Man, moving is such effort. We did it. We packed up our Banff apt and got it all on a truck… not without some drama, though. Here we were, waiting for the truck to arrive the morning of July 6th and the phone rings. It’s the moving company we hired. “The truck got into an accident and won’t be able to make it”. OK, whatever you say, but when is the truck arriving? They subcontracted a moving company out of Canmore to pickup our stuff and take it to storage until they “fix” the truck. What is it with moving companies?! No matter how much you research and use one’s instincts to pick a outfit that won’t burn you for every penny you have, something will come up and they can’t deliver. Oh well. We loaded up the car and drove to Calgary to have dinner with Tiffany Stones.

Can’t forget about the night before, though! Our friend Stacy-Jo set us up with a fancy suite at the Rimrock hotel (where she works) for our final sleep in Banff. On our way up from a long day of packing and stress and not enough food, I’m totally zonked. We walk into our room and there is Stacy with a chocolate cover strawberries and champagne on ice. Wow! That night we had a few friends over to our room and had a great time. We’ll miss our friends so much.

So Tiffany fed us and sent us on our way. Erin and the girls to the airport for a red eye to Saint John and me on the road to get a a head start on my drive across the country.

Oh, it’s not just me driving across the country. Furnando the Hamster is coming with me. That’s him in his abode.

I left Calgary around 10pm or so with the goal to get to Medicine Hat so my drive to Manitoba isn’t to crazy long. Made it. Saw a cool electrical storm off in the distance as I was driving…

One missing element – Music. Music will be an important part of this drive. In order to efficiently realize this in my somewhat technologically vintage 2002 Honda CRV, I ordered up one of those FM transmitter that can plug into my iPhone to get into the car stereo. It never arrived so I need to go hunt one down before I leave the metropolis of Medicine Hat. My one big concern is how will Furnando the Hamster deal with the music? I might be cranking it at times. Will he be disturbed since he sleeps during the day? Should I ease him into the music by introducing him to the idea with a little Jazz then as the trip progressing get into the Ozzy?

We’ll see.