Week ending July 24, 2013

Thursday was moving day.  Our plan was to stay for a week at Sandy Beach Regional Park.  At  a stop in St. Walburg, we called the park to find out if they had space for us for the next week.  No luck.  We then had to implement plan B, so we called Weavers RV Park in Lloydminster,  which had space for 4 days.  We decided we would go there and then figure out what our next move would be. When we arrived at Weavers they had moved some reservations around so we could stay for the week. As Lloyd is only 19 kms from Sandy Beach Regional Park, we decided that was ok. Once got set up we checked with Trev.  They are still not in their house, but he is hoping they will be back home within the next  week. 

Friday morning we went to a clinic to get Joan's blood work done for her CT scan. Without an appointment we only has to wait about 20 minutes.  After getting the blood letting  taken care of we did some shopping, then headed back to the trailer to put together our steps  and laze around. We came to the conclusion that our plan B was really a superior plan as the RV park has a very clean laundry room and some of the cleanest bathrooms we have had this summer.

Sunday, a cloudy dull day was a perfect day for a drive. After a coffee stop in Vermillion, we drove up highway 41 to Elk Point, stopping at a few campgrounds along the way. We then stopped at Fort George and Buckingham House Provincial Historic Site. The site was very well done and we spent some time walking the  interpretive path to the archaeological sites of the two forts. 

After a stop at Whitney Lakes Provincial Park we headed back to Lloydminster to watch the Hamilton/Saskatchewan football game.

Monday we experienced the advantage of a small city. Our recliner in the trailer needed a spring in the reclining mechanism replaced, again.  After a stop at Home Hardware to no avail we went to Lazyboy. They had one, which we bought, but suggested a furniture repair shop. They had 2, so we bought them all, so now we have extras for next time.  The whole event took us less than an hour.  Last fall it took us 2 days to locate the proper spring in Calgary.  

Joan called the cancer board to find out if her CT scan was still scheduled for the High River hospital or if it had been changed to a different location. The hospital is back in operation, so the scan will be there, as scheduled.

Tuesday we heard from the High River campground which is closed for the season, due to damage from the flood, so we have to find a campground in the area.  Sue let us know that they are still waiting to occupy their house. They still need a fridge and gas hooked up. This does seem to be taking a long time. 

We went out to Sandy Beach, thinking we might go swimming, however the beach was fully occupied by youngsters taking swimming lessons.

Week ending July 17, 2013

Thursday we moved to Meadow Lake. Camping at the Lions Campground, by the golf course.   Easy satellite finding as we back on to the 15th hole.  We finally took the truck for a wash and read all our information received at the campground office which also doubles as the town tourist information office. After a wander down main street we headed back to our campsite. Of course we also watched the football game and the Roughriders are starting the season in fine style.

 

The Friday morning farmers market, located at the tourist info/campground office had some fruit as well as fresh vegetables for sale. Nice to get new potatoes, beets, radishes, and onions. So much tastier than those from the grocery store. The afternoon was spent walking downtown to the co-op grocery store, on the hunt for some french vanilla coffee. There was none to be found, but the walk which took about 2 1/2 hours was good for  us.

 

Saturday was spent exploring the area to the east of Meadow Lake Provincial Park and then the park itself. As we drove up highway 903 we saw our first black bear of the season. 

 

We stopped at a little lake just outside the park and then at Waterhen Lake. It is far too large for us to venture out in our little boat. We then drove through some campgrounds for future reference, - Not to our liking. The map showed a little lake (Second Mustus Lake), First and Third Mustus Lakes are quite large, which we though we would investigate.  The trail in to the lake made us believe that no one in their right mind would take a boat in, so it should be quiet.  Well where we wrong.  There was a line up of people towing boats waiting to unload them.  Very odd situation. We also came to the conclusion that deer in the park are much smarter than those we had previously encountered as they stood quietly on the side of the road, rather than trying to cross the road in front of vechiles. On our way back to Meadow Lake we drove through Rapid View, the home of chuckwagon driver Jerry Bremner, but of course he was busy at the Calgary Stampede.  Later that night, we saw that he was in the finals, but didn't win. 

 

Monday was an educational day.  We drove to  Steele Narrows, the last location that fighting took place during the Riel Rebellion.  Again the Middleton name appears, not necessarily in a  positive light.   

 

After visiting Steele Narrows Provincial Park, we visited Makwa Provincial Park, took a quick drive through one of the campgrounds, the majority of sites appeared to be too short for our trailer. On our way back to the trailer we drove through Loon Lake, the home of Ray Mitsuing,  another well known chuckwagon driver.

 

After a walk through town, checking, but not using,  the bowling alley and the hardware store we stopped for lunch at the Nor'wester Motel's restaurant.  It was very busy, and the food was quite good. 

 

Wednesday we drove back to Makwa Provincial Park, as we thought we should check out the main campground there, as a prospective spot to return to on another trip.   Might be a little difficult to get satellite signal through the trees, but otherwise, not a bad spot.   We spent an hour or so sunning on Jumbo Beach, next to the Park.  

