July 21st, Sunday

8 weeks ago today we left for our trip across Canada - 17500+ kms later we are arriving home. Fantastic trip and what a country - beautiful to see. We ended our trip with a visit with Derek and Katja. Mom, Dad and soon to be little boy are doing great ! Delicious supper and then on the road to cross the border into Nova Scotia and back home. Feels good to be home. Thanks for enjoying our trip across Canada with us. It was fun to know you were along.

July 20th, Saturday

Almost there ! Last big day of driving - thru Quebec ahead of all the rain and thunder storms. We were lucky on this trip with no real bad weather to give us a problem. We stopped in Grand Falls to have a picnic lunch and see the Falls. Not much rain lately so the water was not flowing.

Between Bath and Perth Andover we saw a huge number of bikers on their annual Toy Run for the local hospitals.

Arrived in Bath at 2:30pm and spent the afternoon and night with Grammie Jeanne. The air has cooled so it was quite pleasant sleeping without the AC on.

July 19th, Friday

Had a great time last night. We went to dinner with Laird, Elise, and their daughter, Christy and her husband Shawn at Mr. B'z, a small local restaurant in Ottawa. Food was delicious. The play was held at the Ottawa little Theatre (101 years old) and was called "Noises Off". A farce about the behind-the-scenes of a play. Quite entertaining. They gave us a quick tour of downtown Ottawa and then delivered us back to our campsite. This morning our UNB friend "Doc" picked us up and we met his wife, Linda at a local restaurant for a 2 hour brunch. Have not seen them for 3-4 years so it was fun to catch up on their news. Pulled out of Ottawa just before noon and headed east on the 17, 50, 158, 40 and then the 20 ending up in Montmagny for the night. Everything is green, roads are busy, rained on and off, and traffic heavy around Quebec City.

Bernie managed to get the barbecuing done even with a downpour and lightening. Our last barbecue before we arrive home.

July 18th, Thursday

Heavy showers and thunderstorm during night but didn't seem to cool off the air any. We drove to Ottawa today with a stop at Petawawa to tour the Military Museum on the Base. Another little peek into our Canadian history.

Spending the evening with Kubota Dealer friends, Laird and Elize Weagants at a comedy dinner show in Ottawa. It will be great to see them.

July 17th, Wednesday

Another day closer to home. We had a delicious dinner out last night at the Docks restaurant on the waterfront at Sault Ste Marie, a stroll along the waterfront and then a time relaxing in the lawn chairs at the campground.

My new friends - the bears and two little girls. Today was a trip along the #17 towards North Bay. As we travelled along with the sun shining and 35+ degrees Bernie asked if I recognized anything. I said no because the sun was shining :-). A few minutes later it started to rain heavy and it changed everything. We recognized the rocks and trees ! We stopped in North Bay at the Dionne Quints museum just as a heavy wind storm and rain arrived. So much dust and dirt was flying you could hardly see across the parking lot. The museum and their original house was very interesting but oh what a life they lived. Exploited by the government and so many people. I can remember Mom and Grammie talking about the Quints when I was a kid.

We stopped at one campground but they had no power because of the storm so we went another 60kms and found one on the Ottawa River at Stonecliff. Barbecue again and a great night for sitting outside. Along the way we saw a Mennonite couple cruising down the highway today

July 16th, Tuesday

Not a very exciting day on the tourist end. We headed along the coast of Lake Michigan towards Sault Ste Marie and the border. This area looks like it has been hit hard by the recession - motels closed, restaurants closed, businesses closed. All woods except for a bit along the shore where there is sandy beaches and a view of the lake. We stopped at a park site and had a gourmet peanut butter sandwich and chips on the beach.

Soaked our feet in the bath warm water and enjoyed the sun and view. Crossed the border at 2:30 with no problems and glad to be back on Canadian soil. Spending the night at a KOA campground in the Soo and plan on dinner at The Docks downtown. Feels and sounds like a thunderstorm rolling in.

July 15th, Monday

Closer and closer to home ! Woke to the crowing of a rooster and the sun shining on us at the campground in Irvington. Perfect ! Headed east again through the State of Wisconsin where most of the country roads are marked by letters and not names. First time we have ever seen this way of identifying roads.

We have dropped to 390m of elevation, straight roads with no mountains, fields of corn and then changed to trees and woods. Just like the Maritimes. We drove along the #8 (north of the major highway #94) thru small towns with well kept properties and small businesses. All the towns were marked with a sign of the town and population even if it was only 93 people. Kind of neat. Met dozens of motorhomes and 5th wheels returning from a Music Fest in Rhineland. (info gathered at a lunch break at a picnic site). Areas along #8 would be defined as a bible belt area by the number of churches in the towns.

