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Humpty Dumpster and Other Tales
Hello dear family, friends, and other followers!
As posted last time, our trip to Ft. McMurray was cancelled due to smoke and fire, but our granddaughter, Rebecca, made the trip down from the Fort to meet with us on Thursday, June 5, in Fort Saskatchewan. We walked with her on some of the Fort Saskatchewan hiking/ biking trails, and then she stayed with us for dinner on the first evening. Later she headed into Sherwood Park to stay with her friend Brittany.
On Friday, at Brittany’s suggestion, we met up with Rebecca at Fort Edmonton Park. When we arrived, I was a bit concerned since several thousand school-aged children were in attendance and loudly expressing their joys and excitement!
What an incredible development this park is! There is steam train that takes folks from the entrance to the other side of the park and then returns them. (A streetcar also runs from the more modern era displays to the entrance area. The park is divided into Edmonton’s “eras” with the earliest being the First Nations and Métis exhibits in a beautifully designed building. A recreation of the original “Fort Edmonton” has amazing displays of living quarters, tools, fur storage, a York Boat and even a bakery where two young men in period costumes turned out bannock bread and jam for the tourists. As you wander from the Fort, you walk through increasingly more modern eras, with store fronts, businesses, homes, etc. For the younger set there is an amusement park! We spent about 4 or 5 hours there and were all impressed!
For dinner we had Italian food in Sherwood Park where Brittany and her daughter Reilly joined us. We said our good-byes and headed back to Fort Saskatchewan to pack up for departure on Saturday.
As most of you are aware in western Canada, the summer weather came – early, and hot! All my thin-skinned whining about cold temps are passé. Temperatures are warming and are expected to hit in the 30’s early in the week. I can put my down jacket away.
On Saturday morning we got underway early for a 4 1/2 hr journey south to Fort Mcleod. Our campsite – “Rivers Edge RV” is a couple of kilometers outside of the Fort. A couple of issues about this drive. First of all, the “ring road” around Edmonton is not in good shape, and the truck and trailer were repeatedly being banged about by potholes and cracks, and pavement heaves. Secondly, as predicted by forecasts, the smoky haze grew thicker as we headed south past Leduc and Red Deer. (The road improved south of Edmonton.)
The rest of the trip south on Saturday was mostly uneventful, but I was glad to get past the Calgary traffic. The Rivers Edge RV is a lovely treed spot on the banks of the Oldman River. We did an exploratory walk around the park and along the river and then called it a day – retiring to anti-gravity chairs and books.
On Sunday we headed for the “Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump” – a World Heritage Site about 16 km away. We spent a number of hours there beginning with a long stair climb to the rim of the cliff. This climb is inside the exhibit building, and the option of elevators exists. At the top, on a beautiful sunny and warm (24º) day (albeit somewhat hazy from smoke) we strolled along the path at the top of the cliff admiring the views.
Back inside the exhibit building we worked our way gradually downstairs going through the displays on each floor. It is a fascinating history which goes back thousands of years, culminating in the almost eradication of the buffalo in the late 1800’s. Outside the building once again, we followed the foot path along the base of the cliff to where the actual jump occurred after the buffalo were ingeniously herded into a stampede over the edge by the indigenous people – mostly Blackfoot tribes. The tribes would then salvage meat, skins, and bones, for future food stocks.
On Monday, June 9, we began our westward trip through the Crowsnest Pass. We stopped at the Frank Slide information centre for Sandy to see and learn about the massive Frank Slide which wiped out the coal mining town of Frank early in the 20th century.
Our site for Monday was at Mt. Fernie Provincial Campground but first we stopped for a stroll around downtown Fernie. At the campground the various site loops were unmarked so we had to search a bit before we found our site – #33. Unfortunately, the placement of the table on the site, the angle of the entrance and my lack of developed skill on backing up made it impossible for me to get Truck House into the site. I finally gave up, and we found an unreserved site nearby.
