September 14 - Milton - Port Huron
This morning as we headed out it was 78 degrees with 90% humidity - Lorne’s glasses were fogged up! It felt so hot our freshly showered bodies were covered with a sheen of moisture!
Following at least an hour wait at the border we made it into Port Huron and right into Hurricane Ike. Yike! What rain!! We located Margaret and Ken Guske where we picked up our new window coverings. Delightful people! Of course GMC owners as well; we met with a handshake and left with a hug! We decided to stay in Port Huron at their local rv park as the rain was pelting down and looked like it was just going to get worse making for very unpleasant driving.
September 15 - Michigan
Stayed at Warren Dunes, a beautiful state park on Lake Michigan. Michigan has 145 state forest campgrounds providing over 3,000 campsites spread out over nearly 4 million acres of designated park, many of these parks also allow hunting. One must be 12 years old to hunt. I think Michael nabbed his first rabbit with his air gun at 9. We had a nice bike ride down to the lake and ran up and down the huge dunes. It has been so rainy here that there has been much flooding, enough that the road down to the lake was closed to vehicles. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my bathing suit and towel so didn’t get to swim in Lake Michigan (it was also cold, rainy, and rough looking water, plus we are also very near Chicago but I am sure they don’t dump their sewage into Lake Michigan…).
Illinois
As I write this we are inching our way into the center of Chicago along with a multitude of very large transport trucks. There has been so much flooding in the area that we have been rerouted to alternate freeways and then stuck on them right into Chicago!! The worst part is that Lorne is driving and its way past his lunchtime. He is not happy….. Really, the navigator has done the best she can!!
Chicago
Well, we did it, we drove right through downtown Chicago. I made lunch and we ate while we were driving along! We got some teasing comments from those inching along beside us wishing they had their lunch with them! We saw one of the tallest buildings in the US; the Sears Tower. Quite impressive. Other than that we saw a great deal of traffic. So much for Chicago. I would have liked to get off the freeway and explore but in a motor home and with no clue as to where we were going….. not going to happen! Saw a sign saying Frank Lloyd Wright; home and museum, our favourite architect, and the inspiration for our house. Dang! No courage, we kept on driving. We were going to look up his houses on the internet before this trip so we could see as many as we could, forgot…
Wisconsin
We were informed by the Information Office upon entering Wisconsin that close to Madison, Wisconsin is Taliesin, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and the summer campus of the still operating architectural school founded by Wright in 1932. Our lucky day, just like we knew what we were doing and where we were going!! We decided to stop in and visit. We found a spectacular state park, Governor Dodge State Park, 19,753 acres of managed forest, beautiful forest campsites, a wonderful lake for swimming and fishing, and many very nice trails for hiking, biking and of course cross country skiing and snowmobiling as it snows here big time. The following day was a great one spent touring Wright’s fantastic architectural displays. We got some ideas for things to build. His architecture definitely inspired Arthur Ericson and certainly both of these brilliant men inspired us when we built our home.
We drove a big 60 miles today!! We stayed in Mirror Lake State Park where there is a cabin designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Unfortunately we couldn’t get into see it as it has a locked gate and is not visible from the road. It is rented virtually 365 days of the year and only one day a month is it open to visitors, today wasn’t the day.
Off to Michigan
We finally get on our way about 11:30, after a nice little bike ride, a fill up with gas and a stop at a cheese shop for a taste and purchase of some famous Wisconsin cheeses. It was a family run operation for over 100 years and the young man waiting on us certainly knew a lot about cheese having grown up with the business all his life.
We pass lots of lush green fields with miles and miles of corn and what looks like soybeans. Mexican cows would love to come here for a holiday! A big 213 miles today, we will be staying at Myre-Big Island State Park just outside Albert Lea, Minnesota.
Friday, September 19
Hopefully we will be well into South Dakota today. We are 585 miles from the Badlands, at this rate I don’t think we have a hope of getting there today, we are on the road at 9:30 though so we should cover a lot of miles today. Nothing to see but miles and miles of corn relieved only with some soybeans. On a positive note these were all family run farms that looked very prosperous. As opposed to the big business operations in California.
Myre State Park was nice; it covers 1,596 acres and is basically surrounded by 2,600 acres of water (Albert Lea Lake) and prairie agriculture, predominantly corn. It is a glacial lake formed with the retreat of the glaciers long ago. It is located within the Bemis Moraine, a moraine complex traced all across Minnesota. It has lots of oak trees and prairie grasses. There are lots of birds here, including the white pelican. Apparently lakes like this gradually fill in over time but humans have accelerated this natural process through siltation from the farms and commercial and industrial waste disposal. This increases the mineral and organic content of the lake, favouring plant life and choking out much of the animal life. While they are working at protecting this area, and returning it to its original vegetation pattern the water looks very muddy to me and while I would have loved a swim it just didn’t appeal to me.
