September 13, 2005

September 13, 2005

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan to Wainwright, Alberta

YEAR 2 DAY 88

 

Today started out sunny, but quite cold. The day got warmer as we travelled west, and by late afternoon it was warm. The evening clouded over, and it rained lightly.

Teddy, Bo, and I all got up an hour earlier than usual this morning. I guess our body clocks failed to recognize yesterday's time zone change. After showering, walking Bo, morning chores, and preventive maintenance, I walked over to the campground office to pick up our 2 freshly baked cinnamon buns for breakfast. MMMMM ! ! ! We had breakfast, then prepared the trailer for departure. Before pulling out of the campground, we went back to the office and bought a Saskatoon berry pie, perogies, and holuptsi, all freshly home made. We drove over to an RV dealer, and bought the bedroom closet door latch, and bedroom shade hold down clip that I needed. As I was walking back to the trailer, I passed a very old Class B van conversion for sale on the dealer's lot. The price sticker was shockingly low ! I immediately thought that it might be of some interest to our friends from Ottawa, Erbon and Lorraine Dickinson. They are somewhat interested in a camper van, but do not like how much they typically cost. We had a salesman open this unit so we could see the inside. It's very low mileage, and the interior is still quite functional despite its age. We're going to tell Erbon and Lorraine about this unit when they phone us from California, as they head back towards Ottawa. Maybe they would be interested in passing through Saskatoon to see this camper. We filled up with diesel, and hit the road, heading west on Yellowhead Hwy. 16.

We stopped for lunch at North Battleford. Joanne drove from North Battleford to Lloydminster, at the Alberta border. While Joanne was driving I received a phone call from Ruth Anne Huggard. I had sent her an e-mail yesterday telling her that we would be passing through Camrose tomorrow. She was calling to invite us for a visit, and dinner tomorrow. At Lloydminster we pulled into Wal-Mart. While Joanne went inside to shop, I unhitched the trailer, and took the truck in for an oil change. By the time the oil change was finished, and I was rehitching, Joanne was finished shopping, and putting away her purchases. What an efficient one hour stop !

We continued west on Yellowhead Hwy. 16 to Vermillion where we turned south on Hwy. 41. Halfway between Vermillion and Wainwright we stopped at a campground, but didn't stay. The sites were not level. I couldn't get into the site assigned to us. The service in the office was poor. The final straw was when the woman in the office wanted to charge more than the posted rate. We left ! We drove to the military town of Wainwright, near Edmonton. We filled up with diesel ... again. Our fuel expenses for today were $243 ! Yikes ! We camped for the night in Wainwright’s grubby little municipal campground, in a quiet residential area of town. We had supper, then I worked on today's journal entry and accounting while Joanne washed dishes, then washed her hair. I reviewed the scribbled notes I made during our meetings with Wilf Rumball at the Loondromat in Riding Mountain National Park, sorted them, and transcribed them into a file in the computer.

DSK