Thursday July 21, 2011 Posted by Mary Jane & Merrill

We left our Calgary Wal-Mart overnight spot about 8:30am and headed downtown Calgary with the intent to see Devonian Gardens with the R.V. and car in tow, a big mistake; the downtown area was not designed to park a rig our size so we circled around and decided to skip seeing the gardens. Once again headed South; our goal was to get into USA today. Since our route took us through the town of High River, Alberta we took time to stop by HyPower Fuel, a company that Marie’s brother, Ira was in partnership with to see how the business was doing. We were not able to find anyone at the manufacturing shop so we traveled on. Leaving there we used up all our Canadian cash to put gas in the RV which was enough to bring us to Great Falls, MT.  It was warm enough today to eat our lunch at a Wayside/RV park where we picked a few Saskatoon berries.    It appears that today was one of travel only which was ok as our main mission today was to reach Montana, We arrived at US Customs about 2:45 and we were checked through without any problems.  Because Stan needed to order some medication we stopped at the first town after crossing the border so he could make a phone call from a pay phone.  In that little town of Shelby we came upon a farmers market where we bought some fresh garden produce.  We needed to make sure we didn’t have any fruits or vegetables in our possession when we crossed the border so we were ready to stock up again once we got through. Though we are still so far from home, just coming into Montana makes us feel like we are home!  We filled up with gas at a Sam’s Club in Great Falls and Marie & I went grocery shopping at Wal-Mart.  Since it was about 8 o’clock by the time we finished shopping, Merrill suggested we have supper at McDonald’s so we wouldn’t have to cook plus then we’ll have free           Wi-Fi.

 Marie, Mary Jane, & Stanley picking Saskatoon Berries

  Lunch beside the river next at Wayside Park

Wednesday July 20, 2011

Wednesday morning before we left Sagitawah R.V. Park (one of our best campgrounds) we took a few more pictures. We were on the road about 9:20 and heading south toward Edmonton, Alberta. We got to Edmonton in time to eat lunch in the mall parking lot before going into the West Edmonton Mall.  This mall is one of the largest malls in North America with over 800 stores, a beach area, a marine life area, an ice skating rink, movie theaters, several food courts, and much more. We only stayed a couple of hours and then continued on to Calgary. Most of our travel today consisted of large farms on both sides of the road; we again saw large canola fields in full bloom with their yellow flowers; very beautiful. We ate our supper at a rest area before reaching Calgary and headed on to a super Wal-Mart parking lot to spend the night. Stanley and I are now at a McDonalds making use of their Wi-Fi. We drove about 285 miles today and plan to reach Montana tomorrow before we stop for the night.

 Merrill & Marie at Sagitawah R.V. Park

 West Edmonton Mall Entrance #6

 Marie, Mary Jane, & Stanley in the Mall

 Beach Area in the Mall

 Ice Skating Rink in the Mall

   Seal Show at the Marine Area 

Tuesday July 19, 2011

This morning when I woke up I realized that this was the first night in quite a while that our heater did not run during the night; Stanley did turn the thermostat up for heat a little bit this morning to take the chill out.  Marie and Mary Jane prepared French toast for breakfast; we filled our water tank and emptied the holding tank as we were leaving the campground. The ladies wanted to do laundry so we stopped in a town along the way called Valley View, upon checking the only Laundromat in town the ladies said they were not willing to pay $4 per load to wash so we decided to wait until this afternoon.  We stopped traveling this afternoon about 3pm at Sagitawah R.V. Park a very nice park which is full service including a laundry room; $2.25 to wash and $1.50 to dry so it was worth the wait. We also have Wi-Fi at this campground. The scenery today was very similar to what we see in northern US. We only traveled 187 miles and called it a day. This evening after supper we walked around the park and out to the river, they have had a lot of rain recently; the mud that is still around is positive proof of the recent rain. We will be traveling within Canada two more days and then into Montana on our way south.

 Stanley updating his Facebook

 Our campsite at Sagitawah R.V. Park

 Stanley, Mary Jane, and Marie Crossing a Foot Bridge

 Mary Jane & Stanley walking toward the Foot Bridge

Events of Monday July 18, 2011 Posted by Merrill on Tuesday

Monday morning we left our campsite beside the little pond about 8:20 and headed south along the Alaska Highway. Our first stop was at a rest area about 10:30 we then continued on stopping at Sheppard’s Inn the final Roadhouse on the Alaska Highway heading south. We purchased sourdough bread and headed on to Fort St. John.  At Fort St. John we found the visitor center and were able to use their Wi-Fi connection. As we were leaving town we spotted Peace Island Park so we stopped there and had lunch in the park. As we traveled today we have enjoyed seeing the large farms especially the large yellow fields of Canola that are in full bloom this time of the year. We drove out a couple of miles on a stretch of the old Alaska Highway to look at the only timber curved bridge that was built along the Alaska Highway that is still in use today. The road improvement causes most of today’s traffic to bypass this bridge which was very much a part of the original Alaska Highway.  At Dawson Creek we made it a point to stop at milepost “0” the original starting point of the Alaska Highway built in 1942. While in Dawson Creek we fueled up and exchanged US money for Canadian money to help us make it back to the US. Traveling on we crossed into the Mountain Time zone as we entered into Alberta, Canada. Driving through the lower part of BC and now Alberta is very much like driving through northern United States. We reached Saskatoon Island Provincial Park about 7:30 in time to build a camp fire. We made pizza mountain pies for supper and smores for dessert. It was a beautiful evening; just a bit on the chilly side making the campfire feel good.

