The Crossing

Friday, July 2nd;

We left Billings, Montana still driving north. We were on smaller highways now, heading for the Canadian border. There was very little traffic. The last stop was a fuel stop in Malta on Highway 191.

We thought we would stop for lunch but once we started north on the final leg of the journey, it was only a two lane highway with narrow shoulders. There was nowhere to pull over. We arrived at the border before we knew it!

Canada, we are home! But first customs. This was the smallest border crossing we have used. The Customs officer was more thorough. Where had we been? How long? How much did we spend? What did we buy? Produce the receipts. Ooops! I meant to get them out the night before. I excused myself to get them from the trailer and the officer actually followed me in. Fortunately, I had them all together in a folder so it was no problem to get them. We were allowed to cross - as long as we fit through the door of th customs enclosure Dan had driven us into! Yup - we made it.

Next we had to find the village of Val Marie 20 miles up the road. Let me just say there is a marked difference in quality of the road as soon as you cross the border. Canada's share is not as well maintained. We found Val Marie and made a stop at the information center to find out more about the Grasslands National Park. We did a quick tour of the village and backtracked down the highway to our final destination, the Crossing.

Our host was expecting us but had been surprised by the arrival of Leroy and Reza. They arrived ahead of us and were already comfortably settled in their lovely suite overlooking the park. We drove down the hill to the campground and I was startled to see four large white teepees rising over the brow of the hill. It was not a pow wow but another type of accommodation for tourists visiting the area. We pulled in nearby and set up. We had the area to ourselves with a view of the grassland in all directions.

We prepared a late lunch, then dinner and spent the intervals visiting. We caught up on all the news and made plans for our time in the area. At sunset a storm came in and the sky was spectacular. We retired with the darkness and felt secure indoors while the storm buffeted the trailer. What is that noise? Oh, oh - I left the forward window cover up and it is flapping! We got a little wet as Dan came out to help me get it down.

July 1st was Canada Day. It dawned clear and sunny. The perfect day for small town celebrations. We headed for town to enjoy the pancake breakfast. It may seem a little low key if you compare it to an Orlando Fourth of July but it is just as heart felt. Pancakes were being served at the largest building in Val Marie - the Ice Rink. In front was a large sign declaring Val Marie to be the home of Brian Trottier - 4 time Stanley Cup Champion with the New York Islanders. We joined the townspeople for breakfast and then toured the town waiting for the start of the Canada Day Parade.

We spent time watching a beautiful pair of Belgian horses being prepared for their part in the parade. Then strolled the length of Center Street (2 blocks) to find a seat by the cenotaph. From there we could see the parade twice. Once as it toured streets on the south side of town and then again as it came around from the north. That way you could sit on your front porch to see the parade go by. From our vantage point, I could make sure to get a picture of each participant. If I missed them the first time, I was prepared the second. The people on the floats threw candies as they went by. In this case, all the children were in the parade so the adults got to scramble for the goodies on the street. Then they threw them back as the floats came around again!

Even going around twice, it did not take long for the parade to end. We visited some more with locals in the town and headed back home for lunch and a lazy afternoon. Our plan was to tour the Grasslands park in the late afternoon so we would be able to see the many resident birds and animals.

We followed the tour as described. We saw the Frenchman River valley; we learned what a coulee was; we saw a large prairie dog town; we saw many types of birds. We did not see any of the large animals we had hoped to see including the bison herd. Before we were finished the tour we could see dark grey clouds building once more and decided to race for home.

We were safely settled in with a good dinner on the way before the storm arrived. Our host came down to the trailer to let us know the power was out over much of southern Saskatchewan. In the trailer we had lights, at least those on battery power, and a gas stove so we were not inconvenienced. Once dinner was over, Leroy and Reza went back to their suite while it was still daylight. I read in the quiet of the evening until a sound caught my attention. It was 11:00 PM and the Canada Day dance had ended in Val Marie. Fireworks had begun.

I could see a thin strip of lights on the horizon. Power had been restored to the town. Tiny sparks of colored lights shot over the town as the fireworks display continued. Behind that the dark black clouds soared. Cloud to cloud lightening lit up the sky in a far more spectacular display than man was able to produce. Happy 143rd Birthday Canada!

It was a lovely two days at the Crossing with Leroy and Reza. They left us to go east to Saskatoon. We got ready to head further north. Our goal was Saskatchewan Landing on Diefenbaker Lake.

There is a severe weather warning posted for southern Saskatchewan. How far does it extend? As we pulled out of the Crossing in bright sunshine we could see the dark clouds off to the west. Could we outrun them?

