Day 22: Banff National Park, AB Continued

The next morning is cold, but the mostly sunny sky tells us it's going to be a nicer day. We drive to Moraine Lake that is in the vicinity of Lake Louise. The lake is beautiful, as it is completely surrounded by mountains topped with glaciers. The sunny weather helps too. We head up to the trailhead of the Consolation Lakes Trail, which requires four people for safety reasons: the bears are everywhere. 

 

 

As we approach the trailhead, there is a French couple asking another couple who happen to be French if they are heading to Consolation Lakes. They said no, we said yes. That is how we meet Lucas and his girlfriend, originally from Gap in France, but currently living in Montreal. We hike 6 km roundtrip to the lakes, while being very loud because of the bears. We have some scares, hearing some strange noises here and there, but we don't see any bears...yet. That doesn't mean that the bears didn't see us. We go back to the RV after having some lunch and decide to drive to the town of Banff, AB.

 

We drive there by highway 1A and the scenery is beautiful. We see mountain range after mountain range, each with its own unique shape and style. That makes for lots of stops for Yellow to take pictures. Then we arrive in Banff and its brutal snap back into civilization. 

 

 

The streets are filled with cars, stores, and people people people. Finding parking spot is a nightmare, but we find one. We get a coffee and a bacon cheeseburger and McDonald’s in order to use their wifi for an hour or two. Then we go to Canada's favorite ice cream shop, Cow's, and order a half liter of Moo Henry ice cream. After the ice cream is gone, we head back to Lake Louise and relax for the rest of the evening. 

Day 21: Banff National Park, AB

We wake up and leave the pretty early and for good reason. We are going to Banff NP and trying to get a good campsite. We arrive at Lake Louise, AB around 9:15am and drive directly to the camping. We get campsite G2, a non-electric site, for two nights. We stop at the visitor's center to the check the weather. It's pretty cloudy, but we don't know if tomorrow will be any better. So we decide to do a big hike around Lake Louise. We hike first up to Mirror Lake (2.7 km) and then to Lake Agnes (0.8 km). 

 

 

The trail is pretty busy with tourists, as there is a tea house of Lake Agnes. In fact, the trail is much calmer once we hike up to the Big Beehive Lookout (2.3 km). Most of the hikers we meet at this point are French speaking. One couple even has family in Belfort, close to Yellow's home. The French speaking world is small. The view from the Beehive is extensive, but unfortunately it's very hazy and cloudy. However, we can definitely see Lake Louise and it's intense Robin's egg color. 

 

We have lunch in a gazebo, feeling a bit chilly. We go down the Big Beehive and go up to the Plain of Six Glaciers (4.7 km). Again, another tea house located on that trail made it pretty busy.  This trail brings us to the front and center of a circle of six glaciers. Underneath the glaciers it is very rocky and sandy, as they have have diminished a lot in size in the past century. Up in the cliffs, we saw a mountain goat chilling out above the valley. We hike back down to Lake Louise (6.8 km) with some difficulties after our big hike two days ago in Glacier NP. The last 2 km are fortunately flat beside the lake shore of Lake Louise and absolutely filled with tourists: a lot of Germans, a bunch of Japanese and Chinese, some Spanish, and a right amount of French. We get back to the RV in the afternoon. On the way to the campsite, we buy a gallon of milk for $6.80 in order to enjoy some hot chocolate after our long hike.

 

Day 20: Glacier National Park, BC

Our destination for the day is Glacier NP, BC. We arrive pretty early to the trail head parking lot to be sure to get a spot. We decide to go for the Glacier Crest Trail. The description is not too scary for a 10 km hike with a 1005 meter elevation gain, and the reward seems worth it. The first 2 kilometers are pretty gentle going up and down along a creek, but suddenly the trail turns left and starts climbing the mountain. The trail is pretty steep in the forest with no real flat areas of relief. As the forest slowly disappears, we think we are getting close to the top. We aren't. We are actually barely half-way. The trail gets even steeper and very rocky. There are points on the trail where we find ourselves almost crawling and wondering how we can possibly go back down this same route. 

 

We finally arrive to the summit about 3 hours later totally exhausted, but the panorama is spectacular overlooking the beautiful Asulkan and Illecillewaet glaciers and mountains ranges in every direction. We hang around the summit, have lunch, and then start our descent. We don't go much faster than we did on the way up, at least until we reach forest. It's a great deliverance when we finally get back to the trail along the creek. We get back to the RV six and a half hours after leaving it, and drink some rootbeer in order to refill our electrolytes.

