Glasgow, Montana that is.

We left Edmonton at about 3PM yesterday (Friday) and headed to Red Deer where we had to stop for a couple of errands that needed to be made. A pair of Wranglers from Lamlies (the cut I like is difficult to find in Ontario), as well as a denim jacket for my son. When I was a kid, denim jackets were all the rage and could be found in just about any shop – now it’s all “hoodies” and the like, and the only place I’ve been able to locate youth or children’s denim jackets is at Lamlies.


After filling up the Jimmy with fuel, we then headed to Trochu, Alberta for a visit with a former “boss” of mine who is now 95 years old. Tom taught me to ride horses and run cattle on his ranch when I was a teenager, and I didn’t want to miss out on an opportunity to visit with him, especially considering his age.

After a quick visit to the ranch as well, we left at 8:30PM and headed towards Brooks, Alberta, still a bit uncertain about the actual route we wanted to take en route to Ontario. With empty bellies, we were quite happy to discover that Brooks, which is located on the Trans Canada highway about an hour or so west of Medicine Hat, was home to a Boston Pizza! Dinner time was 10:30PM – a bit late but the steak dinner with prawns and scallops was very welcome.

Friday morning wasn’t bright and early, but we did decide that we might as well head to the US – perhaps we could find some savings in fuel prices with gasoline at about 2.60 a gallon through Montana, and almost a dollar a litre in Canada. After realizing that the US customs office at Wild Horse was only open until 5PM, we decided to backtrack west about five minutes from Brooks and head south the Sweet Grass, Montana border crossing.

The drive south of Drumheller to Brooks and then onto the Montana border was mostly through stark flat treeless and boring monotonous landscape. When I say “treeless,” I’m hardly exaggerating. I couldn’t live in such geography, but then those used to such vast wide open spaces often say they couldn’t live where there are lots of trees and hills – they would feel too “closed in.”

Right before the border, we decided to visit the duty free shop. Colleen spent some time looking at perfumes while I was amazed at the deal of three one litre bottles of Wyser’s Deluxe Canadian Whiskey for 33.00 – making each one 11.00 Canadian each. Looking forward to the long drive still ahead, I was even looking more forward to relaxing with one or two whiskey and ginger ales. Which I am doing right now!

The border crossing was not completely uneventful. I knew I needed a passport – having only officially received Canadian Citizenship a couple of years ago, I’m quite used to producing my UK passport along with my Landed Immigrant paper whenever I travel into the US. However, I knew that border crossings have become even more strict – but assumed my UK passport would be fine as it always has been.

However, I was directed to park the Jimmy and proceed into the Immigration office where I was met with a generally nice and helpful customs and immigration officer who had a sense of humor. I’m not sure exactly what occurred, but was asked to fill in a “Green Slip,” but when I mentioned during the context of the conversation that I was also a Canadian Citizen, I was told to stop immediately.

I stopped. Immediately.

In fact, I hadn’t even started to fill out the “green slip.” Apparently, it would have cost me 6.00US to fill it in. After producing my Canadian Citizenship card, I was told that I would be “processed” as a Canadian Citizen instead of a UK citizen. I was also told that in the future, that if I wanted to travel to the US, I should obtain a Canadian Passport. So I’m not sure really how I was admitted… as I did not have a Canadian Passport, yet a passport is required, and because of my Canadian Citizenship, it was not my UK passport that allowed me entrance to the US.

So I’m still scratching my head on that one. As a Canadian Citizen, I should have been required to produce a Canadian Passport. But I wasn’t. And I didn’t have to fill in the “green slip” as a UK citizen.

But I’m not arguing. I assume the officers are still allowed to use their own judgment when they want to.

Finally, heading south along the Interstate from Sweetgrass, the landscape changes subtly. It’s still flat, but not “flat flat” like that of southern Alberta. But it’s still not hilly, most of the time. We exited the Interstate at Hwy. 2 – a highway I have not travelled in about 25 years, and I wonder if much had changed.

Nothing much has changed.

It’s still a single lane highway in either direction, with a number of very small communities – hamlets mostly – each one seemingly worshiping its grain elevators. And in between, wide open land of fields and wildlife. Lots of rabbits, some deer standing on the shoulder of the road, and at one point, we just missed a herd of well over a hundred antelope crossing the road. As we came upon them, the last few were bounding off to the south shoulder, while the majority were further away grazing in a field but heading south.

Twenty five years ago, I don’t remember Havre being as large as it was, and I’m sure there weren’t any casinos back then. Today, there are casinos everywhere. Twenty five years ago, I camped for a night at a KOA camp that was the worse campground I had ever stayed at. This evening, I didn’t see it.

Finally, one thousand, two hundred and sixty two kilometres driven from Edmonton, we hit Glasgow and are about to retire for the night.

Tomorrow, we’re hoping to get to Fargo, North Dakota after going through what is claimed as the “geographical center of North America – Rugby, ND,” before we head towards Chicago. The weather should be good and we should be able to eat some miles.

In the meantime, it’s interesting to be in a “city” of only about 3,000 people

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