Week ending July 10, 2013

Thursday we packed up, and after a telephone chat with our friends Kris and Brian we departed PA. Our diesel and coffee stop was Holbein.   Neighbours in the RV Park and the Saskatchewan Highway website indicated highway 3/55 was down to one lane about 6 kms east of PA.   Well we arrived at the corner where highway 55 heads north, with no water problems. We figure the problem must be further west on highway 3.   We stopped in Debden for our lunch break.   Debden had become the home of one of the cattle rustlers who fled from the Big Muddy, trying to avoid the law.   We arrived at the campground in Big River in early afternoon. It is a  nice campground, full service, open spaces, making getting satellite reception easy.   Our after dinner walk took us about an hour and we pretty much covered all of the town, including a stop at the lake front.

 

Friday was a recon day. We stopped at visitor information and then went for a drive to scout out lakes good for paddling our boat.  We checked out a number of lakes and saw a bit of the lake country north of Big River. We saw a number of deer, which bounded across the road in front of us, so where unable to get a picture.   We decided to stop at Sled Lake (there was a dot on the map, so we figured it was some sort of hamlet) to pick up a cold drink. We found a municipal office, a garbage dump, maybe 15 houses, but no convenience store. So much for a cold drink.  But we did get a picture of a deer munching on a lawn.

 

 

Saturday was a cloudy and cool day.   We walked over to the farmers market. Because we didn't want plants there was not much to interest us.  I guess early July is too soon in this area for veg's. We then walked by the golf club to see what it was like.  Very quiet, inexpensive and mostly self serve. If there is no one there, you just put your fees in the box and play.

 

Monday morning was sunny and warm. We decided to take advantage of the golf course. We walked over, put our fees in the self-serve box and played 9 holes.  We do get good value for our money, because Joan is just learning to play golf (and a slow learner at that) it takes a long time to finish 9 hours.   We couldn't believe that we found balls on the fairways, until we lost one ourselves.   There were a couple of mowers out on the course, so some of the fairways had the grass clipped better.

 

Tuesday was a warm sunny calm day, a perfect day for using our inflatable. We spent some time at Top Lake, one of the many small fishing lakes in the area. 

 

 

After lunch we stopped at Pickerel Point, a picturesque spot with a seasonal campground and lakeside cabins on Lake Delaronde. This place had a restaurant and convenience store, so at last we could get an afternoon treat and cold drink.

 Wednesday again was a hot, sunny calm day, so back to Top lake, with our boat.  The lake was busier,  with  5 other boats on the lake.

Week ending July 3, 2013

On Thursday we arrived in Prince Albert, finally had cell phone service. After a stop at the grocery store we set up at the exhibition RV Park. It is a full service campground, close to downtown PA.  We were able to talk to Trev and find out that High River is still evacuated, and he and family are living in a borrowed condo in Okotoks.   There is a problem with the wi-fi here at the campground, so we went to the library (only  7 blocks away) to check our email.  Friday we went to visitor information to pick up maps and other information about the area. After lunch we did the historic downtown walk. What a great day, hot and sunny, so we came home sunburned.

Saturday another hot sunny day, we walked to the farmers market again only about 6 blocks away. After picking up some fresh veggies we walked home for lunch. We then headed to the Saskatchewan Rivers Forks, about 35 km east  of PA. Both the North and South Saskatchewan rivers are running high, but are not overflowing the banks here.  On the way home we listened to the Roughrider, Eskimo football game, Joan was more pleased with the result than John was.

Sunday after  having coffee at Tim's, catching up on our email, we looked up an address for a laundromat. On the way home we got a call from Trev with an update on his situation. He had been able to inspect his house.  They will not be allowed back in until the basement has been repaired. He needs to replace the hot water tank, the furnace and everything else that was in the basement has to be replaced. There was sewer water 3 feet deep in the basement. As terrible as it all sounds he is feeling fortunate compared to many of his friends and neighbours in High River. We headed home to watch the Nascar race - originally scheduled for Sat. night, but rained delayed until Sunday. After dinner we caught up on our laundry.

Canada day was celebrated by a trip to Batoche.  On our way to Batoche we stopped at Duck Lake and looked at the many murals on main street.

 We carried on to the Batoche National Historic site. Although we knew a lot about the Riel Rebellion from our high schools days, it was a great review. Of course again we encountered Middletons being involved in Canada's history. (The last time was when Kate was on her honeymoon in PEI).  This time the name wasn't quite so well thought of as General Middleton had some issues quelling the rebellion.

On our way home we encountered an example of Saskatchewan's highway potholes.

We stopped in some of the small towns along the way back to PA looking for a ice cream stop, even the Okanogan fruit truck was closed. As a result we had to wait until we got to Cones next to the exhibition RV park in PA.

July 2nd was one of the warmest days we've had in a long time. We spent the morning on Christopher Lake in our boat and the afternoon swimming at Emma Lake. A perfect way to spend such a warm day. We had dinner at Venice restaurant. Joan had a seafood salad (Yes we know we are some distance from fresh seafood) and John had a steak.

On Wednesday morning, we had a thunderstorm roll through.  Usually they are in the evening of a warm day, so this one was a little late.  We spent the day preparing to leave on Thursday.