Day
10 – 5-21-15 Thursday We got everything ready, ate breakfast and
drove down the hill to fuel up and departed at 9AM MST. It was only
38 miles to the Canadian border. There were about 5 vehicles ahead of
us when we stopped and we had cleared and was on our way in 17
minutes. The agent checked our passports, asked a few questions and
told us to have a good day. He didn't check anything inside the MH so
we could of kept the vegetables and eggs. But with my luck if we had
we would of gotten inspected and been in trouble.
The
landscape continued to be basically rolling fields and very sparsely
populated. After about 120 miles we could see snow capped mountain a
long way off in the distance but our route today did not take us
anywhere near them. We drove to about 12:30PM and stopped for fuel
again and to eat lunch. Since the fuel stops that we can get into are
so few and far between we don't let the fuel get very low. The
accepted rule from experienced travelers to Alaska is to drive on the
“top half of your tank”. In other words don't go past half a
tank.
We
thought we would never get around Calgary. A very large city of over
1 million people and a good number of them were on the road around
the city including an 18 wheeler that was riding in the lane to the
right of us when a rock flew off his wheels and hit the MH windshield
just above the rubber molding at the bottom right side and created a
3” crack. If it had hit 1/2” lower it would of just hit the
rubber molding and would not have caused any damage.
We
decided to drive to Red Deer Alberta Canada and stop for the night at
RV There Yet Campground that was supposed to be just a few miles off
our route. The information we had didn't tell us the last 2.5 miles
or so was on a VERY dusty gravel road. When we got to the campground
our red Jeep was a yucky shade of tan. We checked in and set up on
pull through site 42. Today was bug washing time again – actually
twice today – once when I filled up with fuel at lunch time and
then again at the CG. We didn't have more than two or three through
Wyoming and Montana and today we had LOTS of them and they were big
enough we could hear them hitting the windshield.
Today
we saw the first law enforcement person on the highways and through
the towns that we have seen in 4 days.
The
CG advertises free WiFi and that is true it is free but it is also
useless. The signal is so weak even sitting at the CG office under
the antenna we could not get our Kindles to access the internet. It
appears that most of the people staying in the CG are construction
workers and their families that have been here awhile or campers
that are here long term.
Day
11 – 5-22-15 Friday We ate our breakfast and pulled out at 7:15AM
and drove back out the dusty road to the highway. We have noticed a
few things about Canada. They have pull outs along the highway with
trash cans so travelers can pull over and rest. But of course people
don't know how to put trash in the cans and there were quite a bit in
the grass around the pull offs. We don't see very much litter along
the roads though. We have only seen one “black gator” (a large
chuck of a 18 wheeler's tire) unlike what we see along the interstate
highways in North Carolina. Maybe they don't allow the truckers to
use recaps here. So far almost no billboards along the highway except
for near some of the towns and then the billboards are rather small
compared to in the USA. And when we are in a conversation with a
Canadian they end a lot of their sentences with “aye”. For
example as a guy in the campground said to me today “ You are from
North Carolina – you are a long way from home, aye.” And they
don't have mileage markers along the major highways.
Thanks
to the book we have called “The Milepost” we found a bypass
around Edmonton Alberta that saved driving the main highway around
the city. Edmonton is the last large city in Canada we will go
through on the way to Alaska. We are still traveling on 4 lane
divided highway but I think that might end tomorrow. Some of highway
43 we were on today is slated for repairs and it sure needs it. The
landscaped changed today from large farms/ranches and hardly a tree
in sight to smaller open spaces and many more trees. Some places all
we could see was trees on both sides of the road.
We
stopped for fuel about 11AM and pulled into what we thought was a
Pilot/Flying J truck stop. It was a fuel stop but it was just an
unattended two lanes of fuel pumps where you use a credit card to get
fuel. I think they are called “Card Lock” but not sure. The first
credit card station would not except my Flying J card so we moved to
the other lane and it took the card and we got fuel but the pumps we
so old we barely could make out the total cost or amount and you
don't get a paper receipt. The grounds around the pumps were in need
of some serious work.
We
decided to stop at a Canadian Provincial Park named Young's Point
about 6 miles off highway 43 at 2:30PM MST. Their Provincial parks
are like our State Parks. The lady let us go find a site that we
liked, set up and come back to pay. We took C-99. The CG is in a
totally wooded area with large trees all around us. The site are
large with gravel roads and gravel parking on the sites. We have
30AMP electrical hookup but no water and sewer but we don't need them
for one night. Not a bad deal for $34 Canadian. The only negative is
we had to drive about ½ mile on a gravel road to get to our site but
it was not as dusty as the road we drove on yesterday to the CG. One
section of the CG is on Lake Sturgeon so several of the people here
also have their boats with them. They also provide you with all the
free firewood you what. There was a large fenced in lot full of split
dry firewood. Just stop and get what you want. There were several
pieces already on our site so we decided to build a campfire. I got
out the Weber grill and we grilled chicken. So we had grilled
chicken, butter beans and potato salad for supper. We felt like we
were camping for the first time on this trip.
Today
was also a “twice buggy windshield wash day”. Lena washed it
while I was fueling up this morning and by the time we got to the CG
the front was covered again so I scrubbed it again at the CG. I hope
we soon get away from the bugs committing suicide.
I
am writing this update setting outside in a nice breeze listening to
a nice cracking campfire under some tall trees. We have traveled
3,291 miles so far and are 630 miles into Canada.
It
is now 10:15PM MST and it is just beginning to some signs that night
fall is coming. Sure glad we have night shades in the MH to block out
the daylight because I am going to bed.
I'll try to get some photos posted in a day or so if we can get some good WiFi,
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