CANA-LASKA DAY 4: June 18th
Today was a long day. Because we were crossing into Canada, we decided that we would leave closer to 6:00am. So around 5:50am, we did our drivers meeting. Vincent and I offered to our American friends a gift…a red cowboy hat with a maple leaf on it. They were really happy. I need to admit that to give a nice impression, Jon is a champion. He arrived this morning with a “bacon suit”…you will see the picture talk by itself. The sun was still with us and it was warmer (I didn’t activate the heat neither on my jacket or the seat). The radar image indicated that we would get wet. We decided to put the top. We didn’t get rain until the next gas stop. We decided to remove the top because we spent more time at that stop. We were at the central North America geographic point. When all the pictures were completed, the two bad systems were gone and we were safe to drive with the sun. For lunch, we stopped at the M & K Pizza Hub at Kenmare ND. It was not the best pizza that we ate but it was okay. We were not far from the boarder. We first stopped at the American agents that were really friendly. After, we stopped at the Canadian agent. He was less friendly and was asking us question when just beside us a big truck was leaving the other lane, we were asking him to repeat all the time. We all passed safely the boarder and we stopped to take the first couple official pictures in Canada with our friends. We were looking for gas. We stopped at Fillmore but we were not able to find a gas station. We asked a RCMP agent and he told us that on Saturday it was closed but the next town should be fined. At Fillmore, they have a Royale Bank…not the nicest looking one but at least we are present in that community.
On our way, Jon’s buggy battery loss power. After few adjustments, he was back on the road. Vincent and I went to chase a battery. Not obvious on a Saturday passed 5pm. We stopped at the first Esso, no luck. Just before we left the Esso, the guys called us to let us know that Jon’s buggy stopped again. We resume our battery hunt. At Davidson (about 40 km further) the Esso was bigger. Still no battery but Vincent talked with the guy behind the counter and he was kind enough to contact the owner of the RV shop beside the Esso and the owner brought us a battery. The guys were on their way to meet us but then they asked us to found an alternator…they were pushing too much their luck (ha! ha! ha!). They finally joined us and changed the battery. Still no luck for the alternator. In the parking lot, two girls asked the guys if the dune buggy were like Manx. The guys replied that they were all three Manx. They mentioned that they knew people who raced Manx. They made a phone call, pass it to Vincent and we were on our way to Saskatoon to join that person who will give us an alternator. Yes, you red correctly that we are on the road, I am in the buggy, driving on the highway 11 and I am writing the recap so I hope not to go to bed pass midnight. I might have to say that the remaining of the story will be finished tomorrow so I will conclude by saying: To be continued!
Happy father’s day to all the fathers but specially to my father-in-law André, my brother Guy, my brother-in-law Alain and my brother-in-law Simon, hope you will have a wonderful day.
Okay still in the buggy, it is 10:12pm and we are leaving the shop where Todd and Brad helped us. The problem was…only a wire not plug correctly. We should be at the hotel in about 15 minutes…if the guys can stop talking…they are worse than women.
Mileage: 625 miles (1006 km)
State / Province: North Dakota, Saskatchewan
Temperature: Min 68F (20C) Max 81F (27C)
Beer: 1 x Original 16
Good night!
Vincent et/and France.
Have a nice day.
