Month: July 2025

Leaving Whitewood, we headed to Medicine Hat for fuel and some shopping. It was a shorter day so we figured it was good to get some shopping in. First stop was Sport Chek for bear spray. After hearing about a couple who were riding bikes in Creston, BC and had a couple of grizzly bears attack them , it reminded us we had to pick some bear spray up. We did some other shopping as well, stocking up on some more food and then made a routing decision. Instead of camping in a community campground, we decided to go a bit further and spend the night in Lethbridge in the parking lot of the local casino. We made our way and once parked for the night, headed in to the casino dining room for supper. It was a good meal – Swiss mushroom hamburger for Paul and hot beef sandwich for Joyce.

Wednesday morning we had a leisurely start because we only had a 2 hour drive to the next campground. If we had only known what was ahead….

We filled with fuel and heard noises coming from one of the wheels on the RV. Paul figured it wasn’t a bearing but something in the brakes. We decided we should find somewhere to have it looked at before we headed to more remote areas.

It took about 6 tries, some were phone calls, others were drive to, before someone told us although he couldn’t help us today, he’s make a call and try and find us a place. Within 5 min we had a place that could take us right away and only 10 minutes from where we were. They took us into the bay right away and jacked it up and did their diagnosing. It was a part of a brake that had fallen apart.

Less than 2 hours after we pulled in and almost $600 poorer, we were back on the road. These are the original brakes on the trailer and we have over 90,000 km of towing. Paul figures it’s probably time to have the other 3 done when we get home.

With only a 2 hour drive we still had lots of time to make it to our campsite before supper. Our landscape changed significantly along the way. We started in the prairie first with huge farming operations.

As we approached the Crowsnest Pass, we passed the site of the Frank Slide. In the early hours of a morning in April 1903, while most of the 600 residents of the mining town of Frank, BC were sleeping, a wedge of limestone over a kilometre wide, 425 metres long and 150 metres deep broke off from the crest of turtle mountain. Some miners were able to dig their way out, but about 70 residents lost their lives.

Our destination for the night was a private campground in the town of Sparwood, BC. As we arrived in town we watched for the “World’s Largest Truck”.

On arrival at our campground, we were pleasantly surprised to learn we could have a half wheelbarrow full of wood for free if we wanted a fire. Our site was set amongst tall evergreens and it was on the side furthest from the highway.

After setting up we decided to have a fire and have our supper outside.

Tomorrow we have one more short drive and then we stay for 6 nights!

We enjoyed our two night stay in the community of Mitchell, MB not far from Steinbach and about an hour south of Winnipeg. Dwyne and his family live on a rural property with a long lane going to the house. Surrounded by brush on both sides of the drive, there is a cleared area about half way up where we parked the camper. However, it isn’t wide enough to get turned around so getting out may involve backing out 150 metres!

We enjoyed a nice meal on Friday night at Santa Lucia Pizza in Steinbach with the extended family. It was a great Italian restaurant so Paul had his favourite Fettuccine Alfredo and Joyce enjoyed a classic lasagna meal. We both had enough to take some home for another meal.

On Saturday, we headed into town for fuel and to visit a few local meat shops. We were hoping to find some turkey sausage. None to be had; we did however find some apple and cranberry chicken sausage, smoked pork chops, cheese bread and apple fritters. Back at Dwyne’s, the three of us barbecued some pork tenderloin for supper as the rest of the family was out for the evening.

We had two very hot days without power (except for our solar) there. We were thankful the nights did reach 19C and we had a couple of small fans that helped cool the trailer in the evening. Paul performed a few maintenance tasks so we were set to leave on Sunday morning.

We did have to back out to the road. Joyce managed to get us out due to the great directions from Paul and we returned to the Trans Canada. We had some light rain for the morning drive but by the time we made a lunch stop it was clearing.

We had a bit longer drive to our campground for the night. After about 475 km we arrived at Whitewood Campground in the town of Whitewood, SK. It is small, about 20 sites, but we had full hookups and we were close to the community pool if we had wanted a swim. We discovered most of Saskatchewan does not observe Daylight Saving Time so it was only about 3 pm when we arrived. We set up, got out our chairs and a drink and spent some relaxing time reading. We also had a nice chat with neighbours from Pennsylvania, who had been at the park for a month, awaiting trailer repairs. They were expecting the parts by the next day.

Monday morning was pleasant and we headed out for another day of about 475 km along with a fuel stop. We saw new agriculture for us – flax fields. They are a beautiful colour of blue. Flax can also be manufactured into linseed oil.

Our drive today was relatively boring. Lots of flat fields, trains and mostly small towns.

We stopped in Swift Current for a fuel fill up – another $250 of fuel – two days of driving! Then we just had a 45 min drive to the small town of Gull Lake. We’re in the town campground but with hookups.

When we set up the trailer we were upset to find this:

We were with the camper all day and didn’t notice it until we settled in and opened slides and windows. It’s in our bedroom and high up. Fortunately it’s also a small window. For now, it’s taped up to keep the water from getting in and anymore glass from falling out. Our only guess is a truck threw a stone up when passing on the highway. Oh well, it won’t affect things as far as the trip goes.

Tomorrow we’ll make it into Alberta and shorter drives.