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.