July 26, 2024 (by Loretta)
We had just spent a number of days at our kids’ place, just
outside of Edmonton, Alberta. Our son and his wife had gone on vacation in
Prince Edward Island, and we were staying at their place to keep the grandkids
and cats company. Normally, we could be found in our lovely apartment in
Westman Village in S.E. Calgary.
It was July 21, and we were on our way back to Calgary. We
had said our good-byes to the grandkids and cats with the promise to see them
soon. “Soon” we would be unable to keep that promise.
July 21 was a very smoky day. The forest fires in B.C. and
Alberta were creating a lot of smoke. One fire in Alberta was so bad that a
portion of the iconic Jasper National Park was destroyed by fire, along with
about one-third of the town of Jasper. The previous summer of 2023 had also
been very smoky in Alberta, and was the worst year on record for smoke and
wildfires. Many days had air quality rated “very high risk level”. We were both
alarmed by the smoke and fires, and neither of us held much hope for the future
of Alberta’s forests.
On the drive home to Calgary, I looked around at the smoky
skies and, not for the first time since moving back from Thailand, became very
depressed. I knew what we had to do: move again.
So I put the question to Darrel: “Would you ever consider
moving back to PEI?”
I could imagine what was running through Darrel’s mind while
he considered my question:
- We had just been admiring all the photos that
our son and his wife had been sending us while on vacation in PEI. The island looked,
as we remembered, beautiful and inviting. The air was clear.
- We had lived in PEI for almost eight years, back
in 1986 – 1994. We had fond memories of the place and people, and had
considered moving back to PEI directly from Thailand, but decided we would move
to Alberta to be closer to family.
- While we were both impressed by the Rockies, both of us love the sea even more.
When Darrel answered my question, all I heard was “Yes”. He
still claims to this day that there had been a “but” along with the yes, but I
chose to ignore it. He reminded me later that it might be difficult to find a
nice apartment in PEI, and that we had signed a 3-year lease for our current
apartment.
Neither of his concerns proved to be a problem. Darrel found
us a 2-bedroom 2-bathroom apartment in Charlottetown very similar to the one in
Westman Village, top floor, with underground heated parking. Then, we were able
to break our lease because the property manager had someone who wanted to move
into our unit the next month.
The next month! We would have to be out of our apartment on
August 31. A wee problem: our apartment in Charlottetown was not available
until October 1. We would be homeless for the month of September. Let’s reword
that: we would be vagabonds for a month. Time for adventure.
We very quickly arranged for movers, disposed of excess
belongings, cancelled utilities, and planned a road trip to PEI. What better
way to spend part of our vagabond month than travelling by car from Calgary to
Charlottetown.
Following is a brief summary of our trip, along with
photos, based on an email sent from Darrel to family members after we safely
arrived in PEI on September 9th.
~~~~~~~~
“Well we have reached our destination
and I thought you may be interested in some of my observations during the past
nine days.
BUGS
By the way, I am not referring to the
four wheeled ones, I am referring to the ones that, when they hit your car,
they leave a streak of yellow and red gook. When driving in Alberta,
Saskatchewan and Manitoba, after a few hours the front of the car, mirrors and
windscreen are covered with the remains of a trillion of bugs ranging from
small mosquitoes to four-inch-long dragonflies and grasshoppers. Their remains
remained on the car even after driving through three days of rain. I got gas
twice on many days so took advantage of scrubbing the windshield with the
squeegee thing. But the reason I am mentioning bugs is because after leaving
the prairies, we never got hit by any other bugs.
 |
| Through a clean screen. |
MISHAPS
I have always respected
semi-truck-drivers and considered them as the professionals on the highways.
During this trip, we came across five accidents. The first was a semi towing
two trailers full of grain. He hit the ditch and the entire rig flipped on its
side dumping the full load. The second was a semi who had driven off the
highway into a swamp. The third was a semi who had driven into the rear-end of
another semi who had slowed down at a construction zone. The fourth was a semi
who had burnt up completely on the side of the highway. And the fifth was
a semi who had hit the ditch and flipped on its side. I am not sure of the
reason, but driving fatigue is what I suspect. There are numerous signs
warning drivers of this along the way. I now have even more respect for semi-truck-drivers
after getting a closer look at the challenges they face on the roads.
MILEAGE
During our time in Alberta, I noticed
the mileage of our car seemed to always hover around 5.7 l/100 kms. I know this
was a mix of city and highway miles, but even when driving to Saskatoon at 100
kmph it seemed to stay at 5.7. When we were driving the North-Ontario route
from Hearst to North Bay at 95 kmph it dropped to 5.0 for most of the day and
4.9 for an hour or two. I know the speed was less but it was up and down hills
for most of the day, so I can offer no explanation.