On Tuesday, we had a much longer journey – again about 4 1/2 hr. to Rossland’s Lions Campground. That was quite a slog! We stopped for a stroll in Creston, but otherwise climbed, climbed and climbed some more before descending, descending and descending over the Creston-Salmo Pass, and then from Trail up to Rossland. (In Trail, the temperature showed 35º, so we had no urge to stop!) At the summit of the Rossland climb, by supper time, the temperature had dropped a full 8º and we enjoyed a wonderful dinner and evening with my niece Lea and her husband, Andrew – on their patio. The Lions Campground was beautiful and our site overlooked a lovely green meadow to the forest beyond.
This morning, as usual Sandy was up before the robins, and more reasonably, I arose at the more godly hour of 6:00. As we read and had coffee, I noticed a rather large brown bear foraging in the meadow about 30 m from our site. By the time I had my camera ready and door open, the bear had ambled off into the brush.
We were on our way by 7:45 with the intention of probably staying in Manning Park, or perhaps Hope. Once we had completed our first of several long mountain passes, I decided I was enjoying the driving and we should get as close to Chilliwack as we could – because we have a broken hatch catch that has to be repaired at the Escape factory tomorrow morning.
But first, we had to have a Fruit Stand stop near Osoyoos which was advertising “Cherries”. We were not surprised that they didn’t look as good as the summertime varieties, but in order to wash them for nibbling, I opened up the trailer and discovered that Humpty Dumpty and 10 of his buddies had indeed had a great fall, and almost a dozen extra large eggs were sloshing around on the floor of Truck House! I cautioned Sandy that she might not want to see inside, but that is like flashing a honey jar in front of a bear! However, not Sandy nor all the king’s men could put Humpty back together again, so the slimy mess is now occupying our grey water tank until our next dump out…in which time Humpty and cohort will find the Humpty Dumpster!
Thus, tonight we are at Cultus Lake where every site was marked “Reserved” but less that 20% actually have vehicles in them. The website did not co-operate with getting clear information! And…when we tried to book one “Available” site, the website froze up. When I tried a second time, the site was marked as “Unavailable”. I gave up! We are in a site. And…we have seen no park attendants!
Tomorrow we head for Escape Trailers, in Chilliwack, then to Langley to visit with our daughter, and then off to catch the 5:45pm Duke Pt. Ferry home. It has been a wonderful voyage. We love our Truck House Escape and the Escapades!
And much love and best wishes to all of you! (Until I write again!)
Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, the Quilter.
Weather to Wear, or Not
Dear family, friends and followers,
Weather has been a very important factor in our travel to Alberta this year. We began packing in early May, and I struggled with indecisions on clothing requirements for the trip. We weren’t quite sure what to expect in weather conditions. Do we need shorts and tee shirts, or jeans, long sleeves and sweaters? Over an extended period of time I went through my drawers and closets and kept finding stuff that I “had forgotten” and so I added it to the trailer stash. (Instead of packing once like I would for a trip overseas.)
Once we got on the road, my overfull storage cupboards became apparent to my partner. Upon efforts to repack and reorganize, Sandy wondered, “Why do you need 5 pairs of jeans? And 8 tee shirts?” Great questions with no reasonable answers! Perhaps increasing age and decreasing tolerance for temperature ranges??
Our predictions for clothing requirements have been somewhat off! Cooler temperatures, and wildfire smoke have altered our needs. We have spent little time lounging outdoors in our anti-gravity chairs in warm summery conditions. We try…but then cold winds and rather smoky air drive us inside. In Alberta we have had many blue sky days (with some smoky haze) and very little rain, but most days include strong gusty winds. Mostly jeans and sweater/jacket combinations needed.
The day before yesterday on a shopping trip to nearby Walmart and Canadian Tire here in Fort Saskatchewan, I dressed “appropriately” (for me): jeans, tee shirt, sweater and jacket. (Socks and shoes instead of sandals, of course.) As I got out of the truck and looked around, a slim young lady was looking comfortable (or pretending to be comfortable) wearing shorts, and a sleeveless shirt. I looked around and noted that most of the folk heading into Walmart were sporting similar summery clothing. I don’t get it! Are these younger folk immune to the cool temperatures and wind chill? Are they pretending that summer has arrived? Is appropriate clothing dictated by the calendar and style pressure? For heavens sake…I am dressed in winter wear, and I still have my winter fat! (Well, actually the winter fat began accumulating about 2020!)
