Week ending Dec 26, 2013 - Fredericksburg, San Marcos, Austin

After a scenic drive down one of the farm roads near the RV park Joan finished her Christmas baking by making some shortbread and baking it in the frying pan.  This was an unsuccessful experiment, so next year we will try a different method.  Our walk was again along the river to view the geese and swans.  When we got back to the trailer we set up our little Christmas tree, in preparation for Dec 25.

Saturday morning we were awoken about 5:00 A.M. by a thunderstorm. It continued off and on until almost 10:00 A.M. The sun then came out and the temperature rose and we enjoyed another warm day.   We walked around the municipal park and campground, admiring the streams.   The previously dry creek beds all of a sudden where flowing rivers.   The afternoon was spent played Wii.

Sunday morning we went to Cross  Mountain.  The hike to the top was not very long, but steep.  At the top the significance of the cross at the top was explained.  As it is the highest point in the area, the hill was used for signal fires by the natives to warn of the advance of white settlers.  One of the German settlers discovered a cross on the hill that had been erected by the Spanish when they first came through Texas.  A new cross has been erected to commemorate this, and for many years Easter bonfires were lit on the top of the hill.      

Monday we said goodbye to Fredericksburg, a place to which we would happily return. Our next stop was Canyon Trail RV park in San Marcos.   It is perfectly located half way between Austin and San Antonio, as well as about  a mile from two Outlet malls.  We booked one week, but will likely stay 2 weeks here, as the park has everything we need.  After getting set up we headed to the grocery store to pick up a last few items before Christmas.  Note to self, never go grocery shopping on Dec 23.

Tuesday we decided that Camping World would be a quiet place to shop on Dec 24. We were right, very quiet.  They did not have everything we needed, but they did have the weather station John wanted.  He will put one sensor in the area where the water pump and lines run under the floor to keep on eye on how cold they get when the weather drops below freezing.   On our way back to the RV park we stopped at Buc-ee's to fill the truck up with diesel.  What an operation they have, with about 60 pumps, all with diesel.  The price is the cheapest we've seen since we've been in the States.  Joan went in to pre-pay and look around the in-station store. We came to the conclusion we could do much of our grocery shopping there as they have fresh fruit and veg, and an amazing array of groceries for sale.

After having a Christmas day Skype visit with Trev, Sue and kids we headed into Austin to walk along Shoal Creek.   We have been warned about the traffic on the freeways going into Austin, so figured Christmas Day would be quieter than most.   Along the creek, we read about the history of Robert E. Lee having a troop here after the Mexican-American War, well before the civil war.   After the war, Custer had an group here to control a ruffian element of ex-soldiers.   Many of his soldiers died of cholera and were buried in the flats by the river. Eventually the bodies where moved to a army cemetery.   The walk along the creek was very pleasant and we admired the old architecture.  

What a contrast to the buildings only a few blocks away in downtown Austin. For example the Frost Bank Tower, the first sky scraper to be built in the US after the  911. 

On our way back to the RV park we drove by  Hope Outdoor Gallery, an amazing gallery of graffiti, done in an organized fashion. 

 

After our Christmas dinner of stuffed Cornish game hen we had our Christmas visit with Karen and Dominique via Skype. 

 On Thursday, we braved the Tangier Outlet Mall, to see what deals we could find, and after a couple of hours of wondering through stores, came home with several pairs of socks.   

Week ending Dec 19, 2014 Fredericksburg

Friday was cool and rainy.  Not a great site seeing or hiking day, so we spent it doing laundry and getting some shopping done.

 

Saturday dawned bright and sunny.   We took a trip out to Blanco State Park, on the Blanco River, on the edge of the town of Blanco.  It was a bit of a disappointment, as we expected more hiking trails and something less urban.  We then continued on to Pedernales Falls State Park.  It was more to our liking.  The falls, which are more like rapids at this time of year, are very picturesque. By the time we got to the falls the weather had turned cloudy and windy, so we didn't  do any further walking in the park.