In spite of the interesting sights along the road our attention stayed focused on the clouds to our left. The brilliant yellow of the canola fields stretched right into the dark blue gray of the sky. It was spectacular! Lightening occasionally forked to the ground.

Just as we approached Swift Current, the rain began. We pulled into the Iplex Civic Center parking lot and asked directions to a diesel fuel station. It was a large empty parking lot and other rigs were seeking shelter off of the road. We decided to park. Fuel could wait. The wind rocked the truck and whipped the water to a froth as it flowed through the parking lot. Time for lunch and a rest stop to wait it out. We later learned, not far to the east of us, a First Nations village was being destroyed by a force 3 tornado.

We waited for the calm and carried on safely to Saskatchewan Landing for one last night on the road.

The next afternoon we arrived in Speers, Saskatchewan and parked for an extended stay with family in the area. Blogging will stop for a while as we enjoy life in farm country. The temperature mid-morning is 66 F (18.8 C) I am in my winter clothes and still feeling chilly. The furnace has been in use! Maybe we should head south again!

Turning North

Sunday, June 25th, 2010.

We planned to leave Bear and Trish Sunday morning but we got involved trying to clean the BankerFox.A virus off of my computer. I could not open any programs and that included my maps and GPS. (I am still not using it to access the internet!) Finally by 1:00 PM we were on our way with the computer still being scanned. We had a map printed from Google to guide us out of town. Add to that, the truck appeared to be running in low gear only. Not an auspicious departure!

One more trip around the block and the truck was moving normally. The scan finished and removed affected files from the computer. Before we reached the freeway, we had the map and GPS running again.

Note that we are traveling in an Ford F-350 pulling a 27 foot travel trailer both comfortably air conditioned when required. The road we are traveling cuts, or is part of, most of the great wagon trails of the 1800's. We will drive from Colorado to Saskatchewan in four comfortable days. No one will oppose our path. Contrast that to the families making their way west or north in earlier days walking beside their oxen and cart.

We made Sunday afternoon an easy one. We drove through Denver and out into the less peopled plains. We saw ranches, cattle, horses, prong horn antelope and a variety of birds. Just before the Wyoming border we pulled off onto an access road paralleling the freeway. It was a good gravel road that would take us to our first stop, the Terry Bison Ranch Resort. That was how we discovered a small problem with the GPS. It takes the most direct route - 6 miles of gravel instead of the taking the next exit and backtracking two miles of pavement!

The Terry Bison Ranch is part of an historic ranch originally belonging to Senator F.E. Warren. At the turn of the century it ran cattle and sheep, spreading over fifty miles from Cheyenne in every direction. General "Black Jack" Pershing married Senator Warren's daughter. The rich and famous visited the ranch in itís heyday. Now it is down to 300,000 acres - 2/3 in Colorado and 1/3 in Wyoming. It still runs cattle and sheep but the resort area also raises buffalo, goats and dromedary that we could see. Today the owner's daughter checked us in! She has just graduated from high school and is hoping to study psychology at University.

The current owner is in his mid-seventies now but still loves to tinker with machinery. This past winter he built the new engine for the train that takes tourists on a tour of the ranch culminating in a visit to the buffalo herd. He has also built a small midway for the small visitors including a rustic Ferris wheel.

We had a pleasant wander around the area in the cool of the evening. We decided to have a light dinner in the restaurant and turned in early with the windows open for fresh cool air!

Monday was a short day. We were heading for Fort Casper, Wyoming on the North Platte River. This is the area of the Oregon Trail, The California trail, the Mormon Crossing and a Pony Express station. As we drove we could imagine the travelers working their way through the table lands surrounding the Platte River valley and then seeing the Continental Divide in the distance. Routes were named after the men that discovered them. John Bozeman followed a shorter route through hostile Indian territory, the home of the Arapahoe, Cheyenne and Souix. These tribes were determined not to let the Europeans take their lands. On it, many lives were lost earning it the nickname the "Bloody Bozeman Trail". Jim Bridger found a longer route through the territory of friendly tribes, the Shoshoni and the Crow.

Our drive was mainly through open grasslands. The escarpment and buttes were spectacular rising up from the valleys. Again we saw cattle, horses, prong horn antelope and deer. We arrived early at the Fort Casper RV Park and had a lazy afternoon. We walked toward the river beside us. It is in flood at the moment. The crest should be tomorrow.