The stock market has been going crazy this past while, causing Lorne some angst as we are so disconnected from the internet, hence interfering with his ability to watch what our stocks are doing. We do have Sirius satellite radio though so we are listening constantly to what the analysts have to say about the market and to Bush today as he presents his solution to the economic problems presented. His solution is bad news for us that’s for sure!
The Badlands
We actually made it in one day – all 585 miles! We arrived in time for the sunset show on the spectacular formations! The Badlands are so hauntingly beautiful, and very difficult to really capture on camera. Much like the Grand Canyon the formations change with the light, bringing shadows to accent them. We had a great bike ride the following day in the cool of the morning and then roasted in the afternoon while we installed the new windshield curtain. The evening brought the promised thunder and lightening show with intermittent huge drops of rain. Today is our first overcast day, however it is still warm is we head out towards Yellowstone.
September 22
Driving along, crossed the Cheyenne River and are heading towards Rapid City listening to Old 70’s tunes. Remembering old cowboy movies and musical memories of the 60’s and 70s! Feelings, activities of a time when emotions were raw and often painful, hormones were high, love was everywhere and nowhere, babies, people, places, events. Nothing but grasslands, antelope, buffalo, cows, some horses…
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Eastern Family
Hamilton
Prior to leaving Victoria we arranged with Dick Paterson (a GMC specialist in his field) for a rebuilt engine and for Frank Gorrman to install it in his shop near Hanover, Ontario. We dropped the Motor home off at Frank’s to have its “heart transplant” and drove to Hamilton in his car. Good to have a smaller vehicle to drive around the city!
We arrived at Lorne’s dad’s in plenty of time for dinner and Sandy (Lorne’s sister in law) and husband Steve joined us at the Mandarin, a Chinese buffet restaurant with an amazing amount of choices. Lots of things I didn’t need to eat but had to taste anyway… Art really enjoys this restaurant; it is a welcome change from the institutional food he receives at Shalom Village. Art lives in a small apartment in Shalom Village, which is a remarkably nice facility. A bedroom, living room and small kitchen plus bath constitute his apartment. It is a small apartment but very comfortable and the furnishings are his own. The caregivers are excellent and provide good care for him. Lorne and I stayed at Shalom in a guest room they have downstairs and spent the days with Art in his apartment. Art is doing amazingly well physically and mentally for 96, unfortunately he is not a cheerful man.
The next day I had a great swim in Sandy and Steve’s pool with the great nieces and nephew, Raina (5), Daisy (3) (Geoff and Simona’s girls), and Barry (4) (Jordan and Marnie’s son). Such sweethearts they all are. Little Daisy smiles with her entire body! It was great to make a connection with these children; a difficult thing to do when we live so far away and don’t get to visit often. Dinner was at Sandy and Steve’s and Art had a bad fall off his chair – he bent over to pick up a pill he dropped – as if he could see it! He has macular degeneration, and is quite blind. We had to call 911 as he was bleeding quite profusely from wounds to his head, arm and hand (being on blood thinners certainly contributed to this bleeding). An ambulance brought him into Emergency where he was kept from 8pm – 2am before they finally treated him; by merely changing the bandages applied by the ambulance attendants! In my opinion it was quite cruel to leave a 96 year old man on a gurney for so long. It also seems very inefficient to keep 3 ambulance attendants and their ambulance out of commission for such a long time – the policy is that they can’t leave until their patient is treated.
Toronto
Lorne, Sandy and Steve and I drove to Toronto to have dinner with Karen. Lorne returned to Hamilton with Sandy and Steve to continue his visit with his dad. I stayed in Toronto with Karen for three nights. Karen’s kids Jordan and Marla came by for a visit; it was just so great to see them! Marla is expecting her first baby in March – this is such good news and absolutely thrilling for Karen who has needed some happiness in her life for some time. Karen continues her struggle with ovarian cancer; she has had a multitude of surgeries, two chemo sessions and now is on her second session of tamoxifin. The doctor says if she doesn’t respond to this she will have to have another session of chemo. As if this wasn’t bad enough she is in the midst of divorce proceedings and needless to say a generous settlement is not on the table. All of this is entirely too much stress! Karen continues to present her cheerful capable self in spite of it all; I don’t know how she does it. It is very fortunate she has a supportive family and many friends who love her.