Yesterday we made a pilgrimage to the Bon Accord Cemetery gravesite of Sandy’s Great Great Grandfather – Charles Bremner – a Métis fur trader from Battleford, SK, who had had his furs stolen at the end of the second Northwest Rebellion. After the rebellion Bremner moved to the Bon Accord area (to be near to his daughter and son-in-law – a North West Mounted Policeman), where he died in 1919. In trying to research his residency in this area at the Bon Accord Library we got great help from a young lady with a Newfoundland accent. However, no luck. (It is an interesting historical story – parts of which can be found online by searching “Charles Bremner’s furs”.)
Anyway, our trip north to Fort McMurray has been aborted because of fires and air quality deterioration, and all of our northern camping reservations cancelled – at a cost. Instead, we have opted to stay here at Fort Lions Ft. Saskatchewan Campground right on the North Saskatchewan River until Saturday. We are quite enjoying our site here. There are many beautiful hiking/biking trails and frequent signs to describe the historical events of the area. Our granddaughter has made plans to join us here for a couple of days.
Whether biking, or hiking, we will make full use of the trails over the next few days – utilizing all my available winter clothing, I’m sure. I will be warm – if unstylish!
Love and best wishes to you all!
Sandy and Tony
Wild Fires in Alberta
After our stay at the beautiful Ellison Provincial Park during which we had several visiting times with Bob and Alice Padgham, dear friends from my teaching days in Nanaimo, we headed north on Tuesday, May 27. After a quick shopping stop in Kamloops, we headed up the South Yellowhead Highway (Hwy 5). This is a great highway with traffic quite sparse. The weather was beautiful and a few hours later we reached the North Thompson River Provincial Park.
Our site, beside the swiftly flowing North Thompson River, was quite awkward to back into. After a number of forward, backward efforts, I managed to safely park the fifth wheel onto the site. (Truck wheels coming quite close to the embankment edge had Sandy a tad on her own edge!!)
Other than periodic long trains passing on the other side of the river, the site was mostly peaceful, and there were lots of vacant sites. We hiked a few trails and then relaxed with our books. In the evening, a rather strong cell signal allowed us to watch a semi-final NBA game on my iPad – paired with my iPhone. (Aside: We have been able to watch most of the OKC-Minnesota games and the Indiana-NY Knicks games. Since I am cheering for Indiana, and for Oklahoma City, if OKC and Indiana meet in the final, I will have a difficult choice to make.)
On Wednesday, we headed a short distance further along Hwy 5 to Blue River RV Campground. The day was forecast to be very hot. (We have been wondering why we chose 2 camp grounds so close together when we did our bookings, but decided it was probably because we wanted to ensure that we had a place for dump-out and refreshing water supplies before reaching a 2 day layover in Jasper.)
Blue River turned out to be a lovely little burg, and our host suggested that we try a walk around Eleanor Lake across the highway. We eventually found the trail around Eleanor Lake and enjoyed the shady walk around a beautiful little lake in the heat of the afternoon (about 29º). The area is central for heli-skiing, and the resort there (Mike Wiegele Heli-Skiing Lodge) is spectacular with large log accommodations and halls.
On Thursday, in pouring rain and much cooler temperatures we headed further northeast to Jasper National Park. The Whistler Campground is just out of Jasper townsite (3 km) and the vast majority of campers are in RVs. The whole area was burned out by a major forest fire last year and dead snags are visible as far as can be seen. Work is being done daily to clear these snags, but there are very few standing live trees in Whistler Campground. Tents seem to be a rarity, and we later found several possible reasons.
The weather had cleared by the time we got set-up. After finding our site 29C, another Escape 5.0 pulled in nearby. We met Paul and Nancy Rogan from Pennsylvania, and over the next two days traded stories and notes on alterations that we have done to our units. They are on their way towards Alaska and the Dempster Highway.
On Friday, since we needed propane, we planned a drive into Jasper. On our loop out, we saw a grizzly searching out food stuffs not far from our site. Park Rangers were nearby and by the time we returned several hours later, the bear was gone from the premises. (Reason #1 for scarcity of tents?)
