Day 7
The event is over and Judy and I are now back at Arrowhead RV Park. It’s going to be a day of rest, laundry and more rest. Boy, talking is exhausting and I did plenty of talking at the event! So nothing new to report. Same park. In fact, we’re in the same site as a week ago. We continue our journey east tomorrow.
Days 6-11
This is the event and we didn’t get lost! Those that are following are wondering… can’t you read a dang map? Yep we can, but unless every Garmin or GPS was updated within the last few hours, you’d be lost too. At the very end of this Blog (Sometime the end of Sept/First of Oct. I’ll be able to post pics (others took photos and videos). In the meantime, you need to know Judy and I meet some great people from all over Canada and the USA. Folks I expected to meet and DID! Gave out almost 750 “greeting” cards… Judy was was sick of hearing… where’s Donna Dee I need to meet her? .. or some such. What a WONDERFUL TIME I had. Met so many people I’ve gotten to “know” due to Facebook and other social media. This event Will be something I will remember for the rest of my life. I MADE A MEMORY!
I have a BUNCH of photos and next available WIFI connection, I’ll update THIS day’s info.
See me? That’s Ten Forward and the truck where the arrow is pointing.
I’m just going to pile in a bunch of photos. I don’t have any idea how long THIS Wifi connection may last.
I’m flying my US flag and Starship Command flag.
Several trailers were being painted during the event. These are the works in progress.
A couple of nice matched sets!
This is a BIOD Caravan from Poland. It’s one of two known to have been imported into North America.
This QT Boler belongs to the youngest titled Boler owner. She got it for her 13th birthday and has been busy creating her theme.
They’re EVERYWHERE!
One of the workshops offered was for ukulele lessons. A ukulele is the perfect size instrument for a small trailer!
Just some of the crowd at the opening ceremonies.
So long everyone. Had a fabulous time!
Day Five
Stats: 123 miles, 5 hours
Winnipeg is truly a nice city. Judy and I have seen parts of it four or five times… because we got lost AGAIN.
All we wanted to do was go to a nearby Wal-Mart, go to a DIY car wash, then get to the Red River Exposition Center for the start of the 50th Boler Event. Somehow between those three things, we went awry.
Visualize this… you’re looking at a map, know where you need to go (North is that-a-way), 50% of the streets you’ll pass aren’t on the map and the map isn’t drawn to scale. What could possibly go wrong?
After a couple of wrong turns, we did find Wal-Mart. Whew. Got the grocery shopping done for the next five days. Now to find the car wash… it was needed badly.
The truck and trailer were a lovely shade of beige. Considering they’re both white, that’s not a good thing. We drove through at least two big bug swarms outside Winnipeg. Some of those bugs were as big as parakeets. What a mess. So, up the Perimeter Highway we go… we know this road! Find the car wash down in an industrial area. An hour or so later of scrubbing with mops, brushes and mitts, both look considerably better. Now to find the Exposition Center…
I mentioned previously about the lack of road signage. Did you know in Winnipeg the freeways all look alike? Well, they did to me anyway. Someone I got on Hwy 59 (I THINK) instead of the Perimeter Highway. Looked the same to me…. drove for 30 minutes or so, I THINK in the right direction. It wasn’t until we started passing the same landmarks twice we knew something wasn’t quite right. Told Judy, I have to get off this road, we’re going to run out of fuel! On the Perimeter AND Hwy 59, they are NO gas stations. None. You can’t even see them. No tall signs up in the sky that says… GAS. None. So I took an exit, just to get off the highway. Surely there’s a gas station somewhere up ahead. Oh look.. there’s one! It’s on the other side of the highway and there’s a median. Forward we go… I just spotted a Shell station down…. that-a-way. Found a place to turn around…. got to the Shell. Oh phooey Judy, we could have driven 40 more miles before we ran out of gas. She wasn’t amused.
