The Travails of the Willie

We pulled into Edmonton without a hitch.  I was able to listen to most of Heartland, which was a great book. In it, the author, Sarah Smarsh, mentions going to a private school to consider attending, and she told her mom she didn’t want to go because she didn’t think they could afford it. I had a flashback – I think I gave that tour.  Her story is heartbreaking, and it helped me understand the vicious circle of poverty.   By the time we arrived in Edmonton, I had nearly listened to the whole book . . . 

The Edmonton RV park was lovely, and I didn’t want to leave . . . but we started for Calgary.  When we arrived at Red Deer, we stopped for gas and lunch.  And dad gum it . . . once we started the RV again, the problem reappeared.  It seems that the heat of the engine is doing something to a connection – or something like that.  Within a few miles, we realized we could go no further and pulled off to the side of the road in a faux rest area.  

Woody is bemoaning our fate!

And we called a tow truck.  And we waited.  And we waited.  Katie and Bart went on, and we waited.  Finally about 9:00, we were told the tow truck would not be arriving until tomorrow morning.  Oh great!  So we spent the night on the side of Highway 2, listening to the trucks roar by.  One man said it was like being at the Indianapolis 500.

When the sun came up, the sunset reminded us that the sun will come out tomorrow!

The tow truck arrived, we were towed to Alberta Truck Repair, and they got us right in.  We went to a Starbucks, found a vegan restaurant called Dandelion – which was delicious, by the way – and returned to find the RV was in the bay.  By 4:50, they were done, they had found the problem, and we were off.  For 50 yards.  And it died again. I had time to get back to the office before they closed, they gave us an extension cord, and we are camped in their driveway – along with all of the trucks, recycling parts, and jackrabbits.

There is little grass for the dogs, and the grass that is there is so covered with rabbit rollies that we don’t want the dogs there.  They have not been too happy about it, but we have taken them to Tim Horton’s where the grass is very nice, and we have listened to the KSU game, visited an RV store, found the Kansas City game (sort of) at a downtown eatery, and generally hung around the RV.  Not exactly what we were thinking, but we have made the best of it!