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Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Coming across the prairies the next couple of days sucked up a WHOLE LOT of fuel…. The weather was sunny and pleasant, but the wind just wouldn’t give up. We also learned the value of finding small campgrounds run by small towns. Sometimes by the local Lions club, other times by the municipality themselves. They ranged from free to under $30/night and even though they didn’t always have electric, they did have water available and a dump station. We managed to do a couple of loads of laundry at one since we had time and it was close to our trailer. The last day in the States coming across Highway #2 in Montana we also experienced our Rogers cell phone had no connection. Although we seemed to have lots of cell signal, it wouldn’t connect, leading us to believe the carrier wasn’t cooperative with Rogers AT&T.

An easy border crossing, with NO TOLLS (yeh!) and we were across into Canada just as the Americans began their Memorial Day weekend.

Calgary, here we come….

Saturday, May 20, 2017

So, we didn’t get away quite as planned. We delayed by a day to get things done, finally left the next afternoon only to have to turn around before we got 30 minutes from home – a check engine message warned us that our speed would be restricted to 80 km/hr in 80 km and based on the message, it might not go faster than an idle if we shut off the engine…. Called our wonderful Ford dealer in town, turned around and had a diagnosis minutes after pulling in. The initial bad news was that due to it being 4 pm on the Friday of a long weekend, we might be stuck waiting for a part to be installed until Tuesday. BUT, thanks to a kind and generous diesel mechanic who offered to come in Saturday morning and put in the part that would arrive overnight, we were back heading for Alaska Saturday morning – May 20th. Only in a small town could we have such great service!

We spent the night with friends in Michigan, catching up and enjoying their company and then it was on the road through Chicago. Now that city isn’t nice to drive through at the best of times, but pulling a 28′ trailer wasn’t Paul’s idea of a fun time. However, he made it through like a champ to a Walmart parking lot in Wisconsin for a noisy sleep.

Back on the road through Wisconsin and Minnesota, even 500 km seems like a long haul for a day pulling the trailer. The night was spent in a boondocker’s back yard, right beside a lake and an eagle’s nest. The weather has been cool, but pleasant with minimal rain.

Tuesday night saw us arrive at Joyce’s dad’s cousin’s home in Spiritwood Lake, North Dakota. Parked in their driveway, also on a lake, we enjoyed visiting some of the cousins that Joyce met when she was in Dakota with her parents in 2012 for the last reunion. They treated us to a nice, home-cooked meal of chicken, fresh bread and rhubarb crisp and followed it up with breakfast the next morning before we got back on the road.

Next up, across the prairies and wind, wind and more wind….