Road tripping

Back at work after running around Saskatchewan last Thursday to Sunday.

I managed to get some places struck off my list. I had to bypass one area of the province and missed some places that were on the agenda. There were a few unexpected things crop up.

Friday morning I went to pay for gas with my credit card in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I had more than enough cash on me. I had not used the card in over four months and it had a zero balance. Entered my PIN, mistakenly entered the PIN for one of my other cards and tried it again. My card was declined. So I paid cash and phoned VISA. Apparently entering the wrong PIN (combined with a few other times in the past that I had done the same) triggered VISA to block my card. In my defense both my bank card and this VISA card are the same colour and look almost exactly alike. It is easy to confuse the two.  I have a backup credit card so it was not a huge deal however I wanted this fixed. The lady at the VISA centre said they could mail me a new PIN and I would get it in ten days. I got off the phone, found a branch of my bank, and drove there and waited for it to open. So no early start to hitting the highway this day.

 

I do not enjoy sitting in a parking lot in a heatwave waiting for a back to open. Once open I was second in line and got a teller right away. She took care of this quickly and needed a supervisor to approve the reset to my PIN. While waiting I was told there were multiple messages on my account. I was approved for overdraft protection, approved for a line of credit, approved for a car loan, and a few other things none of which I asked for or want. My bank likes to pre-approve me for certain services and then inform me when I happen to visit a branch. My card access was fixed and I was on my way.

 

Later that day I pulled over on the side of the road south of what once was Romance, Saskatchewan. My truck has a tonneau cover and my luggage was in the back. I wanted to make sure everything was in its place as I had been driving over some rough roads. I grabbed the tailgate latch, pulled it, and it broke with the tailgate remaining closed. There was stuff in the back that I was going to need to get to sometime, like my clothes. I got on the highway and drove south, there had to be a Ford dealership in Yorkton which was where I was headed and my locations that I wanted to visit were in the Yorkton area. I got to a junction and Yorkton was about 190km, Regina was about 150km. Regina is bigger, closer, and a better bet to get the truck fixed. Heading to Regina I was passing through Southey and lo and behold there was a Ford dealership there. The service department did not have the part. The guy behind the desk was nice enough to phone a Ford dealer in Regina, confirmed they had the part, and that they could fit me in. Bennet Dunlop Ford in Regina was excellent. They had a full shop and were slammed. If I could wait they could shoehorn me in. I was told that since I did not have an appointment I might have to wait. It was at least 34C outside and the dealership had air-conditioning. I told them it they had the time they might as well change the oil as well, it just became due according to the sticker on the windshield. Four hours later I got the truck back. I did not mind waiting that much, if something breaks I like to get it fixed right away so I do not have to think about it. It was late enough in the day that I ended up getting dinner and staying night in Regina. Yorkton will have to wait for a future trip.

 

Otherwise the road trip was fine. There might have been too many churches during the trip, I do not want to post a church everyday. The weather was too hot, the first three days were all over 34C and it gets damn hot walking around in the middle of nowhere taking photos. The truck’s air-conditioning could not keep up. With all of the water I drank I thought I would have come back home thinner. Gas in Saskatchewan was not cheap, the price was usually $1.319/litre. The main thing was I got to get out and see a few things that were new to me.