Day of Rest

We are at Sagatawah RV Park in  Alberta for a day of rest and laundry (yuh).  Tomorrow we will travel to Dawson Creek, BC where we will begin the Alcan and also change our clocks to Pacific Time Zone (3 hours behind ya'll).  A news flash for all you hikers out there (CA-listen up) you have daylight from 5 am to 11 pm so you don't have to worry about losing daylight before you get tired and stop.  Also, those smart alecks who decide to brush up on their French, we would appreciate it if you would brush up on your Alaskan language.  Ha! Ha! Ha!  What a culture shock in an Alberta IGA grocery store.  Milk is graded by percentages and none of the food looks familiar and is pricey.  We now begin our adventure of carrying deisel (incase there are no gas stations) and making sure we have enough food (small town groceries are expensive).  Canada Day (like our 4th) is Friday, so we may have to stop along the road if we cannot find a place to stay.  Oh, by the way, the mosquitoes are huge and in large numbers.  Love ya'll.  Cell service and internet service may be intermittent from here on out.

Canada

We made it into Canada and are presently in Red Deer, Alberta.  We may take a lay over day tomorrow or try to get to the other side of Edmonton.  Decided to not go through Banff or Jasper because of road work delays.  Going through Calgary was an experience.  It is in the 70's, but cold.  Saw some small prairie dogs and Paw Paw decided he wanted one instead of a whistle pig.  Nothing more to  report - we are both doing well.  Canada is getting ready for their holiday - Canada Day, July 1, so we are not sure about availability north of here over the weekend.  We may be in the Walmart parking lot - that is if we can find one. Love ya' all and miss ya'll.  Will update at the next wifi stop.

Montana

Well - we traveled from Big Timbers, Montana to Shelby, Montana, just south of the Canadian border.  We started through rugged mountain and figured that we were out of the flat lands.  WRONG!  After we crested the mountains North of Great Falls the landscape returned to flat lands as far as you could see.  We will be heading across the Canadian Border tomorrow morning and do not know what internet service we will have in Canada.  I do know that we will be using wifi from the campgrounds as my air card will cost me toooo much to use.  I do have Canadian service for my cell phone.  Ya'll know how to get us if you really need to.  I will post again when I have service the next time I can get service (just because the campground says they have wifi does not mean they really have it).  Love ya' all.

Montana

Well --  The History buffs that we are brought us to the Little Big Horn National Monument. Still can't figure out how Custer got surrounded  by Indians when he was up on a high knoll with 360 degree view on all sides.   Spent some time there so we only made it to Big Timber Montana.  Kim,  we are picking up historical booklets for you to have for references (Little Big Horn and Trail of Tears).  We are on the north side of Yellowstone and the wind is bad.  We will be starting up the snow capped mountains tomorrow as we travel to Great  Falls, Montana.  Then it will be into Canada we go.  Love ya'll.  I'm getting better with the blog.  I can now edit it. 

Wyoming

We stopped in Buffalo Wyoming for the night.  Was hoping to visit the Woollen Mill, but since it was Saturday and I could not reach them, we found that there was not one there.  We'll try on our way back through Buffalo on our way home - will call and make an appointment on a week day though.  All you teachers out there--  where do these children on the very remote ranches go to school and how do they get there?  There were miles of interstate with no towns or people.  Boy, would there be a big culture shock moving to a ranch in Wyoming.  Stopped in Casper, Wyoming to visit the National Mountain Trails Interpretive Center.  I did not know that the Oregon, California, Morman and Pony Express Trailsl ALL went through Casper and had to cross the North Platte River.  You know how I like history - what a great center.  Hope to make it to the middle of  Montana tomorrow. 

Colorado

Kansas left behind wheat fields for as far as the eye could see.  Colorado began cow country, grasslands, snow fences, wind mills and slightly rolling hills.  Interstate interchanges were for the use of the huge farms.  Very little towns.  THEN we hit Denver!  What a huge and sprawling city.  You can see the Rockies in the background of the picture.  We finally stopped in Cheyenne, Wyoming.  The buffalos do roam here.  Hoping to make it to Sheridan tomorrow evening.   We are now 2 hours behind ya'll on Mountain Time.

Kansas

Well,  Kansas is the bread basket of the country.  We saw fields of wheat for as far as the eye could see.  Grain silos that were HUGH!! Signs along the interstate commented that one Kansas farmer feeds 130 people.  AMAZING. We also saw a wind farm with hundreds of wind mills. If you look close at the picture there are wind mills surrounded by wheat fields.   All is well.  enjoying the cool weather, but understand that there is a heat wave coming in that will push temps over the 100 degree mark.  Hopefully we will be long gone and into the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.  Miss ya' all.

Plan B

Hey kids,  made it to Kansas City and flooding of the Missouri River has closed I-29 north.  We are going to have to go to Plan B to miss all the river flooding.  We will be leaving Kansas City in the morning and going to try to make it to Wakeeney, Kansas.  We are trying to do at least 350 miles per day.  From Wakeeney, Kansas we will go to Strasburg, Colorado.  Both places we will be staying at KOA's.   The wind was challenging  to stay on the road to say the least.  Jason -  just wanted to say that the web site you created for our business is far reaching into Alaska.  We had a call from a client in Fairbanks, Alaska yesterday.  We will be making a business call once we get to Fairbanks.  Now, what are the odds of that happening????  Love ya all and will keep you posted.  Hope we don't have to go to Plan C!!

On the Road Again

We are on the road again.  Forgot how flat the mid-west is. We saw corn and wheat fields for as far as the eye could see.  Alot of water and overflowing rivers and lakes.   Drove through some pretty bad storms today, but the St. Louis Arch is amazing. 

Coach is just about ready!

All I have to load is FOOD and we will be ready to hit the road.  Time is getting closer.

So much to do and so little time

Time is moving quickly and we are trying to get it all done before we leave.  Just a few more weeks and the mountain gypsies will be on the move.