Wed. Nov. 30, 2011

Well about 9:30 again we are on the road leaving Knoxville with 40 degree temp an overcast skies. It was a nice stay an very quiet. We are on our way to Macon, Georgia today. Had a nice drive so far and we are having very nice weather and drive today.

We arrived at the LaQuinta early in the day, so we can regroup and repack our "stuff". lol lol

52 degrees and very sunny skies. The best drivers so far have been in Tennessee. They are so courteous.

Had a great dinner and as usual this LaQuinta is as good as the rest of them.

Hope to get a good night sleep and on our way to see Jim and Elaine in Florida tomorrow.

Tuesday, Nove. 29, 2011

Left Ron and Bonnie's about 9:30 a.m. with a temp of 45 degrees. A nice way to end the first day.

Drove to Cincinnati along I-71 south with a temp of 40 degrees and rain. Hopefully to get to Knoxville, Tennessee. We stopped at the Appalachia Museum which was very interesting and heard a ole guy plucking away on his violin and he played us a few songs. Appalachia style. lol lol

We drove through some rain that turned into snow that turned into slush while climbing the mountains about 2,000 feet. I had been driving, but pulled over and let Frank continue. When we got back down to the lower altitude it was fine, just on the cool side.

We finally got to the LaQuinta about 6:00p.m.

Frank went shopping an brought in some dinner so we wouldn't have to go out in the weather. :)

ON THE ROAD TO CALI- Mon. Nove. 28, 2011

Finally got to get on my blog after much stress. :(

We left Michigan on Monday a.m. with 33 degrees and overcast skies. On the cool side with wind also. We stopped at Cabela's on the way to Ron and Bonnie's. We did some good shopping and everything we bought, was free because of all the points he has acquired. After about an hour or so of shopping we continued on our way. We arrived at Ron and Bonnie's about 6:00p.m. and had a great dinner and Eleanor and Bill are on their way to Florida and also stopped for the night in Lancaster at a hotel about 5 minutes from Ron's. After they ate dinner they came over to Ron's and we all chatted for awhile and then they left to continue their journey the next day to Florida.

Had a great visit and always a pleasure to visit with family.

Aug. 2, 2011

We got up and had our continental breakfast then down to Mackinaw City to tour the IceBreaker Mackinaw that was built during World War II to meet the heavy demands of transportation during the winter months. It was decommissioned in 2006 and a newer one took its place. It now resides in Mackinaw City for public tours. It would cut thru the Channels Lake Superior to let the ships get through cutting through more than 7 feet of ice. Then around March 25th the Soo Lock would open up and let the international ships through. It was very interesting to learn how this all happened and there were 18 women aboard. We could go down into the machinery part, which only Bill did, then up to the Galley, and saw where they slept. Then the rains came down and we went into town and had a little lunch and we headed down to Mt. Pleasant. We got there about 3?3:30pm. The temp was about 82 and the humidity was about the same. hahaha.

A great trip with a great companion. Our total mileage was 4,050 miles!!!!! My oh my.

Abby was such a good dog the whole way. Now the fun of unpacking and finding out just what we brought. Had to run to the store to get some groceries since we had NOTHING in the cupboards or refrigerator. Glad we made the trip and that all is well on the home front and we both feel good.

Monday, Aug. 1, 2011

Well we left White River, Ontario with a beautiful 72 degrees and lots of sun. This will be our last scenic drive through Canada. Today is a national holiday for the Canadians and because of a 3 day weekend we found some of the shops closed. Stopped in a small town along the way called "WaWa". Goofy name for sure. Had huge Canadian geese statues all over the town, on bldgs. roadways, etc. I figure they got the name from the sound of the geese saying "wawawawawawa". lol

Went through the Lake Superior Provincial Park overlooking Lake Superior watching for Moose. None yet!!! Did see some moose tracks while Frank was taking some pictures of the flowers along side of the road. Huge tracks!!! Crossing the boarder while on the International Bridge at 3:00 p.m. Half way across the bridge there is an American Flag on one side, and a Canadian Flag on the other side. On US soil again!!! Yipee!. After touring around the Soo Locks and area then stopped and had something to eat. Went to our motel room and walked into the reception area, there sat Eleanor!!!! Surprise does not even come close to what I felt!!! Seems her and Bill had been in the UP for a wedding and were heading back to Mt. Pleasant today. They had called us and asked us where we were and how far we were from the bridge, while we were still in Canada.We told them about 30 min. to go through customs. Well, instead of them going down to Mt. Pleasant, they decided to turn around and come up to Sault Ste. Marie and surprise us!!! That they did. Both Frank and I were totally surprised and happy. What a pleasant sight to see them. So the 4 of us made a night of it by having dinner and driving around this beautiful area. No ships were scheduled to come through the locks until 11:30 tonight, that is a little too late for us. Tomorrow we plan on going down to Mackinac and fool around there for awhile before we head down to Mt. Pleasant. Bill sure is a great tour guide and knows a lot of the sights we don't even think about seeing. Sure felt good to be back on US soil and spending our first night back with my sister. Love you kid

Caroline you should have been here to make it complete. But we will see you in a couple of weeks.

