Another gloomy, rainy day of tough driving. We have just arrived and settled in for the evening at the closed for the season Travel Information Centre on the Alberta side of the Crowsnest Pass through the Rocky Mountains. And it has begun to rain very heavily. We're tired of the rain. And I'm tired of driving in the mountains. Up, down, curve around, all the time ! And having just replaced a $5200 transmission, I'm neurotic about the effect the hills are having on the new transmission.
We left the Wal-Mart parking lot in Trail this morning, continuing east on Hwy. 3B, then Hwy. 3. We stopped in Creston to buy some freshly picked, wild Huckleberries. Yes, yes, they are expensive, but the opportunity to have fresh Huckleberries was irresistible to me. We stopped in Cranbrook to refill with diesel, dump the shower waste holding tank, refill the freshwater holding tank, and have lunch ... and a nap. Joanne is strongly encouraging us to "travel slowly", so yesterday and today I napped briefly after lunch.
Early in the evening we passed from British Columbia to Alberta through the Crowsnest Pass and stopped to boondock overnight in the parking lot of the closed for the season Alberta Travel Information Centre. You’d think that a province as rich as Alberta could afford to keep their border crossing Travel Information Centres open longer than Labour Day, wouldn’t you ? ! ?
In addition to seeing lots of deer yesterday and today, today we saw a young wolf on the side of the road. After we passed it I could see in my rear view mirror that it was cautiously crossing the highway. What a treat to see such a shy and rare animal in the wild.
Monday ; Crowsnest Pass to Medicine Hat, Alberta
It was very cold this morning at the high elevation of the Crowsnest Pass, but ... the sun was shining brightly. We left the Visitor Information Centre parking lot and continued east on Hwy. 3, descending down out of the Rocky Mountains and through the Foothills into ... prairie ! Ranches and farms. Big sky ! Smooth, straight road. Easy driving ! And very warm temperatures !
We stopped to refill with diesel at Fort Macleod. We stopped to dump all the waste holding tanks and refill the freshwater tank at the municipal campground in the pretty little village of Coalhurst. Near the village of Seven Persons we stopped at a small, independent butcher specializing in sausage making. Unfortunately, all the sausages were in pork casings, so we couldn't buy any. But we did buy some fresh ground lamb, and some home made cabbage rolls. We stopped to have lunch ( and a very brief nap ) in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Taber.
By 5 PM we were in Medicine Hat. We had dinner with and spent the evening visiting with our friends Sep and Susanna, whom we haven't seen in five years ! It was great to visit with old friends. At 9 PM we said goodbye and headed for another overnight stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Minutes after we got parked at Wal-Mart there was a knock at our door. HUH ? We were parked next to the motorhome of Robert and Sharon, Escapee friends of ours from Escapees Okanagan Chapter 33. Small world ! We chatted in the parking lot with them for quite awhile.
I'm typing this at 11:30 PM. We are in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart on the outskirts of a small city. Why are we surrounded by howling coyotes ? ! ? Bo doesn't like it !
My old friend Sep is and has always been a cigar aficionado. About 25 years ago he introduced me to the pleasures of extremely fine, exotic cigars. My very best cigar smoking experiences have been with Sep, and his cigars. Tonight ... < sigh > ... it broke my heart to have to decline his offer to share the two cigars he recently acquired from Nepal.
Tuesday ; Medicine Hat, Alberta to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Saskatchewan
Sunny and very warm, a lovely, prairie "big sky" day.
This morning while Joanne went into Wal-Mart to buy a few grocery items, I walked to the next mall over to buy an item I needed at Canadian Tire. When our shopping was completed we pulled out of the Wal-Mart parking lot, drove down the highway one exit, and refilled with diesel at Safeway.
We headed east on Trans-Canada Highway 1 for awhile and then ... our adventure began. We always consider it an adventure to take a route we have not travelled before. Joanne had planned for us to explore Southern Saskatchewan on this trip, starting with Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, which is partly in Alberta and partly in Saskatchewan.
