Tuesday we moved South. When we left Edmonton we didn't have a destination
fixed. We stopped in Bowden and had lunch with John's parents and then headed
south as Joan's CT scan is on Aug 15 at the High River hospital. We had to be
within an easy drive of the hospital as the scan is booked for 8:30 A.M.
Okotoks campground will reopen on Aug 19th (a few days too late for us), High
River campground, our usual spot, is closed, due to flood damage, for the rest
of this year and maybe next. Nanton has a small campground with no showers or
electricity, so no good for us this trip. We finally ended up at the Virgina
Mitchell Campground in Vulcan, a full service park with decent bathrooms.
Wednesday we decided to check out other campgrounds in the area. As we headed toward Stavely on a secondary road, we came across an old RCAF base in the middle of the fields that was used during WWII as a center for training flight instructors. It was only only in operation for about a year, but the hangars are still there, although the prairie is slowly reclaiming the runways.
Thursday was an early day as we had to shower and leave by 7:30 to get to the High River hospital by 8:30. After Joan's CT scan we went for breakfast, then went to the RV
dealer in High River to pick up some necessities. We then stopped by the
campground in High River to see the flood damage. We are hopeful that the
campground will be in operation next year. The town of High River in general is
not in good shape. From the outside the buildings look okay, but the insides are completely emptied and being rebuilt. All the banks are operating
in outlying areas, in temporary locations. Some that could not get into a
building have brought in trailers. The grocery stores are back in operation and
many business are up and running. A lot of the businesses and restaurants in the
downtown core are still being rebuilt. It was a sad sight. We went on a walk
by the river and in many areas the trail is completely gone. We wonder if the
town will ever be able to recover from such devastation. The kids tell
us that all public schools will be ready for September, but the Catholic schools
were very hard hit and will not be ready for the new school year. The public
system is going to help them out by offering them space, but I expect portables
classrooms will still be required. Trev
tells us that the banks will not remortgage any houses, and many of his
friends have had to just walk away from their houses. I can see
that the banks may own a whole lot of property, that is not worth very much in
the very near future. We visited with the kids Thursday afternoon and then took
them out for dinner. John hadn't had pizza for quite a while, so we went to the Boston Pizza, which is in an undamaged area of town.
Friday we moved from Vulcan to a little campground we discovered on our
Wednesday drive through the countryside in the Vulcan area. This campground has
30 amp power but, no water or other amenties. In fact we discovered we could not get
cell phone service at our site. John walked up the drive to the park entrance and
discovered that we could get cell phone service there. We were able to get satellite signal at our site so will be able to watch the football games and the
car race this weekend.
Monday was golf day. We left early (9:00 A.M. is early for us) and we
headed for Stavely to the self-serve golf course. After 9 holes, we drove south to Claresholm to pick up some groceries and have lunch. We are taking advantage of Tim Hortons' wi-fi to post the blog.
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