Day 31: Fargo to Winnipeg

Wednesday morning in Fargo. This is becoming a common sight for us. I don't recall a stop in Fargo in recent history that didn't include wind and snow.


Stopped for gas in Grand Forks after finishing our shopping. This was fill number 28 on the trip. I'd really appreciate something a little bigger than the 14 US gallon tank the car has.


It was blowing and snowing all the way home. I29 north.



At the rest stop.



Hwy 11 in Minnesota.




A stop revealed that we too were guilty of driving with obscured taillights.


No warm greeting approaching the border. The nice man at customs did stretch the exemption for us a bit. He even let us bring in the $1.97 bottle of Shiraz we bought at Wal-Mart in Palm Springs which put us over the oz. limit.


Hwy 12 in Manitoba.


That's it. We're home. A wonderful trip overall and we thank God for the safe travels.

Day 30: Casper, WY to Fargo, ND

Clear, cold and windy was the order of the day today. The spectacular full moon rising last night on the drive in gave way to a moon in the morning sky.


We discovered that what we always thought were snow-fences had another function. We saw a lot of cattle take refuge behind them in the wind.


I saw this sign at one of our gas stops and found it amusing. I understand patio doors but "drive thru windows"?


For a few brief moments after we entered South Dakota there was perfect calm.


It didn't last long and soon after we had a strong east wind.


It was a zig-zaggy day. We left Casper on I25 North, drove state roads to I90 East, stayed on it for a bit and then drove state roads up to I94 East. We stopped at Texas Roadhouse in Bismark for dinner then continued on to Fargo where we spent the night.

Home stretch tomorrow.

Day 29: Sandy to Casper, WY

After sleeping in to make up for the late night we hit the road from Sandy, Utah. This was the view from the hotel parking lot so we were hopeful for the rest of the day.


Our route took us up I15, skirted Salt Lake City via I215 and then joined I80 for the drive half way across Wyoming. Scenery did not disappoint.




A bit of irony here.


The early part of Wyoming brought some challenging road conditions. We stopped for brunch in Evanston and were a little concerned that they might close the interstate. Fortunately that didn't happen and condition didn't get much worse.



An hour east of Evanston we were back onto dry roads.


Internet road condition reports indicated that roads east of Rawlins weren't in great shape. Fortunately that was where we turned north on US287 and while conditions weren't ideal, they were very tolerable.


This picture captures what the 4 days driving home felt like ... a bit of a blur covering 2,100 miles in often challenging conditions.


We arrived in Casper, discovered that Fed-Ex offices were offering free wi-fi (it worked great from the parking lot) which we used to book a room. Knowing we had a place to stay we looked for a supper spot and found this http://thegrubandpub.com which we enjoyed enough to put a plug in for. Note to all the dark beer lovers following this: the Oil Can Porter is great and should be called Oil Pan Porter as it shares its color with well used oil.


To the hotel and into bed is the next order of business. If all goes well tomorrow we'll be sleeping in Fargo or Grand Forks.

Day 28: Palm Springs to Sandy (Salt Lake City), Utah

Today was the turn for home. The day started at the hotel with sunshowers making loading the car a little more challenging.
The drive out of Palm Springs was highlighted by a spectacular double rainbow.




The wind was also blowing hard. That's probably why the valley is full of wind turbines.


Our drive from Palm Springs was straight north and east through Yucca Valley, Twentynine Palms and the Mojave National Preserve before getting on I15 for the balance of the drive to Salt Lake City. The visuals were stunning and at times scattered clouds painted incredible shadow pictures on the mountains and valleys throughout the day.











I15 through Nevada was picturesque as well, and there was a lot of traffic in the Las Vegas area.


The stretch of I15 from northern Nevada, through a corner of Arizona and entering southern Utah is stunning.




The setting sun added to the beauty.




We weren't in Utah long before the snow started. It quickly escalated into serious weather that created hazardous road conditions alternating between zero traction and zero visibility.


At Beaver the interstate was closed.


We had dinner and waited for it to re-open, a 3 hour delay. Continued challenging travel conditions didn't help and we ultimately arrived at our Salt Lake City hotel at 1:30 AM. The delay was disappointing as the hotel in Salt Lake City, the Hilton Garden Inn, was by far the nicest hotel at close to the lowest rate we had all trip, thanks to Priceline.

We'll hit the road tomorrow without a pre-booked destination as we don't know how the weather will play out.

Day 27: LA to Palm Springs

Left LA, on our way to Palm Springs.


Rain, rain and more rain. Needless to say, Marion didn't let me put the top down. :(

Wind turbines as far as the eye could see. Saw some early gens still in use today.

Palm Springs skyline.

Met some friends from Winnipeg for dinner tonight. Had a great time chatting until the restaurant closed.

Today we are off to Salt Lake City, Utah. Apparantly they have a 100% chance of flurries today.
Looks like we will be seeing the white stuff sooner than we would like. Finally get to test the Conti DWSs.