Jackson Hole

We arose early today and headed towards Yellowstone. We drove the south western route heading towards Grand Teton national park. Along the way we stopped into the geyser area and the Old Faithful area. Then on to Grand Teton. We toured all the way down to Jackson Hole. We took a different route back going over the Teton Pass 5 miles of 10% grade up and 3 miles of 10% grade going down. Going up we saw a tow truck trying to pull a transport out of one of the truck runaways, they really do work in stopping a truck. At the top we met lots of emergency vehicles seems a motorcyclist hit a truck. The weather was all over today cool, hot sunny, cloudy, rainy, dry. We had an enjoyable trip back to the trailer. Pics of the day are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary3

splunking

We left Kalispell, Montana and headed south we didn't have reservations anywhere just decided to wing it. We ended up at Lewis and Clarke caverns state park. What a nice park, right in the middle of hill country and we were able to get a campsite with electricity but no water or sewer. Luckily we have large holding tanks. They have caverns here and Sue and I set off to explore. The two hour tour of the caverns was well worth the $10 fee. The weather has been great although a bit warm. In the afternoon we drove down to Virginia city an old living ghost town, which we explored and took in a local "follies" show. lots of fun. It definitely was X rated :-) We spent two days here and didn't have any cell phone or Internet access just relaxing times. Today we left and headed down towards West Yellowstone park. Everything is booked up solid at this time so finally found a campground about 15 miles outside the park that had room at the inn. (barely got the last spot) So here we are at West Yellowstone Holiday RV resort on the shores of Hebgen Lake. We will stay here for 3 nights and use it as a base to explore Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. I have posted pics of our last few days here
http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary3
Doug.

touring with Kathleen

Had two beautiful days at the Buffalo Plains campground. Matt joined us and we all went to visit "Head smashed in buffalo jump" in the morning and it was quite interesting. As it was a warm day we drove to the Oldman river and Kathleen, Sue and Matt went on the "floaties" and drifted down the river to Fort McLeod. I was the designated driver and found a place to off road a bit which led to the river and I picked them up from the river about 3 hours later. Back at the campground I bar-b-qued steaks for supper and we had a nice campfire then watched the "Edge" a movie about 3 guys in the wilderness stalked by a grizzly bear. Sunday morning we all packed up and Kathleen and Matt said their goodbyes and headed back to Calgary while Sue and I headed south with no plans or reservations for the night. After a 3 hour drive we arrived at St. Mary glacier national park and decided to see if they had a site for the night which they did but only for one night. Sooooo we set up camp and headed over the road to the sun road what a trip beautiful scenery on a narrow windy road that was limited to vehicles 21 ft. long and 8 ft. wide My truck is 19 feet long and 8ft wide and it was a little tight in spots ..... like only inches from the rock walls and opposing traffic. We traversed the 50 mile road in both directions hiked and climbed glaciers......what a great day. We slept well that night. The next day we headed further south and are in Glacier Pines campground near Kalispell, Montana. We plan on staying here for two nights (laundry needs doing) and planning our next route now that we have no direction or time lines to follow. pics of the last few days can be found at Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary2
Doug.

more soakin up the sun in BC

well we took Kathleen on a wine tour and picked up a couple of bottles. Sue and Kathleen also spent an afternoon floating down the water channel that flows through Penticton and joins the lakes at the north end and south end of the city. I was designated driver (again) Beautiful sunshine all day. We left Oliver early Thursday morning and had a fabulous drive through the mountains to Fort Steele campground. The weather started out good but it turned into a cool rainy day as we progressed through the mountains and there were some high mountain passes. Today we had a shorter drive and made it back to Alberta where we will be staying at the Buffalo Plains campground for two nights. The weather has cleared and it is suppose to be sunny and warm here for the next week. Matt (Kathleen's boyfriend) will be joining us for the weekend and what a change of scenery as we are in the foothills "Buffalo country" few trees and rolling grasslands. Pics can be found at Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary2
Doug.

