April 16 to 22, 2007

The last 4 days have not been my most favorite, what with all that snow and it was cold too, especially the wind.

This past week, I took the truck in to get an oil change and lube and rotated the tires. After that, I took the fifth wheel in to have the alignment checked as the tires are wearing fast on the inside, especially the left side. They can't do anything for me here so I have an appointment with a place in Calgary by recommendation of one of the garages I went to. Topped up the truck @.939 cents a litre

I also bought a Tuxedo box cover for the truck for $500. Nice thing about it....no Provincial tax.

On Tues. the 17th, we went to Red Deer and mailed the Superchip back to get it checked then we took Tucker in for a haircut. While waiting, we went for breakfast and found a Laptop Wholesaler next door. They have laptops of all makes for less than $500-600. That is the day that it started to snow and never stopped until Friday.

On Thursday the 19th, we went to the Legion in the evening with Marcel. The place was packed consequently, we never ate until 8 p.m. but good time was had by all.

Saturday was a balmy 15*C and the snow melted fast. Friends of Marcel and Audrey came over today with their daughter and we had a great time visiting and dinner together....BBQ steaks, huge ones too that Ken brought over

On Sunday, we went to the airport in Calgary to pick-up Audrey who arrived from Geraldton. Val now has her sister back in town.

Today, the 23rd, Val and I are going back to Red Deer to check out the laptops again ans see how much it will cost to upgrade mine. We may buy a new one Audrey and Marcel are back to work.

It is sunny today and suppose to go to 22*C (74*F) Let the snow melt!!!!!

April 8 to 15, 2007

APRIL 8, Sunday, cloudy,snowing

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!! 26*F (-5*C) when I got up at 7 a.m. BLOODY RIDICULOUS!

Anyway, it did go up to a high of 39*F but it snowed all the same. The ice is melting off the truck and Kenzie though.
Went to Wal-Mart then looked around the town of Colorado Spring. It is pretty and probably worth exploring more but too cold right now; we just drove around.
We went to the Manitou Caves but it was closed. Came home after fuelling 11.341 Gal @ 2.999


APRIL 9, Monday, cloudy

We packed and headed out by 9:30 a.m. Got on I-25 north with a tail wind through Denver and topped up at Longmont, CO. 9.495 Gal @ 3.059 . We had a hot dog for lunch It is a balmy 60*F and we are at 5100 feet.

Arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming by 1:30 p.m. and stopped at the info centre for our usual maps and tourist books. These are all free and full of local info. Country side is very much like you see in the western movie, prairie grass and hilly.
From here we continued north towards Casper where we stopped for the night. The drive was hilly and we got into a snowy landscape. We climbed as high as 6100 feet. It looks like a moon scape! Really! Stopped in Douglas, Wyoming for fuel 20.356 Gal @ 2.949 cash. We lost our tail wind and now have a strong head wind.

Arrived in Casper under a cloudy sky, strong wind gust but warm at 60*F Paid $24.30 for the night with Good Sam discount at Casper East RV Park. Washed the rig and the truck after dinner...THEY WERE OVERDUE.

N 42*51'22" W 106*17'20" Altitude 5177' Distance today: 563 km (351 miles)


APRIL 10, Tuesday, Cloudy

Windy this a.m. Cloudy but the sun is peeking through once in a while. Temp. today is 42*F and it went to 28*F overnight.
Decided to spend another night here. We went to visit the Caspar Fort which played a major role protecting the immigrants going west to Oregon and California. We looked over the museum which is still under construction and walked the grounds but not for long as the wind was very piercing and cold.
After this, we went to Wal-Mart to get soap for the rigs and groceries at Albertson. Familiar names are starting to pop up everywhere.
Reloaded the chip as it was giving me problems and will see what happens. Topped up fuel 8.39 Gal @ 2.859


APRIL 11, Wednesday, sunny

Temp at 7 a.m. 32*F.
Broke camp and on the road by 9:30 a.m. Got propane before leaving at $16.50 and headed out.
The further north we are, the more snow we are seeing. We descended to 3600 feet and things began to improve. Stopped in Sheridan to fuel 19.876 Gal @ 3.069 and had a bite to eat. An hour later we entered Montana and turned west, northwest on I-90, our last State before Canada. Scenery changed a bit but still rolling hills and grassy field but more trees.
We stopped at Little Bighorn where Custer fought his famous battle. It was interesting to read both side of the story, Indians and whites. The battlefield was very well done with stone headstone where each soldiers was found. The view from here was tremendously powerful. we spent an hour here looking over the field and the museum and reading everything. Bought a couple of little souvenirs and then headed north to Billing where we topped up the tanks again: 14.62 gal @ 3.079. we continued on Hwy 87 north and stopped in a Wal-Mart parking lot, just outside of Billing. The forecast is for a cold night again.

