Day One - On To Swift Current

Katie and Katherine are loading the truck. I am expecting a couple of friends to be here at 10:30 AM to help me down the stairs. By 11:00 AM we should be on the road. The plan today is to head to Swift Current by the long route; up to Drumheller, then on Route 9 over to Rosemount, SK, and then down Highway 4 to Swift Current. It should take us about 7 hours, rather than the 5 hours it might take along Highway 1.

I awoke early this morning, well rested and ready for the day. Early for me is at 9:30 AM. Part of the driver for this was knowing that Katherine and Kate were to be here at 10:00 AM. I wanted to be dressed for them. There is a certain comfort and safety in knowing that if I hadn't made it up, Katherine would have helped me get ready for the day, without pushing me. She has a real understanding of what it is like for me to have to get up and dressed.

As it was, I surprised both the of them, being up and dressed when they got here. After a brief bathroom break, I was ready. This early readiness means I have time to write in the morning, not in the evening as I thought I might. I love writing in the mornings, a hot coffee by my side, the warm sunlight pushing its way ever northward as winter lends to spring. It's going to be warm today, even though winter is still officially upon us. We in Calgary are ever wary of this threat of spring; we know winter still lurks just off on the horizon.

I plan to enjoy this day, this drive through the coulees of south-central Alberta into the rolling great plains of North America, a land feature stretching from Canada's high Arctic, running all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. This fertile country has already begun to blossom, the native plants ready for any frost that still might make its way. Farmers are getting ready for spring plowing; this is the country where frost resistant wheat was invented.

The drive though natural beauty, where the edge of the horizon offers constant promise, where the haze of distant weather hides the sharp edges of the outside world; this is the kind of road trip where adventure is a promise and new things happen every day.