Friday, July 27, through Thursday, August 2, 2912: Back in the States (For a While, Anyway):
Friday involved an easy 238-mile trip to Larimore, North Dakota.  At the border, our snotty Customs people had the audacity to ignore our statement that we had bought nothing while in Canada and actually confiscated vegetables from our refrigerator.  How rude!!!  Other than that, it was nice to get back to the USA. 

It’s not that I don’t like Canada.  I do.  The scenery is spectacular and the people are delightful.  But, based on very recent experience, some of the roads here are better.  And I can now listen to Rush on the radio, again.

We are staying in the Larimore Dam Recreation Area Campground,

an absolutely beautiful place with huge, grassy, pull-through sites adjacent to a lake and to an arboretum containing more than 500 trees.  It’s too bad that we are scheduled to stay here for only two days.  We quickly ventured to the nearby town of Larimore to replace the confiscated vegetables.  It’s not much of a place.

Becky went to Grand Forks, North Dakota (25 miles away) on Saturday to get her hair done and to hit Petco, Kohls, and Wal-Mart for some shopping.

I stayed back to relax and walk Ramsey.  Altogether, a nice day for all three of us.  Tomorrow, it’s on to Bemidji, Minnesota, 150 miles away (and the home of reportedly the most famous Paul Bunyan/Babe The Blue Ox statues in the country).



The trip to Bemidji was quick and easy, passing through areas with lots of farms and lots of trees. Very nice scenery.  This is our first time in Minnesota with a rig, so we can now add that state to our map.  We are staying at Hamilton’s Fox Lake Campground, a nice place out in the woods, adjacent to a lake.

Before heading to the refrigerator fixit place (Higgins Heating) on Monday, I called to make sure the part was in.  It was not.  Several frustrating phone calls later, I determined that the part had never been sent from the factory because Higgins did not call to order the part.  In fact, the idiot at the factory had specifically told both Higgins and me a week ago that we didn't have to do that.  (The current man at the factory did not appreciate my yelling at him about that.)  The upshot was that we had to take the trailer to Higgins to confirm the diagnosis, then have Higgins order the part, then wait for the factory to send the part to Higgins, then take the trailer back to Higgins to have the part installed. 

Fortunately, Kyle, the man at Higgins, was very cool and decided to install in our trailer the (same) replacement part he had previously ordered for another customer, which was due to arrive on Tuesday, so we didn't have to wait until who knows when for our part to arrive from the factory.  Thus, on Tuesday morning we went back to Higgins and had the part installed, and all is now well.  But for the fact that we will have now had to take the trailer for a ride on four successive days, including tomorrow, this has been a relatively easy stay in a pretty area.

Monday afternoon, Becky took a 27-mile bike ride to the center of town and looped back around about ten lakes on her way back.  What a star.

Tuesday afternoon, we went back to Bemidji to get the truck washed and to have lunch.  It's a nice place.  Lunch was at the Sparking Waters restaurant---a lovely place across the street from Lake Bemidji.  We both had delicious mussels.

Next stop:  Crane Lake.

The 150-mile trip on Wednesday to Crane Lake, in the northeast corner of Minnesota, was through some pretty national forests and along many impressive lakes.  It’s easy to see why they call Minnesota the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  Other than having to travel on some very bumpy roads (I hope it has something to do with the cold weather damaging the roadway, rather than the ineptness of the government) the trip was easy.  We are staying at the Waters Edge RV Park. It’s a simple, small, nice park, adjacent to the lake.  They gave us a lovely site backing right up to the lake.

Wednesday evening, we traveled all of one mile to the center of the teensy town of Crane Lake, to have dinner at the Voyagaire Lodge.  (Wednesday is Prime Rib Night there, great advantage of which we took.)

The reason for coming to Crane Lake, other than for its natural beauty and solitude, is its proximity to Voyageurs National Park.  The land area in the park, representing only 10% of the park area (the rest is water, of course, including more than 30 lakes), has been kept in pristine condition.  The park's mission is to preserve the area in the manner of its early days---which was used by French-Canadian fur trappers who traversed the area by canoe.  They were known a Voyageurs.  Hence the park’s name.

The national park, which abuts the Canadian border, is only a mile away from our RV park, accessible by boat through two sets of narrows.  Access by other than boat or float plane is at least 65 miles away. On Thursday, we chose to avoid the water route and take the land route.  We stopped at two of the three Visitor Centers in the park.  To get to the Ash River Visitor Center takes you through some beautiful parkland to get you to a lovely area that was a rustic guest lodge before the park was acquired by the federal government in the ’70s.

