A few more pics from yesterday

Here are a few more images from yesterday.

My son is tracking our voyage on Google Earth. He sent me an image of our progress so far.

Day 5 - Alberta

July 10 - Day 5

Got on the road at about 7:30 after good night's sleep at campground. We went into Saskatoon to find breakfast and gas. Discovered that it was really an hour earlier than we thought. Apparently Saskatchewan doesn't participate in daylight savings time???

Went to the Western Development Museum in N. Battleford. Donny had visited before and wanted to see the Phenix log hauler they have restored. The museum was great. Lots of historical artifacts and old steam traction engines. Gorgeous quilts!

Today we saw prairie dogs, a coyote, about 15 deer and a herd of free-ranging bison at Elk Island National Park. Two sand hill cranes beside the road near Lesser Slave Lake in Alberta. Also found some interesting new wildflowers: cut leaf painted cup, salsify and purple vetch.

We passed from Saskatchewan to Alberta at about 4:30 and decided to go as far as Lesser Slave Lake to spend the night. This is the beginning of the Mountain Standard Time Zone, also.

We got a little lost leaving Edmonton, but got straightened out after a bit. The route to Lesser Slave Lake was gorgeous - huge farms and fields full of grain and the same bright yellow canola plants we have seen since Ontario. We reached Slave Lake, but a carnival was in town, so we kept going, figuring that all the campgrounds would be full.

Saw a strange phenomenon after leaving Slave Lake. All around us, gigantic swarms of insects were rising from the spruce forest. Thousands and thousands of them would form long, twisted swirls that looked like smoke in the evening sky. When we drove through the swarms, we could hear them hitting the camper -- sounded like light sleet or rain. We are going to have to scrape them off the wind shield tomorrow.

The days are getting rapidly longer. The sunset shot above was taken at 10:30 p.m.!

We will try to check in tomorrow from British Columbia. Donny is anxious to drive the Alaska Highway. He has always wanted to see it.

Later!

July 9 - Day 4

Left Pine Tree Campground at about 8:00 this morning. Our goal today was to reach Saskatoon, Saskatchawan.

Everyone I talked to before this trip said that the prairie states would be boring. I didn't think so at all! the roadsides were full of wildflowers, including some species new to me: harebells, sweet yellow clover and purple vetch. The fields were full of colorful crops, especially thousands (millions?) of acres of a bright yellow crop, which I think is canola. The sky was very blue today, with white fluffy cumulus clouds. I really enjoyed seeing the old barns and homesteads, mostly abandoned now, from the early settlement days. The prairies are full of pot holes, too, each with at least one pair of nesting waterfowl. We saw American coots, mallards, canvasbacks and Canada geese everywhere. We saw other birds often today, wheeling and swooping over the water. It took me a while to identify them as black terns. Beautiful bird, one that I have never seen in the US. We also saw a bald eagle soaring over a canola field, and several northern harriers. Wildlife today included a friendly thirteen-striped ground squirrel, a pair of cross foxes hanging out near the carcass of a car-killed deer beside the highway, magpies, and lots of white tailed deer near dusk.

As we approached the Saskatchewan border, the terrain changed, becoming more rolling. We saw more ranches and less crop land.

Crossed into Saskatchewan at about 4:15. We gased up and decided we could probably make Saskatoon before stopping for the day. We are now above the 50th parallel, so the sun doesn't set until nearly 10:30 p.m.

Once again, the land flattened out and wheat, barley, rye and canola fields prevailed. Haying is in full swing, too, with fields full of giant round bales. Nearly every town has at least one grain silo, and some have several. We saw several long freight trains today, loaded with grain, and stopped briefly to watch the loading operation.

A few miles before Saskatoon , we could see a huge storm system rolling across the sky, complete with lightning and black swirling clouds. We figured it might be best to stop a little early, so we found a small campground just before the storm reached us.

