Well here we are in the good ol USA and we are at a KOA in Burlington, WA. The trip here was pretty easy and the weather has been good ... about 65 and partly cloudy and about 48 at night. Been too busy to get many new pics, especially of the parks we've been in. We've got a lot of RV maintenance to do so tomorrow night we will camp at the RV dealer and see what he intends to do with the list of stuff we need warranty work on for Friday. He's offered to let us stay on the lot, as we did when we first bought the machine in Texas, so by Saturday night we'll know more how the fixit process is going. I assume that what the RV dealer has to offer is minimal as far as amenities ... just pull it into line with all the other used busses and enjoy the evening, eh. After that we intend to spend about a month over on Whidbey Island, exploring and being with the Gardners and relax a bit more from our cross continent and European run.

Here's a couple more pictures of our time in the Vancouver area. This one is inside the building where British Columbia was declared a province and a really good painting depicting the ceremony.

Here's the civic center in the town of Fort Langley and obviously the setting for many local wedding photo ops.

The view of North Vancouver as seen from Stanley Park with Vancouver proper to my back. That's the Lions Gate Bridge and beyond, I believe it is Grouse Mountain where the tram takes you up to the top where you can dine with a superb view over the city.

Probably will be the 1st of October before we can link up again but I'll get the camera out and start snapping more of the beautiful NW.

After enduring the blizzard, we arrived in the Vancouver area on the 20th of September and the RV park we picked was in a little town called Fort Langley, about 20 miles to the east of Vancouver proper and right on the Fraser river. We had no idea what the place or campsite would be like, but were very pleasantly surprised. This park, called "Fort Camping" is a very well done outfit with some pretty new and expensive infrastructure including at least 5 separate wi-fi hotspots.

The little town is a historic site and hosts the Fort Langley reconstructed fort from 1827. In 1858 the province of British Columbia was proclaimed in one of the buildings in the fort. The fort, like the one in Thunder Bay we visited, was really a trading company location and not used defensively. The Hudson Bay Company used these outposts to run a hugely successful trading business with the natives for many years.

The town itself is a single main street of historic buildings now hosting a multitude of tourist oriented shops and restaurants. At the end of this street and across a small bridge was our campsite on McMillan Island.

On Sunday we went into Vancouver itself which is a huge metropolis of over 4 million folks, according to one of the locals ... I believe her. We battled the one way streets and the throngs to visit Stanley Park which is a 1,000 acre oasis in the middle of all that humanity. In the park, in addition to many other features, is the aquarium, in which we spent the afternoon. Really nicely done but small by some other cities' standards ... most notable was the beluga whale tank and the show they put on ... well trained white monsters.


Vancouver skyline from Stanley Park and the Vancouver Yacht Club parking lot.

Tomorrow morning we are off to the US and our long time good friends, Richard and Wanda Gardner, who live on Whidbey Island, off the coast from Seattle. First we will stop in Burlington, WA, to get some much needed work done on the Flying Scotsman ... all the stuff that's been ignored since we crossed into Canada last May 1st.

After the Lake Louise location which was excellent, we headed off west on the Canada 1 for the Kelowna area and a little town called Peachfield because we thought the park sounded pretty good. Actually better than good. Todd's was a cute little park right on the beach of Lake Okanagan. While small, the park had all the prerequisites like cable TV and a pretty good wi-fi setup. The pics I sent last night were from Todd's. The computer hookup, however, was painfully slow but I was able to get some pics off.

What a pretty location and as expected a good location for Canadian retirees through the winter. About 68 degrees and really nice. We walked along the beach and looked at some inticing condos just a few meters from the campsite. This is a park just steps from our RV campsite and the picture on Wednesday the 19th ...

Then, this morning, Thursday... holy snowballs! This was the worst piece of travel we have had so far. From Peachfield to Vancouver it was 32 degrees, snow showers, fog, freezing rain, and 8% up and down slopes where the bus was working hard, and the snow and slush were wild. We had expected this all through the Rockies and had not had a problem and after the last few stops it was so unexpected.

The Flying Scotsman worked great at about 35 MPH and 4000 RPM pulling the load. It was on the downslope that the brakes overheated and we had to stop for a bit; fortunately it was lunchtime and we let the bus cool off while we cooked pizza. This is a neat machine and I'm still learning.

