We were up early and on the road by 6:45 a.m. Coming east and south from Dawson Creek the land begins to change from heavy forestation to more grazing land. By the time we got to Grande Prairie, BC, we start seeing farming and croplands. The roads around this area are in need of help as they suffer from buckling and potholing. But then, it is the traveler who suffers from the humps and bumps!
We do make good time with speed limits now at 110 KmPH. We continue, however, with our 62 MPH rate. We stop periodically to refuel and stretch. But we are always back on the road heading south and heading east. For now there is only one best way to get us closer to home- slow and steady wins the race.
We arrive in Whitecourt, BC, and fill up. I have missed a phone call from my sister so return a call to her. We work out more details about dad’s funeral. I am sure glad that I am not an only child as would think it very difficult to go through all the decision-making alone.
We find a route that will circumnavigate Edmonton, AB, which is a time saver as this Monday afternoon finds many, many, vehicles heading into the city after what we are assuming was their three day Labor Day weekend also celebrated in Canada.
We connect with CA Hwy 16, the Yellowhead Highway which will take us from Edmonton all the way to just west of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We will be staying on this route for many, many, miles.
It isn’t long when we leave the oil fields and forests around Dawson Creek and Edmonton behind and find much of our view filled with wheat fields. Peggy takes a picture on the go and says, “Boy, we sure aren’t in Alaska anymore!”.
Mid-afternoon we come into Lloydminster, SK, but we decide it is to early to stop. We will later know that this was a mistake. We keep driving as I am still feeling pretty refreshed. By late afternoon Peggy begins looking at upcoming towns and camping facilities. We stop at three of them, but they have no vacancy!
We did stop at a Walmart in one town where there were quite a number of RVs parked. However, our 45 foot total length did not fit the parking lot setup, and we did not want to interfere with others parking, so we moved on down the road.
As dusk approaches Peggy manages to get a nice snapshot of the sky with the sun just below the horizon. It’s a keeper!
Peggy finds a campground in North Battleford, SK, and yes, they have room for us. Peggy asks them to put a reservation on a space for us. We now have over an hour to drive to get there. As we arrive in town the sun has already set, I’m pooped, and the campground is not easy to find.
After turning around a couple of times we finally find our way, get set up, and oh, does that first cold beer from the refrigerator ever taste good! We have our dinner, and try the campgrounds wifi. It starts out running just fine, but like us, seems to tire the longer we are online. It finally crashes and burns. Peggy and I crash in bed, dead tired at having completed a 625 mile day!
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