It's a trip I really loved doing. Loved the people of Canada, so friendly and courteous. The temp. were great the whole time and the roads were beautiful to drive on. All the roads, were kept up in top shape. Cleanness ALL through Canada. I have never seen a country so clean no matter where we went. The prairies, hillsides, terrain all beautiful and green and so calming and soothing. We never saw or felt any threat to ourselves or belongings. It was a long trip and we will have covered 4,000 miles by the time we get to Mt. Pleasant, but it is something we will always remember with joy. A few days of Frank getting sick was a little rough and after that it was smooth sailing. Victoria, Vancouver, Banff, Calgary, all of Manitoba, Thunder Bay, the drive along beautiful Lake Superior, crossing the Mighty Mac and seeing the American Flag waving again. What a sight and what a privilege to be able to be free to do this in our country.

July 30, 31, 2011

Well since I missed a day or two of blogging I guess I will have to do some catch up. We left Sioux Narrows and went down to a small town called Nester Falls to visit with some friends we see in AZ., JoAnn and Wally. Wally and his grandson picked us up in his pontoon boat and took us across to their lovely cabin which is their permanent home, except in the winter months. They live on an island and it is a perfect place that Frank would love to have. You either take a boat to his place or you can walk across on a bridge. They had their 2 grandchildren visiting and they took to Abby and walked her all around the island. We had a nice chat with them and then headed for Thunder Bay. Abby slept all the way and did not even want to move, she was so tired. hahahaha Gas in these small towns are over $5.00 in American $$$$. Couple of more cute signs:

Laughing Water Trailer Park

Highwind Lake

Pair A Dice Road.

Mostly Indian Reservations all along this part of Canada. Driving through Thunder Bay was another experience. We got there later than we expected and could not find a room, when we did, they did not take pets, or the pet rooms were all booked up. We finally found a room at the Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel. This Hotel has to be 100 years old!!! It is right on the waterfront and their saying is " The only thing we overlook is the waterfront". WRONG!! They also overlook coffee cups in the room an our window overlooked the main street. hahahaha

But it was clean and we found out that the city is building a new waterfront hotel and civic center, etc and it should be completed by the fall of 2011. Well, the backhoe is still sitting there and they are going to have to work very hard to have it completed by the fall. Seems in Thunder Bay there was a Harley Davidson biker jamboree and a rock concert. whoopee. Everywhere we go there is some kind of concert of occasion where the hotels are booked. But that is summer time, for sure. We started out the next day and drove to a great River Gorge with beautiful falls and a huge lake. Then we started to drive the scenic route around Lake Superior. That was a pretty sight, especially since it was such a beautiful day. We hope to get to Sault Ste. Marie tomorrow and spend the night there then head down to Mt. Pleasant on Tuesday.

Friday, July 29, 2011

A beautiful morning with not a cloud in the sky. Great place to stay here in Brandon, Manitoba. So far all the motels in Canada that we have stayed at have been very nice. Even the lowest was better than a lot we have seen in the stated. We stopped at Portage la Prairie and drove through the town and around the horseshoe shaped Crescent Lake which is in the middle of the town. A cute lake that has a deer sanctuary, water slides, and some Canadian Geese with also a lovely picnic area. Very calm and nice place to relax for the day which we saw a lot of the locals doing. Weather is now in the 80's which is very nice for me, but a little warm for Frank. Frank was talking to a farmer today and found out that the crop he couldn't figure out the other day was Lentils. The blue flowers we keep seeing is Flax. We stopped at a Days Inn in Kenor, Ontario, but they were booked for the weekend because of a festival in town with 4 bands coming in to entertain and all the motels are in the area are full. We had to drive to Sioux Narrows and finally found a room at the Totem Lodge which is a very nice lodge that caters to fishermen. One of the guys at the lodge was saying he caught a 33" Walleye. Our Chalet is just a cute as can be and a beautiful. After dinner we walked around the property and had a nice evening and a great sleep. Lots of mosquitoes in Canada.