Tonight we are in Todd's campground just south of Kelowna, BC, in a town called Peachfield and it is really a pretty place ... maybe pics tomorrow.

... but yesterday we went up the Icefields Parkway from Lake Louise almost to Jasper to the Icefields center. These next two pictures are of the Athabasca Glacier as viewed from the information center. The center is very comprehensive and has many displays concerning glacier formation and info about this one in particular. Actually all you can see here is a tiny portion of the ice field which starts at the top center of this photo. The glacier behind these mountains is about 325 square miles in area. This glacier in 1844 came up across the road you see here and was almost to where I took this shot.

More of the same glacier from the information center.

This is Moraine Lake about 20 miles north of Lake Louise on the Icefield Parkway.

While the RV was parked at the Lake Louise site, for a day trip on Monday, we went up the Icefields Parkway toward Jasper but stopped halfway at the icefields center. The Bow River carves its way through this whole valley and is right behind our campground. We followed the river up to its source in the glacier region near Bow Mountain. Again these few pictures cannot even come close to this trip today. If there is one road trip you need to do before you die … this is it!

The aspen and poplar trees really added a splash to the massive visual impact.

Then on Sunday we packed up and moved to the Banff National Park. We stopped at a campsite in Lake Louise. You can’t possibly describe the views here … I’m lost at the keyboard … it is so overwhelming and the scenery behind Jo-Anne is truly awesome.

And he cooks too...

Actually we have some really cool pics of this place but the local connection, as always, is shaky at best ... these three pics have taken an hour to process ...


This stream is about 100 feet behind where we are camped. As I was walking Buster for his evening stroll I took this one. Across the Bow river is the tenting campsite and it is protected by an electric fence to keep the grizzleys out ... but not us, eh.

On the 15th of September we put the car on the trailer, dumped the black and gray water, filled up the fresh, pulled the slides in and the jacks up, and headed for Canmore Alberta. We picked Canmore because they promised wi-fi and were the best commercial park just outside the Banff National Park. Actually the wi-fi only worked if you sat in a chair next to the reservation clerk in the main building … so that limited this place to one night ... but the view ...

Yes, he does windows ...

While parked at Canmore we went into the park and up to the Banff Fairmount Hotel which is the old Canadian Pacific Rail hotel and is spectacular both inside and out.

Here is Jo-Anne making sure no one touches her Maseratti. The Maseratti is the lighter one near the other end and is valued at over a million. This whole lot of fiberglas and engine was worth about seven million bucks .... and they get the same gas mileage as our RV ...

This one will be pretty quick as we got really busy today .... not supposed to happen when you are retired, eh? Here is the view out the front of the bus on the way from Moose Jaw to Calgary ... can we have a tree please. Actually we were very surprised that this type of scenery is very short lived, being just here in Alberta, as opposed to Manitoba and Saskatchewan which had a lot of rolling hills and treed terrain.

We did stop to see a professional associate of Dad's who works at the University of Calgary and a couple of pictures were taken which we will post later. I had a nice chat with Dr. Brent Ritchie and his wife Rosemary and was able to pass on some more recent information about Dad to them and vice versa. This was a really nice visit with some great people. Dr. Ritchie is the chair of the World Tourism Program at the University of Calgary and his and dad's work over the many years make the type of tourism I am enjoying, possible.

While hard to see, this is shot from our campsite tonight, looking to the east, and the structures you see are what is left of the Calgary Olypics in 1998. That's the big ski jump tower you can just barely see in the center of the picture. We are in a very nice park on the west side of town which used to be a KOA but now is private.

We are off to Canmore, Alberta tomorrow, which is about 12 miles from Banff, and we'll spend at least one night there ... probably more depending on weather in the mountains. Maybe we'll have computer support ... but really don't know.

We did get to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, and have been having so much fun that it’s been hard to sit at the computer.

Tomorrow we are off to Medicine Hat Alberta and Calgary after that.

As an introduction, here’s Mac the Moose, the town mascot. Unfortunately now he has had a fence put around him, not to keep him from getting away, but to keep the local artists from painting his under parts and doing other damage to the beast.

This is a beautiful town and very surprising for the amount of culture and greenery present for a place in the middle of the prairie at a high latitude. Moose Jaw is about 35,000 folks but has the culture and other infrastructure of a town of 75,000+. Here’s main street. Just to the left in this picture is the building where we took a tour of the “Tunnels” which were apparently used by Al Capone to evade the feds as this was another of his headquarters during the prohibition era. One tunnel goes under this street from the building on the right over to the left side; fascinating.

