We were delayed after we crossed the state line into Nevada … we heard a scary “pop” and when we investigated, found that one of the motorhome tires had blown. Thank goodness for the Auto Club! They responded within the hour that was predicted and changed the tire for us. We made it to St George without further incident. Jerry did, however, investigate the tire purchase and realized they were over 8 years old! He and Mike went to Costco (since we had purchased them at a Costco) and they were told that the tires are no longer available. The service guy recommended Discount Tire which was just across the way. The purchase of 6 new tires was quite a hit to the budget on our first day of the trip! Better to be safe than sorry, right?
We were introduced to a new liqueur by Bailey's … yum! We're not big drinkers, but this one went down quite well!
We enjoyed seeing Mike and Sandy’s new home in St George. It’s very modern with high ceilings and tall doors and a great room to die for. Their home is on a ridge near the center of St George and the view is truly beautiful. The colors around St George are magnificent and to be able to see such scenery at any time during the day is wonderful. I think we were the last of the visitors they had showing off their home and will enjoy their “quiet” time! The weather was overcast and a bit humid if you were out for long. We did lots of visiting, some sightseeing, and simply enjoyed the time we spent with them. They are really gracious hosts!
We took a little sightseeing trip to Tuacahn Outdoor Amphitheater. One of the recent productions was Aladdin. Here’s a pix of the three of us!
From St George, we traveled to Provo Utah. It was a lovely drive, just a bit overcast and even some rain off and on enroute. A really beautiful area. We stayed at the Utah Lake State Park and did some sightseeing and geocaching in and around the Provo area.
Our next stop was Idaho Falls Idaho. The Snake River RV Park was nice, even if we were a little close to our neighbors. We were able to do some geocaching and sightseeing. A really lovely town.
We checked RV parks around Helena, Montana, and selected one that sounded good. Well, as can often happen if you don’t also check the map, we ended up driving about 22 miles around some hills and vales to reach the Canyon Ferry area Kim’s Marina and RV Park. We had originally made the reservation for three days, but after the LONG and twisty drive, decided to go to another park for the two remaining days closer to Helena. The Lincoln Road RV Park was just what we were looking for … and they had lots of availability.
We wandered the grounds of the Helena capital building … such greenery and flowers … so lovely. Here’s a pix of the capital building. We try to visit all of the state capitals on our travels … although we haven’t really made a list of them. It’s just fun to do.
There was a museum across the street from the capital building with a wonderful sculpture that I just had to have a picture of … very Montana, right?
Shelby Montana was our next and last stop in the US before entering Canada. We were only in the Lewis & Clark RV Park for one night, and we were really glad it was only one night. The parking arrangement was all parallel … so the hookups were on the grass side, and the door opened onto the “street” side. I didn’t like getting out of the rig into the “street” … what if a vehicle was passing just at the time I wanted to leave the rig?
The sky was wonderful … with clouds and shadows that really appealed to me. There was even a rainbow just for us, I’m sure! This really says Big Sky country to me …
The sky was wonderful … with clouds and shadows that really appealed to me. There was even a rainbow just for us, I’m sure! This really says Big Sky country to me …
Our Alaska travel plans have always included our good friends Pat & Myrna Dusseau. We were to meet up with them in Dawson Creek British Columbia on the 31st of July. We received the disappointing news that they are not able to continue with their trip to join us. We are disappointed and will miss their company and guidance, but certainly understand! We send our best wishes to the Dusseaus on their return to San Diego.
The border crossing is quite a bit smaller than the one in San Diego. There are about 4 to 5 lanes that are possible to be used, although there were only three open (one for big rigs and two for RV’s and passenger vehicles). Here’s our pix of the border …
We experienced driving in Lethbridge Alberta in a kind of scary way … we drove through an intersection when we should have stopped. We were very lucky all of the traffic had not yet started to cross the intersection. It’s a difficult lesson to learn that if the lights are not working, it must be treated as a 4-way stop. I didn’t see any cameras and we were not stopped by the police, so we were really quite lucky.
We arrived in Calgary safely thanks to our GPS Trixie. She is very diligent, except when she says out of the blue “recalculating” … that is really scary because everything is going as planned on Trixie’s screen, yet she decides to recalculate! We were in agreement more often than not, thank goodness. We did a few geocaches, and are trying to do several at each stop we make, if there’s time after we arrive. While searching for one or two caches near the Canada Olympic Plaza, we saw the ski jump that was used at the Calgary Olympics; very impressive.
Calgary is a really lovely city … it is spread out with a lot of bedroom communities. The freeway system is pretty good, but we really needed Trixie when we went on the city streets. There were lots of left in 500 meters, left again, right; not really straightforward, that’s for sure! I’m sure it would make more sense if we were going to be here longer.
We’ve contacted an RV park in the Edmonton area and left Calgary Thursday 07.26.12. We’ll be doing some caching, as well as shopping at the West Edmonton Mall. We were in Minnesota at the largest indoor mall in the US last year; there are at least two roller coasters, a water ride and lots of activities for all of the family. The West Edmonton Mall is owned by the same people, and it’s supposed to be even larger than the one in Minnesota. More to come!
