Okay, so here I am checking in from Brandon MB after a suprisingly event free day of driving.

On the topic of gas prices, gas everywhere in AB was 105-108 which is 10-13 cents cheaper in BC. and 3-6 cents cheaper than it was in SK. But the apparent price they pay for that is the worst roads I have ever seen (and I've done a fair bit of road-tripping in my life, most of it on two wheels).

So bad in fact, that the bolts sheared right off one of my rear wheels!!! It's really hard to steer around potholes that could swallow a semi when traffic is thick and the ruts in the road are 8 inches deep. Oh yeah, and when your truck is driving dead-straight because of the monster trailer behind it. The guys at the shop that fixed it told me I should sue the city, because damage like this apparently happens quite regularly. Of course, I can't do that because they will find out how far over GVWR I am, so on I go ...

The good part is that I ended up staying in Swift Current SK at a working cattle ranch that had a fine array of Ford trucks -- seven running ones that I counted and a wide variety of the usual prairie carcasses in the back 40 as well ...

 

WoW! That's crazy. I feel as though our roads are pretty good. At least in my city they are. A LOT better than the roads when I go over the bridge to the American side.

Glad to hear from you. Make sure you keep checking in and letting us know how you are.

-Matt

 

I guess there are few things worse than watching you trailer wheel speed past you! Good thing you have a large trailer with tandem axles. It could have been so much worse, Good to here you and your load are still in good shape.
How'd your truck do pulling over the mountains? I didn't think you would stop for gas in Sask. Couldn't you just put in neutral in Alberta and coast right into Manitoba?
Roads in Ontario are good except in Toronto, all our taxes go into building better roads for the rest of the country!

Safe journey, you'll be pulling into Tilsonberg before you know it!

Frank

 

I don't know about that. I live in the Sudbury area and when i go down to the toronto area i always am amazed at how nice most of your roads are.
Andy

 

In this area, the highways that the province still owns (other than the 401) are in really crappy shape, especially Hwy 19 between Ingersoll and Tillsonburg (which I have to drive everyday). All the roads the province downloaded to the counties were in crappy shape, but most have been redone in the past 5-10 years.

From my road trip out west last year, I thought Alberta roads were pretty decent, other than several cities. Saskatchewan were decent but really noisy, with lots of ruts from semis. Manitoba and BC had the nicest roads, I think.

Glad to hear you're making good progress on the trip.

 

Duc_grrl you kind of lost me there

Gas is 10-13 cents cheaper in BC than Alberta?
Who had the bad roads? Sask and Man. have terrible roads,Sask has ruts you could lose a semi in, and Man. has gravel shoulders on the Trans-Canada for cryin' out loud, usually when I drive anywhere out of province or Country, it's quite a joy to come back to the nice Alberta roads...

 

Road trips and moving jobs is the stress of moving takes the pleasure out of the road trip part.
You need to stop & smell the roses (or farm fragrances) and it's too late to stop in at Lake Louise to go for a quick swim.
Mind your speed in northern Ontario. There's a few down hill curves that will wake you up if you don't see them coming.
It seems that you already know you've got more trailer behind you than the law allows. The OPP are doing quite a bit of enforcement on cars/trucks with trailers. They have been out in force nearly every weekend.
Happy Trails.
AL.

 

Hey Duc_grrl, Your last post was 5 days ago!
Either your in Tilsonberg, sleeping off the exhausting drive or.....your in a cell somewhere in northern ontario trying to make bail??

 

Maybe she died of boredom after 3 days of driving through Ontario. Seems to go on forever.... Beautiful scenery though!

 

OK boys, it's time to send out a search party!!!!!!!!!!
AL.

 

Maybe she's still eating perogies in Winnipeg..?

 

OK, I don't mean to underplay the genuine concern that we have that Ducc_grrl has fallen off the radar screen,....BUT, lets have a little fun....

The Top 5 reasons Ducc_grrl has not arrived in Tillsonburg........

No. 5 - After a few cocktails at a Kareoke Bar in Sault Ste. Marie, she was "discovered" and is on her way to becoming the next Canadian Idol!

No.4 - In her best "blonde" act she is still trying to explain to the OPP that her trailer was lighter in the mountain air and it's not her fault that's it's over weight.

No. 3 - She is still crying on the side of the road because the same OPP used her name and the word "overwieght" in the same sentence.

No. 2 - She couldn't log in to FTE because she had to sell her computer to buy fuel!

and the number one reason why Ducc_grrl has not arrived in Tillsonburg.....
(drum roll)......When she saw Tillsonsburg, Ontario she changed her mind and kept on driving.


Hope all is well grrl.

 

No. 6 - saw the sign "Tillsonburg left" so she turned around and headed back west.

 

Ha ha ha!!!! Real reason -- got here Monday and only just got Internet today. But I had some good laughs reading your posts!

Okay, so clarifications, sorry about the vagueness of the original post:

Wheel fell off the TRUCK in Medicine Hat AB. Otherwise the whole trip was a breeze. Truck performed great and the trailer was solid as a rock.

General impression of the Trans Canada Hwy -- it was best in BC and in parts of SK. The rest of the prairies including AB were average. Especially bad in Calgary & Medicine Hat, but AB doesn't seem to have bypasses so can't really compare to elsewhere. Worst roads were after I left the TCH on Manitolin Island & Hwy 6 from Tobermory down to Guelph. Nice roads so far in Oxford & Wellington County. Also particularly nice on the local section of the 401.

Gas was cheapest in Canmore AB at 1.05 and the rest of AB around 1.08 making it 11-13 cents cheaper than when I left BC. By the time I got to Winnipeg, the prices were coming down all over (until I got to Northern Ontario, where they didn't seem to know). In the high .90's on the Tobermory peninsula, but cheapest in Guelph at 0.96 when I arrived Monday. Burlington was the same last night (with monstrous lineups) and up to $1.02 this morning. Tillsonburg has been at $1.02 since I got here.

Observations on trucks in Ontario -- where are the old ones like mine??? Every one I've seen is brand new and shiny!!! I feel like a BC redneck!!!! The ones I have seen that are my era (92-96) are all in better shape than mine. I was expecting to see alot more rust!!!!

And yeah, I was worried about living in T'burg but I certainly don't think I can tolerate anything more urban. Seems like there are lots and lots of jobs all over, just don't know what I'm going to do with myself yet.

 

Glad you made it. Have fun unpacking.

-Matt