Canada/West 2022:
Day 11 - Taber


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Canada 2022: [Day 1 - Holmen] [Day 2 - Trempealeau] [Day 3 - Coon Valley] [Day 4 - Viroqua] [Day 5 - Cloquet] [Day 6 - International Falls] [Day 7 - Winnipeg] [Day 8 - Winnipeg] [Day 9 - Regina] [Day 10 - Grasslands NP] [Day 11 - Taber] [Day 12 - Waterton Lakes NP] [Day 13 - Banff NP] [Day 14 - Edmonton] [Day 15 - Jasper NP] [Day 16 - Bay View] [Day 17 - Woodinville] [Day 18 - Woodinville] [Day 19 - Mt. Rainier NP] [Day 20 - Macks Creek Park] [Day 21 - Craters of the Moon] [Day 22 - Yellowstone NP] [Day 23 - Lewis and Clark SP] [Day 24 - Fargo] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

Saturday, August 20, 2022: We woke to a clear blue sky shining through the top of our tent. It's such a great way to wake up.
There was a little of everything in the tent as we were still working out what we needed to bring over from the van.
Don't you want to sleep in there?
We boiled water and enjoyed a freeze-dried breakfast of Breakfast Skillet and cold Diet Cokes. Yummy!
A Sprague's Pipit was hunting grasshoppers in the short grass on the edge of our campsite.
Got one!
The Ormocar RV departed camp shortly before us, so we got to see it handle the gravel roads on the way back to the paved highway. We gave them plenty of headstart so that we weren't eating the rocks thrown up by those monster tires.
It's only about 20 miles as the crow flies between the East Block and the West Block of the Grasslands National Park, but to drive between them would take more than two hours as the route is more than 80 miles of roundabout roads. We were content with having seen the East Block.
We took a different route out of the park than we came in, and drove on gravel roads as we headed back to the highway, passing more grasslands, ...
... and well tended farmland.
We weren't sure that this last stretch of gravel was really a road, but it wasn't a very long stretch and did take us back to a nice, solid, paved road.
As we turned back on to the highway that would lead us north, we caught a last glimpse of the Ormocar RV that had departed camp before us. Man, that thing is a beast.
These four horses were standing together hunched over the fence to the next paddock. Maybe they were waiting for a neighbor horse to show up.
We kept a sharp lookout, but we didn't see the cow advertised on this crossing sign. Maybe that's who the horses were waiting for.
This iron sign let us know that we were in the Rural Municipality of Waverly Number 44, which was established in 1913. Wikipedia informed us that it is an area covering more than 500 square miles and has less than 300 people.
Six Mile Ranch is that way.
We pulled off the road and as got as far onto the shoulder as we could to let this truck pass. It appeared to be hauling a grain silo.
We headed west on Saskatchewan Highway 13, which is part of the Red Coat Trail, a 1,300 kilometer (810 mile) route taken by the North-West Mounted Police in the March West from Fort Dufferin in Alberta to Fort Whoop-up in Manitoba. You gotta love the names for places in Canada.
There's oil in them thar plains!
A very pretty double arch bridge was just east of the road. This appeared to be former roadway and they just left the bridge standing when they changed the location of the highway.
We crossed into Alberta, our fourth province for this trip.
Our route originally bypassed Medicine Hat, but we decided to go into the city instead. We had been driving through very small towns and wanted to go into a bigger city to get gas and look for lunch.
Canada uses "Highway of Heroes" for what the US labels "Veteran's Highway."
We decided to continue our streak of having McDonald's poutine at least once per day, ...
... and we decided to try the Grand Big Mac. Unfortunately, it wasn't made correctly and turned out to be just a regular Big Mac.
Next stop: gas and a car wash. We were still trying to get rid of all of the dead grasshoppers stuck to our bumper and grill.
We arrived at our hotel for the night, the Econo Lodge in Taber, Alberta.
While Tom carried everything in from the van, Debbie did her civic duty and defrosted yet another hotel mini-fridge freezer.
Rested and refreshed, we headed out to the Walmart that was conveniently nearby to look for some things that thought would make the camping portion of the trip easier. Look! Red chairs! It totally counts.
We bought two car floor mats (to keep the dirt out of the tent), two USB-powered mini-fans (to make the heat more bearable), three blue recycle tubs (for general purpose carry-alls as well as possible tent tables), a LEGO Dots set, and a variety of snacks.
After a delicious dinner of Easy Mac and diced ham, we spent the evening relaxing, surfing, and playing games on our phones.

Day 12 >


Canada 2022: [Day 1 - Holmen] [Day 2 - Trempealeau] [Day 3 - Coon Valley] [Day 4 - Viroqua] [Day 5 - Cloquet] [Day 6 - International Falls] [Day 7 - Winnipeg] [Day 8 - Winnipeg] [Day 9 - Regina] [Day 10 - Grasslands NP] [Day 11 - Taber] [Day 12 - Waterton Lakes NP] [Day 13 - Banff NP] [Day 14 - Edmonton] [Day 15 - Jasper NP] [Day 16 - Bay View] [Day 17 - Woodinville] [Day 18 - Woodinville] [Day 19 - Mt. Rainier NP] [Day 20 - Macks Creek Park] [Day 21 - Craters of the Moon] [Day 22 - Yellowstone NP] [Day 23 - Lewis and Clark SP] [Day 24 - Fargo] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

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