September 2020

September 21st Monday drive to Canmore!

We leave Lethbridge at 9a, 69,684k. First stop is UFA in Clareholm for fuel, DEF and a much needed Bailey bath!

Wonder how much these super large tires cost and which vehicle they are used on Bailey wash here we are. First time for us washing her on our own, reading the instructions…

Tire cleaner, pre-wash, foam brush, wash, rinse, wax, spot free rinse.

22m51s in = $34.25 almost doneFinal rinse

Total price $49.50, not perfect but much better. Can even see out the windshield.

On the road again we spot this smiling face farmhouse.

Bug free windshield didn’t last long! Off in the distance, Calgary.

Back to the dueling GPSes, we are attempting t0 remember the tidbits Wilf told us. Should have taken notes! We opt for the route that makes the most sense to us. Hum, doesn’t feel right but we are committed to the exit. We are on a road Bailey’s GPS doesn’t know exists and Maps isn’t talking to us any more.

Should have taken a photo earlier of our savior trucker but this is him. We latch onto him when the new road was not marked. It didn’t even have lines painted yet. This guy had BC plates so we followed, turned out to be a good plan. Yahoo, for the Canmore sign! Although stressful for a bit turns out Calgary was easy to bypass.

It’s a beautiful drive

Canmore!

Hello Spring Creek RV Off to our spot, D7

Set up, beautiful views everywhere!!

Insert Allan’s humour. He thought the wheelie bar on this RV was pretty funny. The avocados speak for themselves….

Canmore bunnies! I didn’t know. We had the same 3 visit nightly.

So beautiful!

Not so beautiful 🙁 Allan’s bashed finger, think he’ll lose the nail

But look! A fire in the making….

Kyle, our son, heading to the Ukraine just when we are heading to BC

Come home safe! Sending tons of love!!

September 17 Anniversary Day!

Brenda and Wilf’s anniversary! Water Tower for dinner!!

First a walk to the river, that star gets around!

Next a drive around

These pretty birds are everywhere. Someone knows what they are called but, that someone isn’t me.

Wilf comes over and figures out our Bob lighting issue. All done! We go to his shop to check out his big rig! Wish we had better photos.

Allan sat in the drivers seat, what the heck do you do with all these thingies

On the way to the restaurant we spot,

she’s known as a “sweetheart” in Lethbridge.

Should have taken better view photos from the restaurant

The happy couple!

With their happy friends!!

Enjoying Creme Brulee for dessert Love these guys!

September 16 Wednesday

We decided it may be good to have an alternate method of cooking for the colder, rainier days. So many say how wonderful an Instant Pot is so we give it a shot. All that know Allan know he’s a RTFM (read the fuckin manual) kind of guy…We have limited, OK perhaps no extra space. This 6qt model is just too big for most of our cupboards. They make a 3qt model, that may be more for us.

The view across the street

Teacup Tiny Home, developed in Lethbridge! Year round living.

Side note!

On Route to Lethbridge

A lot of flatness & cows!

SNOW, no!!!

We later learn it is really sulfur. The goal is, Bailey never sees snow!

We see many grain silos

Some oil wells

Trains and more silos

Alberta!!!!We pass a sign indicating vehicles over a certain weight must report to the inspection station. Does that include us? Allan errs on the side of caution, after seeing the chaser vehicle

Turns out it isn’t required for us, would have been interested to determine our weight but we couldn’t figure that out.

Back on the road I finally get a photo of the “Important Intersection” sign. We foolishly thought all intersections were important!Almost there

What’s that??? Turns out it’s the Water Tower Restaurant.

Next exit is ours…

is in a coulee New word that Brenda taught us

Heading to site F145P

This is the first site we’ve been in that is both pull thru (Bridgeview calls it that) and a back out. It’s a nice, long site

With this view from the front seats

We see a river, off we go

We spot a ship wreck!

Some lovely scenery

The Lethbridge Viaduct, commonly known as the High Level Bridge

Construction began August of 1908, the bridge was completed June 22, 1909 and officially opened on November 1, 1909. It cost a whopping $1,334,525.00 to build. This bridge is still the longest and highest of its kind in the world reaching 5,327.625 feet long (1.6km) and 314 feet high (96 meters). In its time is has been described by some as one of the wonders of the world! We thought the Peterborough one was impressive!

We’re in Lethbridge to see Allan’s childhood friend, Wilf and family. The evening ended with a surprise visit from Wilf’s parents And then Shelly, Wilf’s sister and her husband Jim. Forgot to take that photo!

It will be a super fun week here.

Moose Jaw Canada’s Most Notorious City

Wake up to this!

Head to town, didn’t know Moose Jaw is mostly closed on Sundays. They skies are very dreary after such a nice sunrise.

Get a huge kick out of finding Capone’s hideout!

Fun wall art

Meet Mac the Moose of Moose Jaw!

Random plane next to Mac

Back at the campground

A little walk around, love watching the vehicles drive on the horizon.

Off to Lethbridge in the morning. Allan’s lifelong friend lives there, will be a fun reunion.

Sep 12 – Brandon to Moose Jaw

We leave at 840a, km 68,684

Unlike the drive to Turtle Crossing, we leave on a paved road, so not

This was an uneventful, flat terrain drive. A nice break.

