Three years ago today . . .

I had a losing encounter with a highway truck on a highway near Drayton Valley, Alberta just after freezing rain blanketed the area while I was on my way to deliver a Christmas and birthday present to my mom. The Hyundai Sante Fe I was driving decided to spin one hundred and eighty degrees and hit an oilfield truck behind me.

The moral of the story is do not spend money on presents for people. Bad things can happen.

Simply black and white

Abandoned church. Cropped a little and changed to black and white.

The anticipation exceeded the actual event

I sometimes trade some location information with people who share my interests and sometimes they will just send me a location. I was told about Solberg School, a former one room schoolhouse. I had looked it up on Google Earth and there it was plain as day on the satellite view. It was exactly where it should be.

So on December 2, 2017 I ventured out with a friend and a cousin to go look for it. We were on the right road but somehow we had driven too far north. Consulted the mapbook and my notes and turned around and backtracked south. Somehow we missed it again. 

Time to play dirty. 

Used Google Maps and GPS tracking to take us to the exact coordinates. Somehow we missed the Solberg School sign on two prior passes. The school building that clearly showed up on Google was no longer there and there was just a sign left. One more piece of history that has disappeared.

Some days all you find are barns

Abandoned barn on an aimless road trip on December 3, 2017.

Abandoned Alberta

Abandoned farm from years past in rural Alberta on December 3, 2017.