Week ending Aug 2, 2017 Huber Dam to Empress

This week we basically hung around the campground. The weather was good, so we did a walk around the campground, and out to the grid road and back, which took us about an hour.  

Sunrise through the smoke

On Monday, we were on our way to Stettler to pick up some items we couldn't find locally when we got a call from McKenzie Motors that the fuse box for the truck had arrived.  We went into Coronation after lunch, and it only took them a few minutes to install it. 

On Wednesday, we packed up.  We had a problem running in the bedroom slide, and found that John hadn't moved the air purifier to the end of the bed.   Then we headed to the campground in Castor to empty our tanks.  On our way south of Castor on Highway 36, we were stopped by a flagman to tell us to get off the highway as soon as we could as they were moving a house that was taking almost the whole road, and if we couldn't get off before we got to it, to move over right to the edge (and hope the house could get by?? ). Fortunately we came to a farmyard before we encountered the house.  Joan drove into the yard where there was enough room to turn the trailer around, and returned to park on the driveway leaving enough room at the entrance in case someone came home before we could leave. 

 House moving with a semi parked on a grid road waiting for it to go by

After the house went by, we carried on until we got to the Cactus Corner Truck Stop at the junction of Highways 36 and 9 for brunch.  Then we headed for Peter Fidler Park in Empress on the banks of the Red Deer River near where it joins the South Saskatchewan.  We are back in antelope country, seeing a couple of groups south of Oyen on highway 41.  When we were setting up in the park, Joan found that the TV in the bedroom had fallen off the dresser where it sits.   John didn't put it on the bed where it rides when we are travelling.  Fortunately, it works fine still. 

Once we got setup, we drove into Empress to find the Village Office to pay for camping until Monday.   After doing a loop around town without any luck, we stopped in at That's Empressive, a variety store.   We had seen it on the Village website as an alternative when the Village office is closed.  The operator said that he took payments on Mondays.   He gave us directions to the office, just around the next corner.   We found the appropriate building, and figured out why we missed it.  It's most prominent sign was  ATB Financial. However, in lettering with much less contrast, it did say that it was the Village of Empress Office.   Apparently we aren't the first people that have had this problem.    It's the first time we have been in a Village Office, where their counter is right next to the counter for ATB. 

Peter Fidler Park has 10 full service 30 amp sites for only $22 / night. 

On Thursday morning, we decided to do the 3.2 km figure 8 loop around the park.   We are not quite sure what they were describing, as we didn't find a trail that was in a figure 8.  We primarily followed the roads in the park, but had to off-road to get to a few interpretive signs.   A lot of the signs were missing, and others were a somewhat water-damaged.  

Bridge across the Red Deer River

Sand bars on the Red Deer River