The other Visitor Center we visited is located on one narrow edge of the park adjacent to Lake Kabetogama (which is a big attraction for boaters and fishermen).  The area right next to the Visitor Center, and thus outside of the park, is very built-up and full of lodges, boat rental shops, and other lake-type goodies, but is still very attractive.

It was a very worthwhile trip to the park. We are glad we came.

One of the burgs we went through on our trip to the park was Buyck, pronounced "bike" and signified by their placing bicycles on top of the signs heading into the town.  Cute.

Tomorrow, we head for Wisconsin.   

Thursday, July 19, through Thursday, July 27, 2012:  Eight Days in Canada:
The trip to Lethbridge, Alberta, was an easy 187 miles.  We are staying at the Bridgeview RV Resort, a very nice place, with a view (no surprise) of a nearby railroad bridge which is amazing---more than a mile long and more than 300 feet high at its highest point.

Lethbridge is a nice city, the largest in Alberta---south of Calgary, anyway.  It has 85,000 people. (Calgary has more than 1,000,000.)  When we got here it was very hot and humid.  We could only run one air conditioner since there is only 30 amp service at each site, so it did not cool off completely inside the trailer until sundown.  But we survived.

Friday morning we took a 185-mile (round trip) excursion to Waterton Lakes National Park, located just across the border from our Glacier National Park.  Other than for purposes of official administration, they are considered to be one park.  Waterton is a beautiful place.

The masterpiece in the park is the Prince of Wales Hotel, built in 1927 and named for the British prince who later became King Edward VIII before famously abdicating in 1936 to marry an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson---part of the plot of The King's Speech recently.  (The current queen, Elizabeth II, was his niece, of course.)  It is a charming old hotel,

that, because there is no insulation to fend off the inevitable cold weather after the summer season, is only open from June 8 through September 18 each year.  The view from the hotel is breathtaking.

Just below the hotel is a small village at the head of the Upper Waterton Lake that is a year-round resort---water sports in the spring and summer, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing the rest of the time. 

Almost all of the buildings have a Swiss chalet look to them.  Very attractive.  We walked along the waterfront.  Ramsey loved it.

On the way back, we stopped at the town of Cardston, thinking of having lunch.  It is located on the reservation of the Blood Tribe of Indians.  It reminded us of the reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.  There was not a lot of apparent modern progress.  A little depressing.  We decided to wait until we returned to Lethbridge to eat.  We ate at the Top Pizza & Spaghetti House.  Delicious.

Saturday took us to Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 240 miles away.  We are definitely in the Canadian plains.  We saw nothing on the way here but flat agricultural scenery.  Calming, but boring. 

The highlight was going through the city of Medicine Hat, on our way out of Alberta.  I've always loved that name.  (In two days we will get to go through Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  I've always loved that name, too.) 

We are stayting at the Pondarosa [sic] RV Resort, on Ponderosa Trail.  It is quite rural, kind of funky, but OK.  We can handle two days.

There is definitely nothing to do in Swift Current, even though there are 18,624 residents, so we will probably just relax before continuing eastward.

Sunday morning, Becky took a bike ride in the area, and ran across the beginnings of some sort of dog program at a local park. 

We went back in the early afternoon just as they were starting a dog agility contest.  Apparently, they regularly hold these things in a lot of places in Canada and the U.S.  And they move them around.  Today was Swift Current's turn for 2012.  People came from several provinces to run their dogs through the obstacle course.  It was fun to watch.  And the dogs were amazing.

We returned home to an early dinner of Cioppino (from Trader Joe's).  Yum.

Monday started out like any other day, but quickly turned into a bit of a challenge.  Just before we left Swift Current, Becky noticed that the refrigerator information panel was displaying an error code to the effect that some switch had been deactivated.  We had no idea what that meant, and we didn’t know whether it meant that the refrigerator was no longer working, but decided to look into it as soon as we got to our next scheduled destination---Regina, Saskatchewan---157 miles away.



The road to Regina---Canada’s Route 1, the Trans-Canada Highway, which we have enjoyed driving on since entering the country several days ago---suddenly became worthy of being in a third-world country. The whole ride today was very rough and bumpy.  I’m surprised I still have any fillings in my teeth or china in our cabinets.

