Making Our Way Across Canada

September 21-22, 2016

With rain in the forecast in a few days we decided to get on across Canada. On Wednesday morning we were on the road by 7:30am with a 7 hour 440 mile ride ahead of us. After an uneventful long travel day we arrived in Indian Head Saskatchewan. We arrived at Indian Head Campground about 3pm, the campground was just off the highway, the sites had nice spacing and our pull through was long enough for us with lots of spare room. With a fire pit and a beautiful evening we enjoyed our overnight stay.

Thursday our drive was much shorter so our departure wasn't nearly as early. Our next stop was Brandon Manitoba at Turtle Crossing RV Park. In 2012 the campground suffered a devastating flood, after starting the rebuild process once again in 2014 they suffered another flood. The park isn't in the best of shape but if the river doesn't flood again and they get their dike built then one day it will once again be a beautiful park. With a price of $25 (Canadian) per night it was easy on the budget and served our purpose just fine.

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise for our last morning in Canada. 

Until next time....

Back In The USA!!!

September 23-26, 2016

Friday we had another relatively short travel day. As we left Brandon MB we headed south towards the USA. We crossed over at a small border crossing, this was the first time we were asked to see the inside of the rv. Well our onions didn't make it back with us :) Soon after crossing into North Dakota we reached Dunseith home of a giant turtle. We knew the turtle was here as we'd been through here a number of years ago and stopped to see it. Today was just a quick stop to grab a picture from the truck.

Our destination was Graham's Island State Park near Devils Lake, a beautiful campground with water and electric sites, there is a full hookup area but we opted for the W/E area. With our new Dish For My RV app we knew which sites we could get a satellite signal at. This time of the year it is first come here and we had a choice of most sites.



After getting set up we headed into Devils Lake, we checked two tire dealers and now have an appointment for Monday to get new sneakers on. Late afternoon the rain came, we are happy to be in such a beautiful place to ride out the bad weather.

Saturday was a day of relaxing and blog catching up. I spent most of the afternoon writing the last 3 posts and getting caught up to today.

Sunday was rainy and cold, stayed inside all day. Extended our stay through Monday

Monday we called about our appointment for our tires. Truck broke down that was bringing the tires, can't do it for a few days. We decided we'll move on down the road on Tuesday, we'll try again the next stop.

Until next time...

Disappointed-On To The Badlands

September 17-20, 2016

On Saturday morning we headed back to Cochrane AB but first we stopped in Canmore AB to have lunch with friends from our place at Gulf Waters in TX. Our friends Pat and John live in Canmore, other friends Vicky and Steve also from Gulf Waters, were in town for a visit. We enjoyed lunch at one of Pat and Johns favorite eateries in town. Unfortunately we forgot our camera :( oh well we'll get some this winter in TX.

After our delicious lunch and tour of Pat and Johns beautiful home we headed on to Cochrane.We had stayed at Bow Rivers Edge on our way north and totally forgot to take a picture of the site we were in for this visit.

The main reason for stopping in Cochrane was to get new sneakers for the truck. We headed over to Canadian Tire, got a quote for some tires that were in stock and could be mounted the next day. First though we wanted to compare prices with Costco so we headed there next. Costco's prices were about the same but they couldn't get them for a week so back to Canadian Tire we went. An appointment was set up for Sunday afternoon for the tires and an alignment.

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Canadian Tire for our appointment, we dropped the truck off and started walking to some of the local shops where we had things we needed to take care of. Thirty minutes later we get a call saying we have none of those tires in stock and we can't do the alignment with the canoe on top of the truck. What the heck, we had checked with them the day before, supposedly there were 12 tires in stock and we had asked if we could leave the canoe on top of the truck and was told it was fine. They said they'd try and get some brought over from another store. Well after we got our business done we headed back to Canadian Tire, nope no tires and they didn't know when they might get them. They blamed the mess up on the new sales associate we had helping us. After venting our frustration we got the keys back for the truck and headed home. Needless to say this has left us with a distaste for Canadian Tire.

Monday morning we got on the road fairly early for our drive to Dinosaur Provincial Park. When Dave had seen photos of this park we decided this would be our next stop. A beautiful 3 hour drive on the Trans Canadian Highway though the Alberta countryside took us to this unique area.


The similarities to the South Dakota Badlands is what drew us but it is known for it's dinosaur discoveries. We had our choice of quite a few sites, after figuring out which would work best for us we chose site 32. We had no cell service but the park has okay wifi, our Dish satellite worked just fine, what more could we need for a few nights.