We saw a log church, dozens of antique stores, western facades on shops, little traffic, and not many places to get a coffee. Bernie's only complaint of the day. On crossing the Wisconsin - Michigan border we lost another hour and now into Eastern time. One of our laugh out loud moments today was coming to a "steep hill" sign and it was 1/100th of the size we went thru in the last couple of weeks. The second was following a DOT truck putting pylons on the road. It was a hoot because every 6th or 7th would go flying. Things are getting simple :-)

And then we found a great campground in Escanaba, chilled out with a frosty and ended with a steak barbecue

July 14th, Sunday

From 3am on it rained and thundered - so hard to get out of bed when it is dark and dreary out. Up, coffee on and headed to downtown Mitchell, SD to the world's only Corn Palace. This is the 3rd built since 1892. Each year a theme is chosen and artisans decorate the outside walls of the building with corn and grains. Roughly 3,000 bushels of rye, oats and sour dock are tied in bundles and attached. Over 275 thousand ears of 6-8 different colours of corn are used in the murals. The building holds concerts, basketball games, graduations, etc. Very interesting.

Then it was a day driving thru the rest of South Dakota, thru Minnesota and into Wisconsin. Corn and more corn and more corn. A field of hay, some cattle, racoons and long straight roads broke up the miles of corn. Pulled into the area around Menomonie to a Good Sam campground. Did not stay long. Just a bit spooky. Off to find another campground (Walmart parking lot was the last option)which we did and it gave us both a comfortable feeling. Had picked up dinner at the grocery store so cooking was easy :-)

July 13th, Saturday

Happy Birthday Wendy ! Another hot, sunny day - 30 at 8am. On the road after a great barbecue and sleep last night. One of the best campgrounds yet and right beside Old MacDonald's Farm near Keystone on route 16. We hopped on the I90 and headed east across the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands which are recovered lands by the government. They are trying to bring the grasslands (short grass, mixed grasses and tall grasses) back to a productive level after all the drought years.

We stopped at the Wall Drug Store in Wall (76,000 sq ft), South Dakota. In 1931 the owner advertised Free Ice Water on a billboard on the now I90 and from then on the idea of billboards took off and now line the I90. The Wall Drug has creaky floors like Dayle's but nowhere near the quality or atmosphere. Even stopping at Masstown is away better. And to top it off we happened to arrive on parade day - but unlike Amherst you can cross the street with your vehicle when the parade is on :-). The Badlands of South Dakota were next - another highlight on the trip. Over the last few million years the Continental Plates pushed and shoved, the sea retreated, silt and sediment washed down from the Black Hills and the area of what we call the Badlands was exposed to the elements. Wind, air, water and sun sculpted the land into their present day craggy forms.

Late in the afternoon (after losing an hour crossing into Central Time) we found an antique car attraction called Pioneer Auto in Murdo, SD. Interesting - lots of stuff: some in good condition and some in poor condition.There was even a 1921 motorhome that went across the US from Coast to Coast. Temp is up to 37 today and it is hot.... Overnight at a campground in Mitchell, SD - the home of the Corn Castle. Maybe a picture tomorrow :-)

July 12th, Friday

Wow ! Sun again. We had a full day around the Custer, South Dakota area. Started off with a tour of the Jewel Cave Natural Monument in the Black Hills. The caves discovered are 160 miles but we only did a couple of kms. Up and down stairs and paths as we wandered 380 feet below the surface with a tour guide pointing out all the different formations. Totally different then the cave tour I did in Texas. I tried the small cave in the Info centre :-)

The next stop was Crazy Horse Memorial which is going to be the world's largest sculpture. It is being sculpted in the Black Hills of South Dakota to honour the heritage, cultures and spirit of the North American Indian People. It is huge ! 563 feet high and 641 feet long. 7 of the sculptor's, Ziolkowski, family are continuing on his work of the Lakota Chief Crazy Horse. It will take years. Truly mind boggling on how they carve 95% of it with explosives.

Then down the road to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial which represents the first 150 years of the democracy of America. It is a carving (done by sculptor Borglum and 400 workers) of 4 US Presidents - Lincoln, Jefferson, Washington and Roosevelt. You see it in pictures but it is amazing to see it

in person.

There are a lot of things to see in such a small area - our last "tourist" thing was Bear Country which is a game sanctuary where we saw black bear, grizzly, reindeer, elk, wolves, bison, and big horned sheep. Then it was cold drink time (up to 34 degrees today), barbeque, another rain shower and talk to campers.

