Day 56 August 30 Holiday Inn Express, Grandview, MO to home, Dallas, TX

Well, it's hard to believe, but after driving 10,635 miles, we are finally back in Dallas.  It goes without saying, but we will do it for emphasis, this is our FINAL blog of the trip.  When we started this project, we did not realize how connected we are to the internet in Dallas and how unconnected and how rare and/or poor WIFI connectivity would be in Canada and Alaska.  We were always able to find some form of internet but the speeds and connection times were very limited.  In the end, we hope those of you who checked in from time to time were able to get a sense what we were seeing and doing.

For us, it was a trip of a lifetime.   We traveled seeing spectacular scenery, wildlife, and meeting some of the most people...and we were able to do it with our good friends the Showers and Mertens...and we returned still friends.   We joked about how we ourselves would do...and we are still best friends...amazing considering we lived in an 18' by 7' box (be it trailer or car) for 56 days.   Our big job is to try now to comprehend all that we have done.

Here we are arriving in Texas...even had rain!

Here's the little trainer  back in its own back yard.

Our Drive

Day 55 August 29 Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND to Holiday Inn Express, Grandview, MO

Well, this could be our next to last blog.  We are in Kansas City and will probably be in Dallas tomorrow.   It is very hard to believe.   What isn't hard to believe is the amount of rain we have driven through.   We feel that we have a second career as rain movers...whereever we go the rain will follow.   We have seen the day through the swish of the wipers.

No matter which way we look, the rain clouds are building.

The rain broke enough that we wanted to eat at our favorite chicken restaurant in Kansas City.  It is so popular that parking here is always a problem, especially with a trailer in tow.

As we drove to the motel, all heck broke out with tornado type winds, hail, driving rain.   Driving through town made picking lanes almost impossible.   It quit just as we reached our motel.   My guess is that it is trying to find us!!!!

Our Drive

Day 54 August 28 Riding Mountaoin National Park, Wasagaming, MB to Holiday Inn, Fargo, ND

Back to the USA today.  Our Alaska Trip is really drawing to a close.   We enjoyed these sunflower fields outside of Winnipeg.   The wheat fields look like perfectly groomed golden rugs...some of which were being harvested.

Lunch was along the Crescent Lake in Portage la Prairie.   We always try to find a good spot to eat out of our cooler...and this was certainly that.

As we approached Fargo, ND, it started to rain.   We looked at each other and made the easy decision to stay at motel...the first one in 50 some days.   Karen was really disappointed at breaking our camping streak!

Our Drive

Day 52 August 26 Glowing Embers RV park, Edmonton, AB to Pike Lake Provincial Park Saskatoon, SK

We have had an amazing day with lots of great scenery...different than the mountains, but beautiful in its own way.  We had decided to stay at a provincial park because we like the feel of trees, grass, and water, and we found the perfect place.... Pike Lake just south of Saskatoon, SK.  Don and Barb had introduced us to Saskatoon berries and here we found ourselves in the middle of the mother load.   On the way to the park, we kept passing Ukrainian museums, festivals, homes, and churches.   Here is an example of one such structure.

In the Saskatoon booklet we picked up at the ever helpful information centers, Karen had read about The Berry Barn.   This one is one of the many berry farms in the area, but the only one with a restaurant...featuring, you guessed it, Saskatoon berries (they look and taste like a large blueberry).  We had borscht, not surprising given the Ukrainian population, waffles with chicken and gravy, a BLT, and a Saskatoon berry cobbler for desert.   Who could ask for anything more!

As everywhere we have traveled in Canada, the flowers and hanging flower baskets are spectacular, although not all are guarded by a fierce dog.   John almost woke him taking this picture.

 We thought we were looking in a mirror for a moment.

