Sun Sept 29-Mon Sept 30th-Sault Ste Marie-Milton

Sun Sept 29-Mon Sept 30th-Sault Ste Marie-Milton

Lovely Colours at KOA in the Sault!

I am writing this toward the end of Oct... But better late than never.

Derek and Dennis - Good to see him.

We enjoyed our 2 night stay at the KOA in Sault St Marie. We found that they were a bit penny-pinching. We paid for a site (which included up to 6 people, but were annoyed to find they charged our friend $5 to visit us and sit at our picnic table for a few hours to chat... They were un-moveable and, although they have a nice campground, we felt annoyed after we had paid over $50 per night for the site, them $50 for a trailer/tow vehicle weighing service, and purchased an expensive tire pressure gauge. Nice people, but not customer focussed.  Would think twice before going again or recommending. Rant over!!!

Strange sunset on way down to Milton

Camped for the night in Braden's driveway

The weather was lovely, and the colours at their peak, as you can see from the photo. We left there, planning on staying over night part way down, but once on the road, the closer we got to 'home-base', the more excited we got about getting there... so we just kept driving and driving. We had the idea of staying at the Truck stop in Milton, but Braden said we could park in the driveway at his place... so we pulled in about 8pm and were absolutely thrilled to see Braden. We sat down to a quick pasta / meat sauce dinner together and watched a bit of TV before settling down for the night .... happy, safe, cosy, and glad to be 'home'. Ahhhhhhh!!!! Looking forward to getting to Milton Heights Campground tomorrow and settling down for a month or so.

Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat Sept 25-28 - Saskatchewan-Manittoba-Ontario

Wednesday Sept 25^{th –} Swift Current to Grenfell Saskatchewan

LEAVING SWIFT CURRENT

SASKATCHEWAN IS FLAT

BUT HE GLACIAL DRUMLINS ADD A DIFFERENCE

YEAH.... GRENFELL, SASK

Well the Swift Current site was nothing special so we got out as soon as possible in the morning, had an uneventful drive past Regina and began to marvel at the flat grasslands of the prairies. Got to the site at Grenfell about 2.30 pm for a self check in…just a open field of 9 or 10 utility posts and a “please leave $25 in an envelope in the mail slot!” easy drive through site and we didn’t even disconnect the truck. Got the bikes off the rack and cycled over to see Laurette at her home. Well Grenfell sure is a sleepy rural town of about 900. Almost idyllic and friendly folk..I guess it was pretty obvious that we were strangers. What a great visit to chat about the intervening years and life events for us all. So we ordered a chinese take out for Laurette to pick up…too awkward for us to carry on our bikes and we headed back to camp to show off our condo while the three of us munched away. We spent some 7 hours together and still had many stories untold. So good to renew friendships and stay in touch.

  

SUNSET AT THE CAMPSITE

LOOKS ALMOST LIKE A FIRE

GOOD TO SEE LONG TIME FRIENDS ... LAURETTE

Thursday Sept 26^{th –} Grenfell Saskatchewan right through to Dryden Ontario 

WINNIPEG FROM A DISTANCE

STILL A LONG WAY TO GO

After a short drive yesterday we were set for a long one today. We started out at 9.00 am local time and targeted to get to Kenora. We drove through a stormy morning and drifted across the prairies. The TransCanada highway was dual carriageway and two lanes each way the whole stretch, but boringly flat. Just gently rolling countryside so that you could see a couple of miles at most …but it is savannah grassland. In the afternoon we had passed through the storm and we pressed on. Pleased to find that diesel was only $1.18 in Manitoba as in SK. Well we blazed by Winnipeg on the southern ring road and only saw the city from a distance. At the eastern end of Manitoba, we did however spot a huge bald headed Eagle and the vegetation cover now included trees and brush not jut grass.

MADE IT TO DRYDEN-BIRCHLAND PARK

By about 5pm we crossed over into Ontario and began to look for the designated camp …The Willows in Kenora. I had called ahead and was told its on Hwy 17 just after 17A rejoins it. The gps co-ordinates couldn’t pick it up and knowing the mailbox number was useless and the one highway advertisement was actually too far past it so we realized some 20km on from Kenora that we had missed it. Well at that point we just kept going and 90 minutes later just before dark hauled our weary selves into Birchland Campsite in Dryden. Again basically just a serviced field but they had internet  (having warned me it probably wouldn’t work) so we were happy. We actually reheated the Chinese leftovers for dinner! Had an early night and set ourselves up for another long day tomorrow.

  

Friday September 27^th Dryden to somewhere between Thunder Bay and Marathon called Neys!