 

Back in Golden we relax. The only thing worth mentioning is the swarm of mosquitoes that attacked us while we were dumping our waste water. You should have seen the cloud of mosquitoes around Yellow's head. After suffering from such a high intake of mosquito saliva, we sleep like rocks.

Day 19: Mount Revelstoke National Park, BC

After having our normal oatmeal breakfast, we for Mount Revelstoke NP. The most accessible part of the park is the Mount Revelstoke summit. To get there, you must take the Meadows in the Sky Parkway. This road is very windy and goes up 1600 meters over 26 kilometers, crossing through the rainforest and going up to the flowery meadows.

We don't think this would be a good trip for Bertha, our motor home. So we park her at the bottom of the mountain, we hike a steep trail to hit the parkway, and we hitch hike. Yellow takes advantage of this break to dry his sweat, which might be a deal breaker for a driver picking us up. A car passes, two motorcycles pass, a bike passes (who we cheer on), and few other cars pass before a black car stops. A couple from the Netherlands brings us to the summit. 

 

Once we are there we walk for a few miles all around the summit trails. The panoramic view is stunning in every direction, and the meadows are colorful with a great variety of flowers. This is the perfect place for lunch, except for the bugs. The horse flies especially are making Red frantic. We finally find a good spot, and eat our lunch quickly while killing some mosquitoes here and there.

 

We start walking back down the mountain, trying to find a good spot to hitch hike, when our dutch couple pulls up beside us and offers us a ride. This is of course an offer that can't be refused, so we find ourselves back at the bottom of the mountain. We drive to the Revelstoke dam, which is suppose to be really tall. Yes, it is really tall. We stop at the BC Interior Forestry Museum, and then wonder why we made that stop. We drive through the town of Revelstoke that is said to have a “David Lynch atomosphere”. There is definitely something here.

On our way back home, we stop at two trails at the eastern end of the national park. The first is the Skunk Cabbage Trail, which brings us to the rare wetlands of the Columbia mountains. We are impressed by the largeness of the plants, which brings the feelings that we've walked into Jurassic Park. For the skunk part, we will say that it has something to do with the smell. The second trail is the Giant Cedars Trail, and the Jurassic Park feeling continues in the midst of this centennial towering forest of Cedar and Hemlock trees.

 

In the evening back at the campground, we park Bertha in front of the service area. Lame. We know. But that way we are right beside the showers ($1 for 6 minutes) and most importantly, we can stay inside the RV and access the internet. Mosquitoes – 1 Us – 1. We are surprised though to drive back to our campsite and find that someone has settled in there. Oops. The perpetrator is a man from Washington state (an American of course) who is trying to find a free site for the night, even if the campground is full. He politely leaves and settles into a spot across the way. The rest of the evening is surprisingly hot, almost suffocating in the RV and marked by eerie train noises that sing Yellow to sleep.

Day 18: Kootenay National Park, BC

We wake up the next morning and enjoy some saskatoon berry pancakes with our hosts. After packing and saying goodbye we continue on highway BC 93 through Kootenay National Park. The drive is beautiful again: a mix of aqua colored rivers, dense forests, and rocky formations spreading over the mountains and valleys. 

 

 

We stop at Marble Canyon to take a walk on the bridges that cross the deep canyon that is so deep and so narrow that sometimes we can only hear the river below. Yellow is being very careful with his sunglasses each time he looks nervously down the gorge.

 

From there we follow the trail that brings us to the Paint Pots. It will be a 4 miles round trip along the Vermillion river. It is clear there was a forest fire here some years ago. However, the burned trunks are completely surrounded by purple flowers and sprouting pine trees.

 

The environment gets even more colorful when we arrive to the Paint Pots. You know the paint that Native Americans used for their faces? Well, this is where it comes from (for the locals at least). The soil here is ochre. The streams are ochre. The basins at the top of the hill are spilling over with water rich in oxidized iron. The colors coming out of these basins range from lime green to bright orange to neon yellow to Bordeaux red. This place is so different in its environment.

 

While eating some cherries, we are attacked by horse flies. One successfully bites Yellow, who was waiting a little bit too long for Red to kill it on his hand. She was just too scared of these buzzing beasts. We get back on the road and drive across Banff National Park and Yoho National Park on Highway 1. Highway 1 is the major Transcanadian Highway, and when you don't go fast enough people get pretty mad, especially people from Alberta. They might think they are still in the Calgary suburbs. The drive is gorgeous once again along the Canadian Pacific Railroad with its spiral corridors that were made to overcome the challenge of crossing the Continental Divide. 

