Captive

On July 11th Arturo and I headed out on a short day trip.  We wanted to photograph the old boat that I had previously checked out during the rain storm.  This time around it was hot and humid and we were able to spend an hour or so taking some photos.  After that we scouted around for a while and took a couple of shots of an old abandoned farm house.  Arturo has been used to shooting his medium format cameras with normal and wide lenses.  I recently loaned him one of my Hasselblad's, with a 150mm and a 250mm lens.  He is now able to get in tighter on distant subjects and detail shots.

On our way back to the city Arturo wanted to make a stop at the Leduc Number One Historic Site.  We didn't bother to check in at the museum, as we had done that a couple of weeks prior and made a donation at that time.  We parked the truck in the lot and walked out into the yard to take some photos of some of the old equipment.

Once we finished up we headed back over to the truck and discovered that the staff had all left and locked the gate.  There was no one around and we were captive in the yard.  We phoned the contact number on the museum door but no one answered.  Then we phoned the security company who's number was posted on their signs.  The security guy gave us a couple of emergency contact numbers for staff that managed the facility, but they didn't answer their phones either.

I decided we had to use something to break open the lock, so I got a large set of tongs from the outside cable rig display.  We were about to use those to attempt to pry the lock open when the manager of campsite next door came over.  He only had the same contact numbers that we had already tried.  But, one of the guys staying in the campsite had a pair of bolt cutters, and he took the lock off for us.

After that we ran into Devon and bought a replacement lock.  We chose a combination lock, and then sent a text message to the manager, letting her know what happened and the combination to the lock.  We offered to pay for a proper replacement lock but so far they haven't asked us to.

After that, rather exhausted from the ordeal, we headed over to the pub in Edmonton for a drink and something to eat.  This will be a day that we laugh about and remember for some time to come.