soakin up the sun

What a beautiful land we have. After leaving Cochrane we headed into the mountains via Banff slow leisurely drive (both to look at the scenery and because of lots of construction) to Golden, where we spent the night. We explored the area a bit and discovered the longest free standing wood truss covered bridge in Canada. The next day we headed further into the mountains and drove to Kelowna..........the drive through glacier national park was awe inspiring. We explored the city of Kelowna (much bigger than I thought). The next day we headed south and arrived at Oliver B.C. our home for the next 3 nights. This is a desert area which they irrigate to produce fruits and fine wines. Oliver bills itself as the wine capital of Canada. The weather is warm 30 degrees and dry. We might head back to Penticton and Sue and Kathleen could float down a river channel from Okanagan Lake to Skaha lake. Pics can be found here. Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary I have started a new folder for the mountains Http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary2
Doug.

Relaxing

Most of the rally participants are gone in different directions. We were treated to supper at the Keg by Kathleen last night to celebrate Matt's (her boyfriend) promotion at work. Love the Keg. Matt's Mother, brother, sister in law and niece were also there and a good time was had by all. We have decided to keep the trailer here in this park in Cochrane for one more night rather than drive it through city traffic to Kathleen's then have to drive it back the same way the next day on our camping trip into the mountains. We will go into Calgary again tonight for another trip to the stampede then Matt will drive Kathleen out to us on Sat. and we will head out to the Kelowna and Oliver B.C. area. The latest pics are located at http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary
Doug.

WASHED OFF

We had a big storm here two days ago, much damage to cars etc. from hail, lots of wind, we escaped unharmed. Yesterday the rainy weather continued all day so Sue and I drove over to Airdrie to explore. Not much there as it is a new bedroom community of Calgary and everything is new even the downtown area. We then drove back into Cochrane to explore the artist shops in this older established town. The Titanium group were suppose to have a pot luck supper yesterday to exchange gifts and say goodbyes but there is no hall here at this park and so plans were made to go out to a local restaurant for supper. We had a good prime rib dinner and conversation then held draws for prizes. I got some 4U cleaner. Those who brought a small gift from their home area put them all on one table then we drew numbers and you went up and picked up a gift from someone else to take home. When our number was called Sue went up and picked a square parcel and when we opened it, it was a framed photo of the countryside from a rally goer from North Carolina. Really beautiful. Our contribution two bottles of St. George sparkling apple drink in a bucket with serving clothes was chosen by a couple from British Columbia. (They may have thought the two bottles were wine :-) ) This morning we are off to a free stampede breakfast put on by Kathleen's company. See pics here http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary
Doug.

cleaning day

We passed on the trip to Banf and Lake Louise today as we were there 2 years ago and will be going through with Kathleen next week, sooooo a day to do laundry and clean up a bit. Turns out it was the right move as a cold front came down from the north and produced big storms. Hail, high winds and tornado warnings ..........we fortunately escaped the worst and were visiting Kathleen and her boyfriend Matt at there work place for lunch and could watch the storm from inside. Got some grocery shopping done as well then back to the campground. No campfire tonight but the fireplace in the trailer came in handy as the temps got down to 7 degrees last night and today it is going to be rainy and only 13 degrees. Not sure if we can have our potluck tonight or not (hope so). We may go into Cochrane or maybe Airdree today to explore.
Doug.

Yahoooo

Friday was Stampede day and after an eventful trip to the park in a school bus with a driver who didn't know her directions, how heavy her bus was (she went over two bridges she was overweight for) or how tall it was (luckily we didn't hit an overpass) we had a great day at the stampede. Had lunch in the rangeland tent then off to the grandstand for the rodeo then explore the stampede grounds. Sue and I enjoyed the "show" Saturday we visited Heritage Park a restored frontier town site with lots of exhibits to see and try out (steam engine train, paddle wheeler boat, wagons, and old fashioned carnival rides) We even took in a vaudeville show. After we left Heritage park (they had to get it ready for P.M Harper) we met Kathleen at Ikea. Today we went to Drumheler for the Royal Tyrell Museum, where we searched for fossils and toured the grounds. I will upload pics at the following location http://picasaweb.google.com/collindo99/calgary
Doug.

