UMTravels

Up at 7. At the airport at 8. Left the gate at 10am. Destination: Edmonton.

Did a little napping next to some cute guy — probably on his way to the oil fields. And after last night, I needed the extra rest.

Rental car for today: Budget — but WOW, they must get burned alot on their rentals. $300 pre-charge, refundable, $20 gas-refill, refundable. Wait until they get it back from 2500 more kilometers — good thing it unlimited mileage.

Out of the airport at 1:15pm, after a 15 minute delay getting my car ready — it was ready, they just didn’t want to upgrade me from my compact since they didn’t have any… I don’t think the all-wheel-drive Nisson Rogue is really considered a compact. And I’m guessing they are really anal about damage, so I went back to the desk with more scratchs and dings, expecially on the windshield.

Get in car. drive north by northwest, for many many hours.

Arrived in Hay River with 1/4 tank of gas left and actually found a 24-hour gas station — the first station in several hundred miles. When did I arrive? 12:45am… luckily we are in the great white north that at this time of the year is the great light north… look at this shot of the plane I’m taking tomorrow:

That’s right — well after midnight and the sky is still blue. It didn’t ever really get dark — I know this because I slept in the rental car, not wanting to pay $150 for 6 hours of motel time. Life ain’t cheap up here.

Another early morning tomorrow.

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