Month: August 2019

Alberta is the beef production capital of Canada. The first night I arrived at my Aunt and Uncles place in Calgary, they made us massive t-bone steaks. It was sooo good!

The next day, they made beef kebobs. And we went to have all you can eat Chinese buffet for lunch. I think in the span of two days, we had more beef than I have all year. There goes my diet!

Mr Regular was right. If you drive a BRZ, other Subaru drivers will consider you as “One of Us”. As I was driving towards Calgary, I had a fully modified STI drive by me, giving me the peace sign! I realized, after driving for the past week or so, I haven’t seen any of the twins on the highway. I guess most people don’t think the FT86 makes a great roadtrip vehicle! LOL

I can’t wait to start driving to Vancouver. I was told the mountain passes are quite fun! I’ll be sure to load up the Initial D sound track before I tackle the hills! Stage 3 OST obviously!

Wow, this city is big, with a weird street arrangement. Drove around downtown, Chinatown, City Hall, and spent some time at the West Edmonton Mall. I agree it is quite big, but I got the feeling that it was a little overhyped, and found things underwhelming.

I will be driving to Calgary tomorrow, and visiting some relatives. Luckily, it is only a 3 hour drive. I hope to spend a few days visiting some famous parks, etc.

Originally I was planning to make a stop over at Saskatoon first, before heading to Edmonton. I decided to skip Saskatoon, and instead make a stop over at Oyen, Alberta. My Grandmother and Mom arrived in the mid 70s, and landed their first job here at a restaurant in this town. The old restaurant has long been closed, and an A&W burger join opened in its place. My mom was able to find a local who was eating at the restaurant who remembers the old restaurant, and her old brother (who owned it).

I also stopped right outside the Saskatchewan and Alberta signs right outside the border, and took some pictures. It felt quite surreal standing outside these signs taking photos standing outside the highway.

I just realized, I have been driving for 10+ hours today! Thank goodness for Android Auto and Google Maps making my roadtrip so stress free!

Petunia! You thought I was about to say something else, right? You have a dirty dirty mind! Don’t worry. So do I…

There is a 2 hours difference compared to Toronto. I thought with driving, I can ease my body into getting used to it, minimizing the jetlag. Nope, I guess I am getting older, and I am having a hard time staying away even at 8PM local time.

I checked into a local hotel, had some local Chinese food, and will probably call it a night. The Chinatown here is smaller than the one in Winnipeg, believe it or not! I originally wanted to drive around downtown, and head to the local Casino to check things out. I guess I won’t be going. Didn’t take many interesting pictures, so don’t have anything to post. Sorry about that.

Took a lazy day today, and stayed an extra day in Winnipeg. Drove around Portage St, went to University of Winnipeg, did the usual touristy stuff. Went to Chinatown, and tried their local cuisine. Don’t waste your time! lol

It looks like it will be raining tomorrow again. The show must go on, so I guess i’ll just keep driving to Regina like that. Wish me luck!

On a side note, I have several phone numbers being forwarded to my main cell phone for this road trip. What is up with all these duct cleaning ads lately? I received 4 of them today. It gets annoying. They’re all spoofed numbers too!

Made it to Winnipeg. Had some major major rain storms. Thank goodness I applied Aquapel treatment before embarking on my epic road trip. Even still, driving through long stretches of rain can be really stressful for me.

I hear it will be raining most of the day. I decided instead of driving for another day, especially in the rain, I’d stay an extra day to explore Winnipeg. I’m in no rush, and I could use the extra rest.

I think there is a big conference happening in this city, since I received the run-around from both Holiday Inn, and Best Western near the airport. Luckily I was able to find a really nice Hotel about 10 minutes away from the airport. Cheaper too!

Oh and gas is a lot cheaper in Manitoba! When your car requires premium, every bit counts!

Currently staying at some random motel in Thunder Bay. On the road for many hours, very exhausted, as usual. If all goes well, I will be in Manitoba tomorrow evening.

Had some very intersting twisty turny up and down hills around here for the past few hours. Such a pity that there were several tractor trailers driving really slow in front of me. I did manage to tackle some of them, and it really put a smile on my face when I was able to take advantage of them!

I always forget how beautiful Ontario can be. I don’t get to see too much of natural lakes or forestry while living inside Toronto.

Very tired. Found a reasonably priced/recently renovated hotel by the highway outside Sault Ste Marie, and going to call it a night.

In the middle of filling up gas for the car, some random stranger just approached me to compliment me on my BRZ. I don’t think I’ve seen a lot of FT86 cars on the highway or parking lots in this area. I’ve seen several C6 Corvettes, lots of Jeeps, tonnes of F150s and Hyundai Sonatas.

Update: I went to grab something from my car in the parking lot, and noticed that my car was sandwiched between a Jeep Wrangler and a Jeep Rubicon. There was also a Dodge Pickup towing a flatbed with another Black Jeep parked directly in front of my car. Is there a Jeep event happening here that I don’t know about? I tried taking a picture, but it didn’t turn out well. You’re just going to have to take my word for it.

It’s 4500 kilometers to Vancouver…

We’ve got a full tank of gas…

Trunk full of luggage…

It’s dark out…

and I’m wearing sunglasses! (not yet actually…)

HIT IT!