Week ending April 7, Idaho Falls to Picture Butte

On Friday, we got up early to drive north.   On the drive we saw some sandhill cranes, snow geese, and antelope.  We stopped for a lunch break at Twin Bridges in Montana.   It was named after a couple of bridges built around 1865 across the Beaverhead River that flows from Dillon toward Whitehall.  The little town park we stopped in had a sign about the 'Road Agent Trail', that went just south of here on its way from mines in Virginia City to Bannack.   After carrying on, we stopped in Helena to pick up some pasta and a large bag of shredded cheese, since they are much cheaper here than at home.   Since it was only shortly after noon, we decided not to stay in Helena for the night, and carried on toward the border.   Going through the Missouri canyon area, we saw a little herd of mountain sheep.  Can't stop on the freeway to take pictures.  We stopped in Shelby to fill up the tank with the last of the US priced diesel.  They get good business at this time of year, as a few other Canadians were doing the same.  We arrived at the border about 4:30 to get into the April 1st lineup of snowbirds returning to Canada.   We were significantly behind the '800 feet to customs' sign.  It took just under an hour to get through, even though there were 3 agents handling the line. 

We managed to get a spot at Under 8 Flags Campground in Milk River along with a few other RV's who had been in line with us.  Couldn't get the satellite signal, despite lining up based on the next door neighbour's dish, so we played Wii for the first time in quite a while.  We phoned the lady at Countryside RV in Picture Butte, and got the okay to start our stay earlier than the planned arrival date of April 5.

On Saturday, after a leisurely breakfast, we headed into Lethbridge, were we picked up some Canadian cash at CIBC, a mouse and Turbo Tax at Best Buy, and groceries at Walmart.  Then we went to the visitor info to use their wifi to update our phone plan to include some data.  We arrived in Picture Butte shortly after noon, got everything set up, and quickly got an excellent satellite signal.  Even our hi-def signal was about 20 points higher than we have been getting for a long time. Unfortunately, we just missed the world men's curling.  The RV park here has power and sewer, but only a few fresh water taps.  Fortunately, we have a tap close enough that a combination of our hoses and one of the parks hoses reached to fill our fresh water tank.  The weather here is living up to its windy reputation.    

Monday morning we drove to Cochrane to pick up mail, and prescriptions.  We also found a replacement hammock at Canadian Tire.  We had checked out various places in the States with no luck.  We had nice lunch at Bullhorn Saloon. 

The winds overnight were strong enough to blow the satellite dish onto its nose for the first time in ages.  We thought it was sheltered by the trailer, but that wasn't good enough.  We didn't get much sleep with the trailer rocking a bit.  Tuesday morning it was still a bit windy.  We got the satellite dish back up, and hung around doing a few chores and watched one curling game.  We got confirmation form the neighbours that the wind overnight was unusually strong, even here.

On Wednesday, we drove into Picture Butte.

It is a decent sized town with a population about 1700. The Butte that the town is named for ceased to exist by 1947.  It was used for street and highway building, and then finally for the dyke on the reservoir on the north side of town.   We cashed our Calgary Co-op cheque at the Scotia Bank in town.  We checked at Home Hardware for a Kuraidori induction cooker.  They actually had one in stock.  Then we picked up  bread, buns and a poppy seed ring at Koster's Bakery and Deli.   Enough shopping for the day, so we went to the Reservoir, a did the 'Walk on the wild side' trail along the south side of the reservoir around the west side up to the Lethbridge North Irrigation Canal.

There were lots of geese, some coots, a couple of gulls, some ducks with white middles, black heads and tails that we think are greater scaups.

After our walk, we drove up highway 25 to Iron Springs (pop 93) and then to Turin (pop 106).  There were a lot of large feedlots along the way, including some with Holstein's, explaining why Picture Butte's nickname is the Livestock Feeding Capital of Canada.  

On Thursday, we took the truck to Davis GMC in  Lethbridge to get a glo plug replaced, which got diagnosed back in Gila Bend, and an oil change.  Interestingly, the dealership has a bistro, so we had  a pretty good breakfast right there.  Then we had the shuttle drop us off at the nearest BOM, which turned out to be the driver's branch, to get our pin problems resolved.   We walked the 3.5 km back to the dealer, and just as we were sitting down, they called to say the truck was ready to go.  Perfect timing.   We headed to Michaels to look for some cord to repair blinds.  No luck.  Either not the right width, or not strong enough.  Then Joan got a haircut, while John picked up a few groceries.  We returned to Picture Butte through Coaldale (the long way around).  The Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation Centre in Coaldale doesn't open until May 10th.   We checked out the Coyote Flats Pioneer Village in Picture Butte.  It doesn't open until the May long weekend.  Guess we're in the area a little early to tour these sites.