At the Front Desk....Deja vu!

It is currently 7:28 am in Alberta and I took over working front desk from 7-9 for my crazy friend who was trying to work from 1am to 9am after she had already worked a bunch of hours yesterday and was trying to hang out with her sister and wants to go to church this morning. Anyways, now that I have the time and no excuses I will fill you in on my trip out west.
It all began Sunday, in all honesty, with greasing the truck, changing the oil, strapping on the loose gas tank, and putting new shocks on the front end of the truck. Then Evan helped me clean the interior of the truck (due to a *cough* paintjob on it back in the summer I like it dirty so the exterior of the truck stays dirty). While Evan and I cleaned Michael ran up into the shop and proceeded to run around like a chicken with its head cut off and scream "I hate country music" as Evan and I listened to the radio, with, you guessed correctly, country. Anyways Monday follows Sunday, correct? So Monday I packed and tried to tie together loose ends. Tuesday follows Monday and found me putting everything into the back of the truck, heading to Sears to get our family pictures done and then back home to finish packing and once again tie together loose ends.
Wednesday, this day gets its own paragraph because it is all about the trip now, no more getting ready. My plans said, let's leave at 7 am, reality said "let's not leave until 10" needless to say reality won and we didn't leave until later. Sarah, Azalea's sister, drove up from Buffalo to travel out west with me and surprise her sister. So, we leave the house, dad driving my truck to ensure that all is well and myself and Sarah riding with mom so I could sleep as I would be the solo driver of the trip due to insurance purposes. Around, I can't remember what time, but a time, we arrived in Belleville and ate at Denny's for breakfast, I wasn't all that hungry as I was picturing every possible thing that could go wrong with the truck, the engine blowing, the alternator dying, the rad dying, maybe blowing a fan belt or an alternator belt, a tire going flat...you get the picture. Anyways I choke down some toast and eggs and then we drive to Oshawa where we made a stop at the ABC to pick up some things and meet up with Auntie Faith and Uncle Cary. After talking for a while and just chillin' we said our goodbyes and thus the trip began, it was 12:34. We drove through Toronto, the rain was falling and traffic was thick but finally the 400 was in sight and off I went and headed toward Sudbury. I won't get into all the details but we made it Sudbury around 5 and began driving to Sault Ste. Marie (also pronounced Salt Saint Mary jk). I stopped for gas here and wanted desperately to stop as it was getting on for 8 but knew I had to continue on, so Wawa here I come. The drive between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa takes you along Lake Erie and through a provincial park. This means, lots of hills, no people, due to the hour there were very few people driving and lots of corners in the road. At first I was going 90, the speed limit, as I didn't want to hit a moose or deer. However as the hours crept on and Sarah was passed out in the passenger seat I began feeling tired too. Suddenly, a car went whizzing by me and this was the break I needed, let him hit the moose (what is the plural for moose? there should be one). As I continued driving I noticed the moon's reflection on the water and needless to say, it was very beautiful and picturesque. There were many occasions I was glad I had no one with a camera in the car as many stops would have been made :) Anyways, 11ish I finally pulled into Misty Isles Lodge, a very nice place, nice people, strongly recommend staying there if you are ever around Wawa, Ontario. So, now its 11:30, I've showered and am finally in bed. As I lay there almost asleep I hear it. That faint, utterly obnoxious drone of a mosquito and they always have to hover over your ears! I lay there for a few more seconds, she's still there...I wait...the noise is gone. I roll over and almost fall asleep again and...there it is. Now I'm mad so I begin praying "please God just let it land so I can kill it." I prop myself up and wait, finally, in the darkness, I see this speck on my white pillow, the moment of death for this mosquito is at hand. With one swift swat the room falls silent. I brush her remains off my pillow and proceed in falling asleep, afterall that was an intense battle.
