A positive U-Haul experience!!

As I posted a few weeks ago we rented a U-Haul car trailer back in May so that we could pick up the "new to us" Festiva in Edmonton, AB, 300km north of our home in Calgary. I've heard so many negative stories about renting from U-Haul that I was really cautious about this transaction. 

I found the rental outlet, Kensington Auto in northwest Calgary, to be very helpful and was able to rearrange both pick up and drop off  times on short notice. The trip up to Edmonton was uneventful and we made it to our destination right on time. Loaded up the car, made a couple of stops in town and then headed out on the highway home.

This was about 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon with the usual traffic southbound on Highway 2, the Queen Elizabeth Highway, and we were only about 20 minutes out of Edmonton between Nisku and Leduc. Someone passed us, yelling and pointing at the trailer. We pulled over and discovered that one of the tires had blown and I thought we were going to be stranded overnight.

Here comes the good part... I called U-Haul's road side assistance number and arranged to have the tire replaced. That process only took 10 or 15 minutes... OK, so far so good. To cut a long story short, we were soon joined by a tire repair truck from Leduc. We were told that both tires on that side would be replaced so the repairman removed the tires, went to his shop and returned with the new ones ready to reinstall. From the time I first called U-Haul to the time we were back on the road  was only 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was most impressed considering that this was relatively late on a Sunday afternoon and we were about 20 minutes or so away from the tire shop.

Thanks to Kensington Auto for the great service and to U-Haul for the excellent road side assistance.

The final road trip

Well, it happened... the final road trip in our trusty red Festiva. With bike rack mounted on the roof, packed full with bags and bins we left Calgary just after lunch on the afternoon of Sunday August 29th headed for the first stop, Emerald Park SK. Most of this leg of the trip was familiar to us and I forgot to have pictures taken; oops. Other than a lot of bugs and a stiff wind  as we drove across the western half of Saskatchewan it was an uneventful start to this quick trip. We made it to our hotel in Emerald Park by about 8:30pm and settled in to our room for the night.

 

Car loaded up with the bike rack. Picture was actually taken in Dauphin MB.

We got up fairly early for breakfast, checked out of the hotel and hit the road. Rather than head directly east to Winnipeg along the Trans Canada Highway and then up to Arnes  we decided to take the scenic route. Travelling up the  Qu'Appelle valley to Yorkton SK, east across Saskatchewan, through Dauphin MB, across The Narrows and then south into Arnes. It rained for most of the trip as far as Dauphin where we drove out from under the clouds. Living in Calgary and doing most of our travels to the west we are used to more coniferous tress and mountains. This leg of the journey provided us with long views of rolling farm and park lands with lots of water and a much higher proportion of deciduous trees.

Heading into Fort Qu'Appelle

Manitoba welcomes you!

The only construction we ran into.

Out of the rain and under a clear blue sky!

Harvest done

Are those marshmallows?

Pense, Saskatchewan

In all our travels we have determined that every type of terrain, whether it be a mountain pass or a long stretch of dead straight highway across the Nevada desert, has its own beauty. The drive across Saskatchewan and Manitoba adds another perspective to our experiences.