But, the trip was not the smoothest...
We topped up the gas tank in Malta, Montana at $2.34 per gallon ($0.77 per litre CAD) and hit the road at about 8:30am. It wasn't long before we hit some construction.
We couldn't really figure out what they were doing. The original road was in pretty good shape, and hardly anybody uses this road anyhow. But whatever they were doing, it was a major operation and it lasted for about 5 miles.
This is in Montana, heading towards the Canadian border. The sign even advertises Swift Current! The road was in pretty good shape.
At the border.
Border crossing was uneventful. I bet not 20 people per day cross here. The Canadian border guard only glanced at our passports...no scanning them, and no stamping them. I can never figure this out. If they are supposed to be keeping track of how much time you spend in or out of the country, and sharing this info with the Americans, how does it work when they don't scan your passports? I would guess that it doesn't work at all. As I said, I don't get it.
As soon as we crossed the border, the road was in terrible condition. I mean terrible!
It was so bad you couldn't go 60 km/h, let alone the posted 90 km/h speed limit.
Can you imagine that this highway leads to the entrance of one of Canada's National Parks. Obviously, nobody goes there. At least not if they knew the condition of this road ahead of time!
It was so bad, that Ruth filmed a video. I didn't know that she was videoing this at the time, so my comments are actually kind of funny. Turn up your volume...
Yes, I will be sending a note to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Transportation. It's embarrassing to have a road this bad. Especially one that leads to a U.S. border crossing and one of Canada's National parks. We've just completed about 2,000 miles of driving all the way from the highlands of Mexico, and the worst road that we get is as soon as we enter Canada. Like I said, terrible.
Of course my complaint will probably lead nowhere. I came across this article from 4 years ago where they mention the "dilapidated" condition of highway 4 north of the U.S. border....
Do not take this road...
86 kms (52 miles) of driving hell from the USA border to Cadillac, Saskatchewan.
We pulled into Swift Current and did some grocery shopping. Hey, the Swift Current Walmart has guest wi-fi now...nice!
Went to a Bell Mobility location and got our mi-fi activated. We do this process every year as a pay as you go device, and every time we have to get it re-activated it takes them about 45 minutes to get the job done. No idea why, but they always seem to have problems. Anyhow, we walked out of there with it working, so at least that's done and we have internet.
As we were driving to Cabri, a series of trucks went by and one of them threw a stone at Sherman's windshield. We didn't think anything of it at the time, but by the time we arrived in Cabri, there was a crack 6" long!! So, we drove 2,000 miles without any issues, and then a couple of miles from home we get a cracked windshield! We feel really bad for Sherman. He's injured! I don't even know if we can find a replacement. Fortunately, it's on the passenger side and it's a two piece windshield.
We stopped in the town of Cabri, and picked up our keys, and then did the 20 kms of dirt road out to the park. The dirt road was in better shape than the paved road we had been on earlier!
The road leading down to the park.
The entranceway. They've had an early spring, and the leaves are coming out already!
Delicious burgers for supper.
Sherman, temporarily parked up at Cabri Regional Park.
Sherman's injury. :-(
There's a nice little log splitter on sale at Amazon.com. I know, this is kind of an oddball item for us to be telling you about, but it's the exact same item that I've used here at the campground, and so I know that's this is a good deal. If you happen to need a log splitter!
And our Canadian readers can get a great deal on an Oral-B power toothbrush...
since no one else was on road, think I would have driven smack down the center where it wasnt as rough
ReplyDeleteAnd of course I was doing that where it made sense. In fact, for the most part I was all over the road trying to avoid the bad parts! Perhaps it doesn't show that in the video,but trust me...the middle of the road was overall not in any better shape than the sides.
DeleteThe roads here in Ohio are horrible also. They won't do anything about them until they are sure we are done with any freezing weather. Hope we are all done with that stuff.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your new adventure.
Except that this road has been in this condition for more than five years!
Delete"Broken Pavement"! No shit! And here one of my sisters-in-law was wondering why we would be going through the States on the way back east. I had my suspicions that the roads would be in better shape. I don't think I'm too far off.
ReplyDeleteSomething to be said for a two piece wind-shield. The RV manufacturers keep touting their "one piece" wind-shields these days, but then what about getting a stone chip? We had one of those once upon a time, but it never developed into a crack. Just went to a glass place, and they filled the void. Can't remember how much it was.
Broken road is more like it! The only other time we have been on such a bad road in Canada was out in Nova Scotia in 2011. After being on that road for a short time we got off of it at the first opportunity and when we stopped for lunch I sent their transportation department an email and surprisingly enough they actually got back to me saying that they had 6km of that on schedule for work the following year. This road here in Saskatchewan isn't even scheduled for work! I really is a disgrace!!!
DeleteNina commented below that they were able to get a crack repaired so Kevin is going to look into that first before getting the windshield replaced. Technology has come along since he left the auto repair industry when he thought that only a stone chip could be repaired.
Try sending the bill for a new windshield to the Ministry involved in road maintenance and see what kind of response you get.