Thursday: Don't you just love the sound of an alarm clock after you have tossed and turned all night in a hotel bed and then you finally fall asleep only to be awakened by some diddy of a tune on your cell phone. Its 6:30 am, I pull myself out of my nice comfortable bed and drag my sore body into the bathroom and change. I walk out, my alarm clock is still going off but there is no movement from Sarah...I hate waking people up unless they are my brothers and I have a whistle. I stand over her "Sarah" I whisper. Then I begin laughing, here I am trying to wake someone up and I'm whispering! *smack!* Needless to say I raised my voice just a little to a half whisper half real voice and repeat name...finally she gets up and gets ready and by 7:10 we were on the road again. Now, from Wawa to Thunder Bay should only take 3 and 1/2 hours...unless there is construction, and more construction and just when you think you are clear there is more! It was depressing, at one point, 100km from T-Bay I look across the lake and there, there, there, there! is T-Bay. Why don't they just build a bridge!!!! Instead you go up and down, around corners and basically follow the lake. 1pm I arrive in T-bay and stop at the Terry Fox Memorial to eat a lunch of sandwiches and walk off my cramped legs and sore shoulders...didn't work. I wanted to just fall asleep there as I looked out over Lake Superior and realized this would be the last real lake I would see for a while, Alberta's lakes are the equivalent of what we would call a pond. The drive continues, I fuel up in T-Bay and drive 500+ Km without stopping once, for anything! Just past Kenora there's a little gas station at which I stopped to fuel up and well you know what you do when you stop. It was around 9 Eastern time, 8 Winnipeg time, when I reached Winnipeg. My plan was to just stop in a truck stop and spend the night in the truck but dad wouldn't let me and booked a hotel in Portage la Prairie, 70 km from Winnipeg. Now, in Winnipeg I should've have taken the by pass but instead I followed highway 1 thinking that's the way you are supposed to go...wrong! oh and who knew the highway turned left on Portage Ave...not me. I kept going until I'm in some really nasty section of town, wondering where I am! All I'm thinking about is the bus incident and I'm holding my neck and driving and talking on the cell phone trying to find a way out of town and holding my neck and looking at all the dings in people's car...looked like a smash up derby...it was bad! So I'm watching all lanes of traffic because they simply don't drive good and finally!!! I make it out of Winnipeg and into the truck stop to fuel up then onward to Portage. Its about 10pm aka 11 for the east. I'm tired! I call mom and dad and while I'm talking to them I open up the patio door which leads out to the pool...suddenly I hear *click* as Sarah comes out of the room and shuts the door behind her. "Sarah, it ..." too late...the door locked and the keys were sitting in the room on the shelf. The lady gave us another key and I found my way back into the room and showered. Around 10:30 (11:30) I crawl into bed and fall asleep...Needless to say due to a few things I didn't get to sleep until 12.
Friday: the last day of the trip!! Its 6:30 pm (7:30 Eastern) I wake up, get ready and we are "on the road again" by 7 (8). I really don't have much to write about the first bit other then...drive, drive, drive, drive, drive. In Regina I took a different route which leads north on the 11 for 2 hours. Then you go West on the 15 until you reach the 4, then head north for a few km's where you stop for gas and then turn west onto the 7 which turns into the 9 when you hit Alberta (don't worry, I didn't hurt it). You are on the 7 for probably 2 hours until you reach the 884, the 54 kms to the 12 West. This was finally the last leg of the journey. 12 leads you right through Stettler (when you turn on 12 its 119km to Stettler then 74km from Stettler to Lacombe). Needless to say this felt like the longest part of the whole trip. The sun had been shining in the driver's side window all day and due to an increase of temperature I had my left arm hanging out the window all day...it got really brown! Just the one arm. So I have this really brown arm and the other arm is tanned but looks white in comparison. Anyways the drive from Regina to Lacombe took roughly 7 1/2 hours. It saved around 2-3 hours taking the back route. Now, Azalea was supposed to be surprised when Sarah arrived but due to a phone call she was informed of the plan and so *sigh* she knew. As soon as I got there I dove for the phone and dialed Panago to get a pizza as the word hungry wasn't strong enough.
Today: well the plan is to go to church after I get off in 45 minutes (9 am here time) and then a group of us will be heading to Gull Lake (pond) to go swimming as the weather forecast for today is hot and the lobby tends to be a million degrees on hot days. So...until later! Later!!