 

On our way back to the trailer we stopped at Texas Hills Vineyard. After tasting several  wines we purchased 2 bottles of their award winning "Kick Butt Cab 2010".

 

Sunday was again a warm sunny day. We went to the Fort Martin Scott site, which is on the edge of Fredericksburg.   After we completed the self guided tour, we headed downtown to pick up some bread at a bakery, and walk through part of the historic downtown area.

 

 

Monday seemed like a great day to do scenic drive, so we headed to Llano for lunch at Cooper's BBQ pit,  highly recommended to us by our friends Brian and Kris who had enjoyed it when they toured Texas a few years ago.   John had brisket and Joan had chicken. Their BBQ sauce is very tasty and the meat delicious.   We came home with enough chicken for another meal.  After our lunch we walked around the historic town of Llano, which calls itself the deer capital of Texas.

 

 On our way back to Fredericksburg we drove through Cherry Spring and admired a beautiful stone church.  Many of the buildings in this area are constructed out of stone, and although well over 100 years old still in great shape.  

 

 

Just before we got back to Fredericksburg a wild turkey flew across the highway in front of us.  If we had been traveling at the posted speed of 70 MPH we would have had our Christmas turkey but fortunately we missed him. 

 

 

Tuesday continued the sunny streak. We almost turned on the air conditioner, but it just seemed wrong to have an air conditioner running in the winter.  Joan made a fruit cake in the slow cooker. No touching for a few days, so we won't know how it turned out for a while.  But it is soaking in brandy for a few days, so its got to be good. We did a short walk around the park here.  They are building a new swimming pool and the geese are very territorial down by their part of the creek.

 

Wednesday morning we heard Global Calgary News announce that the Alberta government has changed the rules for snowbirds.  We are now allowed to be out of Canada for 7 months of the year and still retain our Alberta Health Care. This change is effective immediately. Since we have dental and dr appointments in late April this change will not effect us this year, but it will give us more flexibility in future years.   We went back to Enchanted Rock State Park to complete the 4 mile hike we had not done the last time we were there. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, it made for very pleasant hiking.   While at a view point, we chatted with a couple of people who are both parked at the same campground as we are.   She is from Field B.C. where she works for Parks in the summer. She spends her winter in the southern states.   The fellow she was hiking with is from Minnesota and traditionally spends his winters here in this park.  She is the first Canadian snowbird we have encountered in Texas.   On our drive back to the RV park we took one of John's "shortcuts".   An interesting  narrow winding scenic ranch road, with warnings that since the road was through private lands parking by the road would be considered trespassing.  When we finally got back to the main road heading into Fredericksburg we were the same distance from Fredericksburg as we had been at the park, but we had seen some interesting countryside.

 

Thursday was banking day.  We deal with Bank of America because they don't charge Scotiabank customers a fee to use their cash machine.  We drove the 20 miles back to the closest branch, in Kerrville.   We had decided to do a hike near town, but we found it was a city park, not a state park.  Since it was a cloudy, windy day, we decided not to bother paying the fee to do the hike.   We went to Rails for lunch, which is a neat place in the old railway station.  Joan had a fruit chicken salad with raspberry vinaigrette, (really tasty) John had a venison burger with the crispest chips we've ever seen.   The food was perfect.   

 

Across the street from the restaurant was a the Drive-In (literally) liquor store.   Bizarre! 

 

Week ending Dec 12, 2013 - Kerrville and Fredericksburg

 

Our first morning in Kerrville was brisk. A few degrees below zero. After watching the men's curling we decided to check out a western wear store in Kerrville, after an unsuccessful browse through the store we headed to OST in Banera for lunch. We took a scenic route through Medina.  What a neat drive, we knew it would be when the road banned big trucks.   Unfortunately, the road was so winding and narrow that we couldn't get any pictures.   We stopped at the OST (Old Spanish Trail) restaurant, which had been recommended by folks at the RV park.  It has neat bar stools and a room dedicated to John Wayne, with posters from all his movies. 

 

 

On our way back to the trailer we stopped at Camp Verde.  Just past Camp Verde we noticed the Whisper Valley Ranch, it appeared that its animals of choice were zebras and gnu's.