Rally time

well most of the rigs for the rally have arrived and this campground could be called camp Titanium. We have have had a few social get togethers with more planned. Tuesday evening went into Cochrane Alberta to Ducks on the roof (a pub) with about 10 others for a very good meal and conversation. yesterday we set up two large tents side by side which we will use as rally central. Had a meet and greet last night and Kathleen showed up after work .....what a treat. we took her into Ducks on the roof for supper and were joined by two other couples. then back to the campground where we gave Kathleen some of the "stuff" we brought out for her. She left about 9:30 in her car ...which is still running. We then joined the group at the evening campfire. This morning we have a Tech talk, orientation to the area, and itinerary talk. This afternoon Sue and I will head into Calgary to see some of the sites, shop and see Kathleen after she gets out of work. Weather forecast today is for sunny skies and temps in the upper 20's much better than the upper 30 temps Scott is having back in Ontario.
Doug.

Made it

Watched the 4th of July fireworks at Glasgow, Montana then on to Shelby Montana for one night. battled strong headwinds and occasional showers. Up Tuesday morning and decided to press on. 32 Km to the Canadian border then on up north to Lethbridge then Calgary and finally over to Cochrane to the Springhill RV campground. There were already several from our rally here. we went with a group into Cochrane to the duck on the roof pub for supper and had a good time. Called Kathleen and we and she were excited to hear each other. She will come out to see us tomorrow after work. It will be nice to "unload" the loot we brought out for her. That should make the rig a little lighter on the trip home. Looking forward to the "official" start to the rally tomorrow and the Stampede on Friday. Have a good view 0f the mountains in the distance.
Doug.

happy July 4th America

Well it was a quiet night last night and a pleasant drive today. We stopped at the Roosevelt National park to view the badlands then on to Montana where we left the interstate and headed north on secondary roads. Boy if you live here you got quite a drive into town in spots wide open land with huge ranches. We stopped early today about 1:30 pm mountain time at Glasgow Montana in the Shady Rest RV park. Time to relax, shower and enjoy the countryside. Weather has been and is very nice mostly sunny skies and warm temps. Not sure if they will have any fireworks to celebrate July 4th here tonight or not. Tomorrow it is on to Shelby Montana.
Doug.

The trip so far

We left St. George as soon as Sue got off work (actually I sat outside the school with the rig) and put in a long drive to Benton Harbor Michigan where we stayed at camp walmart for a few hours sleep then up really early Thursday morning and off towards Chicago at 5am Actually not a bad drive and traffic only slowed in a few spots. We made it all the way to Black River falls Wisconsin where we stayed at the Parkland Village campground for the night. Friday saw us leave at around 9am and make it all the way to Fargo North Dakota where camp walmart was a very gracious host. Today we ended up in Dickinson North Dakota at another camp walmart. Sue tried her hand at driving today and did quite nicely as the roads in ND. are straight and not much traffic. When I parked and came out after talking to the customer service rep. to ask permission to park I noticed some pink hanging down from the trailer where it shouldn't have been. Looked under and saw that the chloroplast that covers the bottom of the rig had come loose actually 9 of the screws holding it on tore through the plastic and the bat insulation was just hanging there ............good thing we were at camp Walmart as I was able to go in and purchase the necessary tools and hardware to repair the problem, I will have to replace all the screws at some time in the future. Other than that the trailer seems to be holding up quite well. Well as it is July4th tomorrow lots of people have started their fireworks displays already tonight.....hope it doesn't go on too late. Don't think I'll have any problem sleeping however as it is mountain time here and my body is still on eastern time...soooo its is long past my bedtime.
Goodnight.