The Last Leg of our Journey

We started our day in Golden, a beautiful area of BC.  It is located in the Rocky Mountain Trench - a valley between two mountain ranges.  So the mountains are a little farther away, which means that your visibility of them is better.

It was a clear day when we started out, and got cloudy through the day, this was the clearest part of the day.

 Note the fresh snow on this mountain.

 

There are many tunnels in the area of Rogers Pass.  It is a very treacherous road in the winter as they get a lot of snow, and avalanches are very common.  The tunnels are located in known avalanche paths and allow the avalanches to pass right over the highway without impeding traffic.

At the summit of Rogers Pass, we could no longer see the tops of the mountains.  Fresh snow is apparent and, in fact, there has been lots of snow on the highway passes since we came home.

 

 This is Three Valley Gap in the Monashees, coming out of the larger more rugged Rockies.  On the far shore are railway tunnels to protect the tracks from avalanches.

 

 

 This is Mara Lake, in the Shuswap Lakes area of B. C.  This area is very popular for renting houseboats for summer vacations.  The lakes are beautiful, and very clear.  It is just north of the Okanagan.

 

 This is the beginning of the Okanagan Valley near Vernon, BC.   My Father used to call these the old worn out mountains.  They are much lower and have trees to the top.  This area is dry and counts on irrigation to grow things, but it is renowned for orchards and vineyards!

 

 The welcome sign of our home town, Peachland

 

 Another welcome sign.

Here we are parked in front of our Home, Sweet Home.  We unloaded as much as we could and then started settling in again. 

 

We traveled a long way, and saw a lot of this country and the northern States.  We also missed a lot, I know, so there are areas we must go back to.  We were treated very well by our fellow Canadians and by our American neighbours; they are great hosts.  We feel so lucky to be able to do this trip, and wish to thank all our friends, family and new acquaintances who hosted us and helped us along the way.  Wow, we are blessed.

 

We have calculated the length of the trip.

 

The RV drove 14,700 km.  or 9,100 miles.

The CRV that we pulled along behind, traveled an extra 6,000 km. or 3,700 miles.

We probably spent about $500 on repairs and maintenance of both vehicles, so that isn't bad at all.  We spent a fair bit on gas alright, but that was expected. 

 

So, we are home!  I think we will stay put for a while.  I don't know when the traveling bug will hit, but we will be home at least until after Christmas. 

 

So thanks again to everyone.  Hope you enjoyed the blog!  I did enjoy doing it.



Westward Bound

The Legislative Building, in Regina

We visited many friends and family in Regina.  I thought I would show you a little of the area around the Parlement Building.  Wascana Park and area is quite lovely. The trees in this part of Saskatchewan are all planted,the area is grassland, so only a few shrubs are found naturally, so the park is quite spectacular from that perspective.  They have a lake, man made, and many trees flower gardens.  Walkways around the park and around the lake. 

Queen Elizabeth, on her favorite horse, that happened to be from East End, Sask.

I found this guy in the Museum of Natural History in Regina.  I still have not seen a live Moose!  Some day.

We then left Regina, and drove to Maple Creek to visit, and then to Medicine Hat. The drive to Medicine Hat on the 29th was not comfortable, as the wind was gusting and very strong.  We were glad it was only 80 kms.  We then stayed at my cousins place for a couple of days, as the next day proved to have even higher winds, gusts of 115 km/hr.  We said nuts to that!  My cousins have a large, level, lot, with power, and lots of sheltering trees, so it was a great place to camp to wait out the wind.  Thanks, Lloyd and Sandy.

This is my little cousin Walker, helping me blow out my Birthday Candles.  He had to practice, because his birthday is coming as well!  And I was glad of the help.  Ha ha. 

Today we started out fairly early and there was no wind!  Yeah!  I have included some pictures of the prairie for those of you who have not traveled across the great plains.  It is sometimes completely flat, sometimes rolling.  If you keep your eyes open, you see antelope, hawks, deer, coyotes etc., as we did.  You can see forever!  I was born in this kind of area, so I find it quite interesting and even beautiful, in its own way. 

