A Day That Nightmares Are Made Of

Today we are entering the US for the balance of our journey. We entered through North Dakota at North Portal and spent some time (and money) in the Duty Free Shop before proceeding through Customs. The agent was very nice and asked us the usual questions. it did not take long to get cleared through and we were on our way. There is a gas station and coffee shop just across the border and Rick got a big coffee for the road.

We got up to fog. Very thick fog and waited patiently for it to burn off. Finally we gave up waiting and headed out on the road.

It did get better and was pretty much gone by the time we got half way to the border. I was relieved as driving in fog is not my favourite thing to do.

The landscape in this part of Saskatchewan is very hilly. Not the roads, but the areal around them. Coal is mined here and the hills that we saw were man made - the soil dug out of the mines.

By comparison, North Dakota was pretty flat. At least for the first part of the trip. There was a mixture of farm land with gas and oil wells mixed in. One of the ranches had a sign telling the world that it was a happy place.

North Dakota is only starting to show it's fall colours and it made for a pretty scenic drive.

We were about 90 minutes into our drive in North Dakota when we went down a big hill and over Del Lac Lake. This would start a trip trough what i call the valley of the moguls. These are a series of hills on either sides of the road and go on for miles and miles.

Last year i mentioned in my blog about numbers carved into the hills, particularly through the first part of this valley. I tried to find out information about it but came up blank with my searches. This year I took a picture of my GPS so that I could make a more specific search and I finally had my answer.

It has been a tradition since the late 1950's early 1960's for the graduating class from a local high school dig out and place boulders in the shape of their graduating year on the side of the hills near Kenmare North Dakota. When there is a class reunion, the group will go back up the hill to repaint the rocks. Pretty cool.

We continued driving through this valley for quite a while. It was amazing to see farms that managed  to cultivate land and raise animals among the hills. At one spot we saw cows on a really steep slope of a hill. The pictures don;t seem to make it look so steep, but trust me it was.

There was one farm that had placed statues of animals on the hills around the farm. I managed to capture the Big Horned Sheep they had on display.

As we drove out of the valley and headed east the town signs became more eye catching .

The land once more leveled out and we passed a town with a pioneer village and museum that dominated the west end of the small town.

it started to get much colder as we drove east and we started seeing snow on the ground. We hoped it was just residue from the storm that went through a couple of days ago and not a sign of what was to come.

So far we were having a great day. Just 3 hours left until we were at our campground where there was a pool, hot tub and warm showers waiting for us. Then it happened.

Now before I can tell the story in a way that would be understood I need to give a bit of back ground. First of all, the towing rig we have it top of the line and has an electronic braking system that talks to the Jeep and uses it's brakes when we are slowing down or stopping. We had a problem with this system drainng the battery on the Jeep when we were on our way to Grande Prairie and really, it just meant we had to start the Jeep when we stopped to get gas or rested up to make sure the batter stayed charged. Occasionally the battery would go flat and we got the generator out and recharged it enough to start and then we would let it run. Rick bought and installed a part that should have fixed it for the return trip, but for some unknown reason it did not work. So we were back to starting the Jeep occasionally to charge the battery. Not really a big deal. If the battery on the Jeep ran out of juice, that meant the brakes did not work and we could always feel that push, so we knew that we had to stop.

OK so we had just gone through Martin North Dakota and, about 5 kms down the road we passed a farm tractor. When we pulled back in we felt the Jeep bump kind of hard so we pulled over at a gas station at Harvey ND, about another 5 kms down the road. The situation was a little more complicated today because the Jeep was now locked, even though we kept in unlocked so Rick took a hanger and headed to the back of the RV to break in and get the batter charger out. He was back in the cab in just a second yelling  "The Jeep is gone! the Jeep  is gone!" This took a second to soak in and I repeated "The Jeep is gone??" Stunned does not come close to describing how I felt in that moment. In a panic, we turned around and headed back down the highway. We knew it had happened when we passed the tractor so we raced back that way. sure enough we found the pale farmer just crossing back to his tractor and our Jeep in the grass on the opposite side of the road. It stopped just 20 feet from a telephone pole.