We turned down the road to Fort Casper and walked to the museum. It was a hot day, an air conditioned museum seemed like a good idea! It is a small museum with a replica of many of the fort buildings behind it. We were too late for a full tour but I particularly enjoyed the many books in the shop and a horse drawn shepherd's wagon. It was similar to one my father used in the 1920's herding sheep on Alberta's short grass prairie. They are still being used by ranches in this area to follow the flocks of sheep during the summer season.

We walked home to start dinner and it was still very warm. Finally, as the sun set, the evening cooled.

Tuesday we continued north to Billings, Montana. It was another day of wide open spaces. Not quite as rugged as the previous days. We found our way through Billings to the KOA resort. This was the first KOA opened in the USA. It is still a very nice site. It has the usual log "Kabins" for those who do not camp. There is a pleasant green space with a garden gazebo. There was a steak barbeque at dinner time and an ice cream social in the evening. One of the more recent amenities is The Pistol Pete bath house. It holds a number of good sized bathrooms. Each one a full bath suite with toilet, sink and shower. You can close the door and it is your private space. A very nice idea!

The campground is located on the shore of the Yellowstone river. We watched cattle coming down a valley on the far side to drink at the waters edge. Cottonwood trees were in full bloom and the "cotton" was floating heavily in the air. The day was very hot and I was looking forward to a swim in the pool after our exploratory walk. Before I could get ready, a thunder storm rolled in and the pool was closed until the lightening subsided. It thundered and rained and hailed before the storm passed. That cooled the day turning it into a very pleasant evening.

Garden of the Gods

Thursday, June 24;

The rest of the week we toured different areas of Colorado Springs and did errands to prepare for our departure.

We packed a picnic and toured the old mining towns west of Colorado Springs. We drove north to Woodland Park, then west to an area where Bear and Trish once owned land and lived in a teepee for three years - summer and WINTER! That was an adventure! They showed us where they went to do laundry and have a shower in a small mining town. Places where they went for a quick grocery stop have now grown into small villages.

In 1890 Cripple Creek was the starting point of the Colorado Gold Rush. Cripple Creek is now a gambling and tourist town. There are tours of old mines and one of the large gold mines is still in operation. We timed our visit to avoid the crowds of Donkey Derby Days. It looks like YouTube has it covered!

We went through Cripple Creek on down the highway, driving past old mine buildings and huge mountains of tailings. Some are modern and lined to prevent contaminants such as arsenic leaching into the surrounding soil. Some are old and did not take that precaution.

The road entered Pike National forest. It became miles and miles of washboard over scenic mountain roads! We found a nice place on a creek to stop and have a picnic. This is a spot the bike riders have used for a rest stop when they have ridden the many miles of road we just drove. There would still be miles to cover before entering Colorado Springs again.

Friday we went to tour the Garden of the Gods. These spectacular sandstone formations have been known for thousands of years. Carbon dating on charcoal from an old hearth sets the time line for that fire as 3300 years ago. The most recent Native Americans to make use of this area were the Ute Indians who visited the area on a regular basis. This was a place of special significance to them. We were told that Chiefs, nearing their time of death would find a cave here as their final place on earth.

We enjoyed our tour on a hot, blue sky day. Taking pictures of the red rock formations against the sky. We saw an instructor and student sitting high on the rocks preparing to belay down the steep face. What an amazing place to learn rock climbing. Unfortunately many do not heed the warnings to inform the park of their intentions and do not have accomplished guides. Many need to be rescued - these are not beginners slopes.

We stopped by the Trading post. It has any Native American tourist item you might want. In rooms behind the usual tourist ware are some beautiful examples of Native American art. Compare the hand woven baskets at the back of the store to the "Made in Pakistan" replicas at the front.

We finished our tourist exploration in old town Colorado Springs. It is an area of historical buildings, boutiques and coffee houses. Central to that visit is always CS West Bikes. You can buy a new bike, rent one or arrange a cycling tour but you had better be in shape for the Colorado Springs terrain! After a visit to the French Bakery a strenuous bike ride is a good idea!

Colorado Springs Zoo

Tuesday, June 22;

A zoo is not always a number one tourist spot unless you have children with you. This zoo is different! It gives you a real workout if you do it at a good pace. Me - not so much. I kept stopping to take pictures! There is so much to see, the animals, the flowers and the views way down into the valley below. This zoo is built high up on the side of a mountain looking over Colorado Springs. So much so that you can take a chair lift from the bottom to the top. From that vantage point you can see the more reclusive animals that are hidden from the ground view points, like the snow leopard The cat was barely visible behind a log far at the back of it's area.

