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Well the crews got going early in the morning. The Grande Prairie Crew along with 2 mini buses, 2 ambulances and 1 big bus got going at 0600. The Edson crew got out of Edson at 0815 with a big bus and a fire truck. Both crews encountered some slippery roads along the way.
Rob found that he could put his hand outside through gaps in the fire truck door- great air conditioningin Mexico but not in Canada - fixed with a trip to Canadian Tire. The Edson crew got into Acheason outside Edmonton where they found out that the Grande Prairie crew was having vehicle trouble.
The convoy got back underway with one ambulance short due to a rear engine seal leak. the ambulance would get some TLC and then catch up. Unfortunately that was not to be the only casualty.
North of Red Deer the other ambulance was left on the side of the road with transmission linkage problems but the group found out that the first casualty was limping along behind us. With some fast cell phone work the second ambulance was going to be towed into Red Deer and also treated to some TLC.
The rest of our group headed out for Lethbridge without any more problems. The good news in Lethbridge was that both of the ambulances were on their way with some temporary fixes but with appointments for repairs bright and early in Lethbridge.
Grande Prairie was delayed a few minutes getting windshield wipers fixed. One ambulance was suffering from a rear seal leak. Anyway, we all arrived at Acheson Husky for breakfast/lunch. Ambulance 1 stayed back in Acheson to try and get repairs completed. Off to Red Deer.
The Fire Truck has a maximum range of 200 km before we need fuel, either from jerry cans or gas station. Couldnt make it to Gasoline Alley, so we stopped at the entrance to Red Deer. Ambulance 2 stopped with us and then found they could only go in reverse- problem fixed later by a great Canadian Tire mechanic and a little duct tape.
Went onward to Calgary and picked up a lot of Fire equipment donated by the Calgary Fire Department. Loaded it on the mini bus and the Fire Truck and then headed south again to Lethbridge. Arrived in Lethbridge at about 9:00 and we were all happy to get a beer and supper at Boston Pizza.
So today was an equipment shakedown day. We worked the cobwebs out of the equipment and the drivers. Got to meet our fellow Rotarians and even tip a glass.
Tomorrow...the border.
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