Heading home and some observatiions

Left the Sleeping giant this morning. Tried not to wake him. I did run into, well almost run into a little fox. Coincidentally enough the song "fox on the run" was playing on the radio. Like Buck he was not very afraid of humans or cars.

The drive was uneventful as the rain found me again for the Hwy 11 drive. Took my time and made it to North Bay. Thought about pushing on and getting home by midnight but thought better of it. The only place I spotted moose on my entire trip was between home and north bay. Why tempt fate.

Observations:
- why the hell are there so many cars with cracked windshields in Alberta? It was like every fifth car had a cracked windshield?
-is it me or is there a lot of rain this summer? One good thing about it was it helped to keep down the bug guts on the windshield.
- why is it the first big bug always hits right in front of you so you have to stare at its remains until the next stop?
- most expensive gas was BC along Alaska highway $1.41litre. Cheapest sask 94 cents litre.
- sask drivers will speed up behind you and then follow at two car length distance even though it's clear to pass. Is it prairie etiquette? Are they just being polite?
- BC drivers are just....well I'll leave it at that.
- I saw more police today on the road than I did my entire time west of Ontario? The speed limits are lower so is it a cash grab?

That's all folks. Hope you enjoyed following along for the ride.

Travel to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park

Up with the sun errrr I mean TRAIN!! At 5:30. I did not notice that there were train tracks outside my room. Once my heart started beating I got out of bed. Took my time getting ready and packed up. I wanted to get to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park by dinner time. Only 875 km away so no big deal. Since leaving Saskatchewan I have had nothing but sunshine so I hope that continues for my last night of camping. Overall drive was uneventful. But I did make a few stops along the way.


Time travel exists! I went back in time one hour taking one step, then came back to our time by taking a step back. Isn't it amazing. I have pictures to prove it.

 I went 1 hour into the future.

Also  I had to make a pilgrimage to the Terry Fox lookout along the highway and looking out into the lake at sleeping giant. I then stopped at the mile marker where he ended his run after the cancer had returned. A tough, brave man.

Where it all ended.

The view from the lookout where you can see the sleeping giant.

I finally reached my destination after 9.5 hours of driving. Damn this country is big. Turned out to be an OK park. Not as nice as Blackstone Territorial. The campground is in the middle of bush on a lake.
Buck stopped by as I was preparing dinner. Obviously he is used to being offered a snack or a meal as he just sauntered in....you are not supposed to feed the wildlife because it makes them a nuisance. This one family was throwing loaves of bread at him and then feeding him by hand. They won't be around when he gets to become a nuisance to campers and get turned into venison stew. But they will always have the picture. Sigh. I can be a grumpy old man sometimes.

Heading for North Bay in the morning and then home on Monday.

Saskatchewan gets the Manitoba Treatment

not that I have anything against Saskatchewan but I sort of drove across it today. Not a lot of pictures unless you wanted to see fields of canola or wheat, herds of cows or potash factories. It started out as a slow meandering drive until I got a call from home around noon. Those of you who know my dad know that he hates using the phone. So for him to call to see where I am at and when I will be back meant that something was up. He did not volunteer any info and said ok don't worry.... Worry about what????  So I had my daughter Lauren drove over to see what was up. Well apparently nothing. But by this point I had driven 1100kms. Over 11,000 kms for the trip so far.

But that's alright. I had already decided the night before that it was time to go home. I had seen what I wanted to see, did what I needed to do and now it is time to go home. Life goes on.

So here are some Saskatchewan pictures.

A potash plant.

Canola fields as far as the eye can see.

Red Deer, Drumheller and Little Fish Provincial Park

After leaving the glacier I headed towards Red Deer to have lunch with my cousin and childhood friend Jacques. We had not seen each other in 37 years. Last time was the summer of 1979 when a buddy and I were hitchhiking across the Maritime provinces. We had a great time.lunch was a nice little Chinese buffet. An excellent break from my campfire cuisine.

After lunch I headed for Drumheller to visit the Alberta Badlands. Scenery is still gray and somber. But still some breathtaking views.

I toured Drumheller

and decided to head out to Little Fish Provincial Park about 40 east. I got there in the midst of a heavy thunderstorm. When the clouds broke I fixed myself a steak supper (life's rough) and waited to see what the weather would bring before setting up camp. Well the rain started and kept on coming.

Off I went in search of motel. I ended up in Hanna, Alberta which is the proud birthplace of Nickleback.....yup my life is complete. I can go home now because nothing will ever top this. I might go out later and see where the plaques are commemorating Nickleback historic events....you know where they tipped their first cow etc....it's actually a very nice looking little town. But I would take down that sign.

The Athabaca Glacier

I was looking forward to getting back here to see what has changed in the past 5 years. It has receded about another 100 ft I believe. Not a lot of people there but it may have been too early for them.

The glacier front with the river starting. On my last visit this was all under ice.

An ice cave. Very cool colours. Hope they show well in the pictures.

I believe this is the rock where I got a picture of Chloe in front of the glacier. But I will check to be sure.

If you look closely you can see my truck way down there.

Jasper and the ice fields parkway

Well the rain stopped about 3 am. I was up at 4 but waited till 6 to begin packing things up. I hit the road with a fresh brewed coffee in my hand and headed south down the ice fields parkway. It was still cloudy/foggy so not all the mountains were completely visible. But even with that the scenery was spectacular as was the driving down those winding mountain roads. Here is what I saw before reaching my first stop the Athabasca Glacier. 

Caraboo boo....

Mountains.

Mountains shrouded in mist.

The Athabasca River.

Jasper in the rain part two!

as I lie (or is it lay) here listening to the rain on my tent I gaze wistfully upon the weather network forecast. Wishing that it was true.  

I did manage to get my lamb cooked using an umbrella. Lol