Went inside the store to pay for some fuel and ask for help finding the Red River Exposition Center. Now the exposition is no small place. It makes the Portland Expo Center look like a small city park. The clerk couldn’t help me, but a nice young man behind me got out his phone and… GoogleMaps to the rescue. I wrote down precisely the instructions he gave me…. he wouldn’t let me have his phone 😉 I think we can get there now!
As we were getting ready to leave the station, a man approached and asked if we were going to the ‘Boler Event.’ Heck yes, if we can find it… he said… follow me, I’ll take you there. How cool is THAT! It was at least 15 miles, down a dozen or so different streets/roads. Soon we were on Portage Road. Judy said, we’ve been on this street, right HERE, at least three times. We turned off Portage, went by a Tim Horton’s, down a road about 1/2 mile and THERE it is. Our savior pulled off the side of the road, I got out of the truck and gave him a big hug. What a kind and nice thing for him to do, truly and I’ll be forever grateful. Without his help we might STILL be driving around Winnipeg.
Once again, we noticed NO SIGNS. Okay, there was one small blue sign about the size of a US Stop Sign saying Red River Exposition Center on Portage Road. But THAT was it. Without others help, we never would have found it. And for the record. The Red River Exposition Center is NOT on the Red River. We passed the river at least three times and know that area well.
Just to give you an idea of what the next blog post will be about, check out this two minute video by CTV News in Winnipeg: https://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1465763
Day Four
Stats: 384 miles, 8.5 hours
Some interesting info about what we’ve found in Canada. Road signs are nearly non-existent. I mean… like very few (what highway are we on?). As we were crossing Saskatchewan and into Manitoba I told Judy to look out for a Rest Area because I needed to…ahem.. rest. Swoosh, there was one, drat there’s another we just passed. In Oregon we have signs that say “Rest Area 2 Miles, next Rest Area 53 miles.” Or something like that. Well, we found the signs for rest areas in Canada are right at the driveway, no advance warning. So… beady eye look out and check to see if anyone is following the trailer closely because at the next rest area I may need to slam on the brakes, crank the steering wheel hard and we’ll slide in sideways. Whew, made it.
The main highway, Trans Canada, the signs are about 1/4 the size of a US Stop Sign. So pay attention because they’re few and far between.
Someplace on the highway…WHAM. A rock hit the windshield of the truck and now I’ve got a running crack. Booo!
Finally made it to Winnipeg, Manitoba… got lost (that’s why it took us longer to get here!). The Trans Canada changed to a city street and I never changed direction. WHAT? Stopped at a Safeway store to do some light grocery shopping and a very nice bakery manager took pity on us and gave us directions to get us where we needed to go… on the Perimeter Highway. It would be like I-205 that goes around Portland. The Perimeter goes around Winnipeg. Who knew? Certainly not because of the road signs 😉
This night we’re at the Arrowhead RV Park. What a nice, nice park. The grounds are wonderful. Not a leaf on the white crushed rock grounds, a beautiful and lush green small lawn for guests, a great play structure for kids too. As I was using the women’s facilities my first thought (honestly) I wish my home bathroom was this clean! Terry cloth hand towels provided, fuzzy shower mats for each person’s use and on and on. Judy and I did our laundry in great, clean washers and dryers. I think I’m going to move in!
Day Three
Stats: 437 miles, 7.5 hours
Today was a long travel day across the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The smoke is still very thick. Because Judy and I are both accustomed to mountains, this landscape is really different. Once Judy was ‘resting her eyes’ and when she opened them minutes later, asked if I had stopped the truck because the view was exactly the same as minutes prior. It’s very flat and windy with few trees. The occasional home is easily spotted… it’s in an oasis surrounded by those ‘few’ trees. And we’re seeing lots and lots of cows!
This next night we’ll be in Regina, Saskatchewan. Your language lesson for today: It’s pronounced Rahg Eye Nah. NOT Ragh Geen Nah as I’ve always thought.
