks, it is as wonderful as I could have imagined at night. So fun!! 

I got one hour closer to all of you today........

15 hours ago, Slowlycatchymonkey said:

Kind of got the day off and the requests for dishes are in. Murgh Makhani, Begum Bahar, King prawn Korma, Samosa’s, Padron peppers, mushroom rice, poppadoms n chutneys, garlic naan followed by icecream n a nice cocktail for pud. 

Not making the naans or the poppadoms because it’s not worth it for the few bites they get. 

Pudding I’m going to do the ‘Screaming O’ a lovely cocktail of vodka, baileys, kahlua, amaretto n cream. Well worth the effort.

Damn...fancy.......just say'n

5 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Looks cold. And cool!

It is proper cold now.  All the layers I own were on today!

I'll be driving this weekend, then perhaps a bit of driving and oh I think I will spend awhile driving.....lol

Tomorrow we leave the mountains behind so that means we can drive longer days.  That also means more open highways, which means winds and blowing snow.  It is going to be really cold too.

It's all good, I am truly loving the challenge and look forward to everyday.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! 

I figure everyone here is tired of me, but I'm having fun and at least I stick to my own thread so as to not bother anyone who isn't interested....lol

Had an amazing drive today through the Rocky Mountains, epic views and breathtaking scenery all the way.

Into a new province today, and a new time zone, which means we lost an hour too.

Tonight we are in stunningly beautiful Canmore, Alberta.

Super fun day today.  Drove into our first mountain resort where Heli Skiing is the big thing.  A beautiful place and the roads were great.

I was excited to see the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train.  It had stopped for refuelling.  It was all covered with lights and I'm sure would look really cool in the dark.

Sure feel the holiday spirit here in the mountains. 

7 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Don't know how all cars and vans don't have heated windshields in a place like Canada. It´s like your windshield is warm, literally!

We have dash heaters that heat up the windshield.  It’s works well enough and then there are heat coils that normally run on the back windows.  But a heated windshield would be an idea…

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

Seriously, though, there are some windscreen fluids that have a high percentage of antifreeze stuff, I bought some crossing a blizzard in Spain once and it was night and day compared to the normal stuff.

@Sir Fallsalot  Just as Pedro mentioned, I just picked up some washer fluid today that is good down to -45c as I might be in those temps next week.  It’s magical stuff that saved my butt yesterday.

7 hours ago, boboneleg said:

Take it steady  

 

Your 'RAM' is badged as a Citroen in UK 

 

Yep, its also know a Fiat, not here, but basically the same thing.  

On 12/12/2022 at 15:12, Marcel said:

-13 c... You bonch of sissys... Should be going down to - twenty soon... 

Whatever, I'm going through -30c next week.....lol.......I know, I know, you know cold, just trying to get myself ready...

My rainforest skin might just freeze up and fall off......

13 hours ago, Clive said:

Waiting for my car to defrost.....doors are frozen to door seal strips.

 

I had to deal with the same thing this morning.  All of a sudden my childhood came back to me and I remembered my mom sending me out to get the vehicle ready on the winter mornings......  Also remembered to not use the wipers until defrosted.....lol

Today we made it through the first of three mountain passes that we will travel over this trip. It was scary at first, but then I settled into the flow.

The vehicles did great but that highway driving in the winter is something special in terms of dirty….. Wow!

Wow, what a trip and great ride reports.  So many pictures I was going to comment on, but I should be booking some stuff for my next few days of travel.  Enough of the warmth and sand, back to snowy highways.

I’m happy for you as it sounds like your adventure was really good for you.