Well, here it is, March 12th, and our (mis)adventure has definitely begun. We left Stevensville on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., dropped off some stuff at the ranch and spent the night in Kalispell. The hotel was nice and had a pool so the boys were ecstactic. We again realized the difficulties of getting 3 boys, 2 dogs and ourselves ready, fed, out the door and on the "open road" (as Austin now calls it), in the morning. We managed to make it to Columbia Falls for lunch!

From there we managed to make it to the border, but only after suffering through multiple "potty stops" and a baby that would not stop crying (i.e. screeching at the top of his lungs) from approximately Browning to Shelby!

Our border experience was.....interesting. We were there an hour and a half and I'm sure we talked to every border official there. We had to talk to immigration, travel, the cashier, commercial and then the inspection agent. Dustin and I were so afraid they were going to take the trailer apart and we'd be there forever packing it back up. But alas, we finally left there and made it to Lethbridge for the night. Yup, that's approximately 250 miles of travel in 1 day, not a great start when you're going a total distance of 3,000+ miles.

We managed to get dinner, find a motel (that allows pets) and get into bed by 10:30 p.m. Lets just say the hotel was definitely not a 5-star. And the wind blows hard in Alberta! All the time!

This morning we took off from Lethbridge with aspirations of making it to "at least" Edmonton. But it was not meant to be. We took the scenic detour through Calgary and just as we were about out of the most confusing and congested city ever, Dustin got pulled over by a cop!

I was sitting at McDonald's and saw the policeman turn on his lights, but didn't see where he actually stopped at. So I sat there and waited for a bit figuring Dustin would get a ticket and come back for us. I waited for 45 minutes. Then I started to panic. "What if he got taken in?" "How would I find him?" "Would I have to continue on without him?" We drove around looking for him. Then I tried calling the Calgary police station (traffic division), they don't work on Fridays! Finally, I decided I would get a hotel for the night so I called Dustin's cell phone to leave him a message. And he answered! Needless to say, we met up and got the hell out of Calgary!! By then it was 5:30 p.m.

So, we're camped in Airdrie (right outside Calgary) for the night at a very nice Holiday Inn. We're ordering takeout. The boys are playing in the pool (with a waterslide) and I'm going to do laundry and read my People magazine. I know! Friday night and I still haven't finished it!

At any rate, we're alive and hoping to get well past Edmonton tomorrow, but don't hold your breath!

Talk to you soon!
J~