 

Saturday our drive took us to Stonehenge II and some Easter Island statues.  They were commissioned by a fellow who had seen them in real life and decided he needed to replicate the sites. They are 2/3 size of the real thing.

 

 

On our way back to the trailer we saw field full of antelope, the males had the most beautiful horns.

 

Sunday the sun came back, and although the outside temperature wasn't really high, the sun heated up the trailer beautifully and we were able to shut off all our heaters. We took a short drive to go see Scrappy, the majestic Mechanical Deer.  It appears that Scrappy's home is up for sale and he has been moved.  We could not find out where his new home is.   The rest of the afternoon was spent watching the men's Olympic curling play downs.

 

Monday, moving day, was a damp misty morning. But our move was only taking us 30 miles down the road. Just after noon we arrived at the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal RV park in Fredericksburg. The weekly rent advertised on the web site was 175.00 with an additional charge for wi-fi. We discovered the weekly rent in the winter is 125.00 and wi-fi is now included.  What a deal!  The bathrooms are nice and clean and showers are large and also free.  All in all we lucked out here, because some of the places we contacted here did not have space for 2 weeks, but this one did. Another time if we are in this area we would check here first.   Another bonus is that we get to watch small planes take off at the county airstrip next door.  

 

 

 

Tuesday our first stop was at the Fredericksburg visitor information centre.   After picking up a plethora of info and maps we walked down main street, browsing through a lot of interesting shops and stopping at the Marktplatz to look at the Christmas tree and German Christmas decorations.  

 

 

On our way back to the truck we stopped at the Fredericksburg Brewery for lunch. The food the very nice and the beer even nicer. On our way back to the trailer we stopped at H.E.B. for groceries. The weather has improved and it is warm and sunny.

 

Wednesday was another bright sunny warm day, perfect for a hike.  We made lunch and headed out to Enchanted Rock State Park.  There are number of trails in the park but the one we chose to do this trip was  the hike to the summit of the rock and then the short loop. We will leave the 4 mile loop for another day.  On our way up to the top we had an interesting chat with a couple of interns who were from the Netherlands and had just completed their residency in a hospital in Surinam.  They were vacationing before heading back to the Netherlands in a couple of days to become real people.   The back side of Enchanted Rock has some technical climbing routes, and we were fortunate enough to see a few groups half-way up the rock. 

 

 

 

 

Thursday afternoon, we enjoyed another sunny day by walking around the nature loop in the Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park.   The interpretive trail goes along Live Oak Creek through a variety of habitat for birds, butterflies, dragonflies, snakes and beavers.   They have set up a few bird feeders in the area, which has attracted a variety of birds.   We got some snaps of what we think is a northern cardinal.

 

 

Week ending December 5, 2013

Black Friday was not nearly as hectic as we thought it might be. In the morning we went for a walk around the "Gun Club Road” next to the campground.   It had a fairly well worn sign that said NO SHOOTING. We didn't ask any questions as to why the gun club area didn't allow shooting, but there must be  good reason. The walk took us along the edge of Nasworthy Lake. What a pretty lake and certainly more water than we have seen since we have been in Texas.  

We thought we would brave the "Black Friday" sales in the afternoon. We stopped at a little strip mall, us and 3 other vehicles, not exactly busy.   We then headed to the only mall in town.  It didn't appear to be any busier than we would have expected on a weekend day.  While John  made a few purchases, Joan didn't find anything to her liking.    Back at the trailer, in the storage area under the trailer John found the part we needed to repair the door handle  (good thing the rv shop didn't have the part) so we reattached the door handle.   Early in the evening, there was an incredibly long line of black birds that flew into the RV park, and settled on the trees in the area for a while before continuing on their way.

