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Blueberry Hill RV Park

Athabasca, Alberta

Tuesday, September 2, 2008, 6:15 pm Mountain Time

Mostly sunny and warm today, cooling off quickly now;  temperature, 62F 

Altitude:  553 meters  (about 1815 feet)

An easy day’s drive today--we left at 9 am and arrived at this campground just before 1 pm. The countryside we went through was mostly flat to rolling, lakes and forest, with lots of logging activity, and some mixed farming and ranching in some areas.  As we neared Athabasca, the land turned to more farming than forestry, and fields of hay and grain were everywhere.

Athabasca is a pleasant little town with all the necessary services--two super markets, liquor store, a cute little “Main Street,” and a small farmers’ market run by ladies in long skirts and bonnets (probably Mennonites or Hutterites).  This RV park is very nice, with all the amenties (full hook-ups, WiFi, and adjacent municipal golf course).  Athabasca also has a Ford dealer, so we had the oil changed and transmission checked in the Explorer late this afternoon. And the Ford  people were very nice--they all wanted to know about Vermont, where it is and how much snow we get!  One woman at the Ford dealership said people around here know more about Arizona and California than they do about anything in the East (the US or Canada).  When people travel from here, they go South for the warmth!

We’ll spend tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night here and stock up tomorrow on fresh fruit and veggies before starting off on our slog across the prairies on Thursday.  We still hope to be home by September 12th or 13th. 

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Winagami Lake Provincial Park

McLennan, Alberta

Monday, September 1, 2008, 5:30 pm Mountain Time

Partly Sunny, Pleasantly Cool;  57F

Altitude:  644 meters (about 2113 feet)

A long day of driving--from the 60th Parallel on the NWT/Alberta border to this lovely woodsy lake campground southeast of Peace River, Alberta.   From High Level, Alberta, the land becomes more fertile and the weather allows crops, but the forest is still near.  From the immediate area around Peace River, we are skirting the transition zone between the northern woods and lakes region and the prairies.  Sometimes we leave the woods and there are fields of grain or grazing cattle, then we duck back into the trees and drive around the occasional lake.