In Alberta to pick up a new Jeep
Cathy has wanted a new car for a long time, and finally bought a new Jeep online on Tuesday. I’m now on a week-long wander home with it.
We’ve been all over the map in thinking about what Cathy needs and wants. We settled on a 2016 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, which can be summarized as a luxury off-road-capable SUV. It’s got a full load of the sort of equipment we need for off-road travel – skid plates and tow hooks foremost. Cathy really likes this colour, which is called Light Brownstone Pearlcoat. It’s not a common colour, and we only found two available in Alberta (where the best deals are often found), only one of which had the wheels we want.
On Tuesday, we were able to finalize a deal with Big West Dodge in Drayton Valley, about 130 kilometers southwest of Edmonton, and on Wednesday I was on the 4:50 pm Air North flight to Edmonton. It looked like it was going to be a gorgeous evening to fly.
Climbing out from Whitehorse.
At 6:15, about 40 minutes before official sunset, the sun disappeared behind a low cloud layer.
Air North goes to Calgary before Edmonton, and combined with losing an hour going east, arrival in Edmonton is at 9:50 pm. But the hotel shuttle was just loading when I walked out, and by 10:15 I was in room #202 at the Executive Hotel Alexandra, located in a maze of hotels just a couple of kilometers from the airport.
I had a great sleep, and was pleased to find the next morning that the breakfast that’s included in the room rate ($109) was a full hot breakfast, not the continental that they advertise. I was in no hurry, so the comfortable and quiet breakfast room was the perfect spot to start the day.
I interrupted my breakfast to pop outside for a photo of this wonderful sunrise 🙂
I was going to rent a car one-way to Drayton Valley, but Big West Dodge offered to send a shuttle. I asked for a 09:30 pickup, and got a call from the driver 20 minutes before that, saying that he’d arrived. I was ready to go, and was quickly outside the lobby looking, though it turned out that he was at the other Executive hotel a half-mile away. But by 09:20, Dennis and I were headed southwest.
I had a very pleasant ride with Dennis, and taking delivery of the Jeep was a particularly good experience. Our salesman, Shawn Legeas, spent an hour or so going through the Jeep’s systems. I met the owner of the dealership as well as several employees – apparently they don’t get many buyers from Whitehorse 🙂
Just after noon, I shot this photo as I was about to leave, to post to Facebook.
I was really looking forward to this trip! My first stop would be Hinton, to see my son and his family.
Just before 1:00 pm, with the temperature at -1°C, I could see snow falling ahead on Highway 22, and was soon into it.
Even on a nice day, there’s not much to say about Highway 16.
A photo stop east of Edson, at 1:30. Already dirty with less than 200 km on it! 🙁
When I saw these flags, at Edson, I had to stop for a look.
“Flags of Remembrance” – very nice.
By the time I got near Hinton at 4:30, the sun had come out, and with the roads drying up, my first stop in Hinton was the car wash. Even though I knew that it would be covered by snow in a few hours 🙂
Being able to see my kids and their families is a huge bonus to buying a car in Alberta. This is our third – my Cadillac CTS, and before that my Subaru Outback, were also bought in Alberta – those ones were bought in Calgary.
As I started working on this post at 07:00, the forecast fairly heavy snow had just begun
The weather forecast this morning is pretty much what can be expected this time of year. I don’t need to go anywhere today, expect for a bit of shopping in Hinton. Tomorrow, I’ll be heading south through Jasper and down the Icefields Parkway.
About The Author