In town, we fueled up, and walked around on a warm, but windy day, stopping for lunch at a pizza place on Connaught Drive. Upon returning to the campsite, we encountered extremely gusty winds out of the southeast. (Would that be a possible reason for the name “Whistler” or was the campground named after a ground squirrel?) The high winds had almost torn a neighbour’s tent out of its moorings on our loop. With no one around, and the tent acting like a parachute upside down, we wrestled it back upright and use some strong bindings from our truck to secure it to the ground. (Reason #2 for scarcity of tents?)
Later when the winds had abated a bit, we were having dinner at our picnic table as a troupe of 4 elk wandered by us. These are very large animals, and campers are warned to stay clear of them! (Reason #3 for scarcity of tents?)
Our plans to keep heading to Ft. McMurray are in serious doubt. Wild fires around northern Alberta have been a concern, and yesterday, our granddaughter, Rebecca, sent us pictures of the smoke smothering Ft. McMurray – possibly from 3 fires in the area. We have been checking warnings, and alerts, and highway cams, and are beginning to realize that visiting that area may not be the wisest plan at this point. One of the “alerts” is from a small town of Conklin just south of the Fort, and awkwardly close to our highway route south after leaving Grégoire Lake. We may opt to avoid the area. We will decide by Monday.
As we drove to Edmonton today on Hwy 16, we had 2 very loud and startling cell phone Fire alerts – both were evacuation orders, and both just as we neared the Hwy 16 intersection that linked to those towns – Robb, (to the south) and Peers (to the north). We smelled (and saw) a bit of smoke, but air is clear in Acheson where are are now, at a place ironically called “Glowing Embers R.V. Park”.
After a 3 1/2 h drive we arrived at our site – about 10 minutes west of Edmonton. The young lady at the Registration bore a startling resemblance to our niece, Montana! (A doppelgänger!) She even laughed and talked like her. I hope I didn’t stare too much! As we left the Registration I asked Sandy, “Who does she remind you of?” Instantly response: ”Montana!”
Anyway…today is laundry and decision day!
Best wishes to you all!
Tony and Sandy
The Underside, and the Bright Side of Oregon
Yesterday (Thursday) after our stay at JD Hemphill’s Ranch thanks to Harvest Host, we drove north to Standish CA, and then followed HWY 395 further northeast to Alturas, CA. We ate a massive breakfast at the Wagon Wheel Cafe, and then continued until we hit 299 just past Canby, CA. When HWY 139 cut off to the northwest we followed it all the way to Klamath Falls, OR. This highway route is one of my favourites for scenery, low traffic and for uninterrupted listening of my iTunes playlists! We had some beautiful sunshine, and a few snow squalls (nothing sticking), but felt that we were lucky to have missed the major weather that went through the night before. Too soon, folks! Too soon!
After purchasing fuel, and a few groceries in Klamath, we found our RV Park, RJourneys, heading out of town on Hwy 97 which leads to Bend, OR. It was a chilly night and with -2º predicted, I chose not to connect our water hose. Good plan, Stan!
This morning, on the south (under) side of Oregon, here is what was happening at 6:30 a.m.:
Unfortunately, the law in Oregon states that in certain areas and during posted winter conditions, all vehicles under 10,000 lb (that’s “pounds” for the younger generation), and pulling a trailer must carry chains. As a comparative side note, in California, any vehicle with 4-wheel drive is exempt from this rule. Since we had not brought our chains, we were a bit concerned as the fine for not abiding by the law is $880.
I found an App (OR Road Report) which shows all highways and all possible risks. It includes all the road cams, so I spend much of the next 2 hours checking the road cams.
We waited until almost 9:00 a.m. and since the snow had basically stopped falling in Klamath Falls, and the road cams all looked passable, we continued on our way. Needless to say, as we headed north on 97, we caught up to portions of the snowfall, but nothing was sticking so at Hwy 58 we turned west to head over Willamette Pass to Eugene. The rest of the ride was beautiful, and restful, until I turned too early to get onto I-5, and we wandered around the countryside for a few kilometres before finding our way back onto that vehicle conveyor belt!
We landed at Portland-Woodburn RV for the second time this trip and are now comfortable in our very filthy TruckHouse Jr. The afternoon and evening were beautiful with temperature at 17º. The bright side of Oregon – is here!
