Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court Banff, Alberta Canada

Mileage:  41,233

We had a short drive today.

Our first stop was for diesel fuel for the RV.  It is sold here in liters and prices are Canadian dollars.  We spent 200.00CD on 154 liters of fuel.  154 liters = 40 gallons.  200.00CD = 154.00USD.  So fuel was $3.85 a gallon.  More expensive than home but not too awful for less than half a tank!

We checked today to see if we were halfway to Anchorage.  If we turned around and went back home it is 2,351 miles.  We have 2,125 miles to go before we get to Anchorage.

Today’s weather forecast:  Cloudy and rainy all day with a high of 43 degrees (37 tonight).

The bug collection on the front of the RV – we have to wash the windshield everyday!

Finally the Canadian Rockies!

We are camping tonight at Tunnel Mountain Trailer Court.  It is inside the national park.  We got set up, ate breakfast, and headed out.

Undeterred by the forecast we put on winter clothes and drove along 1A or the Bow Valley Parkway.  It runs parallel to the Trans Canada Highway – Canada 1.  It also runs along the Bow River – which is beautiful beyond words and pictures.  As I made the walk down to the cliff and saw the view, it was absolutely breathtaking.  The pictures I took don’t do it justice…you have to come here and see it for yourself!

This area is a critical habitat for lots of large carnivores including bears, cougars, and wolves.  Elk, deer, moose, lynx and lots of other birds and animals live here.  Highway 1A is closed everyday from March to June 25th from 8pm to 8am in order to preserve the quality of life for those species that call this home.  In addition there were several “Zone Closures” or areas “where wildlife activity in this area cannot be disturbed by human presence.”   The Canadians are so smart.

We took a short hike to Silverton Falls.

From the top Tim spotted a trail down by the water…he wasn’t sure how to get there…but he found a way!

Calgary West Campground Calgary, Alberta

Mileage:  41,161

Good morning!

Goodbye Montana!

It required a lot of preparation to cross the border into Canada.  Our AT&T service on my phone and Tim’s ipad do not include service in Canada.  Tim’s Verizon service does.  We needed to put devices in airplane mode to avoid fees.  It will be good for me to be unplugged for awhile!  We had gotten some Canadian money before we left home and so we had some cash.  We had our passports.  We stocked up on our supplies and our groceries.  We had crossed into Canada on another trip and the border patrol boarded our RV and took away some of our produce.  An online search was not helpful.  It basically stated that depending on what concerns there might be at the time of your crossing…they could confiscate whatever they wanted including meats, fish, seafood and dairy products!  Tim had read horror stories of crossings that took several hours.  So we were on our way early and a little uptight.

We crossed into Canada at Coutts, Alberta.  There was relatively little traffic and trucks were directed to a separate inspection area.  There was one camper in front of us.  The guard asked us a bunch of very basic questions, looked at our identification and passports and within a few minutes we were on our way!

The welcome center in Alberta has this statue out front.

It is an Albertosaurus, the grandfather of the Trex.

We stopped in Nanton for sandwiches and a walk around the town.

We drove all the way north of Calgary and toward Banff to reach Calgary West Campground.  It overlooks Calgary.

We never get tired of looking at the scenery but sometimes we get tired of driving and riding.

We were drinking sangria at 3:30 this afternoon.

 

Dick’s RV Park Great Falls, Montana

Mileage:  40,820

This morning is was crisp and cool.

This sign kept people on the sidewalk at the rest stop!

We stopped in Lavina, Montana for breakfast.  This is 1 Main Street.

 

The Rocky Mountains are getting closer.

Today we rode through Montana, the heart of America, and home of wide open spaces.  For much of the ride, train tracks ran parallel to the highway.  We passed windmills and grain elevators, elk crossings and snow fences.  We passed ranches for cattle, sheep and horses.  We saw cowboys and their dogs herding cattle. We saw lots of pronghorn in the pastures.

 

We stopped at Walmart for supplies because we are not sure what opportunities we will have in British Columbia.  DEF for the RV and septic safe toilet paper and lots of other stuff!

We camped at Dick’s RV Park in Great Falls Montana.  There is a wonderful bike trail from the campground called Rivers Edge Trail that runs along the Missouri River.  It felt really good to get out and ride.  Prairie dogs ran across the trail as we rode by.

This is Tim posing with Lewis and Clark and their Native American Guide.

We went to 3D International Restaurant to celebrate my birthday.  The food was delicious!

We drove through town to see the courthouse.  We had seen the glowing copper dome from the bike trail and we wanted to find the building it belonged to.

While we were in Kentucky my brother was talking about people living in rural Kentucky.  He said something very smart that stuck with me.  I recalled it today as we were riding through this part of Montana.  I’m going to paraphrase and I hope I get it close enough…

“I live in rural Kentucky.  How could we possibly expect people who live out here to think the same way as people in New York City?  It is hard to come up with solutions that meet everyone’s needs.”

