WANDERING WITH THE WRIGHTS
August 20th, 2024 - Week 11
We left Ft. Nelson, BC on Thursday 8/15. Some of our observations: a lot more traffic and big trucks (large refinery nearby and lumber trucks) then we have seen the last few months. Condition of the roads are improving.
Wish I had thought to take a before picture - the motorhome and Jeep were filthy - Jerry scrubbed and scrubbed and has the motorhome back to looking normal. The Jeep has been washed more in the last
2 1/2 months than it has since we bought it 10 years ago.
We left British Columbia and entered Alberta (1 hour time change). Drove through a lot of farm country. Mountains are gone just hills now. Once we got to Grand Prairie we had 4 lane roads and Jerry could use the cruise control as roads were so much better. We are no longer in the wilderness. There are not the frequent pull offs like in northern Canada and Alaska to pull of and rest or just enjoy the beauty. And the pull offs are paved and not gravel when we do have one. The highlight of the day (NOT) was arriving at the Provincial Park I had made reservations at to learn I had made them for the wrong park. The one I made them for was 3 hours back the direction we had just come from! YIKES! Fortunately the park we wanted in the first place had one spot left. We had to eat the cost of the other but much better than driving back. We stayed two nights and didn't do much but rest and relax. I did go into town for a little pampering (manicure & pedicure). We then spent many hours figuring out our route and stops for the return trip to Illinois.
Saturday the 17th we traveled to Diamond Valley, Alberta for our last night in Canada. I had been preparing for days to cross the border back into the US. Many people traveling in rv's had been reporting having fresh meat, vegetables and eggs taken from them at the border so have been trying to use those items up.
Our last nights dinner in Alberta - trying to use up all the items we could have confiscated at the border.
We waited about 40 minutes in line to enter back into the US
When it was our turn Jerry handed the agent our passports. She asked how long we had been in Canada, were we coming from Alaska - bye have a great day. She said nothing about food!
I do like how the Canadians sell their cheese
Nice and thin - makes it so much easier to slice - we are glad to be back in the US as the food in Canada is so expensive.
We spent our first night back in the lower 48 in Shelby, MT the same place we stayed 72 days earlier on our way up. We did laundry, emptied tanks, filled up with water as we will be staying where we won't have any hook-ups for awhile. This was the sunset.
We drove a short distance to spend the next two nights at a Harvest Host location (an organization that works out permission with wineries, farms, museums, churches, etc. for campers to spend a night or two.) Most of these places do not provide hookups so we are boondocking. We are in Conrad, MT on a Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy farm. We will be here for two nights
When we arrived we were greeted by this lovely welcome. Two chairs with a footrest and fresh flowers! The welcome is not normally this lovely. Next thing there was a knock at the door and Ann, the owner of the farm was handing us a welcome bag of locally made beer and chips. She invited us to join her at 7:00pm to feed the horses. This is a 120 acre farm and the closest neighbor is 1.2 miles away.
Here we are all settled in for two nights. We are right next to a pond and on the other side of the pond is a very nice couple in their camper that are on their way to Alaska so they are full of questions. We are happy to answer as we received so much help and advice from others during our trip.
We are all settled in our comfy chairs with our flowers in the shade
We did go up at 7:00 for the horse feeding but there was a storm moving in and it was getting really windy so we will try again tonight. There was a storm with lots of wind and lightening but fortunately it ended before bedtime. Ann had Jerry put the Jeep in a large quonset hut she has on property just incase of hail - she is really nice.
We leave tomorrow morning for another Harvest Host stay. We are currently "killing" time as we are scheduled to meet up with our godson on Sunday in Wyoming. We are running ahead of schedule but he couldn't reschedule his work and a little mini-vacation he is taking so we have plenty of time to get to him.
