“We’re back...and better than ever...”

Getting to bed at three in the morning the previous night, we woke up and were on the road by quarter after eleven in the morning. The plan for the day was simple, if not a bit grandiose. After a good night’s rest, we would roll the dice and finish the trip off in style. All the way home, no matter what. Google Maps said 21 hours to Olds from Las Vegas, but be darned if I wouldn’t try to beat that. Climbing up into Utah we watch a massive cold front devour the mountains to our west. Maybe this wasn’t going to be easy like I had thought. The temperature drops all the way to two degrees, and the snow starts to fly in hard pellets. Snow? What is this? Aren’t we in the desert? After the last six months, I’m pretty sure weather just refers to whether you’re going to sweat more than normal, but now we’re plunged back into reality. Do we really want to come back from the sun sand and surf?

The interstates are a beautiful thing, which you can’t really begin to appreciate until you’ve experienced the plethora of speed bumps and toll booths that we’ve endured in the last couple of weeks. The ability to drive, unimpeded, for hours on end, only stopping to refuel the car or ourselves, helps to keep us driving. The kilometres count down, and the traffic begins to dwindle as the last rays of the setting sun fade into the horizon. Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana; one by one the states drop by the wayside as we churn for home. Finally we reach the Canadian border at 3:21, answer a few questions for the red-haired customs officer chewing her gum like a cow, and are officially back on Canadian soil. No time to celebrate, I need to beat the Google Maps estimate. The car rolls into Calgary at 5:55, and at 6:55 in the morning we surprise my mom in Olds. 18 hours and 40 minutes door to door. Theoretically, you could leave Vegas Sunday after lunch, and still make it into work for Monday morning. Theoretically.

Anyway, we’re just happy to be home, and exhausted to say the least. I’ll be happy to not drive for a little while, but we must get back to real world operations here. We’re homeless and unemployed. Maybe the customs official wouldn’t have let us in having known that. The next week we’ll be hopefully lining up a place to rent in Calgary and getting our jobs lined up. It’s been a fantastic trip, but all good things must come to an end, or at least go on to a new chapter. So I bid you all adieu until the next adventure.

Keep fit and have fun,
Tyler.