Happy Birthday to Me

I had a wonderful August 14 turning 53. After Friday, August 13, I needed a good day. Dave and I spent the day with Dad, Pat, Lauch, Laura, Janice and Joey. Ian was still in France being fancy. We had beautiful steak for dinner and I relax. We spent the night in the Walmart parking lot and were on the road early this morn.

We are hunkered down in Quinty County at a great (though pricey) RV park. Golf tomorrow and then 3 days with my girls at Timber House Lodge, just down the road. Dave will be taking the Enterprise, Dolly and the Cougar back to Cornwall on Tuesday as I start my time with the girls.

Thank you for reading my life in the fast lane.... Signing off for this trip... Don't know if we will ever RV again but it has been a slice... Love Francys and Dave.

The Day that didn't happen

I am just going to pretend today didn't happen. Bad, bad ......

Just Another Day

Drove and drove and drove...my back, she is killing me. We are in St. Ignatus, Michigan and are at a great RV spot, Tiki. Hope to be in Canada, via Sarnia tomorrow. Gotta get to my golf vacation on August 17. Missing my home, my friends, my life.

We blew it!!!

We set out from Devil's Lake pleased that we had coped reasonably well with our adversity. We had been on the road about 70 miles when.... Oooo, that smell, can't you smell that smell..... Burning Rubber..... Blown right rear drive tire. WHAT????? Unload the cougar, drive 40 miles to Grand Rapids, North Dakota, get advice, drive back to the Enterprise, drive the Enterprise at 30 MPH back to Grand Rapids. I was following along behind the Enterprise in the air-conditionless Cougar grooving away to the radio. Took an awefully long time at 30 MPH to go 40 miles. We got to Big Jim's Tires where John took care of us and had us back out on the highway in under an hour with both arms and legs. Awesome stuff.

We drove to Warba, Minnesota and stopped in for the night at Sal's RV. Dean not only let me use the decorative firepit, but also helped Dave locate the fuse for Dolly's left turn signal. God is good all the time....All the time, God is good.

Hotel WalMart

Happy Birthday, Mom (cheap way to send a card).

August 10 saw Dave and me wet, upset and left-signal-on-Dolly-less; we got to the geographically center of North America after battling tremendous rains only to find one of Dolly's lights was dragging on the ground. A couple of tie wraps later, we were on the road looking for a hardware store. We found one in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, bought the lock washers, then the rains caught up with us, driving us to seek refuge in the Devil's Lake WalMart. Dave got the light re-attached but no juice. Oooh... Nobody knows the troubles I seen... Nobody knows my.... August 11 has to be better.

Hooooomeward Bound, I wanna be hooooomeward ....

We left our campsite outside (Canadian side) Waterton/Glacier International Peace Park this morning by 9:00 AM and with a hard day's drive, we arrived in Glasgow, Montana. Not much to see but after seeing a bear, some deer and other wild animals a quiet drive with no seep winding roads is alright with me.

The trip through the mountains was scary for me as the passenger but Dave loved the driving challenge. Our highest altitude was 1781 meters above sea level. Now we are at 700 meters (2158 ft). The pictures I took of the seep winding road running beside a mountain gorge just don't look scary enough to convey the fright of hurling (at 30 MPH) down the mountain pass.

Could someone please wish Margaret a "Happy 83rd" from Dave and I.... No phone service.

We hope to make it to Devil's Lake, North Dakota tomorrow.

Wow

Busy, busy, busy. We left Calgary around 8:30 and got to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump around 10:30. Toured the museum - pretty cool. Then moved on to Waterton Springs Camp Ground, dropped Dolly and the Enterprise got in the Cougar and away we went. Took a boat tour in Waterton National Park. Leaving here tomorrow....Homeward bound with a stop at Dad and Pat's.

Cow Town or Calgary

Dav, Jamie and I spent the morning (and my money) in the Inglewood neighbourhood of Calgary. Very cool stores and art galleries. Then we went for lunch to Peter's Drive In. Home for a nap and then off for a walk along the Bow River. Now we are in the midst of a thunder storm - though it may be over now. Jamie's going to cook us a steak and then it may be bed time.

