June 3, Pulled out of the campground around 9 am and went to the car wash again and washed the trailer, done by 10 am.  Headed north on Route 1, Canadian Highway, followed the route to the Sprial Tunnels, this is where the trains tried going the down the mountains and lost so trains because they couldn’t hold them back, so they built the tunnels to go through the mountains making it a lot safer.  We turned and headed north again on Route 93 toward Jasper, a really nice drive with lots of pull-outs to get a closer look at the mountains and glaciers.  We had stopped for some lunch and two rangers where there telling us to keep in our truck because of two black bears, I got into the trailer put the blinds up and got some pictures through the windows, they just kept eating grass and moved on.  We had stopped at different campgrounds for the night but it was too dusty or too small for us to stay, so we finally stopped outside of Jasper, the campground too full, but told we to park at the overflow campground north of town.  Drove back into town, saw an elk along side of road, and a coyote on the way back to camp, got back and saw elk in the campground.  It is 10:20 and still light outside, we are in mountain time.

June 1, The weather has cleared and it’s not smokey, the sun has shone all day it was in the high 70’s.  People where swimming, kayaking, board paddling and boating.  Went for a couple of walks around the lake, saw a yellow headed blackbird, which I would of had my camera, just relaxed most of the day, the campground is full, hopefully everyone doesn’t decide to leave when we are ready tomorrow morning.

June 2, Left the campground around 9 am, drove north until we hit Route 1, The Canadian Highway, and then west, drove through Calgary, continuing on Route 1 and continuing on Route 1 until we got to the station to get into the Canadian Rockies.  We paid for 3 day passes for each of us, paid $38.70 for both.  We then stopped to camp at Banff, paying $37.14 for 1 night, full hookups, we didn’t make reservations hoping to get in for one night, no problem. The prices I quoted are US exchange.  We drove into Banff, really crowded with people and vehicles everywhere.  We stopped at Tim Horton for dinner, the last time we where here we saw an elk bed down right outside the diner.  We then fueled up paying around $5.00 per gallon and found a carwash to wash the truck.  Returned back to camp and took a walk, and took pictures of the mountains around us.  It’s after 10 pm and still daylight out, right now we are 2 hours behind the east coast.

May 31, Walked the Hoodoo trail this morning, only walked to site 6 out of 12, to see the petroglyphs, went back to trailer hooked up and pulled out about 11.  Drove north to Lethbridge and stopped at another Provincial Park, Park Lake, staying for 2 nights, because of the weekend.  It’s been pretty smoky because of forest fire north of here, we also smelled it last night at the other campground, the sun is shining but its hazy and reddish.

May 28, We left the campground around 9 am, we continued driving on Route 2, passing through some Indian Reservations, stopped at one point to rest and walk around for awhile and had some lunch.  We continued on, the land is flat some places and the next is hilly, a lot of farmland, seems like the fields are planted, we think wheat its not up very much yet.  We had seen pheasants and antelope again today while traveling.  We had stopped in the town of Havre for fuel and at the Walmart, before continuing on our way.  We stopped again in the town of Shelby at a Passport America campground, we also went to the drug store to get some of Ken’s prescriptions filled before heading into Canada.

May 29, We had checked with the pharmacy and was told the drugs aren’t ready until tomorrow, so I registered another night at the campground.  We stopped at a Shopko store, next to the campground, they are going out of business, they are somewhat like a Kmart.  Since we are stuck here for another day, we decided to go to eat at a Chinese Restaurant for a buffet lunch.   Didn’t really do anything else the rest of the day but sit around.

May 30, We went to check on our drug around 11:30, still not done, waiting for the drugs to come in on the next shipment.  They finally arrived around 12:30, stopped at Subway for lunch, hooked up and pulled out around 1 pm, headed north on Route 15 into Canada.  Had to wait at the border about 15 minutes or so, stopped in the town of Milk River, Alberta, exchanged money, got $1.3226 for each $1.00 we exchanged.  The teller at the bank told us about a Provincial Park about 15 miles east of town, Writing-on-Stone Historic Site, so we decided to stay for the night, a nice park down in a valley where The First Nations people lived hundreds of years ago.  We took a drive to the viewpoints to see the old Northwest Mounted Police post, and to see the Hoodoo’s.

ALASKA BOUND

May 18 - 20, we left home and drove to Helena, Ohio to get repairs done on trailer.  We stayed at P & S Trailer for 2 nights and had work done, riveted the belly pan to secure it, on trailer from 8-9 am.   Pulled out around 10am heading west on Route 6 to route 108 North to Route 20 into Indiana.  Stopped at Howe at a Passport America campground for 2 nights.  We drove to Shipshawana and then past where Larry Givens, Ken’s cousin, who has passed away a few years ago, we used to park in their driveway when going through the area, it was a shock and still miss him today, before going back to camp.

May 21, it rained off and on all day.  We left the camper and went to Sturgis, Michigan for fuel, cheaper in Michigan than in Indiana.  We then went to Howe’s Restaurant for breakfast, when we checked into campground they gave us a card for 10% off, so we decided to use it, good food.  Went back to camper and stayed put all day.

May 22, we left the campground around 11am because of rain early in the morning, driving west on 80, busy going around Chicago.  We drove and stopped in Illinois at a state park to dump, didn’t want to dump at campground too muddy.  We then headed north on route 39 into Wisconsin then onto route 94 west.  We stopped south of Wisconsin Dells for the night at a Cracker Barrel, in an empty lot next to them, we ate dinner at a Culver’s where they serve sandwiches on butter buns, very good and have great ice cream.