We arrive to Golden Municipal Campground in Golden, BC around 6 pm. We cook some pan fried noodles and veggies while some youngsters are riding their bikes all around our campsite. As night is descending, the mosquitoes make their appearance. We discover that the hard way, while taking advantage of the free wifi at the camp's picnic shelter. When the last mosquito is killed in the RV, we can sleep peacefully. Well, peacefully with our earplugs. Golden Municipal Campground is right next to the train tracks, and this is a major railway corridor...

Day 17: Kalispell, MT to Radium Hot Springs, BC

We finally leave Kalispell, where we thought our big adventure might come to an end. We are sent off with some tasty orange lavender biscotti made the night before by Debbie and the girls. We head north to Canada excited. Without the overdrive we have to drive 50 mph or less, which is way too slow for some of cars who are sharing the road, especially the locals. We learn that there are two ways to have an open road in front of you with a clear view of your surroundings: being the fastest car on the road or being the slowest. The latter gives you a surplus of safety and is more economic.

We stop in Eureka, MT to take care of a few things while still in the motherland. For example, we get some cheap American gas. And soon enough, we are back in Canada, more specifically beautiful British Columbia. We drive on BC 93 surrounded by beautiful mountains and beautiful aqua colored rivers and accompanied by the beautiful railroads that Yellow really likes. On the way we enjoy some cherries from the Flathead River Valley, which is the second most advertised good just below the huckleberry. And they are really good, as they don't spend more of their ripping time in a freezer. We stop at Fort Steele National Historic Site, which is a heritage village with its old railroad, old whistling train, old town hall, old fire tower, great view, and entrance fee. Yellow wanted to get some pictures of their view and accidentally went into the village through the back door. Ooops. We didn't really take advantage of the situation though, as we still had a ways to go.

We arrive to Radium Hot Springs in the late afternoon and are greeted by... Big Horn sheep. We learn later that they are a normal part of the town life. They used to migrate to the town in the fall for the winter, but in the last years the boys have stuck around all year. These lazy male fellows are hanging out around town, getting some cheap food from the tourists or eating the townspeople's gardens, while their female counterparts have the hard mountain life taking care of their offspring.

 

We meet our hosts, Frank and Gertrude, who have retired in Radium Hot Springs. They have a basement apartment that we will share with Sebastian, an eighteen year old German boy who is hitch hiking across Canada for about 3 months. We have dinner with everybody and watched the sunset over the western mountain range from their porch. This time we are not going to bed with the sun. We don't know what the connection with radium is but the hot springs of Radium Hot Springs are right here, 3 k outside of town in Kootenay National Park. We spend the late evening there in the different pools. The hot pool is at 39º C and the cold pool is 29º C. Instead of having the very hot water (42º C) in the adjacent tub, it is at the temperature of the river (less than 10º C). Red enjoys the hot pool, while Yellow finds it a bit too hot and goes to the cold pool quite often for quick cool down. He even immersed himself once in the very cold pool. Finally, relaxed and clean, we hit the sack pretty late.

Day 15 and 16: Glacier NP to Kalispell, MT

We wake up and eat a delicious breakfast outside in order to enjoy the lovely temperature of the morning. While eating breakfast, our campsite is claimed. It's around 8:30am. We pack, eat some thimble berries, and get on the road as soon as possible as we notice the fridge is having some trouble working probably because the liquid propane (LP) tank is low. We hit another bear jam and take that rough road again to exit the Many Glacier Valley, but this time something happened. We notice a horrible smell. Is it the toilet? It's true it hasn't been cleaned since leaving. Is it the sink? Could it be the propane? We keep driving until we find a place to fill up the LP. The attendant, a young man from Moldova, has some trouble filling the tank like last time, but is able to fill it unlike last time. As he is filling it, we smell the same smell that we encountered before. That smell was definitely LP. However, we turn the fridge back on and start driving again relieved.

 

We drive along the Glacier NP limits that is filled with beautiful views of lakes surrounded by mountains that are crossed with rivers. Some of the mountains were only covered by burnt tree trunks. A big portion of the NP forest caught fire in 2003, and the forest is slowing reviving itself from ashes. The LP smell is still around us. We stop and check the fridge, and the burner is out. Something is wrong. We light it again. We stop 5 minutes later. Same story. The next stop we light it again and wait. Soon after it goes out. The burner flame is really weak for the short time that it is lit. We pass East Glacier and its Amtrack station and follow the railroad to West Glacier and its Amtrack station. There we decide to run the fridge on the battery, which we know barely works. We will have to address this fridge issue at our next stop.

