Back in the city...
I made it back to Calgary this afternoon in near-record time, particularly for Winter Driving. I left the farm just before 8am, and arrived in Calgary just after 1:30pm. No more time-difference now that DST is in effect. Just over 5.5 hours, despite a few slow-spots.
Something that I wish people would understand, especially when driving on the highway: Turning on your head-lights/tail-lights during the day is not for your personal benefit. It's so that other drivers can see you!! (which, when you think about it, is a benefit to you!)
Case(s) in point today: Between Piapot and Maple Creek, there was a slow-moving Bison Transport Semi which was leading the pack, and a white SaskTel service truck, neither of which had their lights on. When you're driving a white truck, in the Winter, on snow-covered roads with blowing snow, TURN YOUR LIGHTS ON! Cripes! Fortunately I had seen both vehicles earlier, as they were totally invisible within the cloud being blown up by the semi. When the semi started going around a turn, I was able to see that the road in front of him actually was clear, and it was the semi creating the mini-blizzard, not Nature. Once an opportunity presented itself, I carefully edged past both vehicles and had clear driving the rest of the way to Calgary.
Other than that, the drive to Calgary was uneventful. The roads around Strathmore and within Calgary are horrible, as neither city seems to want to bother clearing the snow. I guess they figure it'll just melt in a couple days when the weather warms up again. When I got to the house, my timing was perfect as I had no traffic behind me as I started backing the trailer into the driveway, and during the next 30 or 45 seconds that I was manuvering the truck and trailer into place, only two cars came up the road. Despite the fact that the driveway is buried under snow (thanks again Murphy, it was clear two days ago!) I managed to get the trailer backed into it on the first try. Final positioning took a little more work, but the initial work was spot-on. You'd almost think I'd done this a few times before... ;)
Now I just need to clear the sidewalks and driveway, and see about finishing the packing. I'm hoping this will be the last trip, so I'll have to see if I have room to get everything on board. Biggest issue at the moment is that I forgot the inflatable mattress back at the farm, so if I pack up the bed and hide-a-bed (which pretty much need to be loaded first) I'll have nothing to sleep on. Grrrrr.... Ah well, I'll worry about that when I get to it. In the meantime, there's snow to clear...