May 23, we pulled out around 9 am and headed west still on route 94, got out of Wisconsin and into Minnesota around Minneapolis around noon.  Stopped for the night at a Corp of Engineer camp outside Valley City, west of Fargo, North Dakota, plan to stay two night because of rain coming into the area on Friday.  Woke up to rain this morning and then misty for a while, cleaned the bugs off trailer and truck before it dried.  Went for a walk around campground twice, the weather got better, around 5 pm had a tornado warning west of us, sky was very black drizzled a little, by 6 pm tornado warning was cancelled.  Made sesame chicken with mashed potatoes for dinner, sat and watched tv for the evening.

May 24, we let the campground after dumping and filling with water, about 10:30 am.  We drove into Bismarck, ND on Route 94, turning onto Route 83 north, filled with truck with fuel, stopped at Wal-Mart, for a few groceries and some cash, ate lunch at the Subway inside Wal-Mart.  We continued on route 83, turned off onto west route 200 to Riverdale, ND, stopping at another Corp of Engineer campground at Garrison Dam, plan to stay one night unless it calls for rain tomorrow.  Made hamburgers for dinner and cleaned the bugs off the truck and trailer.

May 25, we decided to stay another day at the COE campground, it was nice in the morning but started to rain and it was chilly, 49* when we got up this morning.  It was in the 50’s all day, finally did get into the 60’s about 6 pm.  Made dinner, cleaned up the dishes and then went for a drive around the campground and then down to see the dam.

May 26, we left campground this morning at 9:30 am, continued on Route 93 north to Minot, ND, and then got on Route 2 west.  When we got on Route 2, we started to see the oil fields, the road is four lane in ND and then 2 lane in Montana, the oil fields continue into Montana.  We did see a MOOSE running in the field, looks like he was running away from something, we also saw prong longhorn antelope.  The time has changed again, the second time, we are now in mountain time.  We finally stopped again at another Corp of Engineer campground, south of Fort Peck, another dam off the Missouri River. Senior pass we just paid $9 for a night.  We drove over the dam which is 6 miles long and then drove around a wildlife pasture with buffalo and newly born ones.  We also found a campground with no services and no fees to camp, before coming back to our campground.

Home

Well, we didn't make it to Alaska.  We got home tonight around 4:30 pm.  On May 30th, Ken got out of bed and felt out of breath when he walked to front of trailer.  We brushed it off and drove a half a day to Bismarck, ND, got gas and caught up with the other couple at Walmart.  When he got out of the truck he felt very dizzy and quickly sat down again.  When he came into the trailer, he laid down while I made lunch, he said maybe he should go to a clinic.  When we got to the clinic, a nurse came in and took his blood pressure three times and said the doctor will be right in, the doctor poked her head in and said the hospital is right down the road and we should go to the emergency room right away.  This blood pressure was very low but his heart was racing at 160 beats per minute.  They put an IV in, did an EKG and was ready to give him a drug to lower his heart rate, asked him to sit up and it went back to normal.  Was in hospital over night for observation, in morning he had a stress test done, and ultrasound of the heart, everything came back ok and was discharged.  They sat up an appointment for yesterday with cardiologist and another appointment in Fargo, ND for next Thursday with an Electro Cardiologist.  We had decided to head home instead of waiting around for the appointments.  They did put him on blood thinner and medicine to regulate his heart, until he sees his doctor, which is next Thursday.

The trip was good, maybe later we can try again.

ALASKA BOUND

Monday, May 23

We left home and headed toward Ohio on the turnpike, we went' planning on driving all the way to Jackson Center, but we did arrive around 6:30 pm.  Jackson Center is the only place where they build Airstreams.  We were to meet another couple from NC, they had an appointment for Tuesday for their trailer to be worked on, to take two to three days.  It only took one day to get their work done but they decided to stay another night, they have an old dog and they had talked her to the vet twice while they where there.

Thursday, May 26

We left and headed west on Route 30  to Route 80, southwest of Chicago, Il.  We stopped for the night at Illini State Park, really nice park, camped along the Illinois River next to a lock, saw a barge and tugboat go by, it was also an electric plant.

Friday, May 27

We left the state park and drove toward the Quad cities, and headed north along the Mississippi River on Route 67 to Route 52 on the west side of the river.  Drove through Dubuque, Iowa to see the incline on 4th street, the other couple didn't know what an incline was, couldn't find a place to park, construction everywhere, so we just drove through town.  In the town of McGregor, Iowa, we crossed the river east again over to Wisconsin, we are following the route we had taken back in 2012 when we did The Great River Road Caravan.  Stopped at Pikes Peak lookout to see where the Wisconsin River flows into the Mississippi River.  After crossing the river again into Wisconsin, we stopped for the night at Walmart for the night at Praire du Chein.

Saturday, May 28

Following the river north on Route 35, we crossed back over the river again at LaCrosse into Minnesota on Route 61 to St. Paul/Minneapolis, taking the southern and northern route 495 to route  94.  Stopped in about 40 miles in the town of Clear Lake at an Airsteeam Park.  Staying for two nights, nice, friendly park but expensive at $35 a night.

Monday, May 30

Pulled out later than expected, still taking Route 94 west.  Stopped in Fargo, ND for fuel, paid $2.19 for diesel and stopped at Culver's Restaurant for our fuel, they have good burgers and ice cream.  Stopped for the night at another Walmart in Jamestown, ND.  Weather is cooled down to low 70's after storms and still raining.