Saturday morning as we were packing for our move to San Angelo State Park we chatted to our next door neighbours, who had come for Thanksgiving with their family.   They raise goats for meat.  Meat goats are white with reddish heads.    They were leaving as they had to make a goat delivery the next day. Their thanksgiving meal was turkey and roast goat.   When they were packaging up the leftovers, the left the turkey with the family and kept the goat, since they think it is much better than turkey.   We have been keeping an eye out for goat meat, and although we have seen many farms with the meat goats, we haven’t seen any goat meat in the grocery stores.     After getting the trailer ready to leave, we drove to Fort Concho to see what they had at the farmers market.  Nobody was there, so we hooked up the trailer and headed for the state park.   When we arrived  at the park we discovered we have 4 discounts included in our park pass. We can only use one per stay. We also found out that this park has wi-fi. Now it's not the greatest, but it is wi-fi.  Apparently most state park camp grounds have wi-fi now, as most campers are now insisting on having it.   I guess if they want to have the campgrounds used they need to compete with the the private parks. After lunch we sat in the sun for a while.  It’s nice to be able to sit outside without a coat on. Our pre-dinner  walk took us through some of the areas we wanted to explore in more detail later in the week. The park seems to be teaming with deer, but they are very skittish, maybe because at certain times of the year the park is closed to the public to allow hunting.

Sunday morning found us doing a quick run back to San Angelo (only a half hour drive) to pick up groceries we forgot to get before we came out to the park. After returning to the trailer we went for a walk, looking for the longhorn cattle exhibit herd that are housed at this park. We found the plains buffalo herd they have here instead.  After our walk we spent the afternoon watching the first draw of the Roar of the Ring. The rest of our time in San Angelo State was spent watching the curling and taking 2 hour walks between draws.   During our walks we saw glimpses of many deer just before they dashed out of sight, the buffalo, a skunk, an armadillo and part of the herd of Texas Longhorns that this park is known for.  

 We also saw the occasional golf ball in a tree along one trail.  It looked like someone must be leaving 'crumbs' to mark their path. 

  

The other thing we found was sunburn, since each afternoon was in the mid to high 20's, with a blue sky. Feels like summer.

Thursday we headed for Kerrville to the Triple T RV resort. Nice place, good wi-fi, hot tub, (the pool is closed), laundry room and a games room. On our drive here we were surprised to see that the trees are splendid in their fall colours, reds, oranges and dark greens.

The weather has taken a turn for the worse today with a high of 5 instead of 26, but the low is predicted to be above freezing.   Another arctic low is pushing as far south as Texas.  So far there have been stretches of weather with temperatures significantly lower than the seasonal averages. 

Week ending Nov 28, 2013

Thursday Nov 21 we went to El Tejavan,  a recommended Mexican restaurant, for dinner to celebrate our 43rd wedding anniversary. We enjoyed our meal, Joan had a spicy fish meal and John  beef enchiladas.  Because it had turned very cold out we hurried back to the trailer to hunker down against the bad weather. What is with this weather being below 0 in Texas? Our research has shown that just 100 miles south of here the weather is much warmer, not below freezing.  As we have paid for our site here until Monday we will whine and complain, but stay until Monday morning.

 

Saturday picked up a few groceries and on our way out of the grocery the snow started.  We headed back to the trailer to do a great deal of nothing.

 

Sunday we awoke to a winter wonderland.

 

 

 

As it was a cold snowy morning it seemed like a good day to catch up on laundry. By afternoon it was starting to warm up, so we cleared the snow off the slide outs, packed our stuff back in the truck and took down our steps in preparation for our departure tomorrow. The evening was spent watching a great football game (Saskatchewan winning the Grey Cup).

 

 

Monday morning after checking road reports and finding that the ‘no travel’ warnings had been lifted, we packed everything up, resolved a slide out problem, at least temporarily and headed to Discount tires to replace one of the trailer tires.  We had checked with them earlier in the week to confirm that they had the matching tire.  It took them less than 1/2 an hour to change the tire and we were on our way about 10:45 a.m.    The roads where fine.   We stopped in Abernathy, just north of Lubbock at a Conoco station for diesel.  It had one of the slowest pumps we've ever seen, until the operator did something and came out to get us to stop and restart the nozzle.  We then carried on to Lamesa to stay for the night.   The good news about this trip today was that the snow was disappearing as we got further south.   When we arrived at the La Vedera campground in Lamesa there was no more snow, the water was still turned on in the campground.  But since there was no wi-fi at the park (except in the store), we couldn't contact the KOA at San Angelo to make a reservation.   Since this had not been an issue to date we were not concerned.

