Another Hard Drive

You might wonder, hey, how exactly do you retrieve your youngest daughter from her summer job on the shore of Hudson's Bay in a community with no outbound roads during a global pandemic?

It turns out the answer is not complex, but it is long, and it involves a fair amount of driving.

With air travel out of Churchill being almost exclusively charter and thus prohibitively expensive, using rail is the best way to get "down south." Thanks to a tip from my Uncle Wendell, we knew that the Churchill to Winnipeg train (Via 692) strays across the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border to a town called Hudson Bay, which is about five hours closer to Edmonton by car than Winnipeg is. Heck, at that point we might as well just drive to Thompson, but heading that far north in the wintertime makes me more than a little apprehensive.

Hudson Bay is still about nine hours' drive once you factor in meals (taken on the road) and rest stops (not taken on the road) so it still requires a day off and a 10:30 departure time.

With lunch in Lloydminster (Popeye's) and supper in Melfort (A&W), we got to the Treeline Motel in Hudson Bay around 8:30 local time. An older, rusticated place that seems to cater almost exclusively to hunters and snowmobilers, the room was small and spartan (tiny bathroom, no phone and not even a token painting on the wall) but clean. 

We needed to open the window in order to cool the room enough for sleeping, but managed to doze off before 11:00, only to be awakened by my phone's alarm at 4:45. Glory's train was scheduled to arrive at 0527, but their live update webpage showed her arriving closer to 0540.

Hudson Bay is a pretty small community, but the Treeline Motel is ideally situated for accessing the rail pick-up area and is only three minutes away. Unlike The Pas, which has an actual factual train station with doors and a platform and all the accoutrements one normally associates with rail travel, passengers here disembark at an unlit level crossing where the only local structure is a nearby shelter just large enough to hold a picnic table.

The train arrived late, but it did arrive, coming to a stop with the open passenger precisely between the two RR Crossing signs. Glory clambered down a little stiff after being on the train for 30 hours, and helpful staff passed her luggage down to her since the outer door to the baggage car had actually frozen shut on the ride down.

We got our first hugs with our youngest since July and then quickly jumped into the Flex to escape the chill. I blew on my hands and mentioned that it was -18 Celsius, prompting a snort from Glory. "Ooh, minus eighteen - big whoop." (Later on she told us how a co-worker told her on a morning in November it was -37 with the wind chill...and it doesn't really get cold there until January.)

The roads were clear, and traffic minimal right up until approaching Lloydminster. We grabbed breakfast at McDonald's in Melfort (Glory's first pancakes in almost half a year!) and lunch at KFC in Lloydminster (another G choice).

We all chatted and caught up and speculated and talked music, Glory alternating between the front seat and back while drove, and Audrey taking the wheel after Lloyd. We took turns for quick naps, but spent most of the time just being grateful to be back in one another's presence again.

18 hours in the car for us was nothing compared to the 9 + 30 train hours for Glory, but we still managed to make a good time of it. 

But I have been to Hudson Bay SK twice now, and still have no idea whatsoever of what it looks like in the daylight...