From MB to SK

Well, my angel is definitely watching over me. I left the hotel at 10am and had arguments with my GPS which was giving me all the weirdest directions toward TCH 1. I decided to follow AAA's map instead.

Then it happened. I had just gotten out of the city on TCH 1 when the "Check Engine" light came on. I pulled off into a frontage road and looked under the hood. Mind you, since I bought this car seven years ago, the only other time I looked under the hood was when Harmony and I struggled to replace a headlamp. (Yes, at least I know there's no such thing as a headlight fluid.)

Well, nothing was smoking, the water was full, the coolant was more than halfway up, there was oil and it was clear. I mean, I just had an oil change less than 1,000 miles ago!

Anyway, I crossed the freeway (more about the Canadian highway system below) and headed back towards Winnipeg. The nearest municipality was Headingly and there was a Co-op gas station a mile or so from where I stopped.

I called AAA but I walked around as she put me on hold to look up the nearest auto shop. Then I got disconnected. But I saw a truck stop with a repair station. The man there said that they don't have the equipment for my car, but he directed me to Pointe West Auto Park, about 4 miles into the city.

Well, there were a lot of dealerships there, but no Subaru. I stopped at a Saab/Saturn dealership and they were very friendly, except the guy behind the service counter. I think I got almost the whole dealership figuring out where the nearest Subaru dealership was. One gray-haired salesman knew of one Subaru dealership but it was 15 miles into the city, but no one else knows any other, so he gave me directions and showed me a map.

And very good directions they were. I easily found the Frontier Subaru dealership on Pembina Hwy and Bison St. And it must have been my lucky day because they were able to take care of my car right away. They did diagnostics on it and found out that my catalytic converter is starting to get clogged. But they didn't replace it yet. They said that it's in its "infant stage" and I could still drive it across country, but I should get it replaced when I get home. It will just reduce my mileage/gallon (or liter, as the case may be). Meanwhile, they disabled that code so that the "Check Engine" light would go off. And, not only did they wash my car without me having to ask, they also gave me an ice-cold bottle of water to take with me. How's that for customer service?

So it was about 12:30pm by the time I left the dealership and about 1pm by the time I got back to TCH 1. I wasn't too worried. The days are still long and I had only about 600 km to drive.

Now about the Canadian freeway system. Well, TCH 1 does not have overpasses or underpasses or real exits. There are just intersections. There were a number of vehicles dangerously crossing in front of TCH 1 traffic which was going 100 to 120 km/hr. And there were a few towns and stoplights (yes, stoplights!) that you had to slow down for. One of those towns was Brandon, where I stopped for lunch and gas at around 3:30pm. Then I just drove for four hours straight after that.

When I get sleepy, I sing to myself. It kinda works because singing forces me to breathe deeper, so I get more oxygen in my brain. And if I sing Christmas songs, somehow I don't feel the heat as much. :-) Well, I'm keeping the AC off to save gas, what with the high gas prices (CA$1/liter) and the choking catalytic converter. So, I'm doing all these mind tricks I've learned in past trips.

Am getting intense dreams with some strong emotions, but I don't remember them much in the morning.

French word of the day: Ouest means "west." Go figure.