 Shepherd's Inn Roadhouse

 Flowers at Ft St John Visitor's Center

 Flowers at Ft St John Visitor's Center

 Fields of Canola in full bloom

 Timber Curved Bridge

 Timber Curved Bridge

 Milepost "0" at Dawson Creek

Camping at Saskatoon Island Prov. Park



Sunday July 17, 2011

Posted on Monday for Sunday's events by Merrill

Sunday morning we visited the Christian Missionary Alliance church in Fort Nelson. When we stopped at the visitor center on Saturday we were told that the church service starting time was 11:00. We left our camp site about 10:00 so we could ride around Fort Nelson a while before going to church, we arrived at the church about 10:40 and the parking lot was full of cars so we thought perhaps we were late. We were not given the proper information; their starting time is 11:00 in the winter and 10:30 in the summer however they like many places don’t start promptly. We were inside the church just as they were opening the service.  This particular congregation has been without a pastor for about five years however they do have a pastor that will be moving from Vancouver in the next month or so. They told us that it difficult to find a pastor who is willing to come this far north and settle into a remote area and make this their permanent home. One of their church elders, Ted Macdonald, brought the morning message preaching from Romans chapter 12.

Yesterday when we checked into the campground we ask about extending our stay passed the usual 11am check-out time and they approved us leaving the R.V. in the campsite until after we came back from church.  That made it very convenient to stay set up; when we came back from church the ladies prepared lunch so we ate before leaving. About 1:00 we were on the road again traveling south along the Alaska Highway. The road is very remote between Fort Nelson and Fort St John. We did take a break stopping at Bucking Horse River Lodge where Mary Jane called from the public phone to talk with their daughter Debbie. During our travel along this remote area we started listening to Patrick Swayze’s story on audible book. We didn’t plan to make this a long driving day so we began looking for a free “dry camp site” and sure enough about 4:45 we spotted a nice little pond with a gravel road good enough for us to drive right next to the pond. Stanley and I unhooked the car since we will have to back out. We also took advantage of the free pond water to wash our dirty car. We drove through some rain and the gravel road dirt just covers the car being towed. We see many dirty vehicles and vehicles with cracked windows because of loose gravel hitting them. So far we have two chips on our R.V. windshield and one on our car windshield; I’ll deal with that upon our return to Florida.



Church we attended 7-17-11  

 Wild Flowers - Fireweed along the Road

 Our Campsite

      

Posted by Mary Jane Saturday July 16, 2011

After breakfast and devotions Saturday morning, Merrill & Stan were ready to get in the hot springs again before leaving Liard River area.  Marie & I walked down too but didn’t get in.  Only one other person was there when the guys arrived this morning and the water seemed hotter; maybe because the water wasn’t stirred around as much.  We came back to the camper, packed up and were on the road by 10:30.  Just a short time on the road we came upon a whole herd of buffalo – over a dozen adult ones and 5 calves.  While stopped to take pictures, several of them just walked across the road right in front of us, not paying a bit of attention to us.  Cars coming toward us had to stop to let them cross!  Not too much farther down the road we came upon another herd of buffalo – this time in a clearing a bit more off the road.  They were harder to see because of the trees so Merrill climbed up on top of the camper to take pictures!  Whatever it takes to get a good picture!!  We stopped to take about a mile hike at Mineral Lick, hoping to see sheep or caribou at the salt lick but we didn’t see any.  However, we saw beautiful scenery.  Lunch time found us at a pull-off overlooking Muncho Lake.  We had to stop again when we got down closer to the lake and revel in the beauty of the jade colored water and massive mountain behind the lake.  Journeying on we caught sight of a Mama & baby caribou but too far away to get a good picture.  We were also delighted to see several mountain sheep with young ones, close to the road which moved quickly as we approached.  There were so many different variations in the mountains we saw today – such beauty.

We arrived in Fort Nelson around 5:45, checked at the Visitor’s Center for info about camping for tonight and a church for tomorrow.  We had a little issue with our campsite but we finally set up here at Blue Bell Inn & RV Park – with Wi-Fi!!

 Herd of Buffalo as we left Liard hot Springs

Marie and Merrill at Muncho Lake

Posted Saturday by Mary Jane for Friday July 15, 2011

We went to bed Thursday night hearing rain and woke up Friday morning hearing rain which made for good sleeping!  Because we were up late last night and it was raining, we took our time getting around in the morning.  By the time Marie & I went to the Visitor’s Center and the guys gassed up the R.V., we didn’t get off until 11:30.  Our excitement for the day was seeing lots of wild life as we traveled.  One at a time we saw 9 buffalo and 5 bear.  It’s fun to stop and watch them and interesting that we feel we have to take a picture each time!

The rain let up soon after we were on the road and we had times of bright sunshine and then more cloudiness too.  We arrived at Liard River Hot Springs Provincial Park Campground around 4:30.  The campground was already full but they allowed us to park in the day use parking lot.  We had a nice spot in the corner and opened the canopy for the 1^st time.  We changed into our swimwear and headed for the Hot Springs – and hot it was!  There is a section that is not quite so hot and that helped us get our body adjusted.  Merrill, Stan & I got in; Marie didn’t even bring her bathing suit on this trip, but she did at least step in (and she took pictures).  We had a supper of leftovers and we all went to bed early - that mineral water really relaxed us.  Plus we had no internet service!