Thurs. July 28, 2011

Left Swift Current, SK with 65 degree temp. and sunny. This was a low OK motel, but probably won't stop here again. It was clean and the bed was OK, but you could see the small things on how they cut back to lower their cost. - 1/2 bar of small bar of soap, smaller towels, old TV with lines running horizontal through the picture, old style comforters, etc. It was an experience that's for sure. At least there were no bugs. lol lol. There are LOTS of mosquito's here because of the many "ponds" scattered on this farmland. About every 3/4 mile there seem to be another small lake of water. You need the repellent at night that is for sure. We went down a dirt road to check out the farmers and find out what a certain crop was. We never found a farmer or anyone around at both the farm homes on the road. One of the crops was a spring wheat and Frank was curious as to what the other crop was. We stopped in Moose Jaw, SK for petrol at 119.9 L which is about $4.50 a gallon for us. It cost us $45.00 for 10 gallons of gas. Had a traffic jam when we pulled back out on Hwy 1 in the left lane because the city was watering the potted flowers along the road!!!!Geeeze

Not much going on today as we just traveled along this very straight road to Regina, SK. There we saw a lot of malls an locals doing their thing. We didn't really want to stay, so we just kept on truck'in. Pulled into the motel about 5:30 p.m. (we lost another hour coming into Manitoba) We are now on Central Time. Getting a little anxious to get to Michigan after being on the road for 2 weeks today, except for the few days Frank was so sick. It will be nice to be settled once again. We have had beautiful weather today and looking forward to tomorrow.

Wednesday. July 27, 2011

Up and moving across Canada with a beautiful sunny, cool morning. The weather should warm up some as we cross the Prairie. Crossing the Prairie here is a lot of oil and gas wells they have found here. Seems millions of years ago, there were all kinds of dinosaurs

here and their remains have

decomposed and the result is $$$$$ for the farmers. There are many bales of hay harvested, but they are only along the Hwy. and the rest of the acres are just sitting out

there. There is one million acres of range land that is used for cattle grazing in the small area around Brook, Alberta where we stopped

for awhile. We are about one hour away from Medicine Hat, Alberta.

It is the last city before we cross into Saskatchewan. In Medicine Hat it seems the Cree and Blackfoot Indians were fighting and the Cree medicine man deserted them. The Cree thought this was a bad omen, so they put down their weapons and were killed by

the Blackfoot. That is how it got its name, meaning Medicine Man's Hat. lol lol

Medicine Hat also has a prehistoric river buried and produces an unlimited amount of cool water and more than 26 billion cu. yds

of natural gas reserves are here. Interesting, huh.

There are very many fields of vibrant yellow Canola fields here that are very beautiful and striking. Also they grow Alfalfa in the median of the road and it is harvested by the farmers on each side. The farmers determine who and how they will harvest the crop. Heard my first "aboot" here in the Saskatchewan Travel Center. So far on this trip we have seen only one bear and one coyote. Sure thought we would see more animals than that. In Medicine Hat we saw the Worlds Tallest Tepee. This area is

also called "the badlands". Saw another cute sign,

THINK AND DRIVE. Rodeo going on in Medicine Hat now so we could not get a

room. We had to go farther down the road to Swift Current (really that's the name) and pulled into a Thriftlodge Motel. Sounds good, eh! hahahahaha. This is not the Best Western, but it will have to do. Frank got a real kick out of the radio sitting on the night stand, and the plug just does not quite reach the socket. hahahahaahha (really upscale tonight)

We drove 2374 miles so far. This is the longest trip we have taken yet and were not even close to Michigan.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Had a nice breakfast and Frank seems to be better. His Asthma seems to be under control. We woke up to rain and suppose to get rain off and on all day. Great sign today

was "Semi Trucks cannot use "Retarder Brakes". LOL This cracks me up, partly because some of these drivers drive like they are retarded. Faster than most cars. We saw our first Black Bear coming towards the highway!! There was no where to stop and take a picture, but I bet the cars behind us got a good look. Had another beautiful drive today on the way to Calgary. When we got to Calgary it was just starting to sprinkle a little. Went to the Canada Olympic Park where the winter olympic games were held years ago. What an interesting place that was! Being right there seeing the Toboggan runs, and the flags of the different countries were just beautiful, and the Luge. How exciting it would be to be there while it is happening. Found out that here they make 98 percent of their own snow for skiing, seems the weather does cooperate for the skiers. It started raining real hard so we had to make a run for the car. But what we saw was great. Driving through the town was interesting also. This pic of the signs is typical of signs in most cities we have been in. Confusing? Yep. The Calgary Tower which is in the downtown area, has a torch atop it and it burned nonstop during the Olympic Games and is now illuminated on special occasions. The Stampede was another awesome place to see. We missed the Calgary Stampede by 10 days. But we did walk on the ground where everything happened. hahahahahaha

