Mom's Birthday- July 1st-08 90 Years Old !!!!!

Comox - June 22- July 2-08

It is a bright sunny Sunday morning in Comox. Gail,Mom, & Joyce are getting ready to go to church and I am updating our Blog. We had a uneventful flight from Omaha-Denver-YVR. Left Omaha at about 4 PM and arrived YVR at 8 PM. The flight was full but Denver-YVR was only 3 hours so it seemed to go quickly. As we went down the stairs to the Customs hall my heart sank. About 1200 people waiting to go through and only 5 CUSTOMS officers. They were on some sort of job action which took almost 2 hours to get through customs. Arrived at Al's in our rentedHyundai Sonata at about 10:30 PM. They had just got home from Hanna's concert so we saw her all dressed up. The next morning we caught the 10:30 ferry and were in Comox at 2 PM. Mom was so glad to see us and cooked a roast pork for our first dinner. Made the rounds around town and said hello to everyone. Joyce ( Mom's Sister) arrived Tuesday evening. Our FavoriteRestaurant - Red Ruby was closing for good on June 30 so we decided to have some friends together Wednesday evening for a get together. RR Pictures include Graham, Donna- Carol,Gord- Dave,Nancy- Mom,Joyce- Gail, Ron. Thursday afternoon was the reception at Mom's house for her 90th Birthday. Donna Johnston did a GREAT job catering the event for about 70 people. The weather was cool but everyone had a good time and mom was very pleased !!! Friday was a resting day as the weather gets hotter. A great Halibut dinner at Mom's as we are craving fresh fish. Saturday was dinner at our very good friends Chris and Val Little's. Our house looked great with Graham's meticulous care. Paid my $6000/ Taxes to the Town of Comox and got the sprinkling system fixed. Today is Sunday and we are getting ready to leave for Vancouver tomorrow. Al has a party for Mom on July1st and we return to Fremont on July 2nd. It will be 4.5 months before returning home the end of November. We look forward to the new leg of our adventure.

Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtbrown/sets/72157605876820142/

Visit to Comox June 22- July 2

Fremont Nebraska

Tomorrow June 22 we get on the plane to fly back to Comox for Mom's 90th Birthday. We have been in Fremont since June 12 visiting our long time friends Dave and Tanya Hull. The weather has been great and we have made many trips to Omaha to do shopping and go to their world famous Zoo. We fly from Omaha to Denver then on to YVR, arriving in Vancouver about 8 PM. Have rented a car and will be staying overnight at Alan's then on to Comox Monday. Mom is excited about our home coming and we will be staying at her house. Phone: 339-6082. Her Birthday is July 1 but we will be having a reception for her on Thursday - June 26 from 2-5 at her house. Her sister Joyce is coming from California so it should be a great visit. June 30th we will head back to Vancouver with Mom and Joyce for a birthday party at Al's on July 1st. July 2nd we return the car rental to YVR and catch the plane back to Fremont. Pictures are coming.

A long time friend of ours Lois Wilson lives in Duncan Oklahoma and reads our Blog. She is travelling north to Alberta and realizes she can route herself through Fremont. Through Internet and cell phones we connected and had a nice visit. Technology is GREAT.

Fremont Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtbrown/sets/72157605626977615/

Fremont Nebraska June 12- July 6

It is a sunny Saturday morning in Fremont Nebraska. It was an easy drive from Mount Rushmore to Fremont with one stop in Valentine Nebraska. Valentine was an interesting town and the full service campground only cost $12.50. This made up for the $60/night at the Palmer Ranch KOA site. The town is named for E. K. Valentine, who as a Congressman from Nebraska, was chairman of the house committee on Agriculture during his six years in office-1879-1885. He was instrumental in getting the settlers grievances redressed by the Government. As the "Heart City" of America, Valentine is the site from which thousands of Valentine's Day greetings are mailed each year. Visitors and residents alike find that Valentine's Day greetings bearing the Heart City's postmark adds an extra special touch to the annual lover's holiday. The largest building in town was a very modern Post Office which is about 4 city blocks.
We arrived about 4 PM in Fremont and will be here for about 3 weeks. Dave and Tonya are long time friends who live on a lake. They bought the empty lot next door so that is where we have our RV. Our back window views onto the lake and we have power and water. We are getting excited about our trip home June 22 to July 2 for Mom’s 90th birthday. We leave next Sunday and will arrive about 8 PM. I have rented a car and will drive to Comox on Monday with an overnight at Alan’s house. Thursday is an open house for Mom then will drive her over to Vancouver on the weekend before we leave back to Fremont on July 2.
Pictures are coming so just be patient.

