Kate and Sandy's Fall Migration

After a summer that saw us less active than usual, as you know from our previous posts, we were beginning to look forward to heading back south to our wintering grounds in the Palm Springs, California area. October had a mix of weather conditions. We did manage to get out for a couple of nice rides to enjoy the fall colours, but these required us to haul out some of our cool weather gear.  Especially Sandy had her mind on riding in the sun and warm, so for the most part we found ourselves with many excuses not to get out pedaling.

Some October fall colours

Hallowe’en evening saw Edmonton get pouring rain. The next day, November came in with snow … on the 1^st, the 2^nd, the 3^rd, the 4^th. This, of course, really annoyed Sandy.  Not only did that put a final end to any cycling, it meant walking indoors at West Edmonton Mall; no way did she want to risk a fall and any injury that could delay our departure!

 Our snowy back yard

With our planned departure scheduled for the 5^th, all this new snow made us wonder what kind of road conditions we would encounter. Normally, we make the drive down in three days, but Sandy scheduled an extra day as we had tickets to see Celine Dion in Las Vegas. If we got held up along the way due to the weather, she hoped the extra day would allow us to still make the concert.

As per usual, Sandy woke up early on the fifth, anxious to get going. Her side of the bed had the only clock I hadn’t changed to standard time before we went retired for the night. She woke up at “05:30” but it was actually 04:30 Standard Time. She started  “quietly” putzing around. I gave up on trying to get any more sleep and got up at 04:50. We had lots of time to do a few last minute things, have a bowl of cereal, and triple check the house before we left at 06:40, well ahead of our planned 07:00 departure.

It was bitter cold, -18C when we left, and got to -21C as the sun came up. The good news was, however, at that early hour on a Sunday, there was very little traffic on the usually busy highway between Edmonton and Calgary.

bio break in central Alberta

We stopped at a Tim Horton’s donut shop outside of Red Deer, half way from Edmonton to Calgary, so Sandy could get a hot tea.  I just had to take a photo of the donuts they had for the local Canadian Football League (CFL) fans. It makes sense that people in this area could cheer for either the Calgary Stampeders or the Edmonton Eskimos, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders?? That team has fans everywhere!!

 CFL donuts

Although it was cold, Highway 2 was clear, and with very little traffic, the drive was easy. We stopped just south of Calgary where my sister met us. We were going to have lunch, but since we left so early, it was barely 10:30 so we opted for a hot breakfast while we visited with my sis.  About an hour south of Calgary, the road conditions changed and only the right lane was clear of snow most of the time, with blowing snow drifting across the pavement. These conditions, in varying degrees of severity, stayed with us through Montana until just north of Pocatello, Idaho. Of all the many times Sandy has driven this trip, this one presented the most challenging conditions.

Blowing snow, just north of Lethbridge, Alberta

As soon as we crossed the border into Montana, it started to snow and the driving conditions began to deteriorate. We made it safely to our hotel in Great Falls and all of us were glad to get off the road and out of the vehicle. However, it certainly was chilly when I took the dogs for their bio walks! During our last walk before bedtime it was cold, windy, snowing, and the migrating geese overhead seemed to be complaining as much about the weather as we were. That is until Rockie saw a cottontail rabbit. She thought it would be fun to play chase the rabbit … and that is why I never let her off leash.  I’d probably still be looking for her!

That night, the weather forecast was for 1 to 5 inches of snow overnight, depending upon the area of the state, ending by about 08:00. This meant we could sleep in and give the snowplows a chance to get to work on the roads and mountain passes.  The morning bio walk with the dogs, was “refreshingly” cool enough to make sure Benny and Rockie took care of business quickly.   After a leisurely breakfast, we were back on the road about 10:00.

Fresh snow in Montana

Following a snow plow

Finally, the sky cleared, and when we stopped for gas in Butte, it was brightly sunny.  Although it was still pretty cold at only -12C, the dogs and I enjoyed getting out for a stretch and meander while Sandy refueled the van.

Rockie on patrol in the jacket my sister made
so she doesn’t leave a lot of hair in the van

Our weather woes continued.  Shortly after we crossed into Idaho, we got into some pellet snow that turned into hail. Really? Now we have hail? We drove through that nonsense for about 10 minutes. One we got out of that, and shortly before we got to Pocatello, Idaho, the highway cleared and we had no more snow or black ice to deal with.  Finally!!

Hail outside Dubois, Idaho  

Our destination this day, was Sandy, Utah (yup, you read that right), on the south side of the greater Salt Lake City area and through the worst of the crazy traffic there. Oh, but not before we had a 20 minute delay due to an accident on the freeway. Of course there would be an accident, have you seen the way those people drive there???

Sunset north of Salt Lake City 

Day three, Tuesday, we arrived safe and sound in Las Vegas.  We had tickets to see Celine Dion Wednesday evening, so we booked the dogs into a highly rated and recommended kennel, Doggie District Silverado Ranch, so we could have some human time on our own. Our dogs love going to their kennel, Club Mead Pet Resort, at home and took to this place like they had been there before. They didn’t even look back at us when the staff took them in.  When we picked them up on Thursday, after they both had baths and nail clips, they were happy and Benny was the white-ist and fluffiest we have ever seen him!

Dropping the dogs off at Doggie District

We were in Vegas, so Sandy had to play the slots. We have a strict $20 limit (cuz we know the odds really don’t favour the players!).  She had fun playing different machines and I even played a couple. I thought I would share her winnings with you:

Sandy’s Vegas “winnings”

One of the many things that amazes me about Las Vegas is how huge the hotels are. We stayed at the South Point hotel as it was close to the kennel. They were hosting the Indian National Finals Rodeo all that week. This facility includes not only the requisite casino, but also a 4000 seat arena in which they host 33 equestrian events each year. We were able to sneak a peak at couple of competitors in the bull riding. The hotel had over 2000 rooms, and the halls seemed to go on forever; Sandy likened it to when one looks in the infinite reflections seen in two mirrors.

Sandy looks down the Infinite hallway

After spending the day exploring parts of Las Vegas not on the strip, Wednesday evening we made our way to Caesar’s Palace to see Celine. What can I say? The girl has a set of pipes on her! What a beautiful, powerful voice, that seems so effortless.  She also has a pretty good sense of humour.  As most people know, she is the youngest of 14 children.  She said that her father never wanted kids, and then said, “but 14?!” with a WTF kind of look. Looking out over the audience, her next quip was, “Seeing all of you out there reminds me of my living room at Christmas.” The show was fabulous. I did not take my phone; who knew that they would allow photos during the show?? You will have to make do with this screen shot. There is a massive version of this photo outside Caesar’s Palace, many stories high, advertising her show.  She has been playing in Vegas since 2003, and we saw performance 1063.

Thursday we left Vegas for the final leg of our migration. To avoid the crazy traffic heading from Vegas to the LA area, Sandy took us the back way through the desert, along part of the iconic Route 66, and through Joshua Tree National Park. The roads were much calmer and the drive the most relaxing of the whole trip.  Through the park, there were signs to watch out for tarantulas on the highway. Sandy, who hates spiders, said she would watch for them all right and aim right for them. Fortunately for the critters, we didn’t see any!

Once through Joshua Tree, we headed west and continued our descent into the Coachella Valley and our winter nesting grounds.

Descending into the Coachella Valley

We arrived, safe and sound albeit somewhat stiff and sore from all that time in the van, just before sunset Thursday.

Home, sweet winter home