Once we arrived in Regina (the provincial capital, rhymes with “vagina“), and after several phone conversations with various people, and a trip to a local RV dealer (with the trailer), we determined that the refrigerator was no longer working, and that the Norcold factory agreed to send the necessary replacement part to a contact of theirs in Minnesota, where we will be next Monday.  (Since we will be in Minnesota, there will be no delays in having the part go through Customs in both the U.S. and Canada.)  The factory even made the installation appointment for us.  All under warranty.  Yea!

The prospect of our being without a refrigerator for a week was not exciting.  Fortunately, the tech (Scott, the service manager at Traveland RV) who diagnosed the problem offered us a temporary solution---not authorized by the factory, but effective.  The fix involves bypassing a safety switch (thereby taking a slight risk of damage to the refrigerator while we await the permanent solution next week), so he would not do it himself (theoretically, to avoid potential liability), but he showed me how to do it.  It took all of two minutes, mostly spent looking through my parts inventory, and it worked.  The refrigerator is working again.  We will keep our fingers crossed for the next week.

We are staying at the Buffalo Overlook RV Park.  It’s a little strange, but fine.  I don’t see any buffalos.  This has been a stressful day, so we’ll just cool it tonight.

Tuesday morning we went to the Saskatchewan capitol building.  The legislature is out of session, so there was nothing going on.  We took a guided tour of the building, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

It’s really impressive, though with understated elegance, with floors, walls, and columns made of marble from around the world.  And it has a lovely park (named after Queen Elizabeth II, and containing a bronze statue of her on a horse) across the street, with a beautiful man-made lake beyond that.  Lake Wascana is in the center of a lovely park that surrounds the entire area.

Tuesday afternoon, we were joined by Mary Rucklos Hampton, a high school classmate of Becky’s, who has lived in Regina for many years.  They hadn't seen each other since they graduated 42 years ago.  The two of them pored over Mary’s yearbook and Becky’s booklet from the most recent class reunion.  They seemed to thoroughly enjoy recalling the foibles of their classmates.

Tuesday night we met Mary and her husband, Eber, for dinner at the Fireside Bistro in downtown Regina.  Nice place.  On the way there, the skies opened up and we had an amazing downpour---for only 15 minutes. Then the sun came out again. Weird.

Eber and Mary are both PhDs.  Mary is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Regina. 

Eber, who is a full-blooded Chickasaw born in Oklahoma, is now retired, but was most recently a professor at the University of Regina, and before that was the President of The First Nations University of Canada, located on the grounds of the University of Regina.  ("First Nation" is a term describing some of the indiginous people of North America.)  After dinner, we took a brief tour of his former university. Very impressive place.

We really enjoyed being with the two of them.
 
Wednesday involved a 218-mile trek to Brandon, Manitoba, our last stop in Canada for a while.  The road from Regina (still Route 1) was better, but still not up to its earlier standard. 

Otherwise, it was an uneventful trip.  We are staying in a prime site at the Meadowlark Campground, a much nicer park than the one in Regina.  Brandon (Population:  46,000) is the second-largest city in Manitoba (after Winnipeg), and has mostly an agricultural focus.  (Its nickname is "Wheat City" for obvious reasons.)  We took a spin through the city, and found it to be civilized if a bit quaint. 

Other than Becky's inevitable bike ride and Ramsey's constant walks, we did very little here.

Tuesday, July 10, through Wednesday, July 18, 2012: Getting Back to Canada:
Becky returned from McCall on Tuesday afternoon.  Yea!  We spent the rest of the day unpacking and unwinding, with a stop at the local sushi place to get Becky her periodic fix.


Sitting next to us at the restaurant was a young girl from Huntington Beach, California, and her grandfather, who is a local.  It was his first try at sushi.  Naturally, we enjoyed watching him struggle through it.  He was a trouper, though.    

Early Wednesday morning, I dropped Ramsey off at the kennel, and we headed for the guy who was going to align the wheels on our trailer.

He predicted that it would take several hours to do the job, so we killed the time having breakfast at Shari’s Restaurant, stopping at the sushi place from the night before to retrieve my Discover card which I had left there, doing a little shopping at Albertsons, and working with our computers in the Rec room at our RV park. 

We redeemed the trailer (Kaching!) at 3:00PM, and headed for the Les Schwab store to get three new tires (Kaching! again) for the trailer. 

At 5:00PM, we re-sited the trailer at the RV park, took the rental car (a nice Chrysler 200, by the way) back to Enterprise, picked up Ramsey, decided we were too tired to leave the next day for Missoula, Montana, asked the office to extend our stay in Clarkston, and then opened up the wine cabinet to start a well-earned rest.