N 45*49'47" W 108* 28'11" Altitude 3231 feet Distance today: 498 KM or 312 miles


APRIL 12, Thursday, cloudy with sunny breaks

We were up by 7 a.m., got a coffee and McMuffin from McDonald and headed north on hwy 87. This was a very pretty drive with lots of farming fields, trees, grassy hills and rolling hills. Stopped in Lewiston for coffee and fuel: 11.973gal @ 3.509
A scenic drive with something new with each turn in the road. Temperature is also going up the further north we go....go figure!???
we are seeing a lot of antelope in the fields amongst all the cows and horses. Arrived in Great Falls, Montana around 12:20 p.m. and from here, we turned on I-15 north, a 4 lane hwy which will take us all the way to Canada. Stopped for lunch in Vaughn which turned out to be a very friendly little place with everyone wanting to share information about the State and their local area.
We continued on I-15, stopped in Shelby for fuel: 26.309 gal @ 3.299 and at 4 p.m. local time, we entered CANADA via Coutts crossing. No problems going across except for the lenghty line up.
Arrived in Lethbridge at 5 p.m. and set up camp at Bridgeview RV Park (free for us) Went out for a good Albertan steak then went to bed satisfied. It is 50*F outside at 8 p.m.
WELCOME TO CANADA!!!!!

N 49* 42'39" W 112*52'18" Altitude: 2763 feet Distance today 690- km (432 miles)


APRIL 13, Friday, sunny

Well, this concludes our trip. From here we will go to Olds for 2 weeks to visit Marcel and Audrey, Val's sister. We have closed the Grand Circle once we arrived in Lethbridge.

We travelled a grand total of 39,233 km (24,521 miles) in 10 months at a cost of $33,400. This amounts to $3340/month or $1.36 per miles or .86 cents a kilometer. It includes everything: fuel, oil, maintenance, repairs, camping, food, misc., souvenirs, sight-seeing, etc..

It's been a wonderful trip and we are both glad we did it. Places we really liked were our time with our family of course but also P.E.I. and New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. On the States side, we loved New-York but too expensive for us; we also loved Virginia, the Carolinas especially South Carolina, the Keys in Florida and St-Petersburg area on the West Coast of Florida; Louisina would be worth going back to as would Mississipi and Alabama. Texas was interesing, especially San Antonio and may be worth exploring more in the future.

We did NOT like Florida except as mentioned above as we found it expensive and the people not that friendly. Most campsite were very clicky although we did meet some very wonderful people. We found the Eastern States along the seaboard somewhat unfriendly and unwelcoming although Boston was an exception to that.
South Texas around Mission and Brownsville is very windy as we had heard but it did keep the temperature down and the humidity. We had our awning up almost everyday so it wasn't that bad.
Too bad that Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were so cold. We would have liked to explore those States more.....maybe next time.

So we hope you've enjoyed our trip with us. I will keep this blog going but not as often as the past.
We are in Olds right now and going home to our site in B.C. the first week of May. Looking forward to see all our friends and our families.

By the way.....Val bought a new kayak...longer, sleeker and at a very good deal too.

See you all next time

April 6-7, 2007; In Colorado

APRIL 6, Friday, cloudy

Calculated that we put on 760 km (475 miles) in touring while here.

We left Albuquerque around 9:30 a.m. after I cleared a bird's nest from the top of the kitchen slide! Discovered it when we pulled the slide in and noticed that the awning didn't come in properly. After investigating, I found the nest keeping the awning from curling in properly. WOW! That after only 6 days.
Travelled down the hill on I-40 then north on I-25 for Colorado. Stopped for fuel at a casino approx. 30 miles down the road. It had been recommended but it was a mistake.....$3.059 a gallon was expensive and I had no choice but take on 14.714 gallons, and that wasn't a full tank, as we were almost empty. Went on north to Santa Fe, a city almost 6900 feet up. Country side is changing to low evergreen tree (no more than 7 feet tall). Stopped again for fuel at Romeroulle, N.M. 17.821 gallons @ 3.199 WOW!! Carried on and we found ourself on a plateau with desert grass but couldn't see the surroundings as the cloud became heavy and low. It was misty with a fine spray coming down. Temperature dropping steadily....now down to 34*F @ 7100 feet. We reached the pass at 7800 feet and entered in Colorado. Temperature down to 32*F.