 

Tuesday we headed for San Angelo.   Near Big Springs, we intended to stop to do a short hike by the lake.  However, road construction had made the exit to difficult to navigate, we carried on out of the valley.   On the plateau,  we saw many crews working on the power lines.    We soon saw what had caused the problem.  

 

 

 

When we got to the KOA in San Angelo they only had space for 4 nights which we took, using a 10% KOA discount card.   Thank you Brian and Kris.

 

Wednesday we checked out a H.E.B. grocery store, and good luck,  they carry the wine we prefer.   Then we went to San Angelo State Park.  They have space for us after we need to leave the KOA. Their sites are lovely, large, level, water and 30 amp power, bathrooms have free showers and the one I checked out was very clean.   All this for 20.00 a night.   The only downside is no internet, but we can head into town occasionally for internet access.  After our drive through the park, where we saw a number of deer and some of the prize Texan longhorn cattle herd that is kept at the park,  we headed to Fort Concho Historic Site.    We did a self-tour through the numerous buildings at the Fort we watched a video about the history.  

 

 

 

On our way back to the trailer we stopped at an RV dealers, looking for a small part  we need.  They didn't have it, but thankfully the part is not essential to the trailers operation, so we will wait until we can get to Camping World.   We spent the rest of the afternoon playing Wii and watching the deer in the field next to the KOA.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving morning was spent washing the windows.  We are hoping this is the last time we have to clean them as a result of snow and slushy roads for a long while.   In the afternoon we wandered the historic downtown San Angelo.   We saw all the murals and the mermaid with a San Angelo pearl in her hand. The Concho river flows through town and we walked along its bank for a short section where we saw a blue heron standing on the dam.

 

 

 

 

 

Week ending Nov 21, 2013

Friday morning we checked out the biggest mall in Amarillo.  In our opinion nothing special, however there a number of shops we don't see in Canada. After a mall stroll and no purchases we stopped at Home Depot to pick up some RV chemicals ( which they don't carry) , and look at  weather centres ( nothing impressive so no purchase),  and got groceries.   After lunch we went for a swim and a soak in the hot tub.

 

Saturday was a very windy day.   We decided to explore Lake Meredith National Recreation Area.   It is a large lake formed by a dam on the Canadian River.  We studied the info regarding hiking in the area and headed off.   The wind was extreme, battering against the side of the truck all the way.     We finally found a spot where we could see the lake, which, we were later told is drying up a lot.  We stopped for lunch at a nice looking campground and picnic area.    The wind was blowing so hard Joan could hardly open the driver’s door.   We took a quick look over the valley and decided that lunch would be best enjoyed in the truck, and that walking anywhere was out of the question.    

 

 

 

 

When we got back to the RV park, we discovered that the wind had blown over our satellite dish, so we hooked up to the campground cable and spent the afternoon watching the USA Olympic curling play downs.

 

The wind finally subsided and Sunday morning we got our satellite working in time to watch the CFL Eastern  semi-finals, then the final Nascar race of the season followed by the  CFL Western semi-final. 

 

Monday morning (8:00 A.M.) we dropped the truck off at Browns GMC to have the warranty repairs done.   They arranged to rent us a car through Enterprise. After stopping for breakfast at the Waffle House, we headed for Lubbock to the Buddy Holly Centre.   After having driven for almost 2 hours, we discovered the centre is closed on Mondays.  

 

 

 

 After wandering around downtown Lubbock for a while, stopping at a park for lunch before heading back to Amarillo.   We drove along the side roads next to the interstate, as we had noticed that the cotton harvest was in progress.   All along the way we saw various stages of cotton harvesting in progress. As this was not a procedure we knew much about we found it interesting and when we got home had to sign on to the internet to read about the whole process.

 

A field of ripe cotton 

A harvester.