So what exactly happened? Rick bought the top of the line towing gear and some safety gear that would catch the vehicle in the unlikely event that it came loose.

Now had it come lose or disconnected where the towing bar sat on the ball, (circled in red below) the safety systems would have happened and the Jeep would not have completely disconnected and gone off-roading. What happen to us was the entire towing hitch receiver on the RV broke off so the hitch, bar and all the safety systems left with the Jeep.

When the jeep broke off it passed the tractor (and a very surprised farmer), crossing the opposite lane of the highway and went into the field. At some point the hitch bounced off the hood of the Jeep and then hit the ground, wedging under the jeep and ultimately stopping it.

In the picture below you can see where the hitch bounced off the hood and what is left of it sitting on the front bumper.

So the farmer who had been driving the tractor called his son, who came over and he called another friend who owned the tow truck company. He was out of town, but his brother was available to help out. We seemed to be the day's excitement for the little town and several cars came and went, some with entire families in them. The tow truck finally pulled up, but the driver didn't bring the flatbed truck so he left again. When he arrived there was someone else with him, maybe the brother who had been out of town.

Just about the time the tow truck arrived to pull the Jeep out a Sheriffs deputy also arrived and made a report.He was a really nice young guy and looked every thing over and took down the usual information.

They towed the Jeep to their yard and it was left there over night. There was a small campground right around the corner that, although closed for the year, the owner let us stay at. There was only electricity there but that would do in a pinch. The tow truck guys said they could hook us up with a good welder tomorrow so that we could get the tow hitch reattached to the RV. With all that settled we set up our RV and sat for a long time in shocked silence.

After a while I got up and made dinner and we talked t out a bit. I had already called our campgrounds and pushed our dates out and now we needed to find a replacement tow bar that could be shipped over night to us in the middle of North Dakota.  We made a plan. We talked about how lucky we were that there were no cars coming the other way that the Jeep could have hit head on. It is a busy highway so we dodged a huge bullet. At 11:00 pm we decided to try to get some sleep. Neither one of us slept much.

Saskatchewan.....again

Today's travels were across the province of Saskatchewan. We are starting from the border with Alberta and travelling to Estevan, where we will spend the night at the local Walmart. Why Walmart? Well there are no campgrounds in this area that are open past September 30th. This town is just 40 kms from North Portal, where we will enter the US for the balance of our trip.

I was a little worried about the weather today. As is my habit, I checked the weather at 2 or three places along our route to see what we were driving into. According to the weather a major winter storm blew through our path yesterday, but today was going to be clear. What that meant for the roads ahead was unclear. As it happened, there was almost no evidence of snow anywhere until just outside of Estevan. Made me wonder if the weather channel was broadcasting fake news! 😉😉


The weather was actually pretty good for driving. It was sunny but really warm, just comfortable. The roads were mostly flat, especially the first half of the day. There was this one part of the road that was interesting, though. If you look at the picture below you will see a road that is going across the picture, almost at right angles to us. In fact, it was the road we were on.

Yep, there was a big curve ahead!

Ok enough about the roads. The scenery we passed was mostly flat farm land, now filled with bales of straw, wheat or hay. there were round bales and big square bales, some of which were stacked into pyramids.

it was not unusual to drive for almost an hour between towns and we were amazed by how large the farms were here. you would see stacks or bales of crop stretching from the road to the edge of the horizon with nothing in between and no farm buildings in sight.

Over the course of the day we crossed the Northern Saskatchewan River

and again.....

and again...

That is right, today we crossed the river 3 times. We crossed it once yesterday as well. Rick, who really does not like bridges did not appreciate the beauty of the river quite the same as I did.

