The adventures of a Chinese guy, his sports car, and an instant pot

slept in a little, and started driving around 9AM localtime. I wanted to drive to Sudbury to take a better picture of the Big Nickel. However, it was very rainy and windy, so I just rushed to take a picture, and left.

I also wanted to cook a final meal out, but again, because of the crappy weather, I just went to Costco for my second hotdog meal.

Made it home around 7:00 PM, local time and unloaded everything, and did a lot of sleeping.

Here are my performance metrics for this trip

Total Date	2024-04-11 – 2024-04-23 (13 days)
KM Traveled	7816
KM/L	14.0019992619212
MPG Converted (all highway)	32.934802563928
Fuel Consumed (L)	558.2060
Fuel Total Cost (Canadian Pesos)	$897.79
$/KM	0.114865321136131

So this concludes this journey. Gas was a little bit more expensive, but overall, it was still cheaper than buying two plane tickets plus car rental to use in Calgary. Overall, it was a very productive and fun trip, despite the unusual circumstances.

I’m very happy with the outcome of this trip. I saved a lot of money cooking with instead of eating out. The LiFePO4 batteries have been very useful. Mom really enjoyed the ability being able to boil water and brew fresh coffee while I am driving down the highway instead of stopping at a local coffeeshop in cheap paper cups. I do regret packing the microwave oven with me on this road trip, since I only used it once to cook food. Throughout the whole roadtrip, I just used this to store hamburger buns.

At this time, I just want to say thanks to my Aunt and Cousins for being an amazing host. I would also like to make a special thanks to my Cousin for such an amazing time at your Cottage. The view out the front door was truly spectacular.

I’m not sure when and where my next roadtrip destination will be at this time, but I hope to take my BRZ again this summer. Until then, I will be placing this blog in hibernation again.

Drove from 10AM until 7:30pm EDT for 737KM, and arrived at Sault St Marie. Checked in for the final night in a hotel, and just made a quick trip to WalMart to unwind. I have another 700KM trip tomorrow, and I should be home.

I drove to the Big Goose in Wawa, Ontario. Mom and I had lunch right outside by the park next to it.

I think I am going to sleep in a little tonight, and start driving later in the afternoon.

I started late around 10:30 after picking up some groceries from Walmart, plowed through Manitoba today, bypassing Winnipeg completely, and arrived at Thunderbay by 10:30PM EDT. Drove about 953KM total.

Having lunch and making coffee in a random rest stop in Manitoba, just by the Ontario border.

Not as tired as yesterday, but the loss of one hour time zone change still has a toll on me. I made a stop at the timezone marker/rest stop.

This rest stop was kind of interesting. It has an unattended washroom facility with an indoor lobby. I forgot to take pictures, but that wasn’t the interesting part. I was there about to register for my next hotel stay, and I realized cell coverage was non existent. I was about to drive further down the highway to see if I can get a stronger signal to try again, but then I found out there was free wifi available from the Ontario government! I looked around the corner of the building, and see the second generation Starlink antenna! I also notice the cameras, so I guess they use that to remotely monitor the building. I guess providing free wifi in an area with weak cellular coverage makes sense, since the network is already there. Plus, you can also use as another rough metric to measure how much the facilities are being used.

I’ve been driving since 7:30 Calgary time, and reached Brandon MB by 11:30 localtime. Drove for over 15 hours, and about 1225KM. Very tired. I didn’t let Mom help any. Cruise control the whole way here.

Making burgers at the Alberta sign!

We left Canmore back to Calgary after lunch, and I began to start packing the car for the long trip back home. Because I’m a geek, I also scoured the FB Marketplace for some deals, and score some older generation thin terminals for $5 each! I wish I had more room in my trunk, she actually had more for sale!

Today would be the last full day in Canmore. We drove to Banff, about 15 minutes away from our cottage, and went to parts of the park that we did not visit last time. The weather was still very cold, but sunny. Unlike last time, a lot of the lakes were still frozen over. The mountains all still had snow on top of them. Saw a lot of elk grazing about!

In the evening when we got home, we had some more steaks. I think I’ve hit my quota for the rest of the year!

Afterwards, in an attempt to burn off some of the calories, mom and I decide to take a evening hike around the neighborhood. We were instructed to carry bear spray with us, just in case!

I’ll most likely be driving back into Calgary tomorrow morning, and begin the trek back home the day immediately after that. It has been, an interesting trip!

My cousin has a cottage in Canmore, right beside the Banff National Park. It’s very beautiful. We actually saw elk grazing the grass as we were hiking!

For dinner, we actually purchased a massive whole beef tenderloin from Costco to BBQ at the cottage. It was amazing!

I can’t wait to wake up early tomorrow to explore more of the park.

Everything is concluded. A big weight is lifted off everyone’s back.

The weather is very weird. It was easily t-shirt weather yesterday, hovering around 13-15 degrees C and sunny throughout the day. Overnight, the weather suddenly dropped to 1 degrees C, with a buildup of about 5cm of snow. As I said before, I’m glad I kept the snow tires on my vehicle for this trip.

I’m not sure what I will be doing tomorrow. But these past few days have been very exhausting. I think I am going to call it an early evening at 6:00PM local time. My mother is upstairs talking to relatives, reminiscing old times. The road trip back home will be starting soon.

First day arrival, and the first half of the family business is completed. Since we have some free time, my Mom and Uncle drive around to explore downtown Calgary. Our first stop was to Chinatown. It was not very busy, but very clean!

Afterwards, I go to my favorite spot in Calgary, a high lookout spot over viewing the whole of Calgary. I was again disappointed, since the weather was very shady, so the view was not as bright. However, the view was still very beautiful.

The last time I came here, I missed the opportunity to explore the new Calgary Public Library, since it was a public holiday. Luckily I was able to visit it properly this time, and it did not disappoint. The architecture was phenomenal!

Another long day tomorrow, so we came home around 5PM localtime. And rumor has it, it might be snowing soon! I’m glad I arrived with my snow tires!