Friday, June 20, 2008
Escaping Billings, Visiting Edmonton, and Starting Our Caravan
[Updated on June 27th to include photos.]
[Remember to click on photos for larger versions.]
This installment covers Thursday (June 12) through Friday (June 20).
We slept in again on Thursday morning. The turbocharger was supposed to arrive by 10:30 and there was a 3-hour estimate to get it installed. To kill time, we went downtown and visited the small Western Heritage Museum. Its main claim to fame is an exhibit about the great flood of 1937 and one of Calamity Jane’s original outfits.
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We also visited the Billings Art Museum. We visited three galleries: one of art by high school students, one of modern art, and one of western art. Carol and I both thought the high school student exhibit was the best.
Knowing that Freightliner’s estimates are optimistic, we had a late lunch and arrived at Freightliner about 4:00, where we waited until the turbocharger was installed and tested about 6:00. We noticed that the air suspension in the front end of the coach had not held air overnight, and asked the night foreman to check the system again. He did, and they discovered a bad leveling valve that needs to be replaced. Of course, it is not in stock, will arrive by 10:30 tomorrow morning, and will involve a half-hour installation job. So its back for a third night in a motel.
On Friday morning we watched TV and read until check-out time, then proceeded to Freightliner to check on the status of the motorhome. The new leveling valve had arrived and was being installed. The installation took longer than expected (by them) and it was about 2:15 before we finally got on the road for Great Falls. The 240 mile drive was mostly through high plains, and it was very windy again, which kept our speed down
Saturday was a driving day from Great Falls to Calgary. It was a sunny day and was not as windy as forecast, so it was a pleasant drive. The Montana portion was ranchland and recently planted wheat fields; in Alberta, the farmland was greener. We could see snow-capped mountains to the west all day long. Because of the extended stop in Billings, we will not have time for sight-seeing in Calgary; instead we will drive to Edmonton tomorrow and have a day and a half for sight-seeing there before we head on to Dawson Creek.
On Sunday we drove from Calgary, through rolling farmland, to Edmonton, where we are staying at the same RV park we stayed at during our return from Alaska in 2002. We had some light rain this afternoon, so we went to the Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America. We toured the lower level, which includes an amusement park and a skating rink. From our mall experience, it looks like Edmonton has a large oriental population, with sizeable populations of East Indians and Middle Easterners.
On Monday, we went sightseeing in Edmonton. Our first stop was Fort Edmonton. This city park consists of the fort, an street restored to the 1885 time period, a 1905 street, and a 1920s street. There were a number of people in period costumes who answered questions about the time in which they were living. On 1885 street, I took a photo of Carol with the school marm.
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On 1905 street, we saw the contrast between a maid beating a rug at the local doctor’s house and a lady cooking lunch outside the tent she lived in. She and her husband had moved from Victoria and had entered into a contract to build a home. However, due to Edmontons’ growth spurt, there was over a two-year waiting list. During the winter, they stacked hay bales next to the tent and let snow accumulate on the roof, creating an igloo-like structure that was warmed by a single stove.
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Mid-afternoon we went to the Edmonton Science Museum. The main exhibit was Body Works 1, which just opened last Friday. This interesting exhibit displays human organs, human bodies, and slices of human bodies that have been plasticized. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed. The rest of the museum consisted of hands-on galleries.
After finishing at the museum, we toured the upper level of Edmonton West Mall, and had a nice dinner.
On Tuesday, we drove from Edmonton to Dawson Creek where we are staying at Northern Lights RV Park from which we will start our caravan. This morning I washed the RV at a do-it-yourself car wash. Unfortunately, it rained some this afternoon and the coach now looks as dirty as it did last night. On today’s drive we saw a lot of signs warning of moose crossings, but nary a moose in sight. This afternoon we joined the 24 other folks who are already here for the caravan for a social hour outside the host’s coach. We then went as a group to dinner at the White Spot restaurant. We had a chance to visit with some folks we know from our Nova Scotia trip, as well as the chance to begin making some new friends.