We arrive at Peanut Hills Campgrounds at 130, crossing into Central time zone.

Follow Bailey to the site

Parked without my help but WHOOPS we are supposed to be site 31, we are in 30. Allan was going to wheel around for try 2 but the park Manager drove by to say “Leave it” 🙂

All set up! Notice the train cars and plant in the background!

Do a quick walk, it is a small park so takes no time.The vehicles that drive on the highway appear to be floating

Fire time!

Tomorrow is explore Moose Jaw day.

September 10, 2020 – What were we thinking?

We booked our campgrounds for the entire trip prior to leaving Sutton. We like to keep our drive times to about 5 hours knowing that likely ends up being 6+h.

Today’s drive, a whopping 1:52 minutes. Oh well, it will be nice to have an easy drive day.

Wake up to……

NO, not snow but we each did a double take.

We leave at 1020a, 68,485k

We encounter much flatness and many walls of hay! Speed limit, who came up with that number

Nice, here we go again – Bailey’s GPS is telling us to turn down this road. The bad thing about this GPS is, it doesn’t like to reroute. It’s stubborn!! Keeps wanting us to do a U-turn so we can turn here.

Enlist the aid of Maps on my cell. It know the road is closed and sends us back to Hwy 1. Turn off Hwy 1 onto this road. Photo doesn’t make it look bad but it was the worse road to date. Everything shook, rattled – it was deafening. I should have done a video.

Not to be left out Maps is now telling us to turn onto private property drive ins. The road ends, Bailey’s GPS is saying turn right, Maps wants us to turn left. At this point we have more faith in Maps but turning left doesn’t make sense. We call Turtle Crossing, “turn left then we are on the right!”

We arrive at 132p, longer than the anticipated arrival time thanks to the crazy directions.

Allan checking in.

The first park rule “Turtles have right of way”. Makes us think we will see lots of turtles. We are on the lookout.

All set up.

The tow cables after a bit dirty after that bumpy, dusty road.

September 11 – Our stroll around the park.

No turtles spotted yet… Allan is searching.

Beautiful sunset

and fire

Allan is much miffed…

NO gators in Florida or the Carolinas

No bears in Ontario

Road signs say:

Deer next (how ever many) km, NO deer sightings

Moose next (how ever many) km, NO moose sighting

NO prairie dogs in the Prairies

And now these are the only turtles we see. Disappointing.

Maybe we’ll have better luck in Banff National Park, they say it is home to 53 species of mammals.

September 08 – Heading to Winnipeg

Leave at 830a, seems to be a popular time for us, 67,989k

Weather turns dreary, scenery not as scenic

Standard reduced to one lane section

The strangest things pass us!

Manitoba coming up, 2km

Made it! Hello Manitoba!!

More better, Hello Divided Highway!!

Clouds and more clouds

Now the dueling GPS begins. Not one of our favourite games. Which one do we believe??

We choose to not do a u-turn! Good choice!!

Made it! Arrived at 235p

First campground we have been in that builds elevated electric rooms. Flooding issue?

Allan begs to differ, beer o’clock is now.

September 09 – Explore downtown Winnipeg day. Turned into a “drive by” day, was much too peopley to walk around.

We go back to the campground which is really in the outskirts, in a town called, St. Francois Xavier We still need some steps so thought we’d walk to the town. Nope it is over 3h walk each way on the side of the highway. There is a gravel road next to the gas station/check in building, there is a turn close to the start but we decide to give that a go.

Pleasantly surprised to find ..

The dirt road ended up in an estate subdivision filled with large homes. We managed to get our 10k steps today.

September 6th – 4th Stop

Today we head to Ignace, we never heard of it before booking, but the distance worked. Leave at 830a, 67,454k

The normal restricted to one lane

Red rock

A funky bridge

Terry Fox Scenic Lookout near Thunder Bay

A little “clean the windshield” sprinkle

Our GPS often pays tricks on us. This time it sends us down a bumpy road and wants us to turn on a dirt road. The dirt road has a turn we can’t see around. I get out, walk to the corner to find another corner. This can’t be right. Allan calls and no it isn’t right, we should not have turned.

We get back on the road we shouldn’t have turned off, drive another 5ish minutes and here we are, arrive at 315p

Thinking we have a back in site, we decide to unhook Bob prior to check in. Bob loves Bailey and decides he doesn’t want to get unhooked. Suspect that bumpy road whacked something out of alignment. Allan struggles with it, wiggles and jiggles, poof! They are unhooked.

All set up

We won’t be able to have a fire as the pit is too close to Bailey but the weather isn’t that nice anyways. Allan has a, much deserved

Found our golf cart! Think it’s the park’s owners, they may object!

Walk to Davy Lake

Walk into town

Why oh why would they have so many charging stations in Ignace. Never saw this many in Toronto! These are for Teslas only!! Not much else in town.

Weather here hasn’t been great, rain, sun, rain, partial sun. Wonder if this is typical.

September 08: Time to leave. First for us! Stinky slinky leaking everywhere!!

The only other hose we have doesn’t reach, the plan is to circle around and stop closer to the sewer. We find the communal hook ups first so use it. Another first, we pump quicker than the sewer can handle. Stop, stop!! Finally we are empty. Such an exciting morning and it’s only 830a!

Off we go…..