North to Alaska - Calgary

Calgary is a very cosmopolitan city. There are many condos and apartments within the city and it's bordered by upscale neighborhoods with one of a kind shops. The city is located by 2 rivers and has an excellent waterfront area with parks and bike ways where thousands congregate each day for lunch. (click on image to enlarge)


Calgary is also a great city for biking. Kathy and I stopped in the local bike store and picked up a map of their trails. They have over 400 miles of paved bike trails and pathways throughout the city. Below is Kathy crossing the bridge that links the city with Prince's Island, a great park with a nice restaurant and paved trails.


While biking along the river we came across a yoga class. Calgary seems to be a city where its residents are very physically fit. We saw joggers all along the trails.


Later that evening, our friends Kim and Karl Herman joined us for some after dinner drinks. Kim is ISSA's treasurer and membership chair. She, as well as others from our snowmobile association in Iowa are here to attend the Snowmobile Congress.

North to Alaska - 4

We headed out of Great Falls around 8am this morning. Yes, it was raining again but about 50 miles north we finally drove out of it. Just prior to the Canadian border we stopped at a rest area and observed this sign. Our good friend Betty loves snakes, ha ha, so we had to include this picture.

At the border crossing we weren't sure what to expect. We heard that sometimes they inspect your entire motorhome. That wasn't the case. They did ask has much alcohol we had on board. Fortunately we had read the regulations that allowed us 1 case of beer and 2 bottles of wine. It only took about 3-4 minutes.

So we're now in Alberta Canada. The roads are good and the countryside is agricultural, looks a lot like Iowa. The main difference is their use of the metric system. The speed limit on the Provincial highway is 110km, about 67mph, the temperature is today is 15c, about 60, and fuel is sold in liters, or 33.8oz

We arrived in Calgary about 2:30 this afternoon. We're staying at Mountain View RV Park. It's certainly not the nicest place we stayed in but it's close to downtown Calgary where our convention begins on Wednesday.

North to Alaska - 3

It's only about 250 miles from here to Calgary. We'll probably hit the border by noon tomorrow.



Lewis and Clark wrote about these falls in their journal. The area is really interesting. There is a nice bike trail on both sides of the river. Had the weather been warmer we would have ridden it.

We decided to stop in Great Falls, Montana after 300 miles. It's not much fun traveling in raining weather. Following supper we decided to tour the Great Falls area since the rain had quit. We learned that true to it's name there really was a falls in Great Falls, Montana.

Due to the flooding, we had to take route U.S. 191 from Big Timber to hook up with U.S. 87 that was closed further east. It's a very straight 2-lane highway that runs right through the valley with mountains on either side. Above is a shot of the wind mill field along the highway with the snow capped mountains as a backdrop. The grey & rain drenched skies made for a poor quality photo.



It took us a while to get started today. Of course it is Sunday, a day for resting. We finally pulled out of Billings about 10:30 am in the pouring rain. Before we left I checked to forecast and it called for rain the next two days. Both Wyoming and Montana has experienced severe flooding over the last week. There are many major roads closed due to creeks running out of their banks. I-90 was closed where it crosses the Crow Reservation for several days due to flooding. This area is where Custer made his last stand at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

North to Alaska - 2

We stopped for lunch today in Sheridan, Wyoming. It sits on the eastern side of the Big Horn Mountain range, just near the border of Montana. If we had more time, it would be a great place to spend a couple of days. The town itself appears to be a nice place as we drove through the center of it. We stopped early this evening in Billings, Montana and decided to catch some R & R and see a movie at the local Carmike Theater.

Wow, what a ride I had this morning. Kathy couldn't resist having me jump into the rubber raft and shoot down the valley in the fast flowing water followed by a group of our newly acquired friends. Seriously, they have a number of exhibits at the Welcome Center. Kathy couldn't resist having me ham it up.

It didn't take us long this morning to reach the Black Hills and cross over into Wyoming. Fortunately, it was a sunny day because the winds were very strong.

North to Alaska

It was 8:30 before we got going this morning, so we were quite pleased to put 575 miles on before we stopped for the night. We’re in Wall, S. Dakota. Many of you have probably heard of Wall Drug. It takes up an entire city block and contains a wide variety of stores from trash and trinkets to western ware. Yes, there is a small drug store too.

As you can imagine a trip of this length would require a lot of planning and investigation. Gary and I both made multiple lists to be sure we included everything. Here I am on departure morning checking that list for the last time. We probably will come across something we forgot but it will not be because we didn’t do our planning.

We are finally Alaska bound. We have wanted to take a trip to Alaska ever since we bought our first RV back in 2003. The opportunity came when we learned that the International Snowmobile Congress was being held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada in June of 2011. Since Gary is the President of the Iowa State Snowmobile Association, we would certainly be attending and since Calgary is halfway to Alaska it made sense to extend the trip to include Alaska.