The above pictures are two reasons why Alberta is a 'have province', oil and beef cattle.

The foothills just outside Calgary

And the Rockies!  It was cloudy, but we got to see the tops of the mountains on the way by.  That is unusual for me.  It usually is very low clouds when I go through the Rockies.  I was very pleased to see the tops!  We did get the odd snow flurry, so we are glad we are nearly home.

It's not easy building roads here!

These two pictures were taken by our campsite in Golden, B. C.  The train is just across the Kicking Horse River, right behind our campsite.  So I am sure we will hear them in the night.  But otherwise it is a beautiful spot. 

 

So today was a day of contrasts.  From the Flatlands, to the foothills, to the Rockie Mountains. 

We have one more day on this wonderful journey.  Some of Canada's most beautiful vistas await us as we climb Rogers Pass with its glaciers and descend into the Shuswap Lakes and on to to the Okanagan. 

 

Hi all,  We spent one night in Jamestown, North Dakota at the Frontier Village Campground.  The day was lovely, but it is definitely fall, as the evenings and nights are getting quite cool now.  In the morning we walked around.   

The Iverson homestead!  Who knew!

They had a whole town from frontier times including a stagecoach, a saloon, a general store, a print shop, a blacksmith shop, and the list goes on.  They also had a herd of real buffalo, that included an albino buffalo! 

Now that is a Buffalo!  the largest Buffalo in the world. 

 This picture shows the albino buffalo, standing behind a smaller one.  He was always behind something.  Hiding, I guess.

 

 

On our Anniversary!  34 years together.  We celebrated in Minot North Dakota, at the Olive Garden.  Had a lovely dinner there. 

 

We are now in Regina, getting caught up with friends and family here.  The weather has been quite good until today.  It's raining, but we will be visiting people, so it doesn't matter!  We will be here another couple of days, then head west again.

We've crossed our earlier trail!

Hi all,  For the first time in our trip, we have crossed the route we took east and have stopped again in St. Cloud, Minn. so I can have another visit with my dear friend Val!  We had a lovely visit Thursday evening and most of Friday.  Sadly we separate again, but will make more effort to see each other again in the future.

So to go back a few days, we stopped in Forest City, Iowa, to see Winnebago Industries.  This is where our motorhome, and many, many more are made.  Their operations cover 600 acres of land.  They will take you on a tour of the facility for free, so that is why we came here.  Very interesting tour.  They have one building called Big Bertha that is 8 acres under one roof.  It is a string of assembly lines.  The interesting thing is that they are not just making one product at a time.  The assembly line has one class C followed by a large Class A, followed by a van type (Via or Era), rarely two similar units in a row.  Yet all the different parts somehow seem to arrive at the right time for each unit.

The best building for me was the one where they made all the upholstery, bedding, curtains etc.  Boy, did they have some great machines for cutting, and sewing all those things.  I especially liked the zipper machine.  Anyone can sew on a zipper in 5 seconds with that thing.  Wow.

 They make everything that goes into the motor home from scratch, except for appliances right there. 
The company was founded in the 60's in a town of 2500 people, with a few forward thinking individuals that were worried about the families in the town because there were no jobs for there growing children, so they were all leaving. They got together and decided to build a factory.  At first they were partners with a company in California that made motor homes, then they went out on their own.  The company now has 2500 or so employees in a town of 5000 people!

 

They let you camp for free in the visitors centre parking lot, and supply power and internet.  Not beautiful surroundings, but handy to get the morning tour without having to drive.

 

We are heading north now, and will be heading back to Canada soon.  May not have internet for a couple of days, if I do, I will keep you updated.

 

By for now.

