An interesting business proposition:
Dawson Creek, British Columbia, where the Alaska Highway begins:
Wooden grain elevator and train car at the Dawson Creek Visitor Center:
Mile 0 designators:
Entering Alberta, where we saw plenty of windmills and gas wells.
Fox Creek, Alberta was notable for us only because our fifth wheel hit a low overhang at a fuel stop. It tore the rubber roof of the Sabre in several spots and smashed the bedroom's (plastic) sunroof. We're thankful that the only damage to the gas station was the removal of a face board and gutter, which landed in the bed of the truck.
Bill patching the roof and gaping hole over the bedroom with good ol' duct tape:
Edmonton seemed to be our best bet for having the Sabre repaired, so we stayed on the road until almost 11 p.m. when we spotted a Wal-Mart in Spruce Grove. We were exhausted, so Bill pulled in and we went right to bed. It was our first time staying in a parking lot, and we were almost stuck there. Bill woke up at 5 a.m. to the sounds of car doors slamming, looked out, and saw that we were being parked in by folks hopping a bus to a casino. He got out just in time to ask the driver of the last brick in the wall if he would move his van. The guy grudgingly did so, and Bill pulled us out of there with the bedroom slide still extended. It was quite a start to the day!
Canola fields ran for miles and miles before and after Edmonton. We read that the seeds are shipped to Asia for processing into oil.
Western RV Country in Le Duc, south of Edmonton was extremely disappointing. The guy at the service desk told us there would be a wait of a week to 10 days, as that's how far out they were scheduled. Bill asked what they could do for folks 3000 miles away from home with a hole in the roof. He said he could add us to the schedule, but it would probably be 10 days before they could do anything. Bill said it was an emergency, couldn't they do something. No, they couldn't. Bill asked if he could at least have a tech look at the patch job Bill did with duct tape to see if it would hold. No, all the techs were busy, but we could schedule the repair and they'd look at the patch job on that date - and then it might be longer than 10 days if they have to order any parts. So, Bill said, there's basically nothing you can do for us? And the guy said the most he could do was give us the name of another repair station, but they're all busy, too. Karen told Bill we should just leave because the guy didn't care at all and we were just wasting our time. Then the guy says, "Well, if she's going to be like that, I'm not going to help you at all!" Karen said, "You're already not helping us at all." This guy was a total jerk.
Thank God for Western RV Country in Red Deer. It was like night and day compared to the sister shop in Le Duc. As luck would have it, Rick Flint, the service manager in Red Deer, is the head of all three area shops, including the one in Le Duc. He was not happy to hear about the way we were treated in Le Duc and said that he would look into it. We believed him. He had us in the service bay immediately. An inspection showed that the entire rubber roof would have to be replaced, which is a very long job, so he suggested that they repair everything so that we could make our way home without further damage. And that's what they did. He also sent our insurer pictures of the damage and explained that full repairs would have to be made when we got home. What a wonderful experience! It made Karen cry (in happiness), after the bad experience we had earlier.
Our hero, Rick Flint:
Vern, who worked on the Sabre:
Mike
The greeter:
Within five hours, we were on our way, happy campers once more. We stayed the night in Red Deer's Lions Park Campground, which was very nice. Bill enjoyed a long conversation with a man who volunteers countless hours leading search and rescue teams.
White pelicans flying over our site:
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