With nothing lined up to do in Winnipeg, I pressed on past sunset for Brandon. The mileage on this tank was doing very well from what I could tell, my fourth blob had lasted to almost 500 kms. I was going to try for 800 kms on this tank.

I called Eddie in Edmonton, and went over a few numbers. We estimated my mileage to be around 110 mpg on the later part of the tank, but couldn’t be 100% sure. I was pushing zeroes soon after the turn off to Portage, and knew the 40 km countdown was in progress. Not only that, but my car also reached a milestone - halfway through the warranty:

The Town of Macgregor was no use - the Coop was closed til the morning. I pulled out the laptop and ran the mileage to the next town - Austin - and decided I could safely make it there.

Austin’s station in town was closed too. And I could go only 15 more kms safely. I called John Vissers to have him look up some phone numbers for stations nearby. We didn’t find anything. While walking over to a store to get a drink from the vending machine, I decided to walk down the road and see if I could tell what the bright sign was on the highway several kms away. I couldn’t, but decided I would drive there anyway.

A Coop! Closed. Oh wait. There’s guys inside. It just closed. 11 pm. I’d been in Austin for nearly an hour, and all I had to do was come here? Good thing I use diesel. They pulled out a cardlock account card, and I gave them $20 for the 20.31 litres. Odometer read 746.7 kms, possibly a new record for how far someone is willing to go on 0.0 reserve.

After showing the guys the car, I departed for Brandon, and finished filling the tank. I calculated 88 mpg overall for the 818 km run - which was great. I knew the last 250 kms were the best part of the tank, so I was looking forward to the next fill. I continued driving for another hour and a half, and slept in the car for about 4 hours near the SK border.