Jan 12 - and another thing ...

Car problems beset us :). Not really. All things do come to pass though ... we stopped in Dryden Ontario for a Subway lunch and then restarted the car only to have the "check lowbeam lights" message. Well, that was a problem in Oakville heading north but I'd bought a spare bulb figuring that the other would probably go soon ... 15 minutes later and we hit the road again. Dodged another bullet ! Knock on wood !

We had an uneventful drive to Thunder Bay. I'll count that bulb replacement as a non-event. The roads were good, the traffic was light to non-existent and we beat the clock (the NAV prediction) but over an hour. It seems that on four-lane roads the estimates are pretty good but on two-lane roads with speed limits of 90 kph, the estimates figure that you're probably following a slow truck. We did our usual, setting the cruise control at 12 kph over the speed limit and although there were many, many OPP on the road, they never bother us at that speed.

We left Brandon at 7am and arrived at Philip's a few minutes before 6pm. Ten hours of driving plus a one hour time change ... yup, that does it. Tomorrow will be a longer drive but won't have a time change. We'll stop in Sudbury on the way and have dinner, rather than arrive late and have to make supper. I talked to Jim Matthews today and he'll turn the furnace up to 60F in the morning so it won't be so cold when we arrive. I'll decide on the route in the morning before we leave, but from what I see right now we'll take the normal, shorter route.

We've eaten dinner; Philip has gone out to pick up Olivia. I'm not sure if they're coming back here or whether he is just ferrying her around -- probably the latter because Sarah is working tonight. Meagan has moved to Vancouver now, looking for a job in the film industry. She called just a little while ago and "checked in" with Philip. Abby is outside ... already knows the area and does her business in the yard unattended.

We intend to leave early tomorrow. I'm hoping for 6am but we'll see how that goes. Whenever we leave, add 12 hours, add time for dinner ... that, without any issues, will be the time that we arrive at the cottage. It will then be great to take a few days off driving.

As I've said before, and will say again ... Onward !