There were some interesting things along the side of the road that I managed to catch a picture of. Some of it was eye catching advertising.

 We also saw an RV dealership that had a big cement done on the property. These domes are said to be weatherproof and will not sustain damage if hit by a tornado. The shape makes it impossible for the the wind to get underneath the structure and it is too heavy to be lifted up.

We saw a huge line of silos that stretched across a field and a strange machine that looked like a yellow dragon.

Of course my dragon was just 2 machines positioned close together and the angle I was seeing them at.

We also saw this big machine waiting patiently to cross the 4 lanes of the Trans Canada Highway.

We have, from time to time, encountered some of these machines actually driving on the highway. Yes, I mean the 4 lane Trans Canada Highway.

When we passed through Moose Jaw, I managed to get better pictures of the Moose and Plane that are outside the region's Visitor's Center. the images I captured on our way out west sort of looked like the plane was flying up the moose's butt. Photography seems all about the angle you are shooting from!

As we approached the southern part of the province and our destination for the night, we went through Weyburn Saskatchewan. This town seems to be the dividing line between agriculture and oil and gas production in this part of the province. What stands out for me in Weyburn is their cool metal wheat stalks that hey have along their main road.

The land between Weyburn and Esteven was full of Pump-jacks working to pull either the gas or oil from out of the ground. We speculated that it was oil because we also saw gas flairs that are usually a sign they are burning impurities from the oil. The truth is probably both oil and gas are being pumped out of the ground.

As we approached Estevan, our GPS and Google Maps on my phone, once again gave different directions to the local Walmart. I swear after this trip we could write a book on GPS acting badly. For whatever reason our GPS wants us to go through town and take the long way around to everything. Google told us the street that Walmart was on intersected with the highway we were on so we chose the direct way. when we turned onto the street, though, flashbacks to the 'Montana incident' happened as the road was made of dirt and pretty rough. Thankfully it only lasted about 100 meters. We hit the pavement and within 5 minutes we were parked at Walmart. Rick spoke to the store manager to ensure it was ok to park there for the night and then we did a little shopping before settling in for the night. We were only 40 kilometers from the US border and that is where we were heading first thing in the morning. 

The Long Journey Home Begins

It is never as exciting packing up to go home as it it preparing for our journey out. The trip back always has a feeling of sadness as we leave our boys behind. There just is never enough time with them.

Thursday late afternoon and evening was spent repacking, storing and taking down the campsite. The only thing we left connected for the morning was the electricity. We processed our check out with the camp in the afternoon so all we had to do was drive away the next morning. The Jeep was reattached to the RV and we settled in for the night.

Neither one of us slept very well, though and we were up at 3:00 am. After coffee and breakfast and more coffee we started for home. I think it was around 6:30 when we left. We were going to wait until sunrise but we were getting antsy just sitting and waiting so we left. I am not a fan of driving in the dark, Never really have been. So I really did not enjoy the first part of the journey. We even tackled THE big hill in the dark. I really did not like that. Not being able to see the twists and turns ahead as we went down the hill was just frightening to me.

The sun was starting to peak out when we got to Valleyview, where we stopped and filled our gas tanks. There was a Tim Hortons right beside the gas station so I went and got us each a hot beverage. With a tank full of gas and Timmies in hand we headed for Lloydminster.

I know that I talk a lot in my blogs about the steep hills and windy roads that we travel. I don;t thgink I have ever been able to capture it in a picture to adequately show this. If you look closely at the picture below, you see the road going downwards and then climbing back up in the distance. It looks like a continuous stretch of road. In reality, though, there is a very steep decline and incline that is not reflected in the picture.

Many of the hills have curves included, just to keep it interesting. The part in the photo below reminded me of a hot wheels track.

Ok enough about hills and curves. Coming back from this trip is somewhat of a challenge as I scramble for new and interesting stuff to write about. But, being the curious type, sometimes a little thing I see along the way catches my eye and I want to find out the story behind it. We went through a couple of places that each had a story so I will share them with you.