MEMORIAL TO TERRY FOX- NEAR THE SPOT HE STOPPED HIS RUN

IT IS A BEAUTIFUL SPOT NEAR THUNDER BAY

YES FALL IS IN THE AIR

TOP OF LAKE SUPERIOR

 Got off to a later than planned start, actually we slept in. Packed as quickly as we could, but still didn’t quite get going before the thunderstorm hit. Left the site about 9.30 and set off a little wet in the pouring rain…first time this year! that that has happened! Filled up at $1.35..welcome to Ontario. Ugh. Drove south toward Thunder Bay and the weather broke about two hours into the drive. The scenery around Thunder Bay became much more lush with firs and deciduous trees and much more prolific vegetation. In Thunder bay we stopped by the Terry Fox memorial and were both choked up seeing such a significant memorial and great tribute to perhaps Canada’s greatest athlete and modern day hero. Shortly after getting back en route we passed mile 3339 where he had to stop his Marathon of Hope. We had researched and found a small campsite at Neys right on Highway 17 just west of Marathon and that was the target for tonight. The camp has 14 sites a small convenience store with a lunch counter, a hunting outfitters shop and an LCBO agency. Ah yes it was awarded Ontario small camp of the year in 2011. It’s called Neys Lunch and Campsite.  We arrived as expected at 7.30 pm and set up then wandered into the lunch counter for home made bacon burger and fries and chicken fingers. Good solid comfort food with more fat than we have eaten all week…. it was excellent.  No disappointments.

VIEW AS WE DRIVE

ONTARIO IS BEAUTIFUL

CAMP AT NEY'S LUNCH AND CAMPSITE

SATURDAY SEPT 28TH - NEYS TO SAULT STE MARIE
We got up and headed back into the diner for a full cooked breakfast... because we could!!! Afterwards our guts were questioning our wisdom.. but once in a while you just gotta get down and get greasy!!!!

Southbound on #17 - the road to the Sault.

We continued to discuss our sanity as we drove south closer to 'home'. Our goal was to get to Sault STe Marie and we made it in good time. As we drove we couldn;t help admiring the beauty of this province. It is truly amazing. Lake superior and the surrounding area, ablaze with the colours of Fall surprised and delighted us on every turn of the road. We stopped at the Agawa visitors centre and learned much about the history of the area, watching a couple of short videos, and treating ourselves to a break in the drive. We are pretty much set to stay an extra night in Sault Ste Marie to catch up with another (band) friend who moved up here a few years ago. We arived at the KOA and were very happy with the campsite. Clean, friendly and good for a couple of nights.

The open road-almost at Sault Ste Marie

Tuesday Sept 24th – Cochrane, Alberta to Swift Current Saskatchewan

Tuesday Sept 24^{th –} Cochrane, Alberta to Swift Current Saskatchewan

Alberta can be flat

After a disturbed cough-filled night we were up a little later than planned and finally under way about 10am. The drive along Hwy 1 was uneventful, but quite interesting. We saw a camel in a field in Saskatchewan… honestly!!! It was there amongst some cows… The conversation went like this:

South Saskatchewan River

Janice: Hey wait a sec is that a….

Derek: CAMEL!!!!

Janice and Derek…. HUH???!!!!???

Where is the camera when you need it most?

ANOTHER PROVINCE on our journey

Yes definitely Saskatchewan

Anyway... after a couple of pit stops to switch drivers, we ate lunch en-route and arrived at Trail RV Park in Swift Current, lured there by their website that said they had wifi, even more boosted when the person at check in gave us the password and told us that they had increased the signal strength throughout the park…. We happily set up and had supper before settling down to update blog and catch up on emails….. NOT!!! No internet…. A teasing network shows up… but no strength… And no one around to throttle… ah well.. such is life on the road.  Turns out the electric supply is a bit 'dicky' too.. thankful for the surge protector. An early night will do us good anyway…. Looking forward to catching up with another long-time friend  tomorrow in Grenfell Saskatchewan… gotta be 20+ years… and none of us will have changed!!!!! Even a bit!!!! This is such a big plus in our adventure – catching up with friends, many we have not seen in years.  In case anyone out there is wondering… we are still having a blast and happy and grateful to be able to take this amazing journey. Stay tuned. 

Monday Sept 23rd - Friends, and getting ready to move.

Monday Sept 23^rd – friends, laundry and packing

Hugs are always welcome!!

Is he cute or what??

Image of her Dad and Mom) - SO adorable!