 

Going west on US 2 the road descends along the Flathead river. The main attraction of the area is definitely the huckleberry. This wild berry looks like a blueberry but is smaller. We stop to see what all the fuss is about. We get a piece of huckleberry pie and 2 scoops of huckleberry ice cream. It is delicious. Later we learn that huckleberries can only be found in the wild and that people never reveal their secret huckleberry spot. Sometimes gun fights break out over a good spot. Huckleberries go for $30.00 a gallon. The valley expands and suddenly we are in front of a gigantic flat area. Is it the Pacific already? No, it's the Flathead River Valley. Soon enough we are in the Kalispell, MT area.

We search for a place to help us with our fridge. We stop at an RV shop that is busy until Saturday. They give us the telephone number for Mike. From there we go to a transmission center. They tell us that overdrive is fried and that we have two options: repair it for a good amount of money or drive without it at the cost of convenience. We choose the second options, which we have already experimented with for the past week. The real draw back is that you can't go faster than 55 mph and need to regularly check the transmission fluid. We call Mike about the fridge issue, he directs us to another RV place in the south of town. We go there and find out they are busy until Monday. We call Mike again, and he fits us in to his schedule. We will meet him at 7pm at his place. In the meantime we drive to our hosts' place, Daniel and Debbie. The drive brings us to the other side of the valley. We cross some nicely cultivated fields and some newly developed housing. We turn onto Mennonite Church Road. We are definitely close to our destination. Our hosts' house is off of a dirt road at the foot of the mountains with the whole valley before it. We meet Daniel, who is heading off to work, and settle in. We empty our fridge into theirs. We try to relax.

We meet Mike at 7pm. He quickly looks over the LP system. The problem is definitely coming from the fridge. He plays around with the burner. He reiterates that it's definitely a small flame, and it keeps going out. The verdict is harsh: the gas valve is bad. You can replace this part for $300, but that is only if you can find the part for this old model. You can also change the whole fridge for a minimum of $1,000. We are heartbroken. The closest camping world store is in Spokane, WA, which is quite a ways away. This might be a deal breaker. It's not really worth having an RV without a fridge. We choose an alternative option. We pray. Then we go home and go to bed.

In the morning we meet Debbie, who prepares us a great breakfast that features huckleberry pancakes. Yum! We talk about life in Montana. Debbie's husband, Daniel, is the third generation living here in these very fertile lands. About fifteen years ago lots of people started to move to the valley or buy a second residence here. Now it's really hard to be a farmer in the area as the property values rose drastically.
 

Yellow, with his expert mechanical skills, decides to take a closer look at the fridge. It takes him awhile to figure out how the fridge works, but he gets it. Then he tries to see what is out of place. He notices that when the dial is turned to gas, it seems that the gas valve is only half open. So he turns the dial off the mark to try and open the valve completely. He lights the burner again, and this time the flame is strong. Great!! Five minutes later the flame is still burning. Fifteen minutes later the flame is still burning. An hour later the freezer is cold. There is hope!

We treat ourselves with some Angus Deluxe sandwiches at McDonald’s. Why McDonald’s? We haven't been there in at least two years! And wifi. Free wifi. Two hours later we go back to the RV and check the fridge burner. It's still burning strong and there is no smell of LP. This is getting awesome. We are so confident that we purchase groceries. For dinner we make crepes for our hosts, their daughter, and their three grandchildren. We didn't plan to stay two nights here, but our hosts are gracious enough to let us stay another night. We think the crepes were a hit, even if some of the kids (especially the girls) might have used to the crepes as an excuse to eat ice cream.

Day 14: Glacier National Park Continued

The morning is chilly, which means that it's hard to get out of the covers that are covered by our sleeping bags. As soon as we are out of bed, Red makes her coffee in her percolator and Yellow prepares his hot chocolate. We eat inside the RV. The temperature rises pretty quickly with the sun. We really wanted to do the Iceberg Lake Trail that Lonely Planet speaks about in high esteem, but due to the yellow knees and the red ankles we will be hiking on a flat surface today, which still has its share of great scenery.

 

We plan to hike to Grinnell Lake instead. We leave the campground on foot and head toward the Many Glacier hotel, which would be a beautiful place to wake up with the beautiful landscape in front of your eyes. We continue on the Swiftcurrent Trail by walking the wooded shores of Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine. Further into the valley is Grinnell Lake, that we reach after walking on wooden planks above swampy grounds and crossing a furious torrent on a suspended bridge, three feet above the actually trickling water. Grinnell Lake is magnificent, surrounded imposing mountains and hiding Grinnell Glacier from our eyes.