ReplyDeleteBe Safe and Enjoy!
It's about time.
We can try that but the crack actually happened on a different road than the one that was in such disrepair and it actually came from one of the trucks that passed by us. But, if you don't try then you will never know if they would pay for it or not.
DeleteWow and we thought our roads were bad! I think I would of been easily carsick on that bumpy highway.
ReplyDeleteThe road was really BAD! Apparently it was named the second worst road in Saskatchewan for 2015. After that ride, we don't even want to go on the worst road, I can't imagine that they could even have one that is worse than this one.
DeleteHorrid road. We're not looking forward to the roads in northern Ontario. Hope they're not quite that bad. Time will tell. :(
ReplyDeleteI remember some of the roads being bad in northern Ontario but they certainly weren't this bad.
DeleteInteresting on the passport not being scanned, when we cross the border here they always scan our passports. I wonder if they just had the computer down? LOL
ReplyDeleteWho knows why they weren't scanned, maybe it's because they are totally in the middle of nowhere and don't even have internet access, lol!
DeleteThe crossing your way are certainly much busier so they probably need to do it there.
When we returned from our winter trip to Sask back in 2008 the road up was just as bad. Not the same road - one over to the east. They've been bad for a long time. Actually many of Sask roads are in that condition. The Trans Canada Hwy is even rough in Sask. Our border officer looked to be about 18 and was playing with his dog when we pulled up - we nicknamed him 'Skippy'! We've also travelled many many miles - our windshield was fine until we arrived into Alberta two years ago to work and collected three chips through the summer! Park looks nice and green!
ReplyDeleteYou are totally right Teresa, almost every road we have been on in Saskatchewan has been bad. The Trans Canada Highway through Swift Current is in rough shape but nothing like this road we were on, which is still the worse one we have ever been on in Saskatchewan.
DeleteThis border guy was a young guy too. He looked at the passports asked us a few questions and then sent us on his way. I thought that maybe he would have kept us around a little longer just for something to do or someone to talk too. ;-)
Yep, the grass needs cutting already and the leaves are already coming out on the trees. Way ahead of schedule compared to last year.
We were able to get Safelite to fix a 20 inch crack on our windshield (or at least stop it progressing) over 4 years ago. They told us it might not hold, but it still is. If your crack is not in the way of driving line-of-sight you might be able to do the same.
ReplyDeleteNina
Thanks Nina, Kevin will look into this. He used to be in the car repair industry and at that time cracks couldn't be repaired, chips could but not cracks. I guess the technology has change a bit since then.
DeleteLousy roads and crazy truckers are two big frustrations in driving:( Glad you made it "home"!
ReplyDeleteIt was a lousy road for sure but it wasn't a crazy truck driver. It was a stone that was thrown from his truck as we were passing, unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to stop that from happening. Now the lousy road, LOTS could be done about that!
DeleteWe have had our drivers side windshield replaced 2 times, $900. in Arizona and $1,600. on Ontario, but our Wayfarer insurance had $100.00 deductible so we got off pretty good both times, no problem. Hope you have the same.
ReplyDeleteThanks George, we will see what happens.
DeleteGood luck, we had no problem getting a windshield for our coach and its a 1999.
DeleteWhen you and Sherman entered the US, your passports were both associated with Sherman's license plate. As you departed the US, a camera sneakily scanned Sherman's plate again, and updated your passport history log.
ReplyDeleteYes, we did see the cameras but not sure how well they could read Sherman's license through our bikes on the bike rack. having said that too, they have know idea who is in the vehicle, it could have been Kevin and someone else or me and someone or just one of us?!
DeleteOuch! It will be interesting to see if you can find a replacement. Good thing it is a two-piece windshield. I have a feeling there are pieces still around and available. Glad to see you made it back to the park safely and dinner looks the best! :)
ReplyDeleteWe aren't going to worry about it now, as we get closer to September, I am sure that Kevin will start researching more into a replacement windshield or the possibility that the crack can be repaired.
DeleteThe park is looking good from it's past winter and there don't seem to be quite as many leaves to pick up but maybe part of that was because we did a pretty good job all last season with collecting leaves. Dinner was delicious!
Welcome home! The park looks green and lush. Looking forward to your summer stories.
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter, and yes, it does look pretty green especially compared to what it looked like last year at this time of year.
DeleteWe dislike the border crossings ... such a pain. Once a border guard made us stand in front of our RV (with bears in the vicinity) and "stay where I can see you," so he could search our motor home. For what, for crying out loud? He did not check any of the basement storage bins. We discovered he did go thru our the drawers, inc the one with our underwear! No one else was around ... we think he was just bored and wanted to paw thru people's belongings. I was pissed for 50 miles!
ReplyDeleteCan't say that we dislike border crossing, except for when we fly in the U.S., but yes, crossings can be a pain. It seems like it all depends on the border guard you get, most of the time we have had great border guards but sometimes there is always that one in the bunch. The experience you described sounds like the guy was bored and had nothing else to do expect to mess up your day. Hope you have better ones in the future.
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