If you are walking up the paths, you have the choice of stairs or an elevator to the raised boardwalk leading to the grizzly bear enclosure. More exercise options!

Each large area displays birds and animals of a specific region. We entered the park at the giraffe enclosure. Colorado Springs has a large giraffe herd and is well known for its breeding program. There were two new giraffes there at the time, The resulting growth in the herd allows them to ship to other areas where they are also trying to assure the continued success of the species.

One of the large giraffes left what he was doing and ambled right over in my direction. How close do they get? REALLY CLOSE! Do they eat cameras? Do they lick people? I did not stay to find out! There just happened to be some interesting birds nearby! And then a family of Mir cats. And then the lemurs got my attention.

Trish herded us toward the primate house. Her favourite was the baby silverback gorilla. We watched momma, poppa and baby interact. They are fun. The monkey enclosure was keeping a group of children amused as well.

We continued on through the north west area, moose, mountain lion, porcupine and a grizzley bear. From there we traveled through Asia, the snow lepord and other species that seemed to be more difficult to see, on to Australia. The wallabies were hopping along the path we were walking on.

We left the zoo passing the giraffes once more.

We were heading further up the mountain to Helen Hunt Falls with a brief stop in a normal subdivision except one home owner was an artist. He creates large metal wind vanes that decorate his front yard. They are amazing! We parked so I could take some pictures.

Then on to the falls. Bear and Trish stayed behind while Dan and I walked up the many steps to the top of the falls. It was a nice finish to a pleasant day.

Riding the COG to Pike's Peak

Monday, June 21st;

We arrived at the home of Bear and Trish Saturday afternoon. They had reserved a place for our rig in front of their home and we did not even have to unhook for the next week. We moved into their downstairs guestroom and slept in the cool of the high Colorado evenings.

Sunday we had a quiet day just visiting. But starting Monday they had some days planned to show us their lovely city. We went to the Monday morning Farmer's market and wandered the downtown core. We stopped by the old town and met the owners and employees of the CS West bike shop. Bear and Trish have adopted them as their Colorado family. This is a challenging town to ride and both Bear and Trish have taken it up, though Trish is less able now. The city itself stands at over 6000 feet and many of the bike trails run up over 10,000 feet. Going up is difficult, coming down is scary!!!

We decided to see the heights in a somewhat less strenuous way. We took the COG railway for the last run of the day up to Pike's Peak. We boarded the train in Manitou Springs and we looked very out of place in our jeans, long sleeved turtle neck, vest and polar fleece among many in their shorts and Tís. We wandered about the station platform taking pictures and people watching. There were humming birds feeding above the platform. Beware of humming bird fallout! Unfortunately I suffered a direct hit down the side of my nose!

We started up the mountain past rock faces and heavily treed hills. We caught a glimpse of the oldest operating power station west of the Mississippi. A young couple live there during the summer and have a 60 mile driveway out to the main road to get their mail! An even longer drive to get groceries in Colorado Springs. What a place to spend their summers! They are responsible for upkeep of the dams, waterways and equipment that create the power.

There is a halfway house that shelters hikers waiting for the train to take them up or down as the case may be. The Barr trail built in 1917 still carries hikers up the mountain today. There is a cabin for them to overnight on the journey. The other way up is by road. Bear and Trish did that on a motor bike in winter some years ago. The experience has stayed with them. It was a cold and icy ride. With no safety fences on the steep and winding slope it is still a dangerous road today.

We passed the section house where railway gangs lived in the early days. They built the railway and kept it open. Families lived in that house and at least one baby was born there. At this point we are high above the tree line with the tender tundra stretching away from us. You can still see the old wagon trail that predates the railway winding up the hills. Tundra grows so slowly that it has not been covered yet. As we left the tree line behind us we saw one lone bristlecone pine at the edge of the forest. It was over 2000 years old. That means it was growing at the time the pyramids were built!

At last we came up the last steep grade and stopped at the Pike's Peak Station. It was cold and a strong wind was blowing making it feel like freezing temperatures. It was also 1410 ft above sea level. Now we were glad we had dressed for winter! I wandered about on my own taking pictures and marveling at the views around me. I was aware that I was feeling the effects of the altitude. I had been drinking my water faithfully but still felt very dizzy with a slight headache. I stayed carefully away from the really sharp drop offs!

I met up with the others in the station coffee shop and we listened for the warning whistle to board the train for the trip back down the mountain. This was the last train of the day so we did not want to miss it!