Museum on overload

Battleford, SK
July 22-23

Our current campground is a city park with a strange layout.  The gal at the office indicated that it is an older park not set up for the larger units so feel free to park on the grass to make it work.  It is water and electric only but we have 50 amp.  The water hookups are situated in strange locations in relationship to the power pole.  In other words, it is not surprising to see a couple of hoses connected together to make the LONG reach to the water connection.  But the grass is green, the weather is fantastic and we have permission to wash our rig and truck.  YEAH!  I'll have a clean ride once again.

We have left the mountains and have entered the agricultural area with miles and miles of flat fields, many filled with sunshine yellow crops.  Dad said, 'Wow, that's a lot of mustard!'  As it turns out, these are not fields of mustard but fields of canola instead. Guess you have to be a farmer to be in the know.

It really does have a mustard yellow appearance.  Don't you agree?

All I got were pictures of their dinner at the old train station/now restaurant.  I didn't even get a good sniff of the left overs before they were wisked into the fridge.

Momma and Dad decided to visit the Western Development Museum in Battleford.   There are  several Western Development Museums throughout Saskatchewan, all related but different.  Our next stop also has one that is suppose to be even larger than this one....and this one was more than could be handled.

The main theme seemed to be agriculture and a quaint old time town.

What an abundance of old steam engine tractors.  Yep, Dad was enchanted and thoroughly enjoyed checking out the engines.

Momma was intrigued with the Model T's versatility.  Did you know there was a kit to convert the Model T to a tractor?

And then you could change the wheels back into a family car.

Or how about the snowmobile?  It even had heat from the engine that warmed the rider inside the 'box'.

Check out the state of the art washing machines.

An outstanding collection of history...for sure.  You'll just have to visit to see the full collection.

Tomorrow is travel day...but we aren't going far.  Dad heard the raspberries are ripe and ready for picking.  I sure hope I get my own raspberry pie ....all for myself.  I know what I'll be dreaming of tonight!💭😛😋

Hickory

.....on the road again

Yellowhead Trail

Edmonton, Ab
July 21

Whew!  Now that was a LONG day...especially when you factor in the time zone change.  But it wasn't without adventure. The day began with a smoky view of what I'm certain could have been one of those trips when I would have been hearing lots of ooohs and ahhhs from the front seats.  Momma grabbed some shots anyway. 

 Our route, the Yellowhead Trail, Trans Hwy 16 took us through a short section of Jasper National Park where we were greeted with some gorgeous elk.  Of course they don't pose for the camera

 The views began to get clearer.

 

But when we came upon the point of  veering off on Hwy 93 toward Lake Louise or staying on the Yellowhead Trail heading for Edmonton, we choose to remain with last night's decision.

The highway had a bit of construction along the way, but it was pretty smooth traveling.  No 'whoop de doos' that we were beginning to miss from our Alcan Hwy travels.  It just isn't fun opening the cupboard doors anymore as nothing comes flying out at you.

Our arrival was a tad disappointing. Still some smoke...but not near what we had had.  Internet was down at Diamond Grove RV Park.  She blamed it on the smoke but said the tech was working on it. (When it finally did come up, it wasn't worth anything! Pitiful!!)   Our nice long site that was advertised as paved did have some sort of gravel with black goo that they obviously referred to as 'paved'.  Now you would think if they were going to go to all the trouble of giving you a 'paved' site, they would at least level it!  After 3 tries, Momma and Dad decided to call it close enough and opened up the slides.  When Momma stood by the front bay on the driver side, the bottom of the bay came to her waist.  It was a different story on the opposite side because of the unevenness of the site.  I didn't complain as I just loved all the grass between the sites! 

What I didn't like was all the thunder and lightning in the evening and night.  Momma said seeing as we got off the road so late (for us) and Aunt Janice was feeling a tad under the weather with a cold??? or cough??? or whatever, it would be a sleep in morning and a day of leisure coming up.  As it turned out, that was a good choice.  Who wants to pack up in the rain? 