 

We decide to have lunch there until some mosquitoes start attacking us. We retreat back to the trickling torrent and eat there. We walk back on the other sides of the lakes. The trail is less wooded, but is swarmed by vegetation. Again there are some thimble berries among others. It's pretty busy because of the boat tours that take tourists around the lakes.

After walking for 8 miles, we get back to the campground around 3pm. That gives us a good amount of time to relax. There is no electricity neither are there showers at Many Glacier Campground, so we are left to our own devices. We fill up a bucket with fresh cold water and wash our faces, hair, and other extremities. We repair the yellow bike's rear tire and write a bunch of thank-you letters with the company of our new pet ground squirrel.

 

Then we make some phone calls at a pay phone, as we haven't had cell phone service in 4 days. This transaction end up taking all of our change. We go to bed with the sun again after a very relaxing evening.

Day 13: Waterton Lakes NP to Glacier National Park

On August 12^th, we wake up at 6:20 am, have breakfast, fill the water tank, and dump our waste water tanks. We leave Crooked Creek campground as soon as possible. Why so early? You will know soon. Read on. We arrive to the border between Canada and the homeland. There is an RV in front of us in line, and we are sure they are going the same place we are. They had just passed us before the border. The tension is thick. The border guards are probably asking the usual questions to the RV owner, but suddenly they are searching the RV. A minute late they come back out. That is when a container full of firewood falls out of the RV to their feet. Our surprise is growing bigger when we see firewood being thrown from the RV. That is when a small woman from Montana emerges, throwing a fit. She is told to bring the wood to a container back at the Canadian side of the border. It is strictly forbidden and well known to move firewood between borders. It is actually very restricted between states too. While the small from Montana is walking her wood back to Canada, one of the border guards is following her with the rest of the wood. The other guard moves on to us and asks us the usual questions. We don't have any wood, but we do have some Canadian tomatoes that we need to discard. We hand them over. Well... most of them. When the small woman comes back from her trip, we can hear her jeer at the other guard because he is taking even longer than her. Long story short, we enter Montana before her, but she does end up passing us a few miles later while Yellow is stopping once again to take pictures of the scenery.
 

We meet this small woman and her RV again at the Many Glacier Campground in Glacier National Park. This is why we had to wake up early: the campsites are claimed on a first-come, first-serve basis. So, we stop at the ranger station to claim a campsite. No, no, no. We have to drive around the campground and find an open campsite that has not been claimed yet. We find ourselves in a frenzy in the middle of a group other cars and RVs doing the same. We are saved from the confusion by several campers who are giving us precious hints on how to solve this puzzle. We finally arrive to campsite #97, where the campers tell us the place is open and not yet claimed. We claim it. We fill out our papers, stick one to the post, and put the other with cash in the correct box. Done. We should have campsite #97 tonight and tomorrow night. At 9:30 am the Many Glacier Campground is full.

We take off for the St. Mary visitors' center, where we take the free shuttle through the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass, the heart of Glacier NP. The drive is spectacular along the shores of the lake to the huge cliffs just below the Continental Divide. We hang around the visitors' center, getting to know some very tame ground squirrels. Then hike the Highline Trail for about 2 miles round trip. The first part of the hike is right in the middle of the cliff, while the second part is surrounded by the richness of wildflowers, called the Garden Wall. The view is stunning, but there are tourists everywhere.

We grab the shuttle again and take it to St. Mary Falls bus stop. Then we walk 3 miles, first to St. Mary Falls, then to Baring Falls, and then to Sun Point on the St. Mary Lake shore. The scenery is magnificent along the whole way. And we get to pick some thimble berries here and there. Unfortunately Red is so focused while looking for red ripe thimble berries, that she rolls her ankle badly on a stone in the path. It takes her several minutes to pull herself together, but she is able to walk okay the rest of the way.

We take the shuttle back to St. Mary visitors' center and drive back to Many Glacier Campground.   As not mentioned before, the road is awfully rough, and we find driving quite the challenge. We also hit a traffic jam. Most of the time traffic jams in national parks have to do with wildlife. This is one no exception. A bear has been spotted. Silly tourists, stopping recklessly on the side of the road. So we stop on the side of the road and see the distant bear, take some pictures, and go. We find our lovely campsite and notice right away that it's surrounded by thimble berries. We eat some dinner and go to sleep with the sun.

Days 10 to 12: Waterton Lakes National Park

On our way to Waterton Lakes NP, we stop at Lethbridge, Aberta to check out the High Level Bridge, which is the larges trestle bridge in the world. After taking a lot of pictures of it from all angels, we finally have the opportunity to see a train crossing it. Woo!! After a shopping trip to the Real Canadian Superstore to get some groceries, we head west to the Rockies that are emerging on the horizon.