We started Wednesday by doing the laundry and washing the car in Dawson Creek. After lunch in the RV, we went downtown, toured the local art museum, saw the monument marking the official start of the Alaska highway, and walked the couple of main streets in town. After a late afternoon social hour at the host’s camp site, Carol and I returned downtown for dinner at Boston Pizza. Back at the coach, we watched the DVD Death at a Funeral.
On Thursday morning, Carol and I got haircuts. At 2:00 we had our caravan orientation meeting. After the meeting, I put a screen across the front of the CRV to try to minimize any damage from travel on gravel roads. At 4:30 our group boarded a school bus for downtown Dawson Creek, where we had a group picture taken at the big sign announcing the start of the Alaska highway. We had a nice dinner at the George Dawson Inn, followed by an interesting slide show presentation on Dawson Creek and the Alaska highway.
Friday our first travel day on the caravan. We left Dawson Creek shortly after 8:00 a.m. heading for the Westend RV Park in Fort Nelson. About 20 miles out of Dawson Creek, several of us took a short detour to cross the only original Alaska Highway bridge still in existence. Shortly after rejoining the “new” Alaska Highway, we passed the remnants of a car vs. moose accident.
We joined many of the other caravaners en route at Shepard’s Inn where we partook of their famous cinnamon buns. It was a nice sunny day, and this part of the Alaska highway is just like any well maintained 2 lane road. Most of the road has very wide cleared areas on both sides of the road so that you can see approaching wildlife. Today we saw one deer and one coyote, the latter just as we were entering Fort Nelson.
Like Montana, we saw some snow-capped mountains to the west on today’s drive; unlike Montana, there were fir tree forests rather than plains between us and the mountains.
After a late afternoon travel meeting to brief us on tomorrow’s drive, Carol and I explored the (small) downtown, but found nothing of particular interest. We then walked a couple of blocks to the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum, which has a collection of memorabilia from the area, a Hudson Bay Company trading cabin, the Hudson Bay Company manager’s residence, and a collection of old vehicles.
[Remember to click on photos for larger versions.]
This installment covers Thursday (June 12) through Friday (June 20).
We slept in again on Thursday morning. The turbocharger was supposed to arrive by 10:30 and there was a 3-hour estimate to get it installed. To kill time, we went downtown and visited the small Western Heritage Museum. Its main claim to fame is an exhibit about the great flood of 1937 and one of Calamity Jane’s original outfits.
.JPG)
We also visited the Billings Art Museum. We visited three galleries: one of art by high school students, one of modern art, and one of western art. Carol and I both thought the high school student exhibit was the best.
Knowing that Freightliner’s estimates are optimistic, we had a late lunch and arrived at Freightliner about 4:00, where we waited until the turbocharger was installed and tested about 6:00. We noticed that the air suspension in the front end of the coach had not held air overnight, and asked the night foreman to check the system again. He did, and they discovered a bad leveling valve that needs to be replaced. Of course, it is not in stock, will arrive by 10:30 tomorrow morning, and will involve a half-hour installation job. So its back for a third night in a motel.
On Friday morning we watched TV and read until check-out time, then proceeded to Freightliner to check on the status of the motorhome. The new leveling valve had arrived and was being installed. The installation took longer than expected (by them) and it was about 2:15 before we finally got on the road for Great Falls. The 240 mile drive was mostly through high plains, and it was very windy again, which kept our speed down
Saturday was a driving day from Great Falls to Calgary. It was a sunny day and was not as windy as forecast, so it was a pleasant drive. The Montana portion was ranchland and recently planted wheat fields; in Alberta, the farmland was greener. We could see snow-capped mountains to the west all day long. Because of the extended stop in Billings, we will not have time for sight-seeing in Calgary; instead we will drive to Edmonton tomorrow and have a day and a half for sight-seeing there before we head on to Dawson Creek.