 

Indiana Wants Me

The Appalachian Mountains

Hi, we are on our trek home now, and are not making long stops as often.  I think I mentioned before that we have discovered that we are NOT gypsies, and are a little weary of constant sightseeing and being tourists.  It is time to go home and live normally for a while.  So, we drove quite quickly through some areas. This is the Appalachian Mountains on the road between Maryland and Pennsylvania through West Virginia.  Quite pretty areas, will be even nicer in a couple of weeks when the leaves change color.  The mixed forest is very dense, I don't know how the explorers found their way (of course, they traveled mostly by river).  The mountains are quite rugged, but completely tree covered.  The highest pass on our route  was about 2,600 ft. and the highest mountains are about 4,000 feet.

More farmland in Pennsylvania.  It is well known for Amish farms.

This is the Ohio River as we crossed over to to the state of Ohio.

The great plains start quite quickly after the Appalachians.  Ohio had some hilly areas, as does Indiana, but it is mostly  flat farmland now, with some dense bushy areas.  There are some stands of very stately old trees as well.  It is harvest time.  Many have not done the harvest yet, but a lot of the crops look ready.

 

We are camped just south of Indianapolis, Indiana.  We are spending 2 nights here, and today we went shopping at Camping World.  Kind of like Lee Valley for RVers.  Tomorrow we head out again.  Our plan is to drive for 2 days, then spend 2 nights in the same place.  It seems to work well.

So, that's it for now.  We will be seeing family and friends in Saskatchewan soon. 

Washington D C

Hi all,  We have been in Wasington for 5 days now.  We have not seen everything, as that would take a long time. The Smithsonian is a collection of Museums that take up much of the National Mall, which is the area between the Washington  Monument and the Capital Building.  It is something like 40 museums in total.  Many are huge.  We have been in 3 major museums,  The Air and Space Museum, The National Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of American History.  All have taken a full day to see.  You could do it faster if you skimed through. 

The Wright Brothers Flyer, The Air and Space Museum

 



The Lunar Lander, an exact replica of what is now on the moon, left behind by the first men to walk there.

You could go into the cockpit of a 747.  They also had the capsules from space missions of Apollo, Gemini , and Mercury.  Boy, they were close quarters!  They had part of the original  US Skylab that you could go inside of.  You could also go into a flight similator, but we decided against that.  Chris and his claustrophobia and I'm just someone who doesn't like flying upside down. 

One of the Sculptures from Easter Island.  National Museum of Natural History

A real mounted Elephant, in the Natural History Museum

A butterfly attached to Chris' Butt.  I guess he still has it!  Lol

This was a butterfly display, they were all flying around and attaching themselves to people or the flowers in the display.  It was lovely.  They were from all over the world.

The Hope Diamond.  it is a blue diamond from India, 45.52 carats. 

There were Mummies, and a great bone exhibit, also a genome exhibit, which was well done.  Also fossils and the story of how life evolved from the sea to Dinasaurs, to the sea again and finally man. 

Then today we were in the National Museum of American History. 

 The first Apple Computer, 1980-

Kermit!

They had the First Lady's Inaugaral Ball dresses through the ages, including Michelle Obama's dress, Archie Bunkers Chair, Bob Dylans leather jacket

It went back though time in all different aspects of American culture, from travel included a covered wagon up to a modern car and semi truck, a steam train up to a modern subway, a sailboat to a container ship, on and on.  They had the beginning of highways and a exhibit on Route 66. 

The other thing we did today was go to the Canadian Embassy!  When do you get to go to your country's Embassy? 

 Bill Reids, Black Canoe

Anyway, we went in, said we were Canadian and would like to see our Embassy, but we were told there is a display area, but it was closed until Sept. 15th, so they wouldn't let us in.  We were quite disappointed!  But we saw Bill Reid's Black Canoe, which was worth the visit.  If you think it looks familiar, there is a copy of it, a jade green one, in the international section of the Airport in Vancouver. 

So that's it.  We got home at a reasonable hour, made dinner and are ready to head out tomorrow.

So til next time.  so long.  We are going to be heading west - for the first time in many months!