This resonated with me when he spoke but especially today.  It is important to continue to try to understand one another and to be kind.

One thing that we can all agree on.

We are entering Canada tomorrow and we aren’t sure how often we will be able to post…so don’t worry if you don’t hear from us, we will post everything as soon as we are able.

 

 

7th Ranch RV Camp Garryowen, Montana

Mileage:  40,487

Our day today began at midnight.  From the time we lay down at 9pm until midnight there had been tremendous lightening.  There was no forecast for rain.  But in the middle of the night raindrops began to pelt our Jeep.  We quickly adjusted a tarp in an attempt to stay dry.  That didn’t work out as well as we had hoped.  We will be improving our amenities so that we can have this kind of adventure again…because although we did not sleep very well…it was totally worth it and we would do it again.

We got up at 5am with the sun.

By 5:30am we were packed and ready to go.  We decided to take the longer, more scenic route back through the park.

It was a foggy morning and I was initially disappointed because I didn’t think we would see much.

Bison materialized out of the mist.

We saw lots of mule deer, rabbits, bighorn sheep and birds.

We were fortunate to be able to see the Badlands in bright sunshine, at dawn, at dusk, with fog, and during a thunderstorm.  Each scenario created dramatically different vistas and we didn’t get tired of traveling along the park loop.  It is time though to move on.  We know that there is a lot more to see in South Dakota and that will have to wait until next summer!

We stopped to rest from 9:30am til 11am.  A great advantage of traveling in an RV.  We were in Wyoming before noon, traveling through the Black Hills.

Pronghorn antelope were scattered in the tall grassy fields along the road.

The closer we got to Montana, the more scrubby and rocky the landscape became.

All at once we saw snow covered peaks in the distance.  It was a “wow” moment as we realized that we were getting our first look at the Rocky Mountains.

We passed the 2,000 mile mark before we left Wyoming.  We are staying the night in a full hookup campground and we will sleep in our own bed, after posting the blog and doing the laundry.

We didn’t need the weather channel to know that it was going to rain.  We could see it coming from  miles away.

 

Badlands National Park Day 2

Interior, South Dakota

We packed our breakfast and walked outside and we were stuck again by a sense of wow and wonder.  It was like seeing the Badlands for the first time.

The Sioux Lakota Native Americans called this place Mako Sika or bad land.  We are actually traveling through an ancient seabed, rich with fossils.

 

 

 

We saw large prairie dog colonies, noisy with noisy with gossip and warnings.  The prairie dogs have a sophisticated system of communication to let their families know about nearby predators including the size of the predator, the location, and the level of threat.  They are also very social.  We saw a coyote running across the road away from the prairie dogs.  We saw lots of bighorn sheep.  We also saw pronghorn antelope but they were too far away for good pictures.

We traveled to Sage Creek Road because that is where the bison or buffalo roam.  We were excited to see our first buffalo.

And then many more!  We were unprepared for how many we would see and how close they would come.

We went to check out Sage Creek Campground.  It is a primitive, remote location where it was rumored that the bison often wander through the campsites. We could not take the RV there so we left it at Cedar Pass and packed up our dinner and breakfast so that we could spend the night in the Jeep in the wilderness.  There was an active prairie dog colony there and the first campsite Tim chose actually had a prairie dog hole beneath the picnic table with a little prairie dog head sticking out.  He selected a new site.  We had fun watching them frolic about all afternoon.  It was quite entertaining!  Some families had tiny new pups.  The bison were grazing on the hillside across the way and as the day drew to a close they traversed up and over the knoll.

We grilled our hot dogs and cooked our beans and watched the sunset.  Tim took a quick bike ride and saw a marmot.  He had never seen a marmot before.  It was about three feet long and it was running through the grass.  It was way bigger than a raccoon.  Then when he came back there was a bison grazing among the tents.   They are truly magnificent shaggy, homely, intimidating beasts…especially when they look you in the eye!

Sunset was pretty.

We are so grateful that we got to stay in this amazing place.

 

 

Interior, South Dakota

Mileage:  40,097

Another day, bright and beautiful!

Early this morning we crossed the Missouri River into South Dakota onto 90W.

The land is flat here – wide open spaces.  There are still miles and miles of growing corn and lots more cattle.  The air smells of fresh cut hay and sometimes manure.  The sky is so big and you can see so far.

The speed limit here is 80!

We are still traveling with lots of trucks and for the first time today we saw a UPS triple tractor trailer with a long load sign on the back.

We have amassed quite the bug collection.  The RV windshield is so wide and flat.  We like to play a game trying to guess what the bigger splatters might have been.

We stopped for diesel fuel in Sioux Falls.  The woman who waited on me wanted to know where we were from and where we are headed.  She thinks we are crazy too…but she wished us safe travels.  Is this thing we are doing really so nutty?

