Coming up to the Cypress Hills, the rain seems to be becoming more 'solid':
Temp keeps dropping as I continue to climb, snow starts to accumulate:
Soon after hitting zero, the highway goes from snowy but grippy, to total grease. I'm sliding everywhere, and there's a big climb ahead. Wow, this is late May on the prairies:
At this moment my GPS screen loses my route and blanks out everything but 'walk to help'. What the hell HAL?
I peel the GPS off the windscreen and throw it in the glovebox. Reasoning that I'd better lose some elevation quick, and get off this slick highway, I take a gravel crossroad that heads down and around the summit. Big mistake, snow has drifted up on the gravel, and I'm spinning through a heavy layer of wet snow. By gearing down and keeping the Vibe at 5000-6000 rpm I manage to keep moving, staying to the left to avoid the heaviest drift pack. Lift only when the car threatens to slide sideways into the (very deep) ditch in the middle of nowhere. Wet dirty snow cascades over the car. After what seems like a very long time, I lose enough elevation that the snow melts. Soon I hit secondary pavement.
Good Vibe! Good! Ranches to walk to were a long way away and I had no winter gear. All weather tires are defiantly on the order list!
I'm really liking this little car so far.
Another half hour and I'm home with my newly acquired motorcycle parts and a couple six-packs of Wal-mart beer.