July 11th, Thursday

A day on the road travelling east on the highway towards Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. And as a buddy from the campground said " Driving and seeing a whole lot of nothing !". So true but it was interesting "nothing". We opted to drive on the #26 which is south in Wyoming and avoided the mountains and construction and narrow roads on the north part. Advice from a fellow traveller "Those north roads are nasty in an RV". The scenery went from red hills and some greenery to desert like and miles and miles of it - horses (this is cowboy country), cattle, scrub land, deer, wooden fences, log holes, different rock formation, 40 degrees, an odd train, passed thru little towns all closed up and the wind came up. (thought we were back on the Amherst marsh) In the town of Custer City we found a campground, a quilt shop and a saloon with wooden swinging doors and a dirt floor. Everyone happy :-)

July 10th, Wednesday

A driving day south towards Jackson, Wyoming. We had lunch on an outside deck at Jackson Hole Ski Resort where nephew Shawn and his wife worked teaching skiing. A US version of Whistler :-) The country side was more of mountains, scrub land, green grass, cattle, bison, elk, lakes, high hills, flat plateau and still over 2000m

We settled in for the night at a little western town called Dubois where Butch Cassidy hid out in a cave from the law. All the store and restaurant facades are like an old west town and it is a working cowboy town. Grub was good too!

July 9th, Tuesday

Sun shining again ! 20 degrees to start the day. We drove thru the vibrant town of Bozeman with a busy downtown as well as Mall area. From there to almost Yellowstone park Bernie described the landscape as "this must be where all the cowboy movies are filmed". Desert like, spots of green, rolling hills, rivers. The Plains. The Yellowstone Park archway gave up the good roads and we were down to narrow, windy, no shoulder roads. At Mammoth Springs Elk greeted us everywhere on the lawns and streets and then we did the 2km walk up the boardwalks (climbed 200m up) to the beautiful Mammoth Hot Springs.Mineral laden hot water from deep beneath finds it's way to the surface and builds tier upon tier of cascading, terraced stone. Beautiful !

As we drive onto the Blacktail Deer Plateau we are above 2000m and will be this high for a few days. You can feel it when you are walking especially uphill. Flat area, small trees, bison, elk, bear. There are signs of a huge forest fire in the past years as logs are everywhere on the hill sides and the tree growth is young. A species of pine that has seed pods that only open in intense heat are everywhere. They love forest fires. Our next stop is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone Park and what an awesome sight from the North Side of the Canyon. The Yellowstone River snakes thru the Canyon and the sides are multi coloured due to hot springs, volcanic rocks, wind, and water.

Another weird and wonderful spot is the Fountain Paint Pot

Our last major spot was Upper Geyser Basin, the home of Old Faithful and many more geysers, hot springs and mud pots - Beehive Geyser (shape), Flume Geyser, Doublet Pool (series of ledges, border ornaments and blue water), Crested Pool (constantly boiling), Pump Geysers, and we saw the Solitary Geyser and Anemone Geyser erupt. All so interesting.

And then there was Old Faithful - we hung around and waited for its performance and it went off as scheduled

After leaving Old Faithful we headed for the South Gate of the park and it was a workout for Bernie driving - narrow, windy and looking right down the cliff side to the river. Slow and easy :-) Found a tent spot at Teton National Park - no power or water but a quiet campground. This has been an interesting part of the world. Well worth the drive.

July 8th, Monday

Up and on the road heading to the US border. More prairie land, miles and miles. Kind of beautiful in its own way but give me a view of the water any time.

Crossed the border at Coutts, Alberta and headed south through along the 15 towards Great Falls, Helana, Butte and Bozeman. The road wandered across plains, thru mountain ranges that I called "the soft mountains". They were all rounded, sparsely covered in soft wood and a grass cover.

Cattle grazed, canola and grain crops, vacant farm houses, a few oil wells, sometimes a river following the road and every now and then we would climb a mountain but it was a gradual climb. Montana was what Bernie expected plains, hills, desert, trees, but no cowboys.

As usual rain and sun was the order of the day. Towards the end of the day we had two passes to go thru - Elk Park Pass and Homestake Pass which were both 2000 meters.

Found a campsite at a KOA campground near Bozeman just a couple of hours north of Yellowstone Park.

July 7th, Sunday

Oh what a great sleep we had ! It has been a full 2 days at the Stampede. The sun is out and looks clear for the whole day. Fantastic ! We met Evan Rogers and girlfriend Rachel for a brunch and got caught up on their news. They are still not back in their apartment in Calgary and will probably be a couple weeks. So great to see them ! Then we hit the TC and headed south towards Medicine Hat to see some of the Prairies. Miles and miles of grain, corn, potatoes, and canola with bee hives sitting all thru the fields - some in plastic tents and some in trailers. There were hundreds of cattle, oil wells, big irrigation apparatus, cattle stock pens, Bow canal, and lots to keep our eyes and head moving from side to side. We are in McCain territory as we head south.

Pulled into Chin Park campground just south of Tabor, AB. Sitting by the water reservoir (which provides the farmers with water) sipping on a cold one and having a barbecue. Perfect !