There's a reason they call it "winter-peg"

• After the month at home in Victoria whizzed by, I boarded a 6 a.m. Greyhound bus on Wednesday, May 6th to start my seven-week WestCan tour.

• The ferry ride between Paradise (aka Vancouver Island) and the continent was no better than okay since BC Ferries seems to have got on-board the health-food craze and eliminated their on-board equivalent to an Egg McMuffin. After a quick bus change at the Vancouver bus depot, I spent another 6-plus hours in transit. As the bus crested the Coquihalla highway, I noted freshly fallen snow along the roadside and a few flurries in the air. I was so glad to NOT be driving a motorhome!
  
  
• The four days in Kamloops with my friend Margo flew by and 6 a.m. Monday, May 11th found me down at the Via Rail station waiting for the eastbound train. It has been 25 years since I last travelled by train and, with few modifications (such as the toilets no longer draining directly onto the tracks), it is obvious the same passenger cars are still in use. It was fantastic to travel through Canada's Rocky Mountains gazing in all directions from inside a dome car or the dining car where I shared table space with fellow-travellers and lapped up the luxury of good food, linen tablecloths, and friendly servers who made it look easy to carry a cup of coffee the length of a speeding train car (whereas I could barely manage a sip from the cup without spilling.)
  
  
  
  
• The pointy tops of the grey mountains are covered with snow that never melts and and more could be seen falling in the distance. There was time for a quick walk-about in the Jasper resort which appeared to be in transition from a town full of skiers to a town full of back-packers and hikers. (I took lots of photos and will post them when I figure out how to do it on someone else's computer.)

• By daybreak on Tuesday the train had descended through the Alberta foothills to the drastically contrasting terrain of Saskatchewan flatland where farmers are once again turning the soil in a patchwork of patterns and countless spindly legged calves are frolicking in muddy pastures.

• In the distance, a storm made its way across the horizon, looking like a thick, grey velvet theatre curtain stretching from heaven to earth. As it approached and eventually enveloped the train, there were cracks of thunder, streaks of lightening and then one bright flash followed by .....an eerie silence as the train glided to a full stop. Although trains are grounded in some fashion that protects passengers and prevents destruction, they are not immune to lightening strikes and in this case the result was a complete power shut-down, in the middle of no-where. As several train staff converged on the front of the train to start re-setting switches, a dining car steward made his way from car to car calling out the announcement, "The First Call for Dinner will be delayed."
  
  
• After the hour-plus unscheduled stop, the engineer pressed the pedal to the metal and we rocked and rolled our way toward Winnipeg, barely stopping to toss off passengers and their luggage at several smaller towns. Exhausted but happy to be with my friends, Morgan and Terri, we toasted my arrival and I then crashed into a warm bed.
  
  
• As the title of this post so clearly states, There's a reason they call it "winter-peg" and that reason is because - as I am winding down this 13th day of May a mere five weeks before the first official day of summer, the overnight forecast is a low of minus 6 C and ....you guessed it......snow. I just wish I'd packed my woolies!