 

A stack of harvested cotton. 

 

 

 

Tuesday morning we checked with a tire company to see if they could replace one of our trailer tires next Monday on our way out of town.    We then headed out to the Cadillac “ranch”. We chatted with some other tourists that commented, like us, that this was a bit of a cheesy site, but we did note that we were there looking at it, what did that say about us?

 

 

 

Wednesday was spent wandering around Amarillo taking care of chores and enjoying the warm sunny weather.

 

Thursday we dropped the rental car by 8:00 A.M.   Enterprise then dropped us off at Browns GMC to pick up our truck.   After stopping at  `The Big Texan`for breakfast we packed a few veggies and headed out to Palo Duro Canyon for a hike.    It was supposed to be a nice day, but with a cold front coming in the evening.     We parked between a couple of two mile loops along the river through the canyon.     The views were quite interesting, with the many layers visible along the hills on the canyon.   There was also an interesting looking cave carved out of the wall.  

 

 

 

When we finished the first loop, the cold front had moved in, so it was quite cloudy, windy and cold, so just miserable, so we decided to cut short our hike and head back to warm up the trailer.

 

 

Week ending Nov 14, 2013

We were thankful that we had decided to stay 2 nights in Casper as it was extremely windy and the interstate was closed to all high profile vehicles.   Friday we washed our back window because we finally got tired of not being able to see through it, the result of snow and slush from Calgary to Milk River. After a few other housekeeping details we headed to Rotary Park to hike.  We discovered a really pretty waterfall and saw some great views of Casper. 

 

 

 

In the distance saw some more wind farms. Interesting we have seen  the army manning them with small artillery vehicles, and helicopters carrying artillery.   We weren't sure why the gov't is so concerned about the security of the wind farms.   One fellow we talked to figured it might just be training exercises. 

 

Saturday we woke to a sunny warm calm day.   Our plan was to get to the KOA in Limon, Colorado, east of Denver about halfway between Casper and Amarillo.    We knew it was a long drive, so we got moving by 8:00 A.M. We truly enjoyed the drive. The snow capped mountains on our right, the prairie on our left reminding us of driving down highway 22 from Edmonton to Calgary. 

 

 

 

The campground host in Billings had suggested a route that bypassed a great deal of the heavy traffic through Denver, but also avoided the toll road which rings the city.  Her suggestion was spot on. We arrived at our appointed destination shortly after 3:00 P.M.  The campground was almost empty, so we were assigned a great site close to all amenities.  We stayed a couple of days since Sunday is Nascar race day.  We watched the race as well as the football semi-finals, sometimes having to flip back and forth to keep up with both. We did laundry, went for a short walk, washed the trailer and generally enjoyed a nice warm day.

 

Monday morning we headed for Amarillo, Texas.   South eastern Colorado, Oklahoma, and north West Texas were the areas hardest hit during the "dirty 30's" and driving through this area it is easy to see why. The soil is sandy, trees far and few between and terrain flat. Most of the river valleys  we crossed had no water in them and this is not a dry year.    We did find one with some water, as we crossed the Canadian River. 

 

 

 

 We knew the area around Amarillo had to be reasonably flat as it has the largest wind farm in the world, so as we were driving along we wondered if we were crazy deciding to stay in Amarillo for a week. Good news though, as we got closer to Amarillo the terrain changed, and we started to see more hills and similar to the badlands around Drumheller. Much more interesting.   We also saw a cotton crop with fluffy cotton ripening in a field.

 

Tuesday we awoke to cold weather.  It had rained overnight and then frozen.  Our windshield and the right side of the truck were frozen solid, as well as the trailer stairs and bar beside the stairs.   After an hour or so it melted and was easy to clear. We headed off to the state tourist information centre. After having a long discussion with a very knowledgeable fellow who worked there we left with loads of information booklets. Our next stop was a GMC dealer. We had our oil changed in Calgary before departing, at which time they noted we had an oil leak that would take 2 days to take apart and repair, but under warranty.    We felt we would rather take care of it down here, where the weather is warmer and we could rent a car and continue with our plans, rather than delay our trip for a few days.   After stopping to look for a good grocery stores  we headed back to Amarillo Ranch RV Park. We enjoyed an afternoon swim and soak in the hot tub.   Brian and Kris, we found a swimming pool open in Texas even in November, because they have it indoors. 