By afternoon, the rain had quit and I didn't have to rush my 'business' walks anymore.  Momma had made some bread pudding with bourbon sauce.  Just as Dad and Momma stepped out the door to deliver a couple of bowls to Uncle Robin and Aunt Janice, a dark cloud let loose with some huge drops.  By the time they got inside for the delivery, it had stopped.  Go figure.  What timing!!

Now I am happy to report that with all the rain, lightning and thunder, there was wind.  Wind that carried the smoke off and out of our area.  Ahhh!  Smoke free, fresh air to breathe after chowing down when they broke open my big bag of dog food. 

Life is good...

Hickory

.....on the road again

Too much smoke

Outrunning the BC smoke

July 17-18

Our original plans were to spend a couple of nights in Prince George, BC but it seems the smoke settled in the area the day we arrived and the air quality is not the best.  So we changed our plans to a one night stay, quickly taking care of 'bigger city' tasks as soon as we arrived:  Uncle Robin had a bad tire he wanted to replace, Dad wanted an oil change and we wanted to stock up at a good sized grocery store.  I was really getting low on dog food and it was definitely time for a nice large bag.  It's a good thing they purchased the dog food before Dad got the oil change bill.  He was stunned at the $340 bill.  Can you just imagine how much higher the bill would have been if he hadn't provided all the filters needed?  Momma quickly converted the Canadian $ to US $ to make him feel just a bit better...but $272 still hit him hard when he knows could have done the job in half the amount of time they charged him.  But it could have been a much worse scenario...
you see, our neighbors arrived without a truck.  There were two Grand Design Reflection 5th Wheels that we had seen earlier on our trip in Whitehorse.  This was one of the two rigs but it was being towed by the second truck.  It seems as they were zipping along, oil began showering them....a transmission problem.  They were towed to a Dodge Repair Shop in Prince George where they left the truck and their friends towed their rig to the campground for them.  Now THEIR bill will be exponentially higher I'm sure!

This campground, Sintich RV Park was providing space at no charge to the fire victims who were evacuated.  We decided it was best to move on and leave more space more them and see if we could escape the smoke.

Our trip the next morning took us thru McBride, BC where we found ample parking by the visitor center.  Now talk about a great visitor center.  It was a 3 in 1 deal:  café,

who also believed in great presentation of their delicious offerings

gift shop,

and information desk with loads of brochures along with the most helpful attendee.

She even offered to call a campground for us to see if they had room for us.  She even apologized for the smoky conditions that just happened...yep, today.  She shared a picture of what the view of the mountains we couldn't see very well should look like without the gray, smoky haze.  Here's our view.

A gentleman who had just arrived from Jasper shared his disappointment in the lack of mountain views.  He said all he could see was water and some trees on his tour boat adventure.  Way too much smoke.  Needless to say, the adventure didn't live up to the expectations.

It really was a no brainer.  We decided it would be in our best interest to put in a longer day as we hit the road in the morning and see if we could get out of smoke range.  It just wasn't a healthy place to be.  And seeing as Jasper was smoky, it made sense to alter our route and stay on the Yellowhead Trail, Trans Hwy 16 and forgo Lake Louise.  Edmonton, Alberta here we come.

Hickory
....on the road again

I'd come back here

Hazelton, BC

July 17^th

We are making our way east in order to keep our August 9^th appointment at the Highland Ridge/Open Range Factory Repair Shop for replacement of our slide floor that separated on the day we began our trip in early April.  Dad’s and Todd’s repair job is holding up so far.  We are treating the slide with special care and we don’t fully deploy it so it drops flush.  It only took about a week of stubbing our toes on the raised slide before it finally sunk in to ‘step up’.  When it gets repaired, everyone will have to be reprogramed.

