Alberta here we come

Wednesday, March 19

What a treat, I get to sleep in, while Ramiro meets Scott for breakfast.
Scott was one of the team members who went to Chile in 2004, on a Rotary Group Study Exchange, under Ramiro’s leadership. Since then, Scott has moved to Regina with his family and both him and his wife Janice are now part of a provisional Rotary club they hope to charter this year.

When we check out of the hotel, Lesley is already waiting for us to take us to the Rotary meeting at Regina Eastview. It’s a club of about 70 members of which most......well, let’s put it this way: I bet their family has already had a meeting with the funeral director to make arrangements.
They are trying very hard to recruit new members, which is not easy if the vibrancy is missing. It nevertheless is a nice meeting. We do the usual banner exchange and participate in the Rotary Quiz.
A panel of so called Rotary experts answer questions about Rotary. For every correct answers, the questioner pays a dollar, for every wrong answers the panel members pays a dollar. It’s a good way to educate the members and it is fun.

This club organizes Adventures in Agriculture, in which our club has participated for many years. Young students with an interest in agriculture are sponsored by a club in their community and get to spend a few days in Regina to participate in a type of conference.
The exchange student hosted by this club happens to come from the Lake Chapala area. We spend a considerable amount of time talking with him, as well as with the Marketing Manager of the Best Western Hotel, where we happen to be staying.
“If I had known you were staying with us, I would have upgraded you or give you a better rate”, he tells us. A little late Teodoro. We’ll remember next time.
After we say goodbye to Doug and Lesley, he drives us back to the Hotel and invites us for coffee or tea.
Him and his wife have only been in Canada since September. They are originally from Belize. She studies at the University of Regina and he has had no difficulty finding a job here, with his many years in the hotel business back in Belize.

We made a few new friends today, as a matter of fact, we have made more new friends during the past three months, than we could possibly make in one year, staying in town. Traveling opens up the world and I certainly recommend it to anyone. You don’t need to be rich to travel. All you need is well, some money, but more imagination, an open mind, flexibility, the desire to try new things and the guts to take a risk.

We’re about 800 km from home and will need to break this last leg up into two days. It’s already 3:00 pm when we finally pull out of the parking lot of the Best Western.
Goodbye Regina. We’ll be back one day, but warm it up for us first please.

For the first time in months, I dare to pick up one of the Dutch magazines Mom has left behind and read, while Ramiro drives. From here on it should be easy.
Only when we reach Saskatoon do I pay attention to make sure he is going the right way and I watch the signs for him, leading us west along the Yellowhead.

Is it a coincident, or what? It happens to be that every day around 7:00 pm we are in the neighbourhood of a Wallmart. Even a small comme boondog tonight.
For lack of a better place to walk, after sitting most of the day, we walk the entire store and now know every single item on the inventory.
That prairie wind is cold. We can’t get back inside fast enough.
On our last evening on the road, we play Rummikub and eat Chicken Gumbo Soup, before we crawl into bed to watch Saskatchewan news on TV.




Friday, March 20
Home Sweet Home

Today is the first day of spring. Temperature at 8:00 am: zero degrees. Not all that bad.
We’re a little confused about the correct time. Because each clock is different. I figure we don’t cross another time zone until we’re at the Alberta border, but Ramiro thinks differently. It really doesn’t matter. As long as it is light and we can start driving.
“Oh, no, not so fast Ramiro. Look outside. What do you see”?
“I can see Wallmart”. Ramiro says.
“But what’s behind Wallmart”.
“I don’t know. It’s too foggy to see”.
“Exactly, it’s too foggy and not safe to drive”. Ramiro drives anyway and is looking for a gas station. Of course he can’t see one. So we pull into a large parking lot and wait untilt he fog clears. Smart idea.

When we finally reach the Alberta border, we know we’re getting closer, but those last three hours feel like they’re the longest we’ve driven all this time.
And there is Spruce Grove. We pull into the Superstore parking lot. No, not at Wallmart this time.
We haven’t even had lunch yet, and since Kelsey's was burned down a few months ago we decide to walk all the way to Boston Pizza. That arctic wind is soo cold, but the reward is worth it. We treat ourselves to a nice glass of Shiraz, Ramiro orders his favorite Lasagna, I a spinach salad and our last sin....... chocolate cheesecake with icecream. Oh, boy, the next month it’s going to be grapefruit juice and salad and 3 miles a day on the treadmill. All that sitting fat needs to come off and so does that cheesecake.

We bravely walk the 15 minutes back. It doesn't seem nearly as cold. Must be all those calories in our body.
When we buy our groceries, we are shocked with the total bill. Double of what we paid in Mexico and a lot less stuff.
After another twenty minutes on the road, we are finally at our house, which is surrounded by snow.

The welcome at home is a lot warmer than at the Canadian border. Our dear friend Dee, who together with two other friends have been checking in on the house during our absence, left a welcome home card, a casserole, a salad and as a treat Flan de Leche; Ramiro's favorite dessert. The item on the counter that worries me the most, is a giant box of chocolates. Dee, you are the greatest, you're just too good for this world. You will have to help us with the chocolates however.

It will be quite an adjustment to get used to home, and get back into the routine. But what a good time we had.
The blog is a nice way for us to look back at our own adventure and to keep family and friends informed of our travels.
So many friends and family members faithfully followed us wherever we went. We appreciate their feedback, support and prayers, when we needed these. There has been response from all parts of the world: Alberta, British Columbia, Oregon, Texas, California, Spain, Holland, Chile, Brazil and Mexico.
Thank you all so much. We look forward to our next adventure and will let you know well in advance.