Day 6 - Car Trouble-ish OR Ignorance is Never Bliss

Oh boy. So today, our longest day of the trip, has been considerably longer than we thought. We got up as expected - either because we got to bed so early, or because we knew what was coming, both of us we're awake before our alarm went off at 5:15.

We were checked out, had purchased breakfast and were rolling West by 6:25. All seemed fine until we decided to stop for fuel in Moose Jaw. Gord wasn't yet asleep, so instead of risking waking him when we got to Swift Current we made the responsible decision to stop early (the car can go nearly 1000 km a tank, so we never need to fill up more than once a day). Just East of Moose Jaw is an ESSO that sells diesel, so we thought we hit the jackpot! When a typical Saskatchewan 'nicest man in the world' came out to fill us up we thought we had some karma on our side. Until he asked us what the catch was. It seems he couldn't get the pump nozzle into the tank - there was a metal flap blocking the pump. I don't remember if it was up before, but it was sure up now, and right in the way. Aaaaaaaah! Needless to say, VW Canada, CAA and two mechanics couldn't fix the problem. What could we do - we still had 1/2 a tank of fuel, but we wouldn't make it to Calgary, and the closest VW dealership was back in Regina. So we drove BACK to Regina and stopped in at the dealership. It seems that VW is installing these new guards on their diesel vehicles to prevent the diesel cars from being filled with gasoline. Hamilton VW must have installed this when we had a tune up done beforewe left, but nothing was explained to Theresa. So what was the mysterious solution we got from a very nice (of course) mechanic from Taylor VW? Go to a gas station with, and this is the important part, an up-to-date diesel pump and the slightly larger nozzle would retract the flap. That's all it took. Our nice guy in Moose Jaw didn't have new diesel pumps, so the narrow nozzle didn't retract our flap. We wasted 3 hours, when all we needed was a newer pump. ... ... ... 

Anyway, with a full tank of diesel we left Regina again at 9:30.

We made it to Swift Current by 11:30 and headed to the mall. Air conditioning and enough space that we could walk the little man around seemed to fit the bill. We picked up some lunch at the deli counter, popped into a few shops and headed to find either a DQ with a patio or a park. We found Kiwanis park first and enjoyed a picnic lunch.

By then it was 1:00 local time and we got back on the road, heading for the Alberta border.

Gord slept through this border, so we didn't stop at the welcome/rest centre.

With Gord having a much better teething day the rest of this long day went fairly well. T was on a roll, and she was fully caffeinated, so she drove us all the way to around Strathmore, AB where we stopped briefly to change everyone's diaper and we switched drivers one last time. And before we knew it we were looking for a parking spot near Matt and Lindsay's condo in Inglewood. It is beautiful, and while their elevator and parking garage are not working thanks to the recent flood, their unit was untouched. Compared to the Ned's we've had since leaving home we're in paradise, and compared to    the tent, we're in a palace.

Who knows what kind of trouble we'll all get in to over the next few days - stampede breakfast? Black foot diner? The sky's the limit. Stay posted.

TOTAL FUEL FILL UPS: ...  ...   ... 3

DAILY WILD LIFE: some ducks at the rest stop. Lots of cows and horses and sheep and goats.