I planned all of our fuel stops at ESSO
stations since we have an Optimum Card. I had estimated that we would use about
$400 in fuel so I was curious as to how many points we would accumulate during
the trip. Well in the end we had accumulated about 2400 points which equates to
about two and a half dollars. In summary, you should not expect to save money
by being loyal.
 |
| No surprise - prices varied considerably. |
NORTHERN ROUTE
When I planned this trip, I had to
choose either the Northern route in Ontario or the more
scenic route which follows the shore of Lake Superior. I opted for
the north route to avoid the numerous hills, winding highways and semis. I had
taken this latter route when we travelled to Kenora in 1984 to meet up with family.
I remember riding on the tail of a semi waiting for the opportunity to pass
which was not that often due to the hills and winding highway. Just after I was
finally able to pass one semi, Dylan politely said "I have to pee,
Dad".
The northern route is more remote but
flatter and straighter. It travels up through Dryden (Louis told Loretta during
our visit "I’ve always wanted to go to Dryden" but I think he was
pulling her leg). Anyways, all this to say that when I plotted this route it
seemed that we were travelling quite a bit north. I had Loretta Google how
close we were to James Bay which is at the south end of Hudson's Bay. It was
only three hundred and some kms away. But when I looked at it on Google maps,
the highest part of the route was around the 49th parallel which is the USA and
Canadian border at the prairies.
 |
| We saw a lot of trees on the trip. |
 |
| Some days were very grey. |
 |
| Sunrise and sunset was usually viewed from a hotel window. |
DISTANCE AND TIME
The total distance from Calgary to
Charlottetown was 5066 km with a driving time of 56 Hours 26 Minutes. Our
average speed overall was 90 kmph and mileage was 5.7 l/100 km.
STAYS
Our best
stay was at Marleen and Larry's and our worst stay was at the Travelodge in
North Bay (dark and dingey). The best price was at Marleen and Larry's (free),
and the worst price was at Microtel in Dryden ($310). All hotels included free
breakfast but the advantage was convenience, not quality.
 |
| We had a family reunion at Marleen and Larry's. |
 |
| This hotel room was dark and dingey. |
DAILY
DISTANCE
When I first
planned the trip, I was going to do it in seven days with an average 8-hour
drive per day. I later changed it to nine days with an average 6-hour day. I am
glad I changed this especially considering three of those days were in rain
which is much more exhausting. I schedule our lunch stop about four hours
after departing the hotel at 8:00am which only left two hours driving after
lunch. This meant we were usually at our destination by 3:00 pm (4:00 pm when
we went through a time change). We spent 1 day driving through Alberta, 1 day through Saskatchewan, 1 day through
Manitoba, 5 days through Ontario, and 1 day through New
Brunswick. My gawd Ontario is big!
ANIMALS
While
driving through Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick we
saw about 100 warning signs about Moose on the highway. It was interesting
seeing the different images used in the different provinces. They varied from a
small moose prancing along to a huge, very formidable looking moose in Quebec.
We can attest, based on Candy and Scott's accident, that even the smaller image
used in Saskatchewan is not something you want to hit. We purposely avoided
driving early morning and evening. But what is incredible is that, other
than 4 pronghorns that we saw in Saskatchewan, we did not see any living
four legged animals after driving five or six days through forests.
HIGHWAY CONDITIONS/SPEED
The entire TransCanada highway is
twinned from Calgary to PEI except for four of the five days of driving through
Ontario and the last bit in New Brunswick leading to the PEI Bridge. The speed
(posted that is) on the twinned portion is 110 in Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Ontario and New Brunswick.
 |
The only toll was in Montreal,
but it was free when we went through. |
MOTORCYCLES
We had two groups of six motorcyclists
stay at the same hotel as us in Ontario during the cold wet weather. We had a
great discussion with them over breakfast. They thought we were living a very
adventurous life but I thought they were braver than us given the trip they
were on and the awful weather. They explained they were wearing gear that
plugged into the bike and was heated. I told them I prefer having a heated seat
and steering wheel while being encapsulated by steel and glass.
GOOGLE MAPS
Every night I would plan a Google map
route showing all our stops, i.e. gas, lunch and final destination for the next
day. The next morning when we got in the car we would open the route on the
phone and it automatically loaded onto the car navigation system. No plugging
in necessary and, once it loaded, we could shut down the phone. Very slick and
helpful.
OUR ONLY MISHAP
One rainy day when I stopped to get gas,
a car pulled up behind me before I got out of the car. I took the garbage from
the car and emptied it into one of the bins. Then I went to the pump and
performed all the necessary steps in the right order but after lifting the
nozzle and pushing the fuel grade button, I could not open the fuel lid on the car.
I have never had this problem so was not sure what to do. So, I first tried to
pry open the lid, and when that didn't work I started to lightly bang on the
lid and then increasing the force of the bangs. Thankfully, before I damaged
the lid, the guy in the car behind me opened his door and told me I had to
unlock the doors. Crap, I had walked far enough away from the car to dispose of
the garbage and unknowingly the car went into protection mode. As I was filling
the tank I recalled reading about the locking gas lid feature a year and a half
ago but had forgotten. Hopefully I will remember this for next time.