 

Wednesday John dropped the truck at the GM dealer at 7:00 A.M.   They had to redo the diagnostics we had done in Calgary and should have that done by noon.   About 1:00 pm we called from the office (to save our roaming call time), and had problems because the service fellow who checked us in had gone to lunch, and then when we connected with him, found that he had passed it on to the lady who we had talked to the previous day was looking after it, and she was on a later shift so was off at lunch.   After finally connecting, they sent a shuttle and off we went to pick up the truck. It is booked in to have the work started on Monday, they figure it will take 2 days, maybe more if they find more problems when they take the motor apart. They are arranging for a loaner car for us for the 2 days. The good news is that this work is all covered under warranty. When we got back to the rv park we paid for another week. There is not a lot of things we wanted to do in this area, but this park has an indoor swimming pool, free coffee and donuts in the morning, so  there are worse places we could be stuck.

 

 Thursday we headed for Palo Duro Canyon State Park, which is the primary attraction near Amarillo. After buying our annual park pass, (gets us into 50 + parks) we headed for our chosen trail head. The canyon is beautiful, sort of a miniature Grand Canyon, but you can drive right to the bottom and then hike from there.   We headed for  6 mile round trip hike to the Lighthouse. 

 

 

 

 

 

The trail was fairly easy, really scenic and not very busy.  We got to the half way point  of the trail, had our lunch and then headed back. The weather was perfect for hiking, about 23 degree C. After scouting out some trails for the future hikes we took a short cut back to the trailer. Yes there are dusty gravel roads in Texas. Interesting and we made it back without encountering much traffic.

 

Week ending Nov 7, 2013

On Monday November 4th we left Bow Riversedge RV Park in Cochrane and headed south toward the border. We decided to head down highway 1 then south on 23/24 through Vulcan since the road report was warning of black ice on #2 south of Calgary. The roads we were on were fine, no ice, no slippery sections, but there were a few slushy sections. Our clean truck and trailer had been washed recently, but  only lasted about 50 kms east of Calgary.   We arrived in Milk River at our campground for the night covered in black ice chips and the back of the trailer was so dirty the window was useless.

The campground in Milk River was 20 km from the border, so positioned us perfectly to cross the border early on Tuesday when our health insurance kicked in.  The best laid plans always go awry. A  couple from Bowden, heading for Mesa AZ pulled in next to us late Monday evening in a similar Titanium 5th wheel.  We visited with them for about an hour on Tuesday morning, so we didn't get going as early as planned.

The border crossing was pretty uneventful, although the agriculture inspector who checked our fridge for citrus, etc, carried on about how he couldn't believe that Canada allowed imports of Chinese mandarins.     The exit from customs was a bit confusing and we watched a pickup ahead of us drive up the wrong side of the freeway.    He must have had an "Oh my God moment" when he realized he was heading up a hill on the wrong side of the freeway.  As we headed into Montana, we found that there was no snow, and the temperature rose above freezing. We stopped in Great Falls for diesel and lunch and then headed for Billings Montana.  There is very little in the way of RV parks between Great Falls and Billings, so we didn't have much choice but to go as far as Billings.  We arrived in Billings about 7:00 P.M., in the dark,  hungry and cranky while having to back up the trailer in the dark.   We did finally get set up, cooked supper, had a glass of wine and watched TV on the cable provided by the campground.   Wednesday morning after getting a grocery list together we took the truck for a wash, got groceries and picked up a headlight which we had noticed was burnt out, got the satellite set up and then planned our campgrounds further along the way.  After checking how to install the headlight, which requires removing the air cleaner assembly, we decided it could wait until we got somewhere to have a qualified technician replace it.