We crossed the Missouri River a second time at mm264.  This is an amazing rest stop with an incredible sculpture and fantastic views of the river valley below.

On the other side of the river, the land became hilly again with large open land.  You can easily imagine herds of bison and covered wagons traversing the grassy plains.  Even at home on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where it is flat, there isn’t the same sense of of immensity.

I don’t pretend to be a photographer.  I’m using my cell phone to take pictures.  I know from the traveling we have done that you can never capture the true beauty of a place through a camera lens.  To us that is not what is important.  To us, it is being here and experiencing the essence of our surroundings and being present.  That being said, I’m going to continue to take and post my pictures.  Maybe our adventure will intrigue you, entice you or inspire you to create your own experiences!

Today we decided we’d like to visit the Badlands.  We were able to get a dry camping site inside the park – 2 nights for a total of $23.45.  That’s quite the deal!

This is our view from our campsite at Cedar Pass Campground.

We set up camp and rested for awhile.  It was 96 and very sunny and at least 99 degrees in the RV….the thermostat doesn’t register temperatures any higher!

Tim wanted to pack up our dinner and go exploring.  We put our chicken feta burgers, sangria, and spinach salad in the cooler and strapped the grill to the new roof rack and away we went.  We found a dirt road and set off.  There was a very active prairie dog colony in the back-country and we had fun listening to them chatter to one another and watching them scamper about.

We found the perfect picnic spot.

See those storm clouds.  We watched lightning and heard the thunder as I cooked our dinner.  We had just finished eating when the first fat raindrops fell.   The rain didn’t last long but it was really windy for awhile.  It was cool to be able to see the entire storm wrap around the horizon and then the sun breaking through the clouds and brightening the sky.

We saw several mule deer and a jack rabbit and a bighorn sheep.  The jack rabbit was too quick for pictures!

We continued to drive around the loop, stopping for pictures as the light changed.  I had read that the best time to see the rock formations is at dusk and dawn.  The view altered from minute to minute as the sun sunk lower into the sky.

 

Sunset from our campsite.

Lewis and Clark State Park Onawa, Iowa

Mileage:  39,694

Today we are farther west than we have ever been in the RV.  Some people might think that driving across Iowa is boring but there is something very American about riding through here.  The heart of the country is filled with large expanses of hay and corn growing as far as the eye can see.  Red barns and silver silos are tucked into the patchwork of fields.  The hills are gentle and rolling.  It has  lulling and calming effect.

We traveled today with a lot of trucks carrying all manner of things…some very big things

We left 80W at Menlo, Iowa to travel along the Western Skies Scenic Byway.  It was a good choice and a lovely ride.

The byway took us through several small towns.  We stopped in Harlan, Iowa for lunch at Mi Casa.

And after lunch we walked around the town square.

We stopped to rest in Mondawin and then headed back to the highway taking 29N to Lewis and Clark State Park in Onawa, Iowa.

Our campsite on the Missouri River.

Davenport, Iowa

Mileage:  39,355

We all stayed up way too late last night drinking, laughing, and telling stories.

We  were up early to say goodbye to Mom, Debbie, and Kyle.  They were headed east.  We left at 11am to head west – opposite directions- and then it became very real.

Sandy thinks we are crazy. She might not be the only one.  She wanted to know where we were going today and we said we didn’t know.  We always have a general idea where we are headed.  Our only goal for this trip is to be in Anchorage by mid-July.  We have no reservations or concrete plans.  We usually get up in the morning and see where the road takes us.  Tim believes that a true traveler has no set destination nor time of arrival.  Sometimes that makes me anxious, travelling without an itinerary, but it usually works out just fine.

As hard as it is to leave family behind, we are eager to be on our way.

Thanks Dana and John.  We had a wonderful time; we always do when we are together!

Today we traveled across 74W from Cincinatii, Ohio to Moline, Illinois, across the Mississippi River and then onto 80W to Davenport, Iowa.

Well Sandy, we know where we are spending the night tonight!

Cracker Barrel Davenport, Iowa

Union, Kentucky

Mileage:  38,955

It was a wonderful day spent with family.  It is usually impossible to have everyone in one place, so it was nice to be with my brother John and his wife Dana, their children, my mom, my sister Debbie, Dana’a mom Sandy, our son Kyle and other friends.

We were together to celebrate Ryan’s high school graduation.  We are very proud of him and we wish him well as he prepares to attend Louisville in August where he plans to study engineering.

Reisterstown, Maryland

Mileage:  38, 404

Leaving home 6am Friday June 1st.

Through western Maryland, West Virginia Pennsylvania, and into Kentucky.

It is surreal.  This dream of ours actually now a reality.

We stopped for breakfast at Sideling Hill.

After 12 hours of travel we arrived in Union, Kentucky to visit with my brother and his family for my nephew Ryan’s graduation.  We brought a bushel of crabs from Maryland and enjoyed them for dinner.