A half hour or so after leaving Medicine Hat we turned south on Hwy.41 heading for Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, Alberta side. When we arrived we went to the Visitor Information Centre to get some information. The lone attendant working was ... neither very knowledgeable nor very helpful. The only useful information she had for us was that the water system within the park was down for maintenance today. No water today ! Well ... with no water, we might as well stay for free in a Wal-Mart parking lot, n'est'ce pas ? Why would I pay $35 to stay in a campground with no water ( bathroom / shower building closed, no water refill for trailers, etc. ) today ? ! ?
We drove through the park's three campgrounds and checked them out. Not particularly impressive. We drove over to the day use area beside the lake. We had a "Bo-gility" session in the playground. WOO-HOO ... Bo loves going down playground slides. HA HA HA ! Joanne prepared lunch and we ate it at a picnic table beside the lake. After lunch we drove over to the trailer dump station to empty the trailer's shower waste holding tank, with plans to refill the freshwater somewhere else later. We found that the water system repairs were completed and the potable water spigot was functional so ... bonus ... we were able to refill the trailer's freshwater tank. With empty shower tank and full freshwater tank, we decided to leave the Alberta side of the park and go explore the Saskatchewan side.
Easier said than done ! We continued south on Hwy.41 for about an hour, almost to the U.S. border. We turned east onto Hwy. 501 heading into Saskatchewan. HEY ! ! ! The map indicates that this is a paved road. It's not ! ! ! < sigh > Sixty kilometres / forty miles of gravel ! We crossed into Saskatchewan, the gravel road became Hwy. 13, and at the tiny village of Consul it changed from gravel to asphalt. We turned north on Hwy. 21 and headed up to the Saskatchewan side of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. Once in the park we found our way to Rainbow Campground.
Nice campground ! Cheaper than on the Alberta side. And nicer, too ! We chose a long site ... can back in the truck and trailer and not need to unhitch / disconnect ... near the shower building.
I built a campfire. HMPH ! Wood was green ! Had a restful and pleasant late afternoon and evening.
I'm currently ( 7:30 PM ) sitting at the picnic table beside the campfire, working on the computer, while Joanne is inside the trailer preparing Chicken Chile Verde, a Mexican recipe using tomatillos, for supper. We don't often find tomatillos in Canada. AND ... < sputter > ... fresh, wild Huckleberries with cream for dessert. My mouth is watering in anticipation of both the main course and dessert.
Wednesday ; Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park to Weyburn, Saskatchewan
This morning as we were preparing to depart Rainbow Campground I received a phone call from a Vancouver area code phone number. A woman wanted to hire me to move her trailer from a Kaleden campground to an Okanagan Falls storage yard ... on Saturday. Sorry, lady, I'm in Saskatchewan and won't be home for 2½ weeks. She seemed annoyed with me.
Our departure was delayed by a day / night shade that required repair. We left Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park and drove south on Hwy. 21 to Hwy. 13, then east all day on Hwy. 13. Saw two herds of antelope today. Stopped in the lovely town of Shaunavon to refill with diesel, refill a propane tank, and buy some bread. While Joanne went into the Co-op grocery store to buy bread, I went next door to the little butcher shop. Bought some ground bison and ... WOO-HOO ... pickerel fillet. We had lunch beside the beautiful municipal park. While Joanne prepared lunch in the trailer I took Bo for an off leash romp in the large, empty park, then we did some "Bo-gility" in the playground. HA HA HA ... good dog, Bo, well done. Bo loooooves playground slides.
However, the bonus was that I was able to get online and post my blog entry for last week. After we had supper in the trailer in the Wal-Mart parking lot, I walked across a large, empty field ... and two railroad tracks ... in the dark ... to a McDonald's and used their free Wi-Fi.
Thursday ; Weyburn to Moose Mountain Provincial Park, Saskatchewan
A beautiful, sunny, warm, perfect "June 18" day.
This morning while Joanne went into Wal-Mart for a few items I did the 228,000 km. inspection on Lanoire. And while checking the truck maintenance records I realized that an oil change is due at 228,000 km. How fortuitous, there was a Jiffy Lube beside the Wal-Mart. We left the Wal-Mart parking lot and drove over to Jiffy Lube. A hundred and twenty bucks for an oil change ? ! ? I don't think so ! I'll do it myself in Winnipeg !