We came down to 6500' and entered Trinidad, Colorado. Stopped at the Info Centre and left a half hour later. Went on north and the mist now turned to ice on the windshield. Temperature is down to 30*F. We decided to go on to Colorado Spring so I called our campsite to make sure we had a spot. We stopped again for fuel at Colorado city 21.732 gal @ 2.899. Sure can tell we are back in high altitude; averaged mileage went down to about 8 mpg
As we drove on, we came upon 4 accidents caused by speed and ice on the road. Lots of police and ambulances around. Finally arrived at Goldfield RV park in Colorado Spring around 5:30 p.m. Paid $42 for 3 nights (Passport America) which includes cable and WIFI (both extras) It is 28*F and the truck and Kenzie are both covered in ice and road dirt. The furnace is going full blast and so are the two electric heater we have. No water so are using our tank's fresh water. Glad to be here but kind of wished we were back in Albuquerque where it is warmer. The cold front is supposed to subside by Sunday.


APRIL 7, Saturday, cloudy & snowing, temp> 26*F (-5*C)

Got up and just layed around most of the morning....too cold to go out. Val wanted to do a wash so I had no choice and had to go out to connect the water hose. In the afternoon, temperature went to a "balmy" 28*F so we went to Wal-Mart and got a few things we needed and propane @$18. Furnace is working double time these days.

We took a drive to the "Gardens of God", near our camp site and what a gorgeous scenery it turned out to be. Trees were covered with a frozen mist which made the whole vegetation white and the red mountains really contrasted. It was very beautiful and more so than the last time I was here, back in 2000.
Came home and found the water hose and the water tap frozen. So much for that. Hopefully it will thaw tomorrow as the temp. is supposed to go up to 44*F. It is 9 p.m. and the temperature is up to 30*F That's good.

Check out the pictures! New ones in a new folder

N 38*50'40" W 104*51'58" Altitude: 6081' Distance: 652km (408 miles)

April 2 to 5, 2007 Albuquerque sightseeing

APRIL 2, Monday, sunny

A quiet day. Val did the laundry and I took the truck to the garage to get the "engine light" checked out as it was coming on and off coming upto Albuquerque. My own diagnostic on my "superchip gauge" showed that it was the air quality intake valve and yet the garage showed nothing!???? So I will return on Thursday for another check up.
Went to a local cafe shop to bring our blog to date.



APRIL 3, Tuesday, sunny

We went to the "old town" today and it was great. The majority of the houses, built with adobe bricks and cover with plaster, have been converted into Art shops or souvenirs and things. They also all date back to the 1600 and 1700 with the odd one built in the 1800's. (see pictures) The spanish influence was very prominent.
We began the tour with the local church built in 1640. The interior was very plain but very beautiful in its own way. Named San Felipe de Neri after a spanish saint, it retains all its charm and in the courtyard we found a small museum with a few things as souvenir.
The town consist of the required town square with all the houses and shops built around it. We walked something like ten blocks and didn't see everything. We went into most of all the shops to look around.
We stopped for lunch at the "Church street cafe", an old house converted into a cafe and we sat on the terrace at the back. Very beautiful and I tried out a New-Mexico dish consisteing of the famous "chile", a spicy sauce that makes you want more aqua or beer as the case may be!
The whole place was very beautiful and quaint. We walked over to the Albuquerque museum and they had a series of statues outside which were AWSOME! And depicting the arrival of the spanish in the valley (see pictures)
We came home happy of our day after stopping at Walmart for some vegetables.


APRIL 4, Wednesday, sunny

Today, we went cycling. Drove the Albuquerque Nature trail north of I-40, parked and cycled north to the end of the trail, approx 4 miles where we had lunch in a small park by the Rio Grande river. Then it was back to the Centre and we went on south on the same trail to Central Ave in Albuquerque, a 10 miles return trip. A good ride with a total of 18 miles. It wasn't too hot so we were comfortable.
Beautiful country side and even saw a ranch with camels and lamas. Yes, I am not kidding. Funny to see that here. Came home around 5 p.m. We had left Tucker behind so he was happy to see us.


APRIL 5, Thursday, sunny

I am presently at the local coffee shop writing this. I took the truck back to the garage as agreed and nothing wrong was found....good news.
This is pack day, putting everything away as we leave tomorrow for Colorado Springs We have made definite plans with Audrey and Marcel to meet them at their place in Olds, Alta
See you all next stop and don't forget to check out the pictures in the link on the right