The first place that sparked my curiosity was Mayerthorpe Alberta.

Mayerthorpe is about halfway between Grande Prairie and Edmonton and I am always fascinated by the huge train trestle bridge that is there.

This bridge puts me in mind of the old western movies. According to the town's history there were a number of suspicious fires that destroyed the original bridge in 2016 but it was rebuilt in only 20 days!

As you drive through the town itself it really looks like most other towns we passed by. It appeared that the town supported the local agriculture activity with farm equipment supply stores advertised and dirt roads between neat rows of houses. It was a sign that caught Rick's eye that sparked my curiosity though. The sign said RCMP Memorial. That sparked a discussion between us. He asked if that was where the 4 RCMP officers were murdered and I said no, I thought that was somewhere in Saskatchewan. He said he just saw a sign to the memorial. OK. So when we were settled and had time we looked it up.

I am ashamed to say I did not really know or understand the details of that very dark time in this little town's history. The internet is a wonderful thing, though and that took me (us really) to a W5 episode that talked about this tragedy.10 years later. https://www.cbc.ca/fifth/episodes/40-years-of-the-fifth-estate/mayerthorpe-tragedy-collateral-damage This report is very well done and informative.

A beautiful memorial was built in the town and opened in July of 2008. I think the next time we go through the town we will visit it.

There were other interesting things to see along the way. We crossed the North Saskatchewan River. We will cross it again tomorrow when we go through Saskatchewan.

We also noticed that the farmers seemed late this year in cutting the wheat and hay and all the other stuff that they bail. Last year when we traveled to Grande Prairie there were thousands and thousands of bales sitting in the Saskatchewan and Alberta field. This year, many of those fields were just being cut. It did make for an interesting landscape though, as we drove by many stripy fields.

The next area that captured my interest was just east of Edmonton. Every year we drive past this area and look for the Bison that are usually behind the fences close to the roads. There were only 3 of them grazing when we were on our way out to Grande Prairie but a big herd of them were out on this day.

This herd is in the Elk Island National Park.  The park has a long history of conservation and re-establishing species of animals. Originally started as a sanctuary for Elk (hence the name) the park has now become the home of the densest population of hoofed animals. There is a large number of different animals that make the park their home year round, including coyote, bison, moose, mule deer, lynx, beaver, elk, white-tailed deer, and porcupine. there is evidence that black bears and timber wolves also travel through the park, but sightings are rare.

There are also hundreds of bird species that visit the park at various times of the year.

The herd of Bisons that caught our attention are part of a group that numbers about 700 (this is an estimate). There weren't supposed to be bison in this park. Or at least it wasn't planned. In 1907 the government brought a herd of almost 400 pure-bred plains bison to Elk island from Montana. They were to keep them while fencing was put up in Buffalo park. When the fencing was complete, only about 325 bison could be rounded up and sent to Buffalo National park. The rest began the herd that we see today. The park maintains a population of 400 of the Plains buffalo. When the herd grows bigger than that they ship them off to other areas in order to repopulate areas where they used to thrive.

There is a second type of Bison that were brought to the park in 1965. The wood bison herd has grown to  a population of about 315. To be honest, I don't know which type of Bison that we always see. I can tell you they are magnificent looking animals.

As our journey continued, the only other remarkable thing we noticed was farm equipment displayed on hilltops. I don't know if it is just something that everyone does in the area, but we noticed a lot of them. Some were old fashioned and some looked to be pretty modern. But there they were, on hills, beside the road,.

Finally, after about 8 1/2 hours on the road, we made it to our destination. My favourite little border town. of course I am talking about Lloydminster. We stayed just a block away from the border, on the Saskatchewan side. I did manage to get a couple of pictures at the border.

The Alberta Coat of Arms is on the west side of the border post. The Saskatchewan Coat of Arms is on the east side.