 

That is when we start to have trouble with the overdrive. It starts randomly turning on and off before it finally just stays off. We stop in Cardston, famous for its Mormon temple, to see what's going on after calling Joe our mechanic. We finally figure out where the transmission is located and where its dipstick is. The transmission fluid level is REALLY low. We buy a stock of transmission fluid and replenish it. This is the last “big” town before the wild Rockies. We are sure the transmission is doing a bit better, but the overdrive is still not working, which is okay as we will be driving through the mountains anyway.

The roads are slowly going up. The Rockies are getting closer and cultivated fields are disappearing. Before reaching the national park, we check into Crooked Creek Campground. We head into the park to check it out. We stop and take pictures here and there. The mountains are impressive, like a mirage after spending days in the flat lands. The lake shores are fully of dry wood, and we see a black bear from a distance. The famous Prince of Whales Hotel overlooks the lakes and the village of Waterton. We go back to the campground to cook the sausage and make some potato salad for the next days that will be filled with hikes. The whole mountain skyline is in front of the campground, and when the sun disappears behind them the temperature drops drastically.

We wake up cold the next day at 7 am. We leave the campground an hour later to reach Cameron Lake in the national park. We start our day long hike on the Carthew-Alderson trail around 9 am. It's 8º Celsius (46º Fahrenheit). Cameron Lake is beautiful and still. We hike to Summit Lake through a zig zag trail that climbs the mountain through the forest. The scenery is amazing with the immense peaks overlooking the lake. We continue to hike toward Mount Carthew, slowing inching above the tree line. The climb involves walking along a gravel trains which has quite a steep incline. The view is spectacular from the summit. We descend to Carthew Lakes where we eat lunch and rest. We keep descending to Alderson Lake. Our feet are starting to ache. The lake is such an intense blue. The last stretch to the Waterton Falls alternates between a slow and steep descent. We are starting to hurt quite a bit more, especially our toes. As we finally have the village of Waterton in sight, we catch up with an older couple from Michigan and walk the last kilometer with them. The show some edible berries called thimble berries, which seem even more delicious than raspberries (if you can believe that). We arrive to Waterton falls, the end of the trail, after walking for more than 20 kilometers (12. 5 miles or 7 and half hours). Exhausted. The older couple gives Yellow a ride back to Cameron lake to pick up the RV, while Red explores the village and rests.

We arrive to the campground around 6pm and extend our stay another night. After taking refreshing showers, we treat ourselves to a delicious dinner featuring a salad, some Wisconsin cheese, and a bottle of St. Emilion red wine that we got from Nath and Marie. We play some Banana Grams and chill out outside watching the sunset over the mountains. We sleep like babies.

On Saturday we take it easy, which isn't such a bad idea because it's really cloudy. We cook, make some bread, write some thank-you letters, remedy our few sunburns and aches, and relax. We end up doing a short hike at the Red Rock Canyon in the NP. It is exactly as its name says, a canyon with red red rocks and LOTS of tourists. Back at the campground we cook again, write more thank-yous, and relax some more.

Day 8 to 10: Manitoba to Alberta via Saskatchewan

We drive through Manitoba, surrounded by rolling fields and encountering Ukrainian orthodox churches every town we pass. Then we enter eastern Saskatchewan where the silos are the kings of the countryside overlooking their cultivated fields that extend over the horizon. And parallel to the road the long double stacked container trains of Canadian National inch straight across the landscape.

 From Yorkton to Regina, the land is a gigantic plateau that has carved out valleys. We drive through the downtown of Regina, Saskatchewan's capital city, stopping at the Bushwakker brewery for some beers and a Saskatchewan hot plate (featuring sausages, pierogies, sauerkraut, and buttered beer bread). After Regina, we drive another hour to reach Moose Jaw where we feel almost at home due to the fact that one of the city's nicknames is “Little Chicago”. It seems that our local Al Capone did some shady business in the tunnels of this city. We also feel at home because of our hosts, Len and Marj and their good friends the DuMonts. We enjoy some homemade pie and interesting talks that go late into the evening. The talks continue in the morning with some waffles and homemade jam. They send us off just as warmly as they welcomed us with fresh cucumbers, potatoes, and cookies.