Thursday morning we packed up and headed for Casper, Wyoming, down Interstate 25.   This is definitely the land where the "deer and the Antelope play".  We saw hundreds more antelope than deer.  We stopped at one spot (on the freeway, which was very quiet) to get a photo of antelope, but as soon as we stopped, they looked up, and ran off before we could get a picture.  We were lucky to get another chance, where they were a little further from the road, and weren't spooked. 

It was a great drive, sunny, warm, the Bighorn mountains on our right were snow capped.  We arrived in Casper early afternoon and headed for the chosen RV park. We arrived at Rivers Edge in Casper (similar name to our "home" campground of  Bow Rivers Edge in Cochrane) to discover the office was not open. There was a note on the door telling us to choose one of a list of sites and the office would open at 3:00 P.M.  We set up and just after 3:00  we headed into the office.  After having a conversation with the host, and a few laughs about our experiences (both hers and ours), she charged us for one night and gave us the second night free, because we are "funny".  Who says a sense of humour doesn't go a long way. 

And the saga continues....

Nov 2, 2013 - Getting ready to travel again

We have finished getting ready to head toward Texas with no medical issues to stop us this year. Travel insurance is in place, and the truck has an oil change and new tires. 

Tomorrow we have dinner with Trev and family.

Monday, we head south to Milk River, and on Tuesday we cross the border. 

Our phone plan is to add US roaming which will allow us limited texts, enough voice to handle emergency calls and sufficient data time to do our banking.   Additionally, we will be using Skype call-to-phone to keep in touch with friends and family who do not have internet access.  

Week ending September 13, 2014

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny, a big improvement over Saturday morning.  After watching the herd of deer in the field behind us we walked into Black Diamond along the friendship trail. The trail is about 3.5 km long.  Once we arrived in Black Diamond we searched for a coffee shop.  The only thing open in Black Diamond before 11:00 A.M. on a Sunday morning is the grocery store and gas station. We stopped to pick up a cinnamon bun for John and then headed back to the trailer. Since our Kananakis hiking guide is in storage at Karen’s we spent the rest of the day surfing the net to see what hikes might be in this vicinity for tomorrow. 

Monday we stopped at the library next door to the campground to see if we could get detailed information on the hike we had chosen for the day.  We found that we could take out the book since John has a library card from the High River library, that allows him to borrow books from any of the library’s in the same system. However, the guide we required was not available.  We were able to use the computer to get instructions on finding the trailhead, so headed off to the Foran Grade Trail.  At the trailhead we encountered three gentlemen on horseback. As we did not know the trail we where able to get some guidance from them. At the top of ridge, we caught up to the horsemen where they had stopped to eat lunch.  We visited with them and watched a black bear in the valley below until it crossed the road and headed west, away from where our trail came out on the highway.   

 The view west toward the mountains was really great. 

As we came down off the ridge the horsemen caught up to us again.  We stepped off the trail to let them pass, but the horse leading the way was quite shy and didn't want to walk by.   We had to talk to him until he was comfortable enough, with some urging from his rider, to go past.

Tuesday was moving day.  After getting set up in Spring Creek RV Park in Canmore, we called Elizabeth and she came over for a glass of wine. We gave Alan and Sharon a call, hoping to visit with them for a while, but they had sold their house, and were busy getting things organized for moving.

Wednesday morning we joined Elizabeth for a walk along the Bow River out past the golf course and then on the path along Policeman's Creek by our old B & B.  It looks very much the same as when we lived there, except there are a lot of kids toys in the yard. It is not being operated as a B & B any longer. 

Thursday we did some grocery shopping, and then went back to the trailer to laze around and enjoy the  mountain views. Yes, we are mountain people. 

As we came out of the trailer, we were met by a family of ducks looking for handouts. 

Elizabeth joined us for a dinner of spare ribs and we enjoyed a great lemon desert which she had made. 

Friday we started our trek west.  We stopped at the top of Rogers Pass to let the truck's transmission cool down after creeping through several construction zones climbing the pass.  Once we headed down the pass it started to cool down.   We stopped at Crazy Creek for the night where the campground fees give us a discount on the hot pool.