A beautiful fall day and our first real campfire in many months, life is good.

If I didn't know better I would have thought we were in the South Dakota Badlands. 

They have a visitors center here which has lots of info on the local finding but they charge $6/person to visit it. Since we are not into dinosaurs that much we didn't pay the fee to enter. There are two stops on their scenic loop that discuss what was found nearby.

What a great place to decompress at for a few days.

Until next time...

Enjoying Lake Louise-Banf National Park AB

September 12-16, 2016



A teary eyed  start to our Monday morning as we parted ways with our traveling companions, two months of traveling and touring with them, now we're on our own again. Our ride today was over the Rockies and down the Icefields Parkway which we had driven heading up into Alaska. As usual the scenery did not disappoint.

  
But we won't be alone too long. Our first destination was Lake Louise Trailer Park in Banf National Park where we met up with our friends MonaLiza and Steve of The Lowe's RV Adventures. Back in May when we saw them we found out we'd both be in this area at the same time so the meetup was planned. The evening was spent catching up and talking about Alaska.

The sites at Lake Louise Trailer Park are a little different. Pads are shared, hopefully your neighbor has left enough room for you to get in, thankfully ours did..thanks Steve. If your rv door is facing your site your electrical hookup is on the wrong side, with strategic placement it isn't too much of an issue. Since MonaLiza and Steve would be leaving before us we chose to have our door facing our site. Our site had no fire pit, some do, so we broke out our handy gas fire pit and enjoyed that while we talked the evening away.

 Good thing we like our neighbors, when they left we only had rental rv's in for overnights.

Tuesday we finally got back on the trails. We had asked MonaLiza to find us some easy trails to start with, Morraine Lake was our first hike in awhile.I think it was in the high 30's when we started out...brrr. The beauty here is simply amazing, so thankful we got to spend a few days here.

Since the first hike went so well we decided to try another one. The hike to Consulation Lakes was a bit longer and had just a bit of elevation gain. A bit of a rock scramble and we were rewarded with some beautiful views.

Our evening ended with another great meal, Alaskan salmon and Pancit-a Filipino dish that was so good.Thanks MonaLiza.

 S'mores for dessert :)

Another great evening around the gas fire. We sure hope Steve and MonaLiza like theirs when it arrives.





Wednesday we took the Bow River Loop Trail right out of the campground. A nice 4 mile walk with little elevation gain.

 
Thursday morning Steve and MonaLiza left, not sure when we'll see them again. But until then safe travels and we look forward to the next time we see you two.

Thursday we did the Bow River Loop Trail the reverse way we had done it on Wednesday. Friday we didn't do much, walked the campground loops and worked on travel plans for the next month.








 Until next time...

Post Caravan Gathering

September 10-11, 2016

Saturday morning after our goodbys we headed east along Rt 16. Our destination was Valemount and Irvins RV Park where we gathered with four other couples. We have all become good friends and we're all heading in the same general direction for awhile, so why breakup a good time before we had to.

Irvins RV Park is a beautiful place with nice sized sites, all pull thru and 50amp. We got our Dish TV working again, life is returning to normal.

Our ride to Valemount should have been about 3 hours but it took a bit longer. Part way up a long hill an engine light came on and the truck started loosing power. We pulled over on the side of the road and started checking things out. Finding we could accomplish sitting on the side of the road we traveled on taking it slow. Soon the truck was behaving normally and our power was back but the engine light was still on. We made it to Irvins RV Park in Valemount BC, upon check in we were given a mechanics name and had scheduled an appointment for that afternoon. We got set up and the ribs in the smoker, then went to take the truck into town and low and behold the engine light was off. Cancelled the appointment since there was nothing for him to read, hoping it was a temporary thing.

We had hoped to have dinner outside but the wind and cold came in and all ten of us ended up in Mike & Liz's motorhome. Another evening of good food, lots of laughter and great friends...life doesn't get any better than that.

Sunday morning Dave decided to change the fuel filter in the truck, it didn't go as smoothly as he had hoped. After checking the owners manual things went a bit more smoothly.


We had everyone to our place for lunch (leftover ribs) and afterwards we all headed into Valemount to Three Ranges Brewing Company.

Dinner that evening was held at friend Jack and Dixie's motorhome. Our main course was prime rib, desert was cheesecake and an awesome Oreo desert Dixie has been feeding us over the last few months. Created some great memories, good food, lots of laughter with great friends. No pictures that evening, guess we were more interested in talking.

We created some great memories the last few days, Until we meet again, safe travels, we're going to miss you.

Until next time...