526 miles today, making a total of nearly 2200. Tomorrow we will visit a museum in Saskatoon, and another in N. Battleford before heading to Alberta.

July 8 - Day 3

Hello From Manitoba!

Well we finally made it across Ontario. It is hard to comprehend how big that province is and how much empty land it has. It certainly has some beautiful scenery, but a lot of it is just plain boring! Miles and miles and miles of dead and dying spruce trees - lots of flat, empty bogs, etc. Nice skies all day today - beautiful huge white cumulus.

Our day today started at about 5:15. We found a small access road last night that had a great level turn around at the end. Since it was so late, we decided to just sleep there and start early this morning. We realized that we were near a railroad track, but we did NOT realize that 6 freights would go screaming past during the night! I slept right through most of them, but Donny heard 'em all.

We stopped at a scenic overlook right after we left this morning, just as the sun was coming up. There was a huge railroad trestle across the valley, and while we were there, a freight train came around the side of the mountain and started across the trestle. The freight was hauling flatbed cars, each loaded with two shipping containers. We quit counting cars at 100, and that wasn't even half of the train! Amazing sight.

At about 2:15 we passed through Thunder Bay, Ontario. Just beyond that we crossed into the Central Standard Time Zone, so we gained an hour of travel time.

We traveled 567 miles today -- which is over 1600 total -- and arrived at a small campground just inside the Manitoba border around 10:30 p.m. Tomorrow should bring us to the prairies.

A few more camper glitches -- had to stop twice because the aluminum siding was coming loose on the top right side. A few sheet rock screws and some silicone took care of the problem. Still having trouble with the fridge when it is running on propane. Tonight it is plugged in and everything should be nice and cold tomorrow.

Here's a few more pics of Ontario, and one of the Manitoba border. Too dark for anything else after that.

Love to all.

Cheryl

Day 1 and 2 Report

Hi Everyone

July 6 - Day 1: Today we crossed the border at Derby Line, Vermont. They decided we looked suspicious, I guess, and felt they needed to inspect our camper. That held us up for a bit, but we had no other trouble.

Getting through Montreal, Quebec wasn't much fun, and we got to Ottawa, Ontario right at rush hour, so it took us 45 minutes to get through.

Saw some beautiful farm country (bottom photo above) and the roadsides were carpeted with gorgeous wildflowers of all colors. We stopped briefly a few times, but mostly kept driving because it was so hot. It was 95 in the camper at one point - hottest day of the year, I think, so we decided to just keep going with the AC on as long as we could (567 miles). We ended up in North Bay, Ontario on Lake Nipissing (not making that up :)) at 11:30 and couldn't find a gas station open. We spent the last few hours of the night in a WalMart parking lot (YUK).

July 7, Day 2: Woke up to screaming gulls on Wednesday morning. During the night, there was a huge hatch of shad flies (very much like our May flies). The whole place was covered with billions and billions of flies clinging to every lighted sign, building and vehicle. See phone booth pic!

Got off to a quick start, looking for breakfast and gas. Couldn't find either until 7:00, after which we continued our western quest.

We have had a couple of glitches -- the camper is running a little rough when it gets hot. Donny has some additive that should help. Also, the refrigerator doesn't seem to run on propane. We bought a cooler for ice and drinks, and will work on the fridge.

Most of today we traveled along the shore of Lake Superior. What beautiful scenery! I never knew it would be so pretty. (1st and 2nd pic above)

Right now we are sitting in a parking lot in Wawa, Ontario (the first place we have found available WI-FI), and will probably check out a local campground. We may stay, but since it is only 7:15, we may decide to keep going toward Thunder Bay. We have just completed 1000 miles, so we are about one-fifth of the way across Canada!

I'll report again soon, when I can find WI-FI.

Miss you all already!

Cheryl

We're Off!

Hi All

We are finally on our way. Leaving Campton, NH at 7:45 a.m. Next stop - somewhere near Toronto!