 Our Drive

Day 53 August 27 Pike Lake Provincial Park Saskatoon, SK to Riding Mountaoin National Park, Wasagaming, MB

Today was a long day of driving and relatively few photo moments until we arrived at Riding Mountain National Park.  We saw a lot of wheat fields, more Ukrainian churches, and whole lack of hills....Saskatchewan is very flat!   Just when we were convinced that we were leaving the wild animal kingdom behind, we were met by this mother and two cubs heading into the woods.

We had another great camping site with no one close to us.  Our pork chop, sweet corn, carrot, and steamed snap peas dinner could not have been improved upon.   We suffer a lot!

This particular park is mammoth.  We drove over to a large lake with cruise ships.

Even the seats around the lake are sized appropriately.

Just as the sun was setting, a few deers peaked out before bolting for the safety of the trees.   In the waning light, it was hard to get a picture fitting of these beautiful animals.

Our Drive

Day 51 August 25 Whistlers National Park, Jasper, AB to Glowing Embers RV park, Edmonton, AB

We finally feel that we are on our way home.  We will be leaving the mountains, wild animals, beautiful lakes, etc behind us.   Here we are just getting ready to pull out of our campsite.   Karen is smiling on the outside, but wishing she could stay longer.

Just outside of the campground, we are greeted by our friends who wish us well.   These magnificent animals are everywhere in the park.   Shyness is not one of their better developed instincts.

We stopped at a little provincial park about halfway to Edmonton.   Every one of these parks we have visited has been beautiful.  Canada has much of which to be proud.  We hope that the people who use them will take better care of them in the future...littering is a problem everywhere.

No trip to Edmonton would be complete without a trip to the largest mall in North America.   What a change from our past 50 days of travels.

We hit an old section of Edmonton for an Indian meal.  The naan stuffed with onions was outstanding!

Where else but Canada do you see these kind of signs?

This was the sun setting at our RV Park, Glowing Embers.   How fitting.   It was a nice enough site once the bulldozers quit in the evening, but most of the people working construction in the area are living here.   So at 5:00 am all the big trucks and motorcycles carrying the workers headed out!   Karen not as happy!

Our Drive

Day 50 August 24 Whistlers National Park, Jasper, AB

Today is our last full day in Jasper.   In the morning, Ken and Debbie Merten will head off to Calgary to turn in their rental camper, a.k.a. "The Leaky Box".  They have spent the entire trip bailing water whenever it rained.  We decided to spend the day walking around two lakes Annette and Edith, or as John referred to them as Edith Ann...and that's the truth...pffffft!  There was no wind so the reflection in the lakes was perfect.

We were shocked to find a diving class from Edmonton doing a check-out dive in Annette.   It was pretty chilly, so I'm sure the students were all looking forward to putting on cold wet-suits and hitting the lake.

Caught Ken and Debbie in a great silhouette.

Karen had a hard time saying good-bye to her favorite lodge in Jasper.   When the lottery comes in, and it needs to be a huge one,  she will be back to stay here...and maybe never leave.

Day 49 August 23 Whistlers National Park, Jasper, AB

We can not believe it, we woke to a sunny day and no real clouds or rain in the forecast.   Miracles do happen!  With this glorious day ahead of us, we decided to do a boat trip on Maligne Lake to Spirit Island.  Below are just a few of the too many we snapped.   I try to only put in pictures with of of the ensemble in it, but the scenery was just too great.   Our pictures do not represent what we are seeing very well.

Driving down from Maligne lake, we came across these stone sheep.   After watching them from afar, we climbed down to them and got some closer shots.

That's Ken in the background.   He got a great shot of Karen with this sheep about 10 minutes later.

After the sheep photo shot, we headed out to Maligne Canyon.   Another great walk with great shots. If you look carefully, you should be able to find Karen on the bridge.

We had not seen any deer until this one popped up in front of us.

Elk are everywhere in Jasper.  This one is wearing a radio collar...we're not sure why.

Karen wanted to go out to eat at the Jasper Lodge.   We had bison burgers.   We're not sure what the relationship is between this head and our dinner.

Meanwhile just outside our campsite, here is our latest pet!  No collar on this brute.

Another one, later on that evening.