Departure for Utah

On the eve of my 39th birthday we completed packing for our trip to Utah.  Living with four girls I've become accustomed to just how much stuff we "need" to bring along.  I had quite a bit of stuff too... but mine was mostly large format camera gear, a tripod, film holders, extra film, film boxes [to unload exposed film into], and a changing tent [to unload and reload film holders].  Other than the photo stuff I just had a bag of clothes, a couple of jackets and some hiking boots.  On the grounds that it may incriminate me in a court of law I offer no comment on what the girls brought along....

We hit the road relatively early on the morning of Good Friday and even I was somewhat surprised at the hour of our departure.  It was no where near the usual "crack of noon".

But, it was snowing heavily when we loaded our gear into the truck in the morning, and the snow continued all the way to about De Winton, south of Calgary.  By then the snow let up and it was just cold, with the wind beginning to pick up.  By the time we got to Claresholm and took the short cut across to Barons, the wind had become a gale.  It was so strong I thought it was going to suck the doors off the truck.  Just another calm spring day on the southern Alberta plains I guess.

We passed through Lethbridge and continued on to Milk River and the US Border.  The American border guard was typically triple A... Anal, Arrogant and American...

After getting grilled for attempting to smuggle across the illegal Kinder Surprise Eggs [it was the Easter Weekend after all...!] we were on our way.  Apparently these treats have been banned in the United States.  Heaven forbid some Canadian criminals such as us attempt to smuggle in such weapons of mass destruction...

We stopped for fuel and something to eat in Great Falls and continued on our way.  The wind never really let up, though we were sheltered a bit once we got into the mountains.  We made it as far a Butte that first night and checked into a hotel there.  I picked up some cheap beer at the local gas station, some pizza at a nearby takeout restaurant and we settled down in our room.  We shared a room with two queen beds between the five of us.  I think the three girls slept reasonably well but Margarit and I had a night of playing soccer with Helena, and didn't get much sleep.  We got up relatively early in the morning, grabbed some breakfast, and hit the road for the second leg of our trip to Utah...