Thanks to a tiny road sign on the highway, we found the turn off to Sherwood Forest Golf Course and Campground… approx. 8 miles down a dusty dirt road. Who would have guessed a golf course was down a dirt road? The campground was adequate. Fortunately we were parked and setup on grass, so that held the dirt down inside the trailer. But would someone PLEASE turn down the wind? 😉
https://www.sherwoodforestcc.com/
Day Two
Stats: 330 miles, 6.75 hours
Crossed the border at Eastport, Idaho right after breakfast. We’re now officially in a foreign country. Temperature has dropped. SWEET! Gosh, the scenery has changed. Almost immediately everything is very green. Roadside grasses, plants, etc. What a difference from the dry prairie of eastern Washington. What has gotten worse is the smoke. It’s dense, like thick fog. I think we’re in the Rockies, I can kinda see some outline of big mountains, but no definition. Guess I’ll need to buy some postcards of the area, we certainly can’t see it.
We’re spending the second night in Vulcan, Alberta. I can’t believe as a Trekie, I have NEVER heard of this town and all the Star Trek attractions until just recently. We’re in one of three campgrounds in the town, right across the street from the Starship and Star Trek gift store.
The ship has landed! Judy indulged me and took some pictures. Can you see Ten Forward in the background?
Woohoo, a photo with a cardboard Spock and Capt. Kirk. Fun stuff! Bought my first souvenir of the trip. A pink Vulcan baseball cap. Thought it was a better choice than Ferengi ears 😉
We had dinner at Mama’s Pizza and Pasta. It was recommended by the staff at the Star Trek store. Judy ordered a seafood fettuccine with minor expectations. Boy was she surprised. Lots of crab… the real stuff and fresh shrimp. It looked wonderful and I’m guessing tasted just as good because there was no need for a doggy bag. I ordered a small plate of nachos. Oh my, good thing I didn’t order the large portion. There again, very good food and I didn’t need a doggy bag either 😉
The highest temperature today was 72 degrees. Nice! After roasting for several weeks it’s a welcomed relief.
We’re tired, it’s been a long day and sleep comes easily. I have no idea what time it was when the thunder started rolling in and the lightning started lighting up the sky. A storm like we don’t experience in Portland, Oregon. A lot of lightning, a LOT. And thunder that at times sounded like it was right over head…. then the rain came. Sure hope it helped with the forest fires burning.
I know I’ll have to return to Vulcan, Alberta someday. The Star Trek Museum was closed for the day when we got there… rats.
Day One
Finally Wifi! Three RV parks. All “supposed” to have Wifi, none did 🙁
Anyway…
Stats: 440 miles, approx. 8 hours driving time.
We left Portland about two hours late. Planned to leave at 7am, got on I-84 eastbound at 9:15. Did you know that no alcohol can be solid until 7am in Oregon? I was buying a case of Widmer Hefe to take to Canada… put the food into the two coolers, go get Judy from the motel, transfer bike rack and bikes from truck to trailer, hookup and
BLAST OFF!
Ran into some ‘egg’ friends at a rest area outside Spokane, Washington, Deb & Chuck in their brand new 21′ Escape… Gorgeous trailer!
Because of the late start, we went through Spokane at rush hour. Oh my. Reminds me of Portland rush hour… and it’s HOT, HOT, HOT. We knew it was going to be warm, but 102F is a bit much.
Got to the the Blue Lake RV Resort just outside Bonners Ferry, Idaho about 6pm. OH my, it’s STILL HOT. And it’s so dry in the RV park every time I take a step, dirt “poofs.” You know the Peanuts character ‘Pig Pen”? Well yeah, that’s what I look like as I walk.
To celebrate the beginning of the trip, Judy and I had grilled steak and grilled broccoli…. and something cold to drink 😉
Dang tired, tired… exciting, long day. THEN… the trains and their horns started! ALL night long, sounded like a train was going to drive right through the trailer. And the HORNS… dang. We didn’t know about the train tracks or wouldn’t have stayed here, won’t be back. But it is what it is, we’ll make do and are just so flippin’ happy to be on the road to making memories.
More later… hugs to all.