Buffalo Jump, near Olds Didsbury
ESSAY - FLIGHTWEST.
32 PAGES 15,205 WORDS
7. 8th and 9th JULY
This morning I thought Ed and Elly would be going to meetings again, so I took my time and thought about what I would do today. Then, to my shock, Ed 'phoned my room and said he was ready to go!
It took me a couple of minutes to sling my luggage together, first calling Aunty's Restaurant to ask them to get breakfast for me (so I didn't have to wait). I dashed over to the Restaurant, paid them as I ran in the door, gobbled breakfast and ran back to the Inn again .. to see Ed going back to his room, as he was just about to come and get me.
As we had flown across the vast areas of the West, I had expected to see the golden grain fields which are so famous. Not so. This year the rain had kept everything green. It was more like an extended trip over England and Ireland, with their 40 shades of green! Very many fields had small gas and oil pumps, which feed into a national system. Some places had huge mines for potash.
We flew from Brandon, past Regina to Swift Current. This took 3.2 Hrs. Unfortunately at Moose Jaw we did not notice the OPR is the DND (and even when we did, we thought they would let us through the area if we asked nicely). No way! There were little silver darts on the horizon, travelling in formation at a zillion knots. There were thunder storms about also.
"Delta-Yankee-Yankee, Cessna 172, 15 miles out, 150§ radial, squawking etc... 2500 ft. VFR flight-plan to Swift Current .. request clearance through your area" I said brightly. There was a shocked silence. Then .. "Delta-Yankee-Yankee, this is Moose Jaw. Turn to heading 180§ immediately!" We had to fly south, then stay at least ten miles away from the area. "In future", he continued, as we flew away, "would you keep ten miles to the north." I could not start apologising on the radio, of course, but I wished they had said something in the Flight Supplement about this big detour.
We arrived in Swift Current at about two-thirty. There was nothing to eat at the Airport.
One needs to be prepared for these flights .. that there will not be anything to eat at the majority of small airports (AND some of the very big ones). Guelph is very unusual, in that it does have an excellent little restaurant. Often there are barbecue meals, sometimes roast beef, fresh vegetables. They make a good Caesar salad and the best BLT I have found anywhere. BUT, it often closes at 15.00. hrs.
I once flew, with a friend, from Waterloo Ontario, to just south of New York, then up the Hudson River, over Pennsylvania to Elmira, back to Hamilton and Waterloo. From lunch time when we stopped in Elmira on the way out - until 1:00 a.m. the next day, when we arrived back in Waterloo - same thing .. nothing to eat!
Ed took the wheel from Swift Current to Calgary. In fact we headed for Olds Didsbury, which is a field just north of Calgary. We stayed at the Agricultural College residence there. Ed had an agricultural engineering associate he visited there.
The flight to Olds was stormy again. At least these thunder storms were honest about their size and intend. One could see them for miles. They did not sneak up on one, hiding in a humid golden shroud. They stood, classic in shape, like great Greek pillars, with anvil-shaped tops holding up the cumulus sky. We had to go around them - AND we had to go around another big DND area near Calgary, which we did not see marked on our maps.
Just before we reached Calgary we could see the area was a mass of cumulo-nimbus, with high winds and driving rain. It was just about the time of one of the major Stampede events. I felt sorry for the participants and audience .. and very glad we were headed for Olds.
We took a tour of some of the University projects. One interesting machine compacted 50Lb. Bales of hay down to an unbelievably small size - could it have been about 2 ft. cube ? This is very important to get all the air out, preserve freshness and prevent spontaneous combustion.
Around the countryside, Ed's associate showed us the Buffalo Jump, where the buffalo would be driven to crash over the hillside. On his own family farm were two natural gas wells. One of them had a vent into a water-filled pond. The gas flamed-out on top of the water, looking as though the pond was on fire.
Buffalo Jump, near Olds Didsbury
The gas well flames from the centre of the pond.In another field was his current project: a solar-powered pump. This was being used to pump water from a well for a cattle trough. The solar panel was mounted on a rotor, which would follow the least little sunlight. One can imagine all kinds of useful applications for this device.
The inventor with his suntracking solar panel.At his home, in the back garden, was the original homestead building. A small wooden house, with many artifacts which parents, grandparents and he himself had used. A fascinating bit of history right there - and all about his family.
That morning Elly had shown me her Tilley Endurable trousers. I had heard these would dry very quickly .. Now I had a practical example. My trouser legs were soaked with the dew, as were my leather boots and socks. I had to take my boots and socks off and sit over a heating duct outlet. Elly's Tilley's were dry almost as soon as we got in the house. I explained I really needed my special pen/pencil/kleenex pocked just above the knee; as when I am buckled into the plane I cannot get into ordinary hip pockets.
That evening we walked into Olds Didsbury for supper. It was a very small town, but there was a good choice of eateries there. We stopped at one, but it was too smoky. Fortunately, Ed and Elly agree with me on that subject, so we all walked out. We eventually had a good supper at Our Flames Restaurant, Corner of Main and Hwy 27.
The University Campus Residence was very comfortable. It cost $29.00 each night, plus the GST. There was a big restaurant, with good food, also reasonably priced. The previous evening there had been a barbecue supper, but the students ate much earlier than we had realized and by the time we arrived at the restaurant it had closed.
Ed and Elly were in a suite normally occupied by the Senior Assistant Residence Supervisor. I thought the buildings were a unique design - being so shaped that they did not overlook other rooms, but at the same time the windows received maximum light. Ed and Elly's room would have been very difficult to furnish though. It did not have any straight walls - to put a cupboard along, for example.
Continue to next part of the essay.