So that is it. day 1 of 7 is complete and we are settled in for the night. Bring on Saskatchewan tomorrow!

Our Time in Grande Prairie

There really isn't much of a story behind our time in Grande Prairie. Except maybe it was too short. I think no matter how many weeks we spend with Connor (and his mom and dad) it will never be long enough. This year we had just 2 1/2 weeks with them and it flew by.

We arrived a day later than originally planned because we spent an extra day in South Dakota. We stayed at a different trailer park this year - one that was more suitable for children should Connor have the chance to come out and spend a day with us there. It was right beside the one we stayed at last year nd each time we came and went from it I saw the intersection where I had my accident. (They have now put in a traffic circle which opened the week that we arrived) I didn't think seeing would be so bad and really it wasn't - well except for the nightmares. Oh well, just my brain sorting it all out I guess.

We arrived mid afternoon and quickly set up camp and went to see Connor. We got some take out for everyone so we could be there just a little longer and grab a few extra cuddles. Let me tell you it was wonderful!

The next day was a busy one. we had an appointment with our lawyer in the morning and concert tickets for that night, with lots of cuddles and playing in the middle.

Rick and I had seen Honeymoon suite in 2007 at the Spencerville Fair and Rick had seen Prism back in the 80's when they were just breaking out. Neither one of us had seen Lee Aaron before.

Lee Aaron was good. I had no idea what to expect, but she definitely put on a good show. The base was a little loud so at times you couldn't make out what she was singing but overall we enjoyed her music. She played for about 90 minutes which was also a surprise. Usually with 3 bands in a show you expect the first 2 to be around an hour at the most.

Prism was outstanding. They put on a really good show and also played for 90 minutes with song after song and some good audience interaction. All of the bands did a meet and greet after their sets and Rick got a poster signed and talked about the show he had seen in the 80's with the band members.

The last band was Honeymoon Suite and it was not nearly as good a show as the one we saw 11 years ago. They would play a song and then do a filler with a solo and then play another song and do another filler. it was stange because they had a bigger catalog of songs to play than the other 2 bands so we expected more of a performance. The first time we saw them they only played for just over an hour but we heard many more songs. After an hour this night I don't think we even heard 5 songs so, tired for the days adventures, w left the concert at around 11:00 pm.

I must say going to a concert with your child is both cool and weird at the same time. We all had a great time though and I was glad Dan got the tickets.

On our way out to the trailer park, after dropping the kids off, I saw the northern lights! So, so cool!

One of the things that fascinates me about Grande Prairie is that they paint their utility boxes. If you read my blog about our trip last year I took pictures of the ones we passed every day. This year we seemed to be in different parts of the city and there were far more of them that I had not seen before. So I looked it up.

They started the program to keep vandalism down and to beautify their city. They use local artists and, through an application system, chose new pictures each year to add to what has already been done. i thought it was pretty cool. You can read more about it here: http://www.cityofgp.com/index.aspx?page=1510

The rest of the 2 weeks flew by with little shopping trips and Connor visits and cuddles. One of the hi-lites of the visit was Thanksgiving dinner. We bought a big turkey and cooked it with all the fixin's including Pumpkin Pie. It was the first Thanksgiving we have shared with the kids in years and it was wonderful! The food was pretty good too!

Connor's 2nd birthday was on Saturday the 6th of October and we had planned to leave on the 7th to head home. However, it had snowed a few times when we were there and, checking the forecast, it looked like significant snow was going to happen on the sunday from Grande Prairie to Edmonton to our final destination of Lloydminster, so we made the difficult decision to leave 2 days early. We crammed in as much as we could for those last 3 days!

We have offered too being the kids home next spring or summer for a visit. Rick's father has not seen Dan since he went out west and really wants to see his great grand son.If they make it, I will get some pictures of the 4 generations together. For now thought, I did get a picture of 3 generations of this family.

Stay tuned for the story of our return trip!