 

And so we drive west again through western Saskatchewan, The “Land of Living Skies”. The land gets more desolate and the hills are grassier. The hay bails are rolling all around us. The ranches and their cows are increasing in number, and metallic birds are mechanically pumping oil out of the soil. The RV is being shaked a bit too much on the road, which can have some unfortunate consequences. While opening a cabinet on a short stop, the barley and roasted sesame seeds spill out all over the ground which requires a good 15 minutes of cleaning.

We finally reach the province of Alberta where the rugged landscape gets even more desolate. After passing Medicine Hat, the sunniest city in Canada, we are surrounded by irrigated fields and vast plains. We also pass through Bow Island, the “Bean Capital”, and Burdett, who claims to have made the first irrigation pivot in Canada. We end up in Coaldale, Mennoniting our way to Elizabeth and Henry's place. They have prepared a feast for us which ends with the fireworks of a gooseberry-saskatoon berry-raspberry pie. This is accompanied by a great conversation of course.

After sleeping in lovely room, we have a big delicious breakfast with amazing homemade cinnamon rolls. After packing and getting ready, we are sent off with some Premium Sausage from Seven Persons, Alberta and the leftover cinnamon rolls. And off we go.

 

Days 6 to 8: Riding Mountain National Park

Sunday morning we go to church with our hosts where we make some more connections. After sharing a delicious lunch with our hosts which is of course accompanied by good conversation, we say goodbye to the Klassen family and Winnipeg.

We drive through Manitoba to reach Riding Mountain National Park. The towns are spaced out and so are the gas stations, which we learn the hard way. Our tank is on “E”, so we check our GPS and see there isn't another gas station for 22 miles. We're counting down the miles and watch the needle drop without compassion. We finally arrive to the gas station with a tank that is emptier than empty. The rest of the trip is pretty low key. We pass through Arden – the “Crocus capital of MB”, Neepawa – the “World Lily capital”, and Erickson where there are surely some Swedish folk who couldn't find Rockford. We get to Riding Mountain early enough to set up camp and see the “after” sunset at the very touristy Wasagaming Beach. This is where all the Winnipegies must have been. 

In Manitoba, a mountain is a large plateau that is just a little bit higher than the surrounding plains. That is exactly what Riding Mountain National Park is.
 

On Monday we prepare ourselves to do a little bit of exercise. After driving 15 miles on a dirt road and scaring some Bison with our loud RV, we arrive to the beginning of our chosen bike trail. It's a beautiful ride on a bumpy trail. We mostly encountered boreal forests alternating with birch trees, opening sometimes into marshy grassland areas with a little creek chilling out here and there. The yellow fear of bears was so large that he didn't stop whistling, singing, or honking his bike horn the whole time. The only survivors of those noises were a couple of running deer, a skunk – that quieted Yellow down a little bit, some lovely butterflies, and a bird that looked like a chicken. After 10 kilometers, we arrive to White Water Lake. We spend some looking for this lake without success, but instead we find the former location of a WWII German prisoner camp. On the way back, right after noticing that we didn't bring any of our bike tools, the yellow rear tire starts to make a dull sound. The tire is flat, and we still have 10 kilometers to go. He rides on the grassy area, but it's tough. The last kilometers are finished by walking. When we finally arrive back to our camper, we are exhausted. We treat ourselves to some German style pâté from Wisconsin, some garlic dill pickles, and some cold New Glarus Beer. We go back to the campsite and relax. 

The next day we leave the campsite quickly after waking up. We dump our gray and black water for the first time, and then we have breakfast on Aspen Beach on the very still Clear Lake. Going to the north exit of the park, we stop at several short hiking trails. That is where we encounter the terrifying vampires of the Lands-that-are-humid-and-shady: The Mosquitoes. We manage to do these trails by walking briskly and agitating them with our hands.

Out of the Riding Mountains we go.

Day 5: Steinbach, MB to Winnipeg, MB

Breakfast is one of the three most important meals of the day.  And this breakfast is similar to its proceeding dinner in its greatness, featuring again the delicious farmer's sausage and a great discussion. 

After leaving our host, we try to get a Canadian SIM card without success, as our cell phones are locked.  We decide to stay with T-Mobile.  The next errand includes refilling our LP tank for the first time, which happens with its share of confusion.  By the time we get back to the road, the blue skies of the morning have clouded over with heavy rains and gusty winds bringing some water into the RV.  Thus we arrive at our host's place in Winnipeg. 

After a very warm welcome and a good connection, we are given a ride into downtown Winnipeg.  There we walk around the Forks, a historic meeting place, vibrant with its green space and numerous shops.  Through the Esplanade Riel across the Red River, we enter the St. Boniface French quarter, rich in history and in French-speaking population, and that's pretty much it.  We are getting back Downtown through the same Esplanade Riel and we browse around the Exchange, which includes North America's most extensive collection of early 20th-century brick and cut stone architecture. Plus the alternative culture inside and outside its walls. 

