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Heading towards “Greatness” (as in ‘great grandparents’)
Greetings to any and all who are still following our annual roadie experiences! This year’s activities actually began in early May with a shakedown trip to Kitty Coleman Provincial Park near Comox, BC. This spot is one of our favourites on Vancouver Island with panoramic views of Georgia Strait and wonderful camp hosts. That 3 day excursion happened on a very warm sunny weekend and all Escape 5.0 functions worked well. The morning sun was enough to add solar energy to our rooftop panel each day.
But now, the time has come to head out on the road for a more extended trip – once again, this year, towards Ft. McMurray, Alberta. This time, the goal includes a visit not only to our granddaughter, Rebecca but to be there before, or near to the birthdate of our new, and first, great granddaughter – “Lizzie”! (Sandy‘s assigned duties to the Nanaimo Quilters’ Guild ended after the Show on Sunday May 31, so we were ready to depart on the 10:15 ferry from Duke Point on Monday, June 1.)
Our first stop was to the Aldergrove farm where Sandy’s cousins run the “Locality Brewing” business at McInnes Farm. We were provided with two nights’ accommodation there. That time gave us a chance to celebrate our younger granddaughter’s birthday with her, her husband, and father, and brother. We had two relaxing days there in warm, sunny weather.
Poster for upcoming event at Locality Brewing
Celebrating grand daughter, Hannah’s birthday
On Wednesday, June 3, we hitched up and headed towards Blue River on Highway 5 north of Kamloops, BC. That highway 5 north of Barriére, is one of my favourites as the traffic is light, the road is relatively smooth, and passing lanes are appropriately frequent. The Blue River RV site where we stayed last year, was good, and we stayed warm and dry during the steady nighttime rains.
On Thursday morning June 4 the rain held off while we readied for departure, but then we travelled in and out of showers for most of the way to Jasper, AB. At the registration desk, since I couldn’t recall my licence plate number, Sandy left to see it, but was gone a bit longer that I expected. When she returned she was in some pain from a fall onto the pavement that had caused some bruising on her hip, elbow, and hand. Later, back at the trailer, I took a divot out of my head on the corner of a cupboard that I had left open despite repeated warnings from my partner. So, from being unscathed, we are now scathed!!
Our assigned site was amongst a large number of tenting sites. After we settled in, we unhitched and drove into Jasper for some groceries and fuel. We had supper, and a bit of a walk. As we were unloading our “anti-gravity” chairs to enjoy the evening, the strong winds blew the truck door shut onto first one of Sandy’s legs, and then a couple of minutes later – the other leg! (A truly battered wife today!) We discovered that our nearby tenters were all teens from a large group that are probably connected to a school. Later they could be heard cheering loudly for some activity that they were involved in as we sat inside to stay warm from the chilly wind that made outside time rather unpleasant.
Friday, June 5
We rode our e-bikes uphill to the base of the gondola, and poked around the site for a while. The view out over the valley and Jasper was beautiful.
The ride downhill was much more pleasant, if not a strain on the hand-brakes. We rode the loop around to our site and put the bikes away since the weather was becoming quite chilly with the potential for rain. And it did!
Saturday, June 6
The temperature in the trailer when Sandy got up was 7º C. We were underway by 10:00 and headed for Ft. Saskatchewan and the Ft. Lions RV campground. The only issues on the road, were the condition of Hwy 16 (needing repavement) and a fatal accident as we neared Stoney Plains that re-routed us to one of the county roads to the north.
Our site #2 at Ft. Lion Campground was open for us, and we settled in after shopping for a few groceries at the local Co-op.
Sunday, June 7
We took our time getting going as the day was cool and decided to forego a bike ride because of intermittent showers, and an afternoon coffee-get-together with our daughter’s friend who lives in Ft. Saskatchewan. After a great visit and rather large cinnamon rolls and a drink each, we were too full for a regular supper, so we settled for a boiled egg, and then went for a 2.5 km walk.
Monday, June 8
We were able to get underway by 9:30 am towards our destination – Ft. McMurray. We had been warned of many potholes on the highway, but mostly they were visible and avoidable. By 2:00 pm it was raining quite hard and the trucks on the road were kicking up a lot of water. We arrived about 3:00 and found the Centennial RV Campground on the way into the Fort. We managed to get settled in the pouring rain and howling wind, and discovered that the right-side (passenger side) windows had leaked some water. We mopped up and are now awaiting pick-up to go to dinner with our daughter, and granddaughter.
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
roadquill1 