The Adventures of Me & My Shadow #21 in MT, WA, OR, ID
& AB, BC Canada 9/2/98 From Boise, ID; Hi Everyone! The trip
north went well, partly cloudy, partly sunny & partly rainy.
The rain didn't bother me as much as it bothered the harvest combines,
saw some running in the rain, saw one with a lid over the grain
bin. The rain didn't amount to much but we could have done better
without it. No corn or beans up here, all small grain, mostly
wheat and a lot of hay.
Was about 100 miles south of Edmonton with the sun going down
so spent a night at a rest area. Next day I took a side trip around
Pigeon lake where Hank & Remmy Knol have a cabin then on up
to West Edmonton Mall,
said to be the largest mall in the world, it is BIG. Spent the
day trying to take it all in, took some pictures and will try
to send one with this e-mail. Let me know if you can view it as
this is my first time. I got the feeling that I have shrunk, I
recall walking on the streets in Tokyo while in the Navy over
40 years ago, I felt like a giant, I was looking over the heads
of most of the Japanese around me. Now most young Japanese here
in the mall are as tall as I am and the other young people here
are all over six feet tall. I see tourists from just about every
point on the globe. Found a nice RV park west of Edmonton checked
in for four days. Saturday I called Jim & Edith McLeod, they
were leaving town for a short trip but would meet me Sunday morning
for breakfast. Had a nice visit, Jim will be starting chemotherapy
for cancer when they return from the trip, I wish him well.
The maps for the GPS are not very good up here in Canada, can't
blame Gertrude or Gus as they don't have maps for Canada. I'm
using AAA MapnGo, looks like they just guessed where the roads
were, sometimes I'm ¾ inch off to the side of the marked
road, in the states I thought 1/8 inch was bad. I'm sure you have
heard about the Calgary Stampede, I now know where they got the
name, I got there about 5:30 PM and I was in the Calgary Stampede.
The drivers were exceeding the limits but out on the open road
I find they very seldom do. The same was true in Montana where
there is no speed limit. Most drivers were running about 65 just
like all the other states, no matter what the limit is.
Up here they really take their Golf seriously, all the way up
here there were signs pointing the way to a different golf course
every few miles. If you played every course on the way to Edmonton
the trip would take over a year.
At the office of the RV Park, I asked where I could get on the
Internet to check my e-mail, they told me to go to library in
the next town to the west. Went there Monday and was told there
would be a charge of $5.00 per hour and they would let me know
when it would be available. I told them I changed my mind and
didn't need to check my e-mail. Called a library in Edmonton and
was told to use the Internet Cafes that were scattered around
town. I drove around for awhile looking for one with no luck.
Will see what Hank advises when I call him tomorrow. I send e-mail
to his daughter but I think it is where she works.
8/18/98 it has rained at some time each day I have been up here,
last night a thunder storm came through and put the lights out
several times. Went into Edmonton today and found an Internet
Cafe. They wanted a high price for their coffee + $3.00 to $6.00
per hour to get on the net, I can wait.
I finally made contact with Hank & Remmy Knol and they are
down at the lake so headed down there, had some good chow, spent
the night, took some pictures and had a nice visit. Tell Madison
I took a picture of their backyard
swimming pool, I couldn't get it all in the picture, it is
ten miles wide and 20 miles long, Madison would really like it.
Some wild ducks have adopted Hank, they understand every thing
he tells them and like Remmy, they don't always obey him. Hank
has a little dog that minds very well, he told me that he would
like to get Remmy to mind that well. Remmy told me one time she
found herself in the backyard face to face with a young Moose,
they both minded their own business and nothing happened. After
lunch on the 19th I headed west to Jasper, AB then over into BC
and south to Hope, BC. Didn't drive at night, too much to see,
so took my time. Lots of wildlife and not much civilization. Where
the "Watch for Moose" signs were up they reccomend not
exceeding 50 KM/hr (about 30 MPH) at night. There were places
to pull off and view wildlife, I didn't see any bear but they
tell me they were there, maybe I'm bear blind like someone I know.
Oh yes Jeff I did like you told me to do, I passed up all the
hitchhikers I saw, they were all teenagers and would not have
a good story to tell. I did stop to offer assistance to three
teenagers (2 guys & a Gal) in a little red car that was overheating.
I gave them 2 gallons of water and sold them a quart of oil and
wished them luck. They were up in that lots of wildlife little
civilization area so they were glad I stopped.
Checked into Camp Hope on Monday 8/24/98. Was good to see some
more GMC's and meet friends and some first timers who will soon
be friends. Had some interesting seminars and on Saturday 8/29/98
went on a tour to Hells Gate. I've known for some time that I
wouldn't make it to Heaven's Gate so when they offered a tour
to Hell's Gate I thought it would be nice to see what to expect
down the road a way.
8/30/98 I enjoyed the Hell's Gate tour, the scenery was fantastic,
the history of the place very interesting. Also visited some old
abandoned railroad tunnels that were cut through solid rock a
long time ago to put a railroad were a railroad should not be.
Hells gate is a place in Fraser Canyon were the canyon is very
narrow, so narrow that today the river depth was 125 feet deep
and the river is very low at this time. At the high water level
200 million gallons of water per minute flow through the gorge
at a speed of 20 MPH.
We ate lunch at the restaurant there and it was late afternoon
when we got back to the camp. In the evening we were entertained
by the Hope Town Musicians, they played my kind of music. I wished
I had brought the video camera to record it. I want my son Mark
(the musician in the family) to hear the Musical saw that was
played, so I bought a CD from them. So get the rosin on your bow
Mark and you can see if you can make music with a saw, I'll try
to show you how it's done. This is a Seven Day Adventist camp
and they catered the diners at night. They are vegetarians and
the catered diners were all vegetarian except for the banquet
on Sunday night when someone else brought in some roast beef.
The meals were all great, they almost converted me. Overall it
was a great convention, I now have so many friends from Canada
I'll have to make some more trips up there, would like to take
the grand & great grand kids, I know they would enjoy it.
This is the last day of the rally, I'll head south after breakfast
in the morning, my first stop will be at my nephew Jack Harton's,
maybe I can get this letter on it's way from there. After a stop
in Boise, ID to visit son Dave, I'll head to Colorado to check
in with Lester Bickel & Adel then over the divide to check
in with the Curtis family in Idaho Springs, CO then on to Gladstone,
MO to my brother Gerald & Evon. I'm running out of room so
will have to fill in some more details about the trip in the next
letter. Had a short visit with Jack and got my e-mail all answered
and am now plugged in at Meg's and will get this on the way before
I head east.
Till next time, Dallas or Dad if it fits. 9/2/98