---Our campsite in Valleyview Sunday
The view from
our window where we camped last night(Saturday)Sunday August 15, 2010. We almost froze to death last night as we went to bed with the windows open and the ceiling fan on. It felt good when we went to sleep but during the night, we were both freezing. We shut off the fan and closed part of the windows and I still laid awake freezing. I was too lazy to get up and turn on the heat!
When we woke this morning the mountains were beautiful. The sun was coming up on the mountain so I got my camera to take a picture and the battery was dead! It was a beautiful morning and surprisingly not very cold.
We got cleaned up and dressed, ate some breakfast and was on the road by probably 7:30am. Makes a big difference when you do not have to unhook everything each morning. Saw Betty and John briefly and they were leaving at the same time as us. They followed us for a long time but they must have stopped as we lost track of them.
We stopped in Fort St John to try to find a tire for the car hauler but none of the tire stores were open today. The tire looks kinda bad but I don't think it's ready for a blowout. We would just feel better knowing that we had a new tire.
Today traveling we came through a little town called Taylor, BC. We remembered how beautiful the setting of the town was from our trip north. It has a long bridge over a huge gulch and river area and when you leave the bridge it climbs for probably 2 miles out of town up the side of the mountain. Actually by the time we reached the top our engine was very hot and the warning alarm went off. Once we got to the top the engine cooled and all was fine. We have had several long mountain hauls where the engine get hot before we get to the top. We are really pulling a lot of weight besides hauling the car.
There was a lot of construction going on today. We were a little surprised with it being Sunday. I guess they only have so many days to complete before the winter snows start. We went through some very nasty construction sites where the road was really torn up and very dusty. Each time we think of cleaning the motor home again, we wonder WHY?? The roads are so dusty and has places where there is gravel so doesn't do much good to wash everything other than it makes us feel better briefly.
Larry saw a deer today while I was sleeping. Yes, the queen had to have a nap this afternoon as I did not sleep well last night! We also saw a caribou that had been hit on the highway. Glad he was dead before we got there. We went through a lot of area that was sparsely populated but didn't see anything else.
We didn't have a lot of excitement today as all we did was drive. We decided to stop at Valleyview, Alberta for the night. We found a wonderful RV Park that is privately owned and very very nice. Even has grass at each site with a nice picnic table. It's been awhile since we have stayed at a campground that is anything other than a parking lot. We also have a pull thru site so we do not have to unhook the car. We sat everything up and took all three cats out and put them on the leashes which they enjoyed, having a grassy area. We sat outside and had a beer. Larry went in to pay to wash the car and when he came out of the office it was raining. Crazy weather! It did not rain for long, however, so he washed the car while I cooked dinner.
Driving through Alberta is anything but exciting--like watching paint dry-- so they say! It is mostly flat ground with a lot of agriculture. About every other field has huge bails of hay laying out to dry. There are a lot of farms with livestock as well. I don't remember much in Alberta that I would drive far to see.
Larry was talking to a guy here at the RV Park and he told us about a nice RV Park about 9 miles east of Edmonton. I think we ended up staying at a Walmart in Edmonton on our way north. We have been to Edmonton a few times but it's not my favorite place to be as it is huge! On our way up we actually toured a part of Edmonton as we got lost. We had to detour at a construction area and ended up in a subdivision driving in circles. We can do that pretty easily most of the time!
The weather has basically been beautiful since we left Alaska. Last night when talking to Betty, that was parked by us, she said she has come to Alaska for 18 years and this year has been the worse yet for rain. She assured us that this was not a typical summer in Alaska. So there you have it!!! Had Larry and I not traveled to Alaska, the weather would have been normal this year as well! Ha! Regardless, I am glad we made the trip as Alaska is a breath taking arena of beauty! I'm sure had the weather been nicer, we could have enjoyed it a little more but those are the chances you take!
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