The County
I took the train up to Bellville on Sunday, my niece Lorren picked me up at the train and we went back to her and Jamie’s for dinner with their sons Nile and Jackson. Jody, Caelan and Maya joined us for dinner too. I went back to Jody’s to stay overnight as Lorren was leaving early Monday for Toronto to help Micha move from one apartment to another in Toronto. I returned to Lorren’s Monday in the late afternoon as the plan was for Lorne to pick up the repaired motor home and drive to Lorren’s. Unfortunately the motor home had a few more problems than we anticipated (so what else would we expect?) so Lorne didn’t arrive until Tuesday night. Lorne was held up on the 401 for about 2 hours due to a homicide. Apparently a man was shot in a Lexus and tossed out of the moving vehicle onto the highway while he was still alive! Needless to say emergency crews were out in full force and traffic was backed up for miles!
Lorren and Jamie’s farm is developing nicely. They now have pigs, cows, chickens, huge vegetable garden, plums and apples, and pinot grapes. They have participated in a work program with Mexico and have two male farm workers working for them and staying on the property until the middle of October. They have accomplished a great deal with the help of Louis and Andres. Still in the planning stages are a pub and restaurant and another house. Jamie clearly loves the farming life which also supports his whole animal and sustainable and seasonal food ideology. Needless to say we ate very well.
Jody has done an amazing amount of work renovating her farm and farmhouse. She has such vision! Maya and Caelan are doing very well. Maya is such a bright little character! Caelan is a very pretty teen and is doing very well at school and sports. Mark is working at a top restaurant in Picton for some very nice people and really enjoys that. He is also helping Jody with the farm.
Brockville
We left Thursday morning for Brockville to enjoy a few days with Duane and Marg. We drove over to the US for a visit to the Remington museum and gallery. Such an amazing artist he was. We left Saturday morning with a plan to stop in Toronto for a quick visit over dinner with Karen, her mother Auntie Bunnie, Marla and her partner Shawn, and Karen’s friend Pam. I was also able to pick up the beautiful jewellery I had ordered from Karen through her website: anoccasionalpiece.com We continued on for a few hours after dinner, stopping in the pouring rain at a nice campground near Milton, west of Toronto. We seem to be hitting the tail end of hurricane Ike.
It has been all too short of a visit everywhere we have gone; wish we could stay much longer everywhere along the way. We are so fortunate as to have such a wonderful caring family and many friends, unfortunately they don’t live close to us, dang.
Prior to leaving Victoria we arranged with Dick Paterson (a GMC specialist in his field) for a rebuilt engine and for Frank Gorrman to install it in his shop near Hanover, Ontario. We dropped the Motor home off at Frank’s to have its “heart transplant” and drove to Hamilton in his car. Good to have a smaller vehicle to drive around the city!
We arrived at Lorne’s dad’s in plenty of time for dinner and Sandy (Lorne’s sister in law) and husband Steve joined us at the Mandarin, a Chinese buffet restaurant with an amazing amount of choices. Lots of things I didn’t need to eat but had to taste anyway… Art really enjoys this restaurant; it is a welcome change from the institutional food he receives at Shalom Village. Art lives in a small apartment in Shalom Village, which is a remarkably nice facility. A bedroom, living room and small kitchen plus bath constitute his apartment. It is a small apartment but very comfortable and the furnishings are his own. The caregivers are excellent and provide good care for him. Lorne and I stayed at Shalom in a guest room they have downstairs and spent the days with Art in his apartment. Art is doing amazingly well physically and mentally for 96, unfortunately he is not a cheerful man.
The next day I had a great swim in Sandy and Steve’s pool with the great nieces and nephew, Raina (5), Daisy (3) (Geoff and Simona’s girls), and Barry (4) (Jordan and Marnie’s son). Such sweethearts they all are. Little Daisy smiles with her entire body! It was great to make a connection with these children; a difficult thing to do when we live so far away and don’t get to visit often. Dinner was at Sandy and Steve’s and Art had a bad fall off his chair – he bent over to pick up a pill he dropped – as if he could see it! He has macular degeneration, and is quite blind. We had to call 911 as he was bleeding quite profusely from wounds to his head, arm and hand (being on blood thinners certainly contributed to this bleeding). An ambulance brought him into Emergency where he was kept from 8pm – 2am before they finally treated him; by merely changing the bandages applied by the ambulance attendants! In my opinion it was quite cruel to leave a 96 year old man on a gurney for so long. It also seems very inefficient to keep 3 ambulance attendants and their ambulance out of commission for such a long time – the policy is that they can’t leave until their patient is treated.
