Fort Calgary

     We went into Calgary today on the light rail system which was built when the Olympics were held there.  The stop was in a shopping center that was only five minutes from our campground, easy parking, and a quick ride to downtown.  We were told by the campground folks that parking down town was very limited and expensive.  We could see that all the "park and ride" lots for the light rail were full on the way downtown so it appears that the rail line is successful. 

     Fort Calgary is about an eight block walk from the light rail stop downtown.  It was built by the Canadian Royal Mounted Police.  A nice museum with lots of hands-on exhibits related to the creation of the Mounties.  After a good tour of the museum we walked back downtown for lunch.  It was a nice day and hundreds of people were walking and sitting at sidewalk cafes.  Eight blocks of the downtown main streets are closed to traffic so everyone gets out and shops and walks.  This is what Nicollet Mall was meant to be before the buses went through.

    After returning on the light rail we shopped for groceries and came back to a sunny evening at the campground.  I called Jo Ellen and chatted for a while to get some girl talk in.  I was so happy to talk to her.  Tomorrow we head to the Rockies.  We can see them from our camper already.

Calgary, Alberta

     Pine Creek Campgound is clean and has lots of space, but it is right on the highway.  There are lots of rules about no rugs, no laundry or towels or ANYTHING outside the RV and no barbecue grills on the picnic tables.  It is a little to restricted for us casual campers.
     Calgary is a big and growing town.  The TV news said that home prices are soaring.  We had to drive 2/3 of the way around the city to get to the campground while it was raining.  We were happy to quit for the day and unhitch the trailer when we finally got here.
     We went to a nearby shopping center to run errands.  We needed a Scrabble dictionary, some hardware for the RV and a bigger memory chip for the PDA.  We had dinner OUT and not in the RV.  Our first meal out since we started.
     Now we are having a great camping evening - sitting at the picnic table in the late sun.  Sunset is after 10 pm.  The sky is clear and we don't have the little heater running tonight to keep us warm.  We talked with Matt tonight and gave him an update.  All is well there, too.

Memorial Day - Medicine Hat

     We are at the Gas City Campground in Medicine Hat, Alberta.  It is rainy and 58F.  It was windy driving today.  The truck went into low gear several times just from pushing into the wind.  We have been sleeping very well due to the new 2" foam mattress pad that I added to the bed.  It was a good investment.  We are both really comfortable on it.
    We drove to Havre, Montana and then north.  The road was narrow, but good and very straight for about 80% of the drive.  The area by Cypress Hills Park was much more hilly, but just fine except for the wind.
    We had no problems getting through customs at the border.  This is a very quiet entrance into Canada.  We only saw about four cars on the road for the 50 miles into Canada.  It is very flat with lots of wheat.  We saw many antelope again, both running in the fields and dead on the road. 
     Medicine Hat is bigger than I thought it would be and growing very fast with lots of stores and RV repair places.  We are staying in a city-owned campground.  There are lots of big trees, well spaced sites and very little freeway noise.  It really feels like we are on our way now that we have made it to Canada.

Malta, Montana

     Cooler today - 59 - and partly cloudy.  We are at the Edgewater Campground which is about a 3 on a  10 scale.  Train runs right behind the campground and is really noisy.  We are 220 miles further into the trip.  We left the interstate and headed northwest to U.S. Highway 2.   The first part of the road was beautiful - Really Big Sky country.  Then a brief bit of heavy fog and light rain as we went up through a small range of hills.

    We saw flocks of pelicans and lots of antelope.  There are so many deserted farms and almost no traffic on this road.  When we got onto U.S 2 we hit nine miles of road repair.  It was very rough gravel road with no shoulders.  However, not much shook loose in the trailer so we are probably packed pretty well.

    When we stopped for lunch we found that the water pump in the trailer had stopped working.  It was a shorter day of driving so Rick spent the afternoon putting the old pump back in.  He had put in a new, higher flow pump before we left but it went bad and couldn't be fixed.  It's a good thing that he brought the old one along.  Rick got plenty of advice and support from neighboring campers - it is always a pretty friendly community.

    It is very cool tonight and Rick is really tired so I dug out the heater to warm up the camper.  We played Scrabble for a while last night, but we need a dictionary so I am cutting out Arik and Jenn's wedding quilt tonight.

Glendive, Montana

     We traveled 297 miles today.  Most of the travel was across North Dakota.  It was sunny and beautiful when we got up.  A perfect day to have breakfast with the door open and the breeze blowing through the trailer.
     By mid day we were into the rolling hills of North Dakota and then in the badlands area near Medora.  The road was bad and bumpy and two cups that were hanging on a cup holder in the cupboard chipped.  Since the roads in Alaska will be just as bad I took the cups down.  Maybe we just need plastic ones.
     We spent the day listening to Public Radio - Klick and Klack and a current events quiz show.  Storms are east of us where we were last night so we are lucky to have moved through them with only a sprinkle.
     We are now in Mountain Time zone.  The campground looks out on the Yellowstone River.

Leaving for Alaska, Jamestown, ND

     We left Bloomington at 9 am.  Our first stop came one block later when I couldn't find my cell phone.  Rick searched the car and I search the trailer.  He found it in a side pocket of my purse.  We didn't want to be out of touch all summer.
     The day was sunny and 75.  We traveled 358 miles to Jamestown, ND.  The Jamestown Campground is very nice.  Shade trees everywhere, but no pool.  They finished putting in wireless an hour after we arrived so we got to test it out.  Worked great.  I am looking forward to keeping in touch with family via email.  I set up my cell phone so I could get service in Canada, but have heard that coverage where we are going is pretty sparce.  Hopefully we will continue to find WIFI in campgrounds.  I am trying to keep up with my consulting job with Anoka while we are on the road.
     The trees are full of goldfinches.  I saw a Baltimore Oriole and a yellow-headed blackbird today as well.  Everything is very green.  We usually travel in July or August when it is brown and dry. 
     I can't believe that we are finally on this trip.  It is a perfect night for camping - cool, breezy and after 9 o'clock and still light.  It has been a big day for us and we are both really tired, but so glad to be on the road at last.  This has been our dream trip since we were first married.