Thursday was a nothing day. We deserved it.

Friday was a travel day---228 miles---starting in Washington, going through the beautiful Clearwater National Forest

in the Idaho panhandle, ending at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula.  (At a population of 67,000, Missoula is the second largest Montana city; Billings is the largest with more than 116,000).  It was an easy drive.  And the weather has broken---here at least.  It’s in the low 80s.  What a pleasant change.

We are in a nice site in a nice park. 

We’ve been here twice before.  We’re scheduled here for only two days.  In fact, we are scheduled to spend only two days in all but one of the next thirteen parks.  Whew!

On Saturday, we both had pedicures (Becky also had a manicure, but I have masculinity standards) and we toured the center (old section) of Missoula and the campus of the University of Montana---nickname: The Grizzlies, an NCAA Division 1 school and a member of the Big Sky conference.  Nice place.

Tomorrow, we head for Deer Lodge, which is between here and Helena.

Our first stop on Sunday was the scale at the nearby truck stop.  We had been told we should have our trailer weighed, so we can have intelligent conversations about axles and tires in the future.  For the record, the trailer weighed 16,920 pounds. 



The 91-mile trip to Deer Lodge (Population:  3,500) was a piece of cake.  This is truly Big Sky country.  The scenery was beautiful.  We are staying at the local KOA campground, which is unlike any KOA we've stayed at before.  The people are very nice, as usual, but the place is a dump.  We decided to stay only one night, then stop at an RV park in Helena for one night.

The big attraction here is the Montana State Prison Museum, on the site of the old prison.  (The new one is here also, but we wouldn't want to visit it.)  The old prison is interesting to tour.  I'm certainly glad to not have been an inmate there.  According to the tour guide, the prison had a 100-year history of being an awful facility.

Connected to the old prison is the most fabulous car collection I have ever seen.  It's just amazing.  There are more than 150 cars there, going back to the very beginning.  All of them are in magnificent condition.  The place is well worth going out of your way to see.

We drove around town a bit, and took Ramsey for several walks.  Now that I've seen more of this burg, I take back what I said about our RV park.  Compared to the rest of Deer Lodge, this place is a Ritz-Carlton.

Monday took us to Helena, a 64-mile trip that was very easy.  We are staying at the Lincoln Road RV Park, a very nice place.  Becky called Steve Polhemus, a former buddy from her Pacific Coast Banking School days in the early '80s.  He now lives in Helena and works for First Interstate Bank.  He met us for a delicious lunch at the Jade Garden restaurant. 

This was the first time I'd met Steve.  Nice guy.  Tall.

After lunch, we drove around Helena, took a look at the impressive capitol building, and then settled in for a rainy afternoon.

Tuesday involved an easy 81-mile trip on I-15, ending up in Great Falls, Montana.  We are staying at Dick's RV Park (the owners' last name is Dick), a nice, older park close to town.  The principal feature of this city is the Missouri River (yeah, that one) that dominates the place.

Tuesday night we had a lot of rain.  Wednesday morning was glorious.  We decided to set out on a bike ride along the river. 

Everything went swimmingly until I had a flat tire in my rear wheel.   Being a Boy Scout, I was prepared, of course, and replaced the tube. 

A half hour later, Becky had a blowout, also in her rear tire.  That was enough to make us give up on bicycling for the day.  We ended up with a new tire and a new odometer computer for Becky's bike, and returned to our RV to regroup---and have lunch.        

Since we have been in and out of Lewis & Clark country several times in the past year, we decided it was time to learn something about their exploration (beyond what we learned a zillion years ago in grade school, which we have largely forgotten).  Wednesday afternoon, we went to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center operated here by the U. S. Forest Service.

It was wonderful.  It has terrific displays and a very good half-hour video presentation (done by Ken Burns, for you National Park video fans).

This city is a little hard to get around in because the Missouri River and the Sun River cut in to several parts and there are not enough bridges across them.  On top of that, a two-mile stretch of a very important street that leads to the interpretive center is closed for four days for repaving.  We just happened to be here for two of those four days.  Our RV park is seven miles from the center;

we had to go fourteen miles to get there.

When we first got here, by the way, we were told that the majestic waterfalls for which the place was named had been destroyed by the building of several nearby dams.  That turned out to be supposedly untrue to a great extent.  We learned too late that the remaining falls are only eleven miles down river from the city.  We just need to come back someday.

Tomorrow, we return to Canada.