Our hosts, Ed and Rita Beth at their place.

All around the town are 35+ murals painted on the buildings, all done by well known local artists and there is a tour that includes viewing and being told about the meaning behind all the murals. Here's Rita and Jo-Anne in front of one.

Ed as a retired Lt Colonel works during the week as a simulator instructor at the local Canadian Forces Base and then on the weekends works with the air cadet program as a glider instructor and tow plane pilot. He and I went up in the Bellanca Scout and did a couple of glider tows which was a real priviledge ... super!

Also in Moose Jaw are several very picturesque and well done parks … extremely green and the flowers are still beautiful. Swans are always photogenic. Someone needs to tell this guy that it’s going to get really cold really soon and that Texas might be an option shortly.


Because of his connection with Americans, here’s Ed trying to imitate the Statue of Liberty. Actually all you had to do is hold out some feed and the chickadees would eat out of your hand.

For the ol’ guys and gals out there, Art Linkletter was a famous favorite son and as both Jo-Anne's and my parents know, "Old Age is Not for Sissies."

Well we are in Indian Head Saskatchewan tonight and these views below typify some of the local sights. This one is from about 20 minutes ago shot west from our KOA site.

But this guy sybolizes the town's name pretty well.

Indian Head is about 30 miles east of Regina and tomorrow we will head that direction and then Moose Jaw to see Ed and Rita Beth; good friends for many years. Actually the Qu'Appelle valley just to the north of Indian Head is a really beautiful river and lake valley ... but the weather was very stormy and dark so I couldn't get very good pics. The elms are just beginning to change color and I wish I had a sunny day for this, eh. A strange resemblance to Loch Ness ...


But getting here ... let's go back a bit. After Kenora, we headed for Selkirk and landed in Bird’s Hill Provincial Park which is between Winnipeg and Selkirk. This park is awesome; many square miles of bur oak and aspen, all with miles of fine hardtop roads, lakes, restaurants, and much more. The parking places were all arranged with four RV spots per cul-de-sac and was very private. We had a super fire which turned to coals and the marshmallows were perfect!

The park was about 20 kilometers from Bill and Bev Purvis’ place. Bill is Jo-Anne’s Uncle on her mom's side and his father was the well known boat builder in Selkirk. The Purvis place is a beautiful piece of property on the Red River just to the northeast of Selkirk.

Here is the Purvis Navigation museum on the Selkirk waterfront with the Red River where the family boats are now displayed. These boats were used for many years for both the cargo and passenger trade for the entire expanse of Lake Winnipeg. Jo-Anne and her mother traveled in a cabin around the lake in the largest boat in the center of this picture, the Keenora, when Jo-Anne was about five.

And in case you have any dirty fish around .... ya know how those carp are ...

Last night we stopped in Dryden in a small private campground and other than one other RV we were the only ones there; really quiet. Rained off and on all night be we woke to a nice 60 degree day and it has stayed there. Today's high is about 69 with a 30% humidity and beautiful sunshine ... can't get better

OK. Tonight we are in ... Kenora, Ontario. How far is New Braunfels from here? Both culturally and distance wise a long way. Kenora is a huge lake on the US Canada border and a large international tourist area ... and it is obvious why ... gorgeous!

Trivia time. This boat, the MS Kenora ( a major tourist event hauling folks around the Lake of the Woods), was built by Jo-Anne's grandfather at his boat building works in Selkirk Manitoba, our next stop. Actually the boat building works in Selkirk is now a museum to the huge number of large ships the company produced for this whole area. Jo-Anne and her mother actually rode together in one of the earlier Kenora versions (10 times bigger than this one) on Lake Winnipeg about 50 years ago ... good stories.

Kenora waterfront with floatplane and MS Kenora.

Little beach at our campsite, the Longbow Lake Camp about 5 miles west of Kenora on Highway 17.

These canoes in the historic Fort William restoration in Thunder Bay are actually built using traditional native methods on the site by volunteers.

The Terry Fox memorial on a high outcropping just west of Thunder Bay; very impressive for both the site and the national hero.

Thunder Bay marina. Actually, before the two cities of Port Arthur and Fort William were merged into Thunder Bay, this was Port Arthur. Pretty salvia arrangement in the shape and color of the maple leaf.