Americans like to think of Canada as the United States North and the folks up here as just a more polite version of us, but the truth is that Canada is a foreign country, not a carbon copy of the US.
We all needed a day off the road, but now we're eager to get back across the border as quickly as we can.
Leaving Edmonton, we are now traveling almost due south on a very good, 4-lane road. To the west, the Rockies are still visible in the distance. To the east, the prairie stretches to the horizon and beyond for hundreds of miles. And there is a cross wind. Not as bad as we experienced in the Yukon, but bad.
After Saturday's incident with the gas, our awareness level on this issue is high. Up till now, I have been looking for a station when the tank hit 1/4. We now want to refuel before it gets that low. Since we have made it back to civilization, I figured our worries were over, but I was wrong. It turns out that it's easier to find gas on the Al-Can than here where nearly 2 million people have been sucked into just two places, Edmonton and Calgary, leaving hundreds of miles of land with only a handful of farmers and no gas stations. Still, I was not too concerned. I'd just gas up when we reached Calgary.
Wrong again.
The highway runs along the eastern edge of Calgary, through what appears to be a commercial/industrial area, and from one end to the other there is not a single gas station, not even a single sign for a gas station. With Calgary fading in the rear view mirror, we were in panic mode once more. Then we caught a break. Just a few miles out of town we found an exit with a station.
New rule: Start looking for gas when the gauge hits 1/2!
We only made it as far as Fort Macleod today, but I can almost see Montana from here.
Day 9
Edmonton, Alberta to Fort Macleod, Alberta
Daily Mileage: 303.3
Total Mileage: 2,295.9
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