Alaska Day 11 – Lethbridge to Whitecourt

WOW only 1.279?

It’s already day 11 and we left Lethbridge on our way to Whitecourt, AB through the outskirts of Calgary.  Calgary is a large Canadian City with slightly over a million people.  When we finally arrived at the Walmart, yes another Walmart, in Whitecourt we had traveled 426 miles.  Most of the trip was on nice four lane highway through rolling hills and lots of pasture and farm land.  Some rain and lots of wind made driving the motor home a challenge at times.  However we made it, had dinner, and are now watching the only TV station we get while listening to the rain fall on the roof of the motor home.  We bought our first gas in Canada, it was only $1.23; however, that was per liter.  Multiply 1.23 by 3.8 and you will get an idea of what a gallon cost.

This is the largest wooden railroad trestle built on the Alaskan Highway.

Another picture of the railroad trestle. We were told that a great many of people have moved to this area of Canada to work in the oil fields.

We saw a lot of farm land today as we traveled through the country.  This was one of the barns outside of Calgary.  We called it the happy barn...

The largest city we have been through in awhile. The traffic was heavy and fast.  I guess it is good for RVs like us who keep the traffic at a slower pace.  I'm sure we were called several things other than tourists?

Downtown Calgary ahead.  Oh and did we mention all the road construction?

There were hundreds of motorcyclists traveling through Calgary.  Law enforcement had traffic stopped for the cyclists and traffic was backed up for miles.  We never did hear what all the cycles were about.  We were just glad they were traveling in the opposite direction...

More cyclists












After a long day it was time to find a place to stay. There just happened to be a Camp Walmart in Whitecourt.  Our favorite thing about this picture is that it was taken around 10 PM...

Alaska 2013 - Day 10 Great Falls, MT to Lethbridge, AB

We slept in and had a late breakfast. Then we spent most of the day in Great Falls getting an oil change for the motor home and afterwards left for the border. We went through customs and crossed into Canada at Sweet Grass, MT with no problems and continued on to Lethbridge, AB for another night at Walmart.  Prior to crossing the border we fueled up in Conrad, Montana where we paid $3.75 for 88 octane.  We enjoyed our travel on Canadian Highway 2 which is a very good four lane road from Sweet Grass to Lethbridge, AB through miles and miles of farm and pasture land.  If you like horses, then Wyoming, Montana, and from Sweet Grass, MT to Lethbridge, AB is where you need to be. We have never seen so many horses in pastures.  They were beautiful with a variety of sizes and colors mixed in with the new born colts.

While waiting for our oil change, we decided to tour Great Falls and the Air Force Base.

Inching closer to the border as we travel on I-25 north of Great Falls.

The border is in sight... Only 10 days 

One of two border pictures

It's about our time...  Do we have anything we shouldn't have?  

We made it through... We are in Canada !!!

We guess this is a Canadian lizard???  Actually in this area just across the border there were several dinosaur bones found.

Traveling north on Canadian highway 2.  Nice four lane highway with speed limits of 100.  It's time to start looking for a place to stay...  Wonder if there are any Walmarts in the area? 

Day 9 - Sheridan, WY to Great Falls, MT

We got off the interstate 90 and took US highway 387 to I-15 which led us to Great Falls, MT. The road was good through the valley as we followed the Missouri River for many miles.  We fueled up at an intersection off of I-15 and paid $3.74 for 88 octane.  At most stations out here the choices are 85 or 85.5, 88, or 91 octane.  We were told not to use the 85 octane with a person who was in charge of transportation in Wyoming.  After getting some fuel, it was off to Great Falls, MT and Walmart for another night of needed sleep and rest.  We had 14 other campers at Walmart with us for the night.

I-40 through Wyoming.  We had good roads, traffic light and nice scenery.











This sign was at the rest area on I-90 in Wyoming.  Made us nervous and poor old Gypsy didn't even want to get out.

 More nice scenery on I-90 in Wyoming

Not far from Canada now....

Float fishing on the Missouri River in Montana

Gas Prices in Montana.  The 3.65 is for 85 octane

I know there must be a Walmart somewhere

Great Falls, MT and the great University of Great Falls???

Day 8 Custer State Park to Sheridan, WY

It was one of those days when we traveled many miles but didn't get very far.  A couple wrong turns and a couple side trips added miles; but not towards our destination.  A visit to the Wyoming Welcome Center on I-90 was well worth the stop. We learned a great deal of history and information on Wyoming and places to visit.  One of those places was Devil’s Tower.  We spent several hours at Devil’s Tower learning about its history and watching 7 people climbing the tower.  After leaving Devil’s Tower we made it to Sheridan, WY for the night.  Walmart was our choice for a place to stay for the night; along with several other RVs and several trucks.

This is a picture taken  number of miles away from Devil's Tower.  














Finally, we made it...  There were a lot of people visiting the tower and the grounds around the tower.  There were also seven people climbing the tower.  The rangers in the gift shop told us several thousand people attempt the climb annually.  

See all the people on the tower behind Linda as she attempts to hold the tower up. We really enjoyed our visit to the tower and if you are ever in this part of Wyoming, we think Devil's Tower is a must see.  The welcoming committee o hundreds of groundhogs  makes you feel welcome...

These next few pictures are some of the seven people on the tower.  They were very hard to see with the naked eye; they looked so small on the tower.  Maybe this is something we could do on our next trip???

You can click on the pictures to enlarge which will give more detail on these climbers.

About a third of the way to the top...

This person and his partner changed their minds and were repelling down... Or had reached the elevation they had set to reach.

These next few pictures are of the groundhogs that welcome you to Devil'sTower.  They drew about as much attention as the tower.

As we entered the park there was a large area on both sides of the road with many, many groundhogs just waiting to entertain us.

We couldn't decide whether we had seen more buffaloes at Custer State Park or groundhogs at Devil's Tower.  In any case, there were too many to count.



Well after a great afternoon, it was time to leave the tower and bid farewell to all the groundhogs and continue North.