Saw the Arena where all the roping, etc. was done. and the smallness of the track they used for the Chuck Wagon Race, which was won in 1minute 15 sec. Since there are over 1,000,000 people that come to see this, it is much better to be able to watch it on television unless your a horse person, then to be here would be on your list of things to do. Had a bite to eat then left town in the rain again. Out of town the roads were pretty clear. The traffic of the city was gone and we had a good, peaceful, relaxing drive through what they call "Prairie Land". I expect I might have to do some driving tomorrow because now the road is clear and straight for miles and

miles. We pulled in for the night in a town called, Strathmore which is just East of Calgary. The sun came out

and we are getting some dinner and looking forward to tomorrow. Good Day :)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Headed out for sightseeing to Lake Louise with a beautiful day in store and a temp of 77 degrees. Lake Louise is a gorgeous place. Pictures do not doit justice. The water is a sea green in color instead of sky blue. Frank says that is because of the minerals in the Glaciers. The snow on the top of the Glaciers is very thick and is melting each day. We could see the cracks in the snow where an Avalanche will take place, but not today thank goodness. It takes 20 seconds, after the avalanche, before it an be heard where we were standing. LOTS of hikers from all over the world are here walking the trails and doing some serious rock climbing. For me it is very interesting to hear them speak in their native language and how they interact with their children and older adults.We walked around the shops and took some interesting pictures hope you will like. The one with the caterpillars that have eaten all the leaves off the bush is a bit disgusting to me. I like the bee on the flower and the attention sign. Abby thought the little dog was

Gabby, and was curious until the other dog got serious. hahahahaha. It was a beautiful day and Frank is doing much better, only had to do the nebulizer 3 times today. We are suppose to get thunderstorms tonight and for the next 3 days. That will be interesting. The Canadians here are very ecology minded. Recycling is a big thing here. Even the carry-outs are in cardboard boxes.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Excuse this crazy blog, I need you Amy to help me out. Anyway we left our motel in Golden, BC and had to take an 1 1/2 hour detour because there was another rock slide on the road we were taking. The other rock slide was behind us, this one was about 1 hour away. But it was a nice and scenic drive. We got to Banff, Alberta and what a beautiful, mad, busy place!! There is a golf tournament going on and millions of people here on top of the regular visitors. We were going on to Calgary, but Frank could not go on. He had to get another treatment and then he was ok. Got a room here for the night and had a great Italian Dinner in our room. This whole country is the cleanest country I have ever seen. Will write more later tomorrow, I hope. Been trying to figure out this blog thing and still have not got it right. All is well and we are sung as a bug in a rug.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Left beautiful Kamloops, BC this morning after a wonderful stay and touring of the fantastic city. It is so clean, friendly and comfortable. Took Abby for a run in the park and she made friends with another little poodle. She is getting more comfortable with other dogs, or should I say she tolerates them better. The temp is 58 degrees, and it does not feel like that at all, more like 68 degrees. The temps I give out are from the car gauge. Still can't figure out their system. Gas is averaging about $4.74 a gallon in US dollars, and because the dollar keeps falling, it gets worse. Today it was only 90 cents for the dollar. Got a $1.00 coffee and gave them a Canadian dollar and there was a .12 tax!! We figured that going 56 MPH = 90 Kilometers---62 MPH = 100 Kilometers. Kinda stressful driving today through the canyons, we had some hard rain and the temp dropped to 58 degrees. But it did not last long and soon we were out in the sunshine again.. We pulled into Golden, BC which is just outside of Banff overlooking the Banff National Park. The Canadian Rocky Mountains is the next hurdle when we get to Calgary, Alberta. Had a nice dinner at the "Diner" next to the hotel. These pictures of the flowers at Butchart Gardens I had to share to show what a great photographer I live with. They are absolutely beautiful!!!

Thurs. July 21, 2011

After leaving this outskirts of Vancouver, and having our breakfast at the Chinese Restaurant next door, which was a very good American Breakfast, we started our drive Eastward. Stopped at our first Canadian Rest stop and it was very nice and very clean. The roads are what amaze me, they are so beautiful. They looked like they have just been put down. No pot holes, gouges, roughness, so smooth and makes for a good ride. The temp has been 64 degrees almost since we got here. Passed some beautiful falls and one was called Bridal Veil Falls. The snow is stillmelting from up on the 13,000 ft. level. We were about 2-4,000 ft.and the signs along the road said "Could havesevere weather". Had to get some gas, and paid 120.9 a liter, at Hope, BC. The speed signs vary, but on thisRoad #5 (which was similar to I-5) the Max was 110 kmh. Also,Critical Accident Zone, watch your speed. The best was, Avalanche Area - no stopping. lol lol. Guessthey don't want you to take pictures. Driving through these mountains were just beautiful, then all of a sudden the terrain changed, and the mtns were just small foothills. We stopped at Kamloops, BC for the night. Drove through some hard rain at the 4,000 ft. level, but no snow!! The temp. got down to 45 degrees in the rain. Went out for dinner at the local Grill called--Lynx. Not bad, slowservice, but good atmosphere. Signs say Impaired Road Check--they lie--no check. hahaha.

Ps. Don't know why it underlined, can't get it off. grrrrrrrrrr