Medicine Hat

So, evidently I found myself in Medicine Hat last Friday.  I headed down on Thursday night, leaving right after work.  The roads from Drayton Valley to Calgary were bone dry, but the next 150 kilometres was wet, slushy, and borderline undriveable.  It was after 11 when I arrived, but I made it to my hotel and checked in.  I think it was a nice hotel but it was hard to tell as I arrived late and left early.

On Friday I visited the Medicine Hat College which is evidently quite modern compared to most of the U of C.  I had a bit of time to spare so I took a good look around and was able to admire some of the students' work...

 

The Students' Work

Anyways, I met with some friends for lunch, and with a cafeteria slurpee (a surprisingly good one) in hand I was on my way.

Driving into Medicine Hat I could not help but notice a giant tepee... the worlds tallest tepee to be exact.  Since I was in the neighbourhood I figured that I had better stop by.  What can I say?  It was immense!

 

 

Having taken in the sites it was time to head back to Calgary.  My gas tank was pretty low, but I had planned on getting fuel as I exited Medicine Hat... well, it turned out that there were no easily accessible gas stations on the way out of Medicine Hat.  My gasometer said that I could still drive 175 km, so I knew that I had about 50 kmish to get to the next town.  No problem, the next town was not nearly that far away.  When I got to the next town there was no reputable gas station, actually, the one that they did have looked like it was from a horror movie, not to mention, by the time I had seen it I was passed.  No matter, my gasometer said that I had 75 km left before I was dead empty, and there were still two more towns within my range (closer to 25 km).

Well, long story short... my gasometer read 75, then jumped to 65, then to 47, then 20... I saw where this wasn't going and it wasn't good...  Then, I saw the sign for "Tilley."  I looked at the services and did not notice the little green gas pump.  Still, it had to have a gas station... right?  I pulled off the highway.

Tilley was 4 km off the highway, and in that 4 km my gasometer went from 20 to 8 to 4...  I could see the town.  It was another few seconds and I was in the town.  General store.  Hotel.  Post office...  no gas station?!

 

Tilley, Alberta

 The Jeep had to be running on fumes, and I was running out of option.  It was going to stop on its own soon, and I thought it would be better to stop it of my own accord, and in a spot that wasn't the middle of the street...  General store?  Hotel?  Post office?  Post office...

So I stopped.

I hopped out of the Jeep and headed into the Tilley post office.  "So..." said I, chalantly, "does anywhere around here sell gas... my trip planning... not so good..."  Well, the woman thought maybe the mechanic, but she called and not so much.  She and the other woman there discussed it and determined there was no where else.  My heart sank.  "This happens all the time."  Said the woman behind the desk.  "Really?" said I.  "Yep, but you are the first one today..."  Amazement on my face.  "Well, you are the first one this week actually..."  Still amazement on my face.  She picked up the phone and made one more call...  "So," said she into the receiver, "do we have any jerry cans around the house with gas in them?"  Hope sparked in my heart.  "Wanna do me a favour?"  She continued.

 

 So it came to be that I was standing, about 20 minutes later in Tilley, Alberta, filling the Jeep with gasoline with a severely moustached and mulleted man.  The jerry can was evidently quite old and it leaked from at least five or six places.  Gas all over the ground.  Gas all over the Jeep.  Gas all over me.  I really hoped there was enough left to get me to the next service station.

The man told me how this happened all the time, and how there used to be a gas station, but the tanks were rotten, and they couldn't get an above ground tank because of the zoning... so yeah... this seems to happen alot.

We drained the jerry can, I gave the man what cash I had, and I was on the road once more...