Day one of the Odyssey

Yes the oddyssey (NOT a misspelling) has begun. We have survived two days of travelling at the time of writing this, but I am only going to recount the first day.
The weather decided to send us off with a memorable -37C for the start of the day. Thankfully we had packed most of the gear the day before so that Jill and I only needed to expose ourselves to the cold for less than an hour - which seemed an hour too much.
The mini-van finally packed we hit the road at 10.13am waving madly to Christine - our send off party.

However, after 300 metres we were forced to pull over because the packing in the back was collapsing on Ash.

A small distance and oops Ash has even less room.

After adjusting the load around Ash, we were off again and driving along some snow blown roads. The snow raced across in wisps just above the road in all manner of mesmerizing patterns.

Windy, snowy roads on the way to Kenora.

Just before we reached Upsala, we spotted a moose waist deep in the snow and chewing on grasses that were long enough to poke above the snow. It was a wonderful and rare sight - unfortunately we couldn't get organized to get a picture in time.

It reminded me of how hardy these animals are; while in the car we sat, wrapped in our coats, hats and gloves, the heater on full and still feeling cold, this big beast was standing in snow to it's belly casually eating cold grass.

We were far more alert for the possibility of ANY animals from then on, but with no luck.

What we didn't expect is what we saw later in the trip.

Ice and speed - not a good combination.

This car had overtaken us not long before, we later realized. Thankfully all the people in the car were uninjured and able to walk away. It served as a vivid reminder of the dangers of these roads at this time of the year. The last 30 kilometres into Kenora were the longest of the trip.

Thankfully the hotel at Kenora was worth the long and eventful trip. We had a room near the swimming pool and a great water slide to boot. This was just what we needed.

 



Mum and Paige splashdown!