We come back into the empty downtown, desperately searching for some restrooms. We finally arrive in a more animated area, that, it's not a surprise, happens to be the big mall. Maybe the reason people hang out at the mall is because of the proximity of the restrooms. We then walk to VJ's drive-in to get their famous chili burger and browned french fries, before heading to our host's place on the city bus.

Day 4: Grand Forks, ND to Steinbach, MB

The first night in the RV was great. Travelling is so tiring that we are sleeping like babies, especially with eye masks and ear plugs. Of course, it happened: a thunderstorm rocked the RV in the middle of the night, but we barely noticed it.

So off to Canada we go! But before Canada we encounter miles and miles of corn and soybeans. Suddenly, as we are crossing the border, it all changes: we encounter kilometers and kilometers of corn and soybeans, along with canola, sunflower, and other UFOs (Unidentified Farmed Organisms). There is definitely more diversity on the other side of the border.

We forgot to mention the presence of Drayton along I-29 in North Dakota, also known as The Catfish Capital of the North. North of what? Louisiana probably. Who would have guessed?

Happenings at the border:
- Do you carry some alcohol or cigarettes?
- Mmmm. We do have some bottles of wine.
- How much?
- Mmmm. A couple.
- You need to be more specific.
- Mmmm. 2-3.
- Do you carry any other alcohol with you?
- Mmmm. Some rum. Some vodka.
- I don't like when you use "some" in your sentences. Be more specific.
- 500 ml of rum and 500 ml of vodka.

We finally arrive at our final destination of the day in Steinbach, MB, one of those areas filled with Mennonites. After meeting Mark, our Mennonite host for the  night, we go to the Mennonite Heritage Village by bike. Good timing as this week-end is marked by the Pioneers Day festivities, which makes our visit rhythmed by the sound of a country band and the smell of warm waffles. While we're going through the old houses and shops in the preserved village, the sky turns black and 56 seconds later, it's raining like cats and dogs, and a bunch of other animals. We find ourselves trapped inside an old farm building with no lights, along with some insects and a mice that are seeking shelter. It's 6pm and the village is closing. A man stops by the building to close it up, and brings us back to the main building until it gets better. We have just enough time to chat and find some common acquaintances with an older lady that is closing the counter at the village shop. Jared, the man that saved us from the furious rain, offers to give us a ride back to Mark's place, with our bikes in the back of his pick-up truck. He gives us a small tour of town, talking about the famous local farmer's sausage and showing us the best place in town for coffee.

Back at Mark's place, there is a feast waiting for us at the table: a local Mennonite feast with farmer's sausages (Mennonite AND Hutterite style), pierogis and verenikis smothered in Schmauntfatt, New Bothwell cheese curds, butterhorns, veggies and fresh fruit. All of that accompanied by great discussions and lemonade.

Days 2 and 3: Minneapolis, MN to Grand Forks, ND

After a chill out morning, we start the day going on an 11 mile bike ride around the three lakes: Lake of the Isles, Lake Calhoun, and Cedar Lake. How smart it was to reserve the lakes' shores as a park and recreational area! It was a pleasure to make this ride between the lakes and the surrounding beautiful mansions. We can't forget to mention our stop to Sebastian Joe's for some homemade ice cream with very original flavors and a small children's bookshop with chickens and other animals roaming free between the bookshelves. In the evening, we had some burgers on the rooftop terrace at Joe's Garage right in front of the skyline in downtown Minneapolis with the whole Liesch family. On the way home we had a tour of the downtown by car checking out the animated Target building, the old mills that have been renovated into lofts, the theater district, and the cherry in the sculpture garden.

On Thursday morning, we borrow some kayaks and go for a little ride on the Lake of the Isles. A tiny little ride, as Yellow is still terrified from his kayaking experience in Sweden. After cleaning up, packing our things, and saying goodbye to the last bit of family we will encounter in the next month or two, we hit the road again. And then between Minneapolis and North Dakota we find corn, soybean, and wheat fields; silos; farms; a couple of lakes; and Fargo – the city immortalized by the Coen brothers.

We end up in a RV campground on the side of I-29 just south of Grand Forks. This is going to be the first official night in the RV. And to celebrate that, we are savoring some Comté cheese and Vin de Paille (= straw wine), the best cheese and wine you could ever meet, from the yellow countryside in France. And it is with the campground wifi that we are sharing this lovely experience. Good night.