Toronto
Lorne, Sandy and Steve and I drove to Toronto to have dinner with Karen. Lorne returned to Hamilton with Sandy and Steve to continue his visit with his dad. I stayed in Toronto with Karen for three nights. Karen’s kids Jordan and Marla came by for a visit; it was just so great to see them! Marla is expecting her first baby in March – this is such good news and absolutely thrilling for Karen who has needed some happiness in her life for some time. Karen continues her struggle with ovarian cancer; she has had a multitude of surgeries, two chemo sessions and now is on her second session of tamoxifin. The doctor says if she doesn’t respond to this she will have to have another session of chemo. As if this wasn’t bad enough she is in the midst of divorce proceedings and needless to say a generous settlement is not on the table. All of this is entirely too much stress! Karen continues to present her cheerful capable self in spite of it all; I don’t know how she does it. It is very fortunate she has a supportive family and many friends who love her.
The County
I took the train up to Bellville on Sunday, my niece Lorren picked me up at the train and we went back to her and Jamie’s for dinner with their sons Nile and Jackson. Jody, Caelan and Maya joined us for dinner too. I went back to Jody’s to stay overnight as Lorren was leaving early Monday for Toronto to help Micha move from one apartment to another in Toronto. I returned to Lorren’s Monday in the late afternoon as the plan was for Lorne to pick up the repaired motor home and drive to Lorren’s. Unfortunately the motor home had a few more problems than we anticipated (so what else would we expect?) so Lorne didn’t arrive until Tuesday night. Lorne was held up on the 401 for about 2 hours due to a homicide. Apparently a man was shot in a Lexus and tossed out of the moving vehicle onto the highway while he was still alive! Needless to say emergency crews were out in full force and traffic was backed up for miles!
Lorren and Jamie’s farm is developing nicely. They now have pigs, cows, chickens, huge vegetable garden, plums and apples, and pinot grapes. They have participated in a work program with Mexico and have two male farm workers working for them and staying on the property until the middle of October. They have accomplished a great deal with the help of Louis and Andres. Still in the planning stages are a pub and restaurant and another house. Jamie clearly loves the farming life which also supports his whole animal and sustainable and seasonal food ideology. Needless to say we ate very well.
Jody has done an amazing amount of work renovating her farm and farmhouse. She has such vision! Maya and Caelan are doing very well. Maya is such a bright little character! Caelan is a very pretty teen and is doing very well at school and sports. Mark is working at a top restaurant in Picton for some very nice people and really enjoys that. He is also helping Jody with the farm.
Brockville
We left Thursday morning for Brockville to enjoy a few days with Duane and Marg. We drove over to the US for a visit to the Remington museum and gallery. Such an amazing artist he was. We left Saturday morning with a plan to stop in Toronto for a quick visit over dinner with Karen, her mother Auntie Bunnie, Marla and her partner Shawn, and Karen’s friend Pam. I was also able to pick up the beautiful jewellery I had ordered from Karen through her website: anoccasionalpiece.com We continued on for a few hours after dinner, stopping in the pouring rain at a nice campground near Milton, west of Toronto. We seem to be hitting the tail end of hurricane Ike.
It has been all too short of a visit everywhere we have gone; wish we could stay much longer everywhere along the way. We are so fortunate as to have such a wonderful caring family and many friends, unfortunately they don’t live close to us, dang.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Water Water everywhere
August 29, Ontario
We crossed into Ontario at Kenora, some 100 km or so north of the 49th parallel. This region is called Northern Ontario. Considering that Ontario goes clear up to the Hudson’s Bay this is confusing to me. It’s not so very far north as far as north in Ontario goes I don’t think, however, that is what this region is called in the parks books. Perhaps anything north of Toronto is considered Northern Ontario? Lorne says when there are no more Birch trees we will be in Southern Ontario.
The area just after the Manitoba border is nothing but water, its like we are island hopping there is so much water! We have been driving by one picturesque lake after another and the trees grow lusher the further south we go. We stopped for lunch on Lake Superior and I had a glorious swim. Lorne played lifeguard. The water is so clear and clean I could see a long way underwater. So far Ontario is not so terrible.
The street names here are very practical, Old School House Road, Railway track Road, Mine Road, Bridge Road and Church Street, different from Old Stone Church Street to name a few. Then of course there is Squirrel Town Road, Slash Road, and Wobanganada Road.