On Sunday we drove from Calgary, through rolling farmland, to Edmonton, where we are staying at the same RV park we stayed at during our return from Alaska in 2002. We had some light rain this afternoon, so we went to the Edmonton Mall, the largest mall in North America. We toured the lower level, which includes an amusement park and a skating rink. From our mall experience, it looks like Edmonton has a large oriental population, with sizeable populations of East Indians and Middle Easterners.
On Monday, we went sightseeing in Edmonton. Our first stop was Fort Edmonton. This city park consists of the fort, an street restored to the 1885 time period, a 1905 street, and a 1920s street. There were a number of people in period costumes who answered questions about the time in which they were living. On 1885 street, I took a photo of Carol with the school marm.
.JPG)
On 1905 street, we saw the contrast between a maid beating a rug at the local doctor’s house and a lady cooking lunch outside the tent she lived in. She and her husband had moved from Victoria and had entered into a contract to build a home. However, due to Edmontons’ growth spurt, there was over a two-year waiting list. During the winter, they stacked hay bales next to the tent and let snow accumulate on the roof, creating an igloo-like structure that was warmed by a single stove.
.JPG)
.JPG)
Mid-afternoon we went to the Edmonton Science Museum. The main exhibit was Body Works 1, which just opened last Friday. This interesting exhibit displays human organs, human bodies, and slices of human bodies that have been plasticized. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed. The rest of the museum consisted of hands-on galleries.
After finishing at the museum, we toured the upper level of Edmonton West Mall, and had a nice dinner.
On Tuesday, we drove from Edmonton to Dawson Creek where we are staying at Northern Lights RV Park from which we will start our caravan. This morning I washed the RV at a do-it-yourself car wash. Unfortunately, it rained some this afternoon and the coach now looks as dirty as it did last night. On today’s drive we saw a lot of signs warning of moose crossings, but nary a moose in sight. This afternoon we joined the 24 other folks who are already here for the caravan for a social hour outside the host’s coach. We then went as a group to dinner at the White Spot restaurant. We had a chance to visit with some folks we know from our Nova Scotia trip, as well as the chance to begin making some new friends.
We started Wednesday by doing the laundry and washing the car in Dawson Creek. After lunch in the RV, we went downtown, toured the local art museum, saw the monument marking the official start of the Alaska highway, and walked the couple of main streets in town. After a late afternoon social hour at the host’s camp site, Carol and I returned downtown for dinner at Boston Pizza. Back at the coach, we watched the DVD Death at a Funeral.
On Thursday morning, Carol and I got haircuts. At 2:00 we had our caravan orientation meeting. After the meeting, I put a screen across the front of the CRV to try to minimize any damage from travel on gravel roads. At 4:30 our group boarded a school bus for downtown Dawson Creek, where we had a group picture taken at the big sign announcing the start of the Alaska highway. We had a nice dinner at the George Dawson Inn, followed by an interesting slide show presentation on Dawson Creek and the Alaska highway.
Friday our first travel day on the caravan. We left Dawson Creek shortly after 8:00 a.m. heading for the Westend RV Park in Fort Nelson. About 20 miles out of Dawson Creek, several of us took a short detour to cross the only original Alaska Highway bridge still in existence. Shortly after rejoining the “new” Alaska Highway, we passed the remnants of a car vs. moose accident.
We joined many of the other caravaners en route at Shepard’s Inn where we partook of their famous cinnamon buns. It was a nice sunny day, and this part of the Alaska highway is just like any well maintained 2 lane road. Most of the road has very wide cleared areas on both sides of the road so that you can see approaching wildlife. Today we saw one deer and one coyote, the latter just as we were entering Fort Nelson.
Like Montana, we saw some snow-capped mountains to the west on today’s drive; unlike Montana, there were fir tree forests rather than plains between us and the mountains.
After a late afternoon travel meeting to brief us on tomorrow’s drive, Carol and I explored the (small) downtown, but found nothing of particular interest. We then walked a couple of blocks to the Fort Nelson Heritage Museum, which has a collection of memorabilia from the area, a Hudson Bay Company trading cabin, the Hudson Bay Company manager’s residence, and a collection of old vehicles.
