Day 11 - Vegreville Campground, Vegreville, Alberta

Today's drive is just a little shorter at 295 miles or 455 kms. We all decided we needed to take 2 - 3 shorter breaks rather than 1 long break. So we did and it worked out perfect.

The wind was behind us most of the way so it gave us better gas/diesel mileage. I also cleaned the windshield so maybe the pictures taken on the road won't be full of bug spatter.

We stopped in a fairly good size town called Lloydminister. The unique story about this town is, half of it is in Saskatchewan and the other half is in Alberta. In the picture below the tall red pillars depicts the boundary where one ends and the other starts. 

We are now officially in Alberta.

We arrived at Vegreville Kinsmen Campground we picked our campsites and get set up. I took the dogs for a nice long walk around the park and visitors center. Yes, I had another tick crawl on me. Why me, I hate these little creatures.

The visitors center has a wealth of information about the area. It also has an ice cream truck and a gourmet grilled cheese truck. Supper is at the visitors center tonight.

The campground bathrooms, showers, and dump station are on the other side of the railway tracks. Yes, I said railway tracks. If you look at the rig picture you can see I am almost sitting on the tracks. I hope no train comes. No sooner had I said that and a train comes rolling through. OMG, thank goodness only 2 have rolled down the tracks.

The Vegreville community "hatched" an idea in 1973 of how they could honor the RCMP in their centennial celebrations the following year. A giant Pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Egg) was born which symbolizes the different cultures that  settled in this area many years ago.  It also symbolizes the peace and security that the RCMP had offered the pioneers and their descendants. The three colours used in the design also have meaning: bronze (mother earth and fertility), silver (purity and innocence), and gold (prosperity and happiness)

Pysanka Facts:

• it contains 524 star patterns
• 2,203 equilateral triangles
• 3,512 visible facets
• 6,978 nuts and bolts
• 177 internal struts
• it measures 25.7 feet long, 18 feet wide, and stands 31 feet high
• the internal structure weighs 3,000 lbs
• the aluminum skin weighs 2,000 lbs
• it rest on a 27,000 lb base of concrete and 
• it turns in the wind like a weather vane

Susan and I are finding it very hard to sleep since the sun does not set until around 11 pm. With it being so hot if makes it even more difficult. Yes we could use the air but Bob and Kathy are parked real close I didn't want to disturb them. Our awning overhangs their rig by about a foot.