The Provincial Parks are numerous and beautiful, and of course all of them so far have been on a lake. We are now behind schedule so are hustling along as quickly as possible, dang. Long hours of driving with no exploring time. Some of those hours in darkness!! (We have an appointment to get a rebuild engine from a GMC specialist just outside Hanover)
Lorne was having a wee rest while I was driving when suddenly we were spewing blue smoke!! Yikes – stopped by the side of the road, gave it a quart of oil, drove down the road to where we could really stop, and checked the transmission fluid, seems ok. Decided to drive on down the road in search of a gas station to load up on oil…. The blue smoke is spewing on deceleration….. Lorne thinks that means rings…. Guess it’s very good that we are getting a new engine on the 2nd – hopefully we can drive there and don’t have to get a tow!! The transmission seems to be slipping. Perhaps we have two problems??? Yikes.
Yup our mistake, we are loosing transmission fluid. We think from the cracked pan that we had welded last year when we cracked it on a big rock coming back from Torquart bay last year. Hopefully our relatively new transmission installed by Mannie is not broken!!
Stopped in Sault St. Marie for dinner along the St Mary’s River. If there are locks there we didn’t see them. We’re heading for Chutes Provincial Park just outside Massey along Lake Huron. We should get there after dark, about 9:30 or 10. We will have 144 km to get to the ferry in the morning. We need to be in Hanover by tomorrow night for our engine replacement and we are concerned that the ferry may be busy on this long weekend.
We crossed into Ontario at Kenora, some 100 km or so north of the 49th parallel. This region is called Northern Ontario. Considering that Ontario goes clear up to the Hudson’s Bay this is confusing to me. It’s not so very far north as far as north in Ontario goes I don’t think, however, that is what this region is called in the parks books. Perhaps anything north of Toronto is considered Northern Ontario? Lorne says when there are no more Birch trees we will be in Southern Ontario.
The area just after the Manitoba border is nothing but water, its like we are island hopping there is so much water! We have been driving by one picturesque lake after another and the trees grow lusher the further south we go. We stopped for lunch on Lake Superior and I had a glorious swim. Lorne played lifeguard. The water is so clear and clean I could see a long way underwater. So far Ontario is not so terrible.
The street names here are very practical, Old School House Road, Railway track Road, Mine Road, Bridge Road and Church Street, different from Old Stone Church Street to name a few. Then of course there is Squirrel Town Road, Slash Road, and Wobanganada Road.
The Provincial Parks are numerous and beautiful, and of course all of them so far have been on a lake. We are now behind schedule so are hustling along as quickly as possible, dang. Long hours of driving with no exploring time. Some of those hours in darkness!! (We have an appointment to get a rebuild engine from a GMC specialist just outside Hanover)
Lorne was having a wee rest while I was driving when suddenly we were spewing blue smoke!! Yikes – stopped by the side of the road, gave it a quart of oil, drove down the road to where we could really stop, and checked the transmission fluid, seems ok. Decided to drive on down the road in search of a gas station to load up on oil…. The blue smoke is spewing on deceleration….. Lorne thinks that means rings…. Guess it’s very good that we are getting a new engine on the 2nd – hopefully we can drive there and don’t have to get a tow!! The transmission seems to be slipping. Perhaps we have two problems??? Yikes.
Yup our mistake, we are loosing transmission fluid. We think from the cracked pan that we had welded last year when we cracked it on a big rock coming back from Torquart bay last year. Hopefully our relatively new transmission installed by Mannie is not broken!!
Stopped in Sault St. Marie for dinner along the St Mary’s River. If there are locks there we didn’t see them. We’re heading for Chutes Provincial Park just outside Massey along Lake Huron. We should get there after dark, about 9:30 or 10. We will have 144 km to get to the ferry in the morning. We need to be in Hanover by tomorrow night for our engine replacement and we are concerned that the ferry may be busy on this long weekend.
Mountains, Friends, Family, Prairie
August 25, 2008
Tabby, Patti, and Boo joined us at Dan and Freela’s in Calgary. Such a nice visit and a nice meal, thank you Freela! We had a great sleep under the trees in their back yard. We got caught up on what was happening for all present, and a few who were not of course… particularly our old friend Gayle. Thank goodness for Tabby – we should all be so lucky to have such an advocate! Gayle is now safely (and happily) living in a care facility close to her daughters so hopefully that will resolve many of her care issues and give all who love her ease of mind. Gayle has certainly been through a great deal since her stroke(s) several years ago.