Today we tidied and sorted the condo a little and put some laundry in before Luka, Dean and Eliza arrived to share some coffee and treats with us and see our condo. We had a lovely visit and I think they were surprised at how  un-cramped and comfortable the ‘condo’ is.  We parted with promises to keep in touch. I wanted to kidnap Eliza, but she seemed to be so attached to Luka and Dean, that I let the thought pass!  We spent the rest of the day tidying and doing laundry getting ready for a LONG drive tomorrow.  hopefully make it as far as Swift Current Saskatchewan… we’ll see how it goes.  We chatted with Derek and Lin on Skype, to see how their journey home was and also to my sister Sue in UK and her husband John to  catch up with them. Derek picked up supplies while Janice updated the blog. We are hoping to get to Ontario without needing to do any major shopping.. just quick overnight stops on the way.  Although the days are still quite warm, there is a real nip in the air in the late afternoon and it is getting quite cold at night.  We may be getting the electric blanket out.   Janice’s  feels somewhat improved today… thank goodness. Still stuffed up, but not nearly so drained. 

Site 61- Bow Riversedge RV Park

Derek in his RAVEN LUNATIC t-shirt

Sun Sept 22 - Farewells and hellos - Calgary, Alberta

It was time to say goodbye to our dear friends. What a great time we had with them and how lucky we are to have had their company this last couple of weeks on our journey. We spent much of the day sorting and packing. Derek and Derek and Lin went out for a bit of shopping while Janice nursed a full-blown cold. Feeling quite ill today. Undaunted we relaxed outside in the sun and chatted until it was time to leave for the airport. After we dropped them off (with a few sobs) we went to the house of an old University of Guelph friend of Janice’s, who we have kept in touch with over the years. Luka and her lovely husband Dean and their absolutely beautiful 8 year old daughter Eliza made us feel so welcome and we caught up on each others lives and were treated to a fabulous home cooked meal, served meticulously by Eliza. We swapped tales of jobs, travels etc and Janice was able to forget for a few hours how yukky she felt with the cold. What a great evening. When we got back to the ‘condo’ we felt a bit sad not to see Derek-2 and Lin there, but happy that we had such a great time with them for the last two weeks, and also happy to have had a lovely welcome from Luka and family. 
Forgot to take photos today.

Sat Sept 21 - Bar U Ranch, Longview Alberta

Saturday Sept 21^st-  Bar U Ranch

Ranch Area-- What a setting

Derek-2 tooling around

Statue at Entrance to Bar U Ranch

It was our friends’ last full day in Canada and after changing our minds about visiting historic sites in Calgary, we opted for a 90 minute drive south of Calgary to a ranch (Bar U Ranch in Longview, Alberta). This ranch, originally some 157,000+ acres, was one of the most important and productive ranches in Canada and as the big ranch system slowly died in the mid 20^th century, the government took over a 300+ acre chunk that was the main administrative area of the ranch and preserved much of the original equipment, buildings and photographs, with each building telling stories of life on the ranch and various owners etc. Apart from the fact that the ranch is in such a beautiful setting in the foothills, it is fascinating to read the history and to talk to the people on the ranch (dressed in somewhat period clothes.)   We had a picnic lunch and wandered the grounds. A couple of the guys in the buildings were cowboys themselves and had several fascinating tales of their lives on the ranches etc…  After a taste of cowboy coffee and bannock and petting the Percheron horses, we headed back to Cochrane to enjoy a perfectly cooked steak dinner and a final game of password, which Lin and Janice won, which was sweet. considering the guys had won the previous 3 (yes Derek … it was 3) And so the last full day with our friends was done.  Janice has developed a nasty cold and sore throat, hopefully it wont last long.

Love this picture - Statue looks real

Derek-1, cookies Anyone??

Derek-1 -- Shadow on bridge - LOVE IT!!

Horses love these guys.. could be the fresh grass!

Coffee and Bannock served here!

Served by a cowpoke!

Fresh grass - yummy!! Thanks!!

For you older folk- is this Mr Ed's brother??

Idyllic view from the barn!

Wedding Carriage - (there was a real wedding there that day)

Fri Sept 20th - Banff to Cochrane

Friday Sept 20^th- Banff to Cochrane.

We bid goodbye to Banff and made the short trip to Cochrane, following the Bow river.  It was interesting to see the change in landscape from the middle of the Rockies to the foothills and to see the devastation of the June floods, still quite obvious as we passed by Canmore and on to Cochrane, to the Bow Riversedge Campground, which is the closest decent full service RV park to Calgary and the easiest one to get to Calgary Airport.

It was still a beautiful day, so after setting up we went for a walk along the Bow River, right next to the campground.  We discovered that we could have a campfire here so we totally enjoyed an evening  by the campfire, feeling so happy to be sharing it with our friends .