MEALS AND SNACKS
Breakfasts were included at all our
stays and, for lunch, we always ate in a fast-food restaurant that had a
washroom. Before heading to the hotel, we always went to a grocery store
and bought a pre-made salad with a dressing included, assorted nuts, some
cheese and crackers, and a container of mixed fruit. This evening snack made up
for all the fast food we ate at lunch, or at least we hoped.
 |
At the end of the day's drive,
we'd go for a walk to check out the neighbourhood. |
 |
| A sampling of Canadian countryside. |
OIL CHANGE
Just before we left Calgary, my
maintenance screen changed remaining oil life from 60% to 50%. Given that we
would be driving 5000 km I assumed we would need an oil change along the way.
Every day I checked this screen and it never changed. I guess highway miles are
a lot easier on the engine than city miles.
CRAZIEST DRIVERS
Because we were not in a hurry, and for
fuel efficiency, I always traveled at just 5 km over the speed limit. However,
during the stretch of winding single-lane highway into North Bay, I seemed to
be the obstacle on the road with a line of cars and semis lining up behind me.
So, I speeded up to 10 km over the limit and that didn't seem to help. Drivers
were passing me even when there were double solid lines and where there were
hills and curves obstructing safe passing areas. Crazy, man.
BATHROOMS
As I mentioned earlier, we used the
facilities at restaurants during our stops. We had two occasions where the
washrooms were far from spotless. Later during our trip in New Brunswick we saw
a sign a few times that promoted restaurants with clean bathrooms. We
picked them.
CONSTRUCTION ZONES
We easily passed through, or came to a
complete stop, at more than one hundred construction zones. The worst stop was
10 to 15 minutes where they were blasting rock. But only about 10% of the
construction zones had work underway. So even though the road was not being
repaired, the speed was reduced to 70 km.
COSTS
Here is a tally of our costs for the
nine-day trip:
Gas $465
Food/Groceries $382
Hotels $1407
DON'T FORGET THAT I SAVED $2.50 BY USING
ESSO ALL THE WAY
Darrel”
 |
| On the bridge to PEI |
~~~~~~~~
We arrived in PEI on September 9, and
enjoyed weeks of being tourists until our move-in date of October 1.
We stayed at the Brackley Beach North
Winds Inn and Suites. This was a perfect spot out in the country, midway
between Charlottetown and some of the best beaches on the island. Our room was
very comfortable, we got free coffee and muffins every morning, and they had
laundry facilities. Our time was mixed between visiting
beaches and getting settled in.
One of our first jobs was to get our
window tint removed from the windshield and front windows of our car. Sunny
Alberta was pretty lenient about window tinting, but in PEI we would not be
able to pass the vehicle inspection (an annual requirement, regardless of the
age of the vehicle) with our darker window tint on the front part of the car.
After we got it removed, we passed the vehicle inspection with flying colours.
We then made our appointments with
Maritime Electric and Bell for our electric and internet hookups. After we
moved into our apartment in the West Royalty Suites, we were able to get our
new car plates, get drivers licenses, and apply for our health care cards.
The move-in was rather eventful. We had
driven to the local move-in company to ensure that they would deliver our load
early on October 1. (They had been holding it for us after it had been
delivered by Allied – date unknown to us). Unfortunately, the property manager
did not have the unit ready, and was still doing patching and painting when we
arrived. The disgruntled movers managed to unpack everything and get the
furniture reassembled, all without touching any walls. For three days we were
unsettled and inconvenienced while the property manager finished the painting
and cleaning. It’s all simply a bad memory now, and the unit is like new and
feeling like home.
 |
| We worried about paint getting on the furniture. |
All in all, we received very good
service from all the people we had to rely on to get resettled in PEI, from the
movers to the staff at Brackley North Winds, our banker, the PEI provincial
staff, Maritime Electric, Bell, our property manager, and even Rogers (we got a
PEI phone number).
We are thrilled with the location we chose.
We can walk just down our lane to a restaurant/pub, the liquor store, a
hardware store, a grocery wholesaler, a fresh market, and all sorts of clinics
(eye, teeth, physio, etc.). We are about a ten-minute drive to the heart of
downtown Charlottetown. On the drive, we pass a major mall and all the stores
and fast-food joints you can think of. We can get from here to the boarding
gate at Charlottetown Airport in less than fifteen minutes, and that includes
the taxi drive, check-in, and security clearance. One night, we went to a live
show at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, and marvelled at the fact that it
took us 9 minutes to drive there, and found parking right in front of the
centre. Just before Christmas, we drove into town for the lighting of the
Christmas tree. We were worried about parking, because it’s a very popular
event, but were amazed to find free parking just two blocks away. And the town
was all lit up in Christmas fashion, so it was a very pleasant 2-block walk to
the heart of town, where all sorts of outdoor booths were set up to feed us,
provide us with drinks and plenty of local crafts to buy as Christmas gifts.
PEI is a magical place. And I’m saying
this in winter time!
Until next time, Loretta & Darrel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