Bob, Patti’s husband, was hit by a car in a crosswalk a few weeks ago, on his way to work. He broke his hip so is at home recovering. Big hugs to Bob!
Off to Strathmore in the morning to visit my cousin Kate. We mistakenly took the Trans Canada through Calgary – good grief. A journey that should have taken little more than half an hour turned into hours! We finally had to stop for lunch! (there was a lot of construction so it will be bigger and better I guess – who knew?) Good visit with Kate, she has such a lovely home right on a small lake in Strathmore. I thought she would have moved out to Victoria by now but she seems completely settled in Strathmore. My cousin Dennis (Kate’s brother) dropped by for a visit after dinner, so nice to see him. He and his wife Olga live in High River, so not such a long drive away.
Off to Bassano in the morning to enjoy a nice visit with cousin Brian (Kate and Denis’s brother). We also stopped by to visit mom and Auntie Kay’s grave who are buried in the Bassano cemetery. Unfortunately I lost my silver and pearl bracelet at some point, dang, I really liked that one! Made it to Medicine Hat for dinner and a sleep over with cousin Loreen.
August 27
Well that’s it for family and friends to visit until Ontario. Off to an early start – about 11 am - for our trek across the prairies of Saskatchewan.
We spent the night at an RV park in Moose Jaw, the campers next to us were Celtic musicians called Damanta from Ireland (except for the guitar player who was from Vancouver). They were playing in a pub in town. Unfortunately it was too far to walk and we didn’t bring lights for the bikes, so we didn’t go into town to hear them, however, I did buy their cd. Not bad, nice people. They were on their way west to play in Creston, Vancouver, and Victoria at the folk club and the Irish Pub. They left Cape Breton Island on Sunday, this was now Wednesday – they have been driving Hard!! They drive in shifts I guess.
Next night we camped west of Winnipeg in a beautiful Provincial park called Spruce Woods. There were excellent bike trails and we had a nice ride in the morning before heading out.
Tabby, Patti, and Boo joined us at Dan and Freela’s in Calgary. Such a nice visit and a nice meal, thank you Freela! We had a great sleep under the trees in their back yard. We got caught up on what was happening for all present, and a few who were not of course… particularly our old friend Gayle. Thank goodness for Tabby – we should all be so lucky to have such an advocate! Gayle is now safely (and happily) living in a care facility close to her daughters so hopefully that will resolve many of her care issues and give all who love her ease of mind. Gayle has certainly been through a great deal since her stroke(s) several years ago.
Bob, Patti’s husband, was hit by a car in a crosswalk a few weeks ago, on his way to work. He broke his hip so is at home recovering. Big hugs to Bob!
Off to Strathmore in the morning to visit my cousin Kate. We mistakenly took the Trans Canada through Calgary – good grief. A journey that should have taken little more than half an hour turned into hours! We finally had to stop for lunch! (there was a lot of construction so it will be bigger and better I guess – who knew?) Good visit with Kate, she has such a lovely home right on a small lake in Strathmore. I thought she would have moved out to Victoria by now but she seems completely settled in Strathmore. My cousin Dennis (Kate’s brother) dropped by for a visit after dinner, so nice to see him. He and his wife Olga live in High River, so not such a long drive away.
Off to Bassano in the morning to enjoy a nice visit with cousin Brian (Kate and Denis’s brother). We also stopped by to visit mom and Auntie Kay’s grave who are buried in the Bassano cemetery. Unfortunately I lost my silver and pearl bracelet at some point, dang, I really liked that one! Made it to Medicine Hat for dinner and a sleep over with cousin Loreen.
August 27
Well that’s it for family and friends to visit until Ontario. Off to an early start – about 11 am - for our trek across the prairies of Saskatchewan.
We spent the night at an RV park in Moose Jaw, the campers next to us were Celtic musicians called Damanta from Ireland (except for the guitar player who was from Vancouver). They were playing in a pub in town. Unfortunately it was too far to walk and we didn’t bring lights for the bikes, so we didn’t go into town to hear them, however, I did buy their cd. Not bad, nice people. They were on their way west to play in Creston, Vancouver, and Victoria at the folk club and the Irish Pub. They left Cape Breton Island on Sunday, this was now Wednesday – they have been driving Hard!! They drive in shifts I guess.
Next night we camped west of Winnipeg in a beautiful Provincial park called Spruce Woods. There were excellent bike trails and we had a nice ride in the morning before heading out.
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