Off to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump tomorrow and Waterton Glacier.

If we're lost then we are lost together.....

Dave and I set off for Calgary in good time and good spirits. We were riding down the highway having an awesome conversation and looking for the turn to Calgary....Ooops, we missed it, but being our optimistic selves we turned lemons in to lemonade and went to the Blackfoot Crossing Museum. Fabulous and worth the trip.

We were doing okay.... no tension (well, a little blaming and a few shots across the bows). Then we decided to buy and Timmies and that's when things took a negative turn.... however, being the resilient things that we are, we pulled ourselves together, texted Jamie and carried on to Calgary.

Jamie was going to meet us at the corner of his neighbourhood and guide us in. We almost made it..... One wrong turn later and we're lost together in a new suburban neighbourhood with small streets and limited places to turn around. So, of course we choose a dead end street to go down....Eeeeeeek...... All's well that ends well.... We managed turn without removing Dolly from the Enterprise, met Jamie and got settled for 20 minutes before we set out to Banff and Lake Louise. Jamie drove and navigated!!

As you can see from the pictures the remainder of the day was breathtaking scenery, great conversation and a Indian meal, the only thing missing was Shannon and I wish she was with us. Now to see Calgary.....

Day from drumHELLer

In the first picture, Dave's at the fire on wheels our first night at Dino's Rest.

We bought a phone from Telus in Medicine Hat and it was a bum phone..... We spent our first morning in Drumheller attempting to get our phone troubles fixed..... Davey got a new phone and I tried to activate it on-line..... Not a good scene, but by the afternoon we were back on the scenic trail.


We went to the Tourist bureau and paid $6.00 to walk 5 flights of stairs to look out a dinosaur's mouth....Impressive? Got the info and headed off to the Royal Tyrrel Museum and did the North Dinosaur Driving Trail.... That was cool, we got a ferry ride across the Red Deer River. I almost died in a horrific slip on pea gravel on the side of the road and all who know me know that I am not given to hyperbole and came safely home to our little nest. We will be seeing our nephew, Jamie and his friend, Shannon, in Calgary tomorrow. I am soooo into that.

It's all worth it.

Dave was asking me, on a scale of one to ten, how I was liking RVing. I gave it a 6.5 - 7 rating. But what can I say after seeing Dinosaur Provincial Park.... Awesome.

Oil Change....

Tuesday, August the third started off with an oil change. That took a while because we had difficulties locating a truck and coach place that could be an oil change. But we lucked out because the fourth place not only did an oil change but greased everything and put Dave's mind at rest.

Dave and I can now get Dolly and the Cougar off the Enterprise in minutes with little fuss. We are getting more adapt at certain things, so our fear level is dropping......But don't worry we still have lots of things to fuss about.

We made it to a lovely regional park with bunnies, snakes, coyotes and mosquitoes. Drumheller tomorrow after we visit Dinosaur Provincial Park.

Medicine Hat Trip

This is where the TransCanada Hwy washed away outside of Maple Creek.

This is not a lake..... Just a puddle.

Our first oil rig.... still in Saskatchewan!!

The drive through Saskatchewan was reasonably uneventful, unlike yesterday's trip when my darling husband decided that he could pull out in front of a transport moving 110 km. Needless to say, the Enterprise (and Dolly) did not get up to warp speed and we had to accelerate down the paved shoulder while a transport in the right lane and a car in the left whistled past us...... I know this is hard to believe (for those who know me well), but I didn't say a word ('til later).

Medicine Hat had a big storm but we are fine and dry in our RV. We will be looking for an oil change tomorrow and Dave thinks we might have a leaky head gasket.... I think we just have leaky heads. All is well with us, though the farmers in parts of Saskatchewan are hurting.

Birthdaze

Happy Birthday to Louis, Alison and Lynn (in birthday order). Love to all. Dave and Framp. PS. The cards are travelling with me and will be mailed soon.

Pictures of the Qu'Appelle Valley

I can only post a few pictures. Man, what a beautiful place. On to Drumheller and the bad lands..... via Medicine Hat.