A busy week.

A week ago we left Paducah KY after witnessing a total solar eclipse.  We saw the eclipse in 2017 in Bend, but apparently it was only 90ish %.  In my opinion, this one was way better.  We are so glad we stayed a few extra days to see it.  It got dark, cooled way down and the birds stopped chirping.  The ring of fire was beautiful and the photos do not so it justice.  Quite an experience.  

Our first day on the road we left in thunderstorms and bought tires for both vehicles near St Louis.  That was a bill we knew was coming…it was necessary but we weren’t too thrilled about it.  We stayed at Sweetwater distillery for a second time in Northern Missouri.  We enjoyed a pizza, a few drinks and did multiplication and division practice with the owners son.  It was a great stop again.  We also talked fishing and hunting with him and I gave them a Grouper fillet.  

Wednesday we drove up to Owatonna MN and stayed in a Cabelas parking lot for the first time.  It was a nice stay, windy and rainy but a nice overnight.  We also stopped at a Trader Joe’s in Iowa on the way up.  It had been a few months and will be months before we get back to one.  

Thursday we pushed all the way to Velva ND, just outside Minot.  It was a windy day that involved getting fuel 4 times.  We attended a seRV meeting from the I-94, we have a great group.  Thursday night we stayed in a driveway next to a headstone company…another first.  It was a convenient stop, but reminiscent of my house in Quinnesec with all the train traffic.  MN and ND are now off our camping list.  We only have Nevada and Colorado left in the lower 48 to RV in.  

Friday we made sure the trailer and truck were “clean” and crossed the border.  We crossed at Portal ND and it took less than 5 minutes.  We’ve heard some horror stories about crossing, but we had an easy “questioning” and were told safe travels.  We made it to the Tourism center in Moose Jaw for the night.  We did some trash pick up and had dinner across the street.  We also got Duncan a couple mile walk in.  The drive across ND, Saskatchewan and most of Alberta is fields and wind.  We don’t have to do that drive again.  Diesel in Canada is about $4.70 US per gallon if I’m doing my conversion correctly so it’s about $1 more per gallon.  

We’ve been in the Calgary area since Saturday, Cochrane actually.  This place reminds us of Bend.  We’ve said it about many places, but this really does.  A river runs through it, there are dog parks, bike paths, breweries, snowy mountains on the horizon and that Bend vibe.  It’s a cool spot.  We’ve biked and walked and took a trip up to Banff and Lake Louise.  What a beautiful place/area, I was able to walk out on the lake.  The water was not blue yet, we’re going to have to come back in the fall to check it out.  We had lunch in Banff and it was nice.  It’s funny how places remind you of other places you have been.  Banff reminded us of Vail Colorado.  Our waiter told us April is the slowest month in the area.  We’ll see what it looks like in October.  

The past few days were in the high 60’s and beautiful, today is 33 and we woke up to about 3” of snow.  This is our first time in snow since Feb 2021 in Texas.  This isn’t going to last as long as the valentines snowmaggedon.  It’s actually nice to see and Duncan was really excited when I took him outside.