We have found another gem of a campground in Hazelton, British Columbia.  Ksan Campground has spacious, long sites with a nice grassy space between sites.  The wifi here rocks!!  Last night I sent out several messages.  Now tonight, we have a poor excuse for wifi….but at least it is something….so better than nothing.  But this will not go out until we find better wifi.   I wish we had had the time to stay on at Kzan.  With our Good Sam discount on top of a senior discount on top of the Canadian/US exchange, the site was VERY reasonable.  The campground was in a nice setting by the water.  Dad even commented on the design/layout of the sites.  Each site is separated from the next by a raised berm.  The site has a space for the picnic table and fire pit.  It is really well designed. 

And a bonus….they let us wash at the site.  Boy was that needed after traveling over a few miles of dusty construction.  The vehicles ahead of us kicked up a storm of dust.  We hung back a bit so we could make out the road we were traveling on. 

We did find time to take a tour of the First Nation totem poles.  The 16 poles are well over a 100 years old, some even close to 200.  When you stop and think of the tools that they used to do the carvings, it really adds an appreciation for the artistry. 

To get to the campground, the route took us over a one lane suspension bridge

Suspended over a deep gorge

Not a good trip for anyone who has a fear of heights.  It was a LONG way to the water😉  I'll just bet I could do a marvelous double pike, back flip, dog dive if the water was deeper. 

Oh I almost forgot.  Hazelton also has a super restaurant...at least the doggie bag was full of delicious smells.  AND they have fantastic deserts according to Aunt Janice.

A chocolate volcano cake filled with hot fudge and topped with ice cream.  No...it didn't make it to the doggie bag, but her breathe sure smelled good😋

Hickory

......on the road again

Bears

Stewart, BC/Hyder, Ak
July 15-16


Once again we were enchanted by the views as we traveled the lower part of the Cassiar Highway.  Majestic mountains, mini waterfalls, babbling rivers/creeks and of course more glaciers.

Momma said she finally found a good reason to have a sunroof.  The views looking up to the top of the mountains as we skirted its foot were astounding.

Now that picture doesn't even come close to the awesome first hand view.  It was so impressive looking straight up as we snaked our way around the base of the soaring mountain.

Our main focus for our trip to Stewart, Canada was to be able to skip across the boarder into Hyder, Alaska

....a short 4 mile jaunt from our campground....and continue another 6 miles to Fish Creek Observation Bridge. 

The salmon swim up Fish Creek and the bears dine and fatten up for the upcoming long winter of hibernation.  What a better way to celebrate this year's anniversary for Momma and Dad.  A nature show.

The only problem is, the salmon didn't read the tour book that said they would arrive mid-July.  Now seeing as there was no dinner in Fish Creek yet, no bears were present to dine.  Pooh!  What a bust!!😞  The only action were the two beavers who were repairing the damage to their dam caused when the rangers busted it up, knowing that the Chum Salmon are too lazy to leap over the dam.

That long blob just to the right of center is a beaver towing a branch that he added to the dam.

Now, just because there were no bears on the 15th, that didn't mean there wouldn't be any on the 16th.  So Momma and Dad got up early and zipped over the border (6:30 am became 5:30 am in Alaska: time zone change) only to be disappointed once again.  And again in the afternoon when they made one last visit to the bridge.  They about wore out their passports getting back into Canada after so many trips.

So it seems that the bear sightings for this leg of the trip were limited to the black bears who were kind enough to be forging along the Cassiar Highway.

 By the way, Hyder has a population of 100 and it sure looks depressing to us.  I sure hope the rangers working at the Observation bridge volunteered to live here.  It would be cruel to send someone to work/live in Hyder.  There is NOTHING in Hyder worth mentioning except the Seafood Bus/diner.  The husband and son catch the fish and the wife cooks and serves out of the bus/kitchen. 
Now the bus owner had a tale to tell.  It seems she had a first in 19 years (I can't believe she has stayed in Hyder that many years).  A black bear broke into the bus on July 7th and had a feast!  She had a long list of how any pounds of fish, hotdogs, sodas, etc that the bear helped himself to.  She was wiped out!!

Hickory
.....on the road again