Tomorrow, we hit our second Harvest Host site at Port Angeles, and then on Sunday morning we “Coho” it back to Victoria for our final leg over the Malahat.
Looking forward to getting home, cutting the lawn and getting into our hobby habits – quilting and woodworking.
Love and best wishes to all!
Tony, and Sandy
Pahrump…Harumph
Day 1 of our journey towards home has ended. We are now at Brown’s Millpond RV Park, just north of Bishop, CA. It was a beautiful…sort of day, but more on that later.
Yesterday, after a quick stop just outside of Lake Havasu City, we headed towards Needles, and then Boulder City. The plan was to get an RV site at Boulder Beach Campground. The weather was fabulous and skies clear. As we pulled up to the registration gate at BBC the lady asked if we had a reservation. Uh…no! The website that we looked at said “First Come, First Served”. “Sorry sir, that is no longer the policy…you must have a reservation online. If you pull a U-ey ahead and leave the park area you can pull off the road and use your phone to book a site – if there are any available.” This was perhaps the most frustrating time for us. We would seem to find an available site, only to mess up on one of the other details. For example, when entering a date, it asked for Arrival and Departure dates. If you put in those two, you would be charged for 2 nights! If you didn’t put in two dates, you wouldn’t find an available site. After about 3/4 of a very frustrating hour, we gave up and headed out. Our original intention had been to go to Tonopah, but that now seemed like a rather distant destination given that we had already driven over 2 hours.
So…we opted for Pahrump, NV! We had stayed there a number of years ago when the place we stayed at was called “Terrible’s Casino at Pahrump! And…at that time, Sandy had played slots while we waited for a dinner seat, and she had won about $130 – plenty to cover our RV site, and our meal! It really wasn’t terrible…that is the name used by Jerry Herbst who financed the place. I found this reference on the internet…
“Herbst founded Terrible Herbst in 1959. The name repurposed an old slight toward his father, Ed, who opened Martin Oil in Chicago in 1938.
“Back in Chicago, every time my dad would open a new service station, the competition would say, ‘Here comes that terrible Herbst,’” Jerry Herbst said in 2014.
Since the brand’s arrival, the Terrible name has existed in the Las Vegas Valley atop gas stations, casinos and the family’s motorsports team, with some of those ventures controlled by Jerry Herbst and others by his sons Ed, Tim and Troy. Pahrump Valley Times – November, 2016.”
Off we headed following “Roada’s” instructions on the Map App. Usually, we work together through heavy traffic, but as we headed through Las Vegas, Sandy was busy and occupied trying to register us at the newly named place of “Lakeside Casino and RV Park”. Traffic and overpasses, exits and entrances, lanes and speedsters kind of had me on edge, and I missed the proper turn off to head West on Hwy 215. So, we had to work our way through more main street traffic and occasional construction to get back onto our path.
The Lakeside Casino RV park is still very beautiful. We stayed out of the casino because of the smoking, and unfortunately had a dead 30 Amp connection that we didn’t notice until bedtime. No problem. Everything else worked on DC power.
Yesterday (Tuesday) we continued our journey, opting to go through Death Valley to Bishop and then up Hwy 395 towards Reno, rather than the less scenic route to Tonopah. What a beautiful travel day – beautifully clear skies, with temperatures up to 21º and sparse traffic.
Since we have been through this route previously, we didn’t stop anywhere, but we had both forgotten the length of the climbing route out of Death Valley, and the subsequent twisting and narrow climbing route over the Malpass Mesa Wilderness that finally leads down to Owen Valley and Lone Pine. Sandy was literally “on edge” throughout this second climb.
The Brown’s Millpond RV Park just north of Bishop was a good place to stay last night. A lively creek wanders between the sites, and the views of the Sierra Nevada snow-capped peaks are fabulous.
Anyway, today has a possible encounter with snow as we get further north towards Susanville. We are trying our first “Harvest Host” site tonight at J.D. Hemphill Ranch near Buntingville.
Love and best wishes to everyone, and we so appreciate your comments, as always.
Tony, the Quill, and Sandy, soon to be a Quilter again!
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