We found our way to the Co-op Fuel Bar and refilled with diesel before leaving Weyburn, continuing east on Hwy. 13. Twice I had to pull right off the road onto the grass shoulder and stop to let houses that were being moved pass by. Out here on the flat prairies with wide, flat, straight roads they move pretty large houses from one place to another !
J**** F****** H C***** ! ! ! A rock the size of a golf ball flew up from an oncoming tractor trailer and smashed the windshield, leaving a series of circular cracks in a ring the size of a baseball ! And this happened on a perfectly smooth stretch of dry asphalt road. !
When we got to the town of Carlyle we found a glass repair shop. The owner came out, looked at the windshield, and declared it not repairable. Too many circular cracks, too big a ring. DAMN !
After lunch we continued north on Hwy. 9 to our "Plan A" destination ; Moose Mountain Provincial Park. Upon arrival at the park we stopped at the trailer dump station, dumped all the waste holding tanks, and refilled with freshwater. We stopped at the firewood shed and picked up some firewood. We drove around the lovely, large campground and found a site to our liking.
We got set up in our site, then went to the playground nearby and had a great "Bo-gility" session. HA HA HA HA HA ! Well done, Bo, good dog ! I chopped firewood and started a campfire while Joanne figured out how to prepare ratatouille so that I could cook it over an open fire. Even Sully wanted to be outdoors enjoying the weather and location, so ... I took Sully for a long walk. Well ... for Sully a long walk meant walking very slowly about 100 feet down the sunny campground road, then turning around and heading back to the trailer to resume snoozing.
Joanne sat by the campfire enjoying the sizzling sounds of supper cooking while I sat at the picnic table working on the computer and Bo explored the forest around our campsite. Supper was excellent !
It became obvious when I applied ointment to my toes at bedtime that one of them was broken !
Friday ;
Weather is too nice ! Campground is too nice ! Pickerel fillet cooked over an open fire is too enticing ! We decided to stay here another day !
We slept late and had a lazy day. Repaired another broken day / night shade. I hope when we buy a truck camper next winter that it has horizontal mini-blinds and not day / night shades ! We went for a long but slow walk around the campground. We did a lengthy "heel" session of training. Bo has recently been behaving as if he no longer remembers what our expectations are when commanding "heel". After twenty minutes of training reinforcement his reward was a "Bo-gility" session at the campground playground.
And yes, yes ... the pickerel cooked over the open fire was excellent !
Saturday ; Moose Mountain Provincial Park, Saskatchewan to International Peace Garden, Manitoba / North Dakota border
Today was sunny and warm during the day, but cold and windy in the evening. BRRRRR ! ! !
We left Moose Mountain Provincial Park this morning and headed north on Hwy. 21 back to Hwy. 13 at Carlyle. We stopped in Carlyle to buy some bread and baking at the small town bakery. We continued east on Hwy. 13 which became Hwy. 2 when we crossed from Saskatchewan into Manitoba. We stopped to have lunch at a roadside rest area near the village of Deleau. At Hwy. 10 we turned south. We stopped in Boissevain to refill with diesel and buy a few grocery items. The very young fuel pump attendant at the Co-op fuel bar was so friendly, and was working so quickly to get all the vehicles filled and on their way, how could I express my annoyance when he smacked the fuel nozzle against the side of the truck as he was inserting it into the fuel filler, chipping the paint ? ! ?
Our objective for today was Moose Mountain Provincial Park, a few miles north of the U.S. border. When we pulled into the park, Joanne got out of the truck to pick up a park map, and bumped into a park ranger. She asked the park ranger about the campground. The female park ranger ... didn't know anything about anything, but told us to go on in, there was no charge at this time of the year. We drove into the campground and found ... every campsite loop road had a "closed for the season" barrier across it. We were not very impressed with the park ranger !
We drove another mile or two to the International Peace Garden straddling the Manitoba / North Dakota border. We found a suitable site in their campground and settled in. I started a campfire, and barbecued supper. After supper we sat around the campfire for awhile until it got just too cold to remain outside.
Bo seems to have an upset tummy tonight. Yeah ... eating wild rosehips and little frogs will do that to ya, Bo ! ! !
DSK
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