Day 77 - Lloydminister, AB

The day started off real lousy. It had poured rain all night and was still raining this morning. The only good thing was I didn't have to hook up the truck it was already done. We broke camp and left later than normal...9 bells. It's Susan's birthday today so she got to sleep in and I gave her coffee in bed. Then I told her to move her butt because it was another travelling day.

Once we were on the road we were driving through a major downpour. So much so, I had to slow right down and put my four way flashers on. Eventually the rained slowed. We arrived in Lloydminister, AB our next stop and the sun was shining. I quickly set up camp, detached the truck, and told Susan not to make supper because we are going out for her birthday. She is always happy when she doesn't have to cook. We went to a place called The Canadian Brewhouse. The food was fantastic.

Something real funny happened while we were sitting there eating our meal. Both of us were watching something different on the TVs they had. She was watching golf, I was watching football. We both realized that we had not watched TV in almost 3 months and we hadn't missed it until now. We managed to pull ourselves away and headed home. I took the dogs for a nice walk while Susan did some laundry. Eventually we called it a day. 

Day 76 - Edmonton, AB

These days it seems to be all about the driving from one campground to another. Not what I really wanted to do. When there is so much smoke in the air it just makes it less enjoyable to be outdoors and more sense to drive out of it.

I have never been in Jasper before, so this is going to be a first. The drive was great no real hills or valleys and the road was absent of potholes. Nice.

If I have learned anything from my travels in the Yukon and Alaska its when you see cars on the side of the road you slow down because you know there will be wildlife. Sure enough, there he was a big male elk on the side of the road just minding his own business. You can see the smoke in the background.

We watched as he trotted along side our truck and fifth wheel only to continue on down the road. People were following him.What a nice sighting.

Continuing on down the road through Jasper, we spot female Bighorn sheep and their young. Again, people were being stupid by going right up to them. I stayed in the truck and got great pictures.

We arrived in Edmonton set up camp, then I took the dogs for a long, long walk. Thankfully there was no wildfire smoke in the air. I can breath again, yea. 

Day 12 - The Fallen Four

The day started out sunny and warm but turned cloudy and even rained for 15 seconds. The warmest it got was 74 degrees and the coolest was 59 degrees. It was a short days drive of only 250 miles or 401 kms.

We drove under this amazing train trestle. It was made of wooden posts and didn’t look that old.

We made a stop in Mayerthorpe for diesel and also I wanted to see the Fallen Four Memorial. For those who don’t know, it was an unprecedented and unspeakable tragedy in Canadian history. Early in the morning hours of March 3 2005, four Royal Canadian Mounted Police were shot and killed during an investigation at a farm just north of Mayerthorpe. They were fired upon by a lone gunman who resided at the farm. 

Killed in the line of duty were:
Cst Brock Myrol age 29 had been an RCMP for only 17 days
Cst Anthony Gordon age 28 had been an RCMP for 3 years
Cst Leo Johnston age 32 had been an RCMP for 4 years
Cst Peter Schiemann age 25 had been an RCMP for 5 years

This memorial was established to honour all police officers killed in the line.

Each statue stands on guard in a different direction on the compass points. The centre statue points skyward as the up-rush of doves represent those whose spirits now soar free.

We were all touched by this memorial some more than others. However,we do need to continue down the road to our next destination. We arrived at Popular Ridge RV Park just north of Fox Creek, AB around 1:45. The campground is old but nicely keep. We quickly got everything hooked up then met under the red top for our usual nightly get together. It's definitely not t-shirt and shorts weather.

Bob had enough of his old straw hat so he threw it into the fire as our sacrificial offering to honor our first campfire on the Yukon/Alaska trip.

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.