Fremont Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtbrown/sets/72157605626977615/

Mount Rushmore - June 8-19-

Mount Rushmore- North & South Dakota - June 7-10

Good Morning. The coffee is made and it is a cool morning at the Mount Rushmore KOA campground in South Dakota. We left Saskatoon on June 7 and made our way south on highway 6 then picking up 35 at Weyburn. Our Boarder Crossing was at Fortuna where we picked up 385 and down into Williston North Dakota. It was a great sunny day and saw the grasslands of southern Saskatchewan. Traffic was light and I doubt we saw more than 6 cars on the road all day. The boarder crossing at Fortuna was easy as we were the only vehicle there. The Customs Officer asked us the usual questions and had a look through our RV. He opened a few cupboards and wanted me to open the truck boxes. We had left all the fresh fruit, meat and diary products in Saskatoon as it is always unclear what to take. With our passports stamped we made our way to the Buffalo Trails Campground in Williston ND. We arrived about 5 PM and checked in .. $23/night minus $2.50 for my Good Sam Discount. Settled in and even got my Satellite TV to work. Off to the Wal-Mart Superstore which was just down the road.
Great evening and got up to a late start the next morning.

Sunday- June 8 was a LONG day. We went from Williston ND to Mount Rushmore. Traffic was light but it was very windy. On the Edmonton-Saskatoon Leg it was FLAT and had a 20 knot tail wind. Conditions were perfect and got about 13.5 miles/gallon. I was really pleased with this as fuel is expensive and the Class A Motorholmes are probably getting between 2-4 mpg. The rolling hills and strong winds dropped my gas mileage to about 9 MPG. The scenery was spectacular with interesting rock formations. Lots of Buttes and crossed the Badlands working our way down to South Dakota on 385. Weather is a mixture of Sun- Rain- and wind. Went through Bell Fourche and on to Interstate 90. It is now about 6:30 and the GPS wanted to take me to Rapid City and over to Mount Rushmore but we wanted to stay on 385.. More scenic. BAD Decision as we SLOWLY made our way through Deadwood and the Black Hills arriving at our KOA Campground about 8:30. I was exhausted, the truck was low on fuel and was glad I made a reservation for a nice spot.. OR so I thought !!!!! There are 100's of campgrounds in this area but there are a few very large ones. I made an on-line reservation for $43/night at the Mount Rushmore KOA campground. The Palmer Gulch campground also calls itself the Mount Rushomre KOA campground which is misleading and $60/night !!! I was too tired to drive to the other one we had a reservation at as it would mean re-fuelling and a 30 minute drive. So our 3 night here are $180 plus a $40 cancellation fee at the other campground making it about $70/night for camping !!! We went into Keystone, a little town next to Mount Rushmore and saw many nice hotels for $39.50/night with breakfast included!!! Oh well I still like our RV

Yesterday we went to the Carzy Horse Monument, Mount Rushmore, Keystone and the Needles highway. Today was are off to Sturgis and Deadwood and will do a little shopping in preparation for our final leg to Fremont Nebraska. We will be there Thursday for about one month. In two week we will be back in Comox !!!! Wednesday night we will stay in the Wacky West Campgound in Vallentine as we travel on Highway 20 down to Fremont.

Dakota Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtbrown/sets/72157605611405389/

Saskatoon May 31- June 7

Saskatoon - May 31- June 7

The week has zipped by and we are getting ready to leave for Fremont Nebraska tomorrow. What a GREAT time we have had in Saskatoon hosted by Ken & Gail Nicholson.
The friendship started with our parents so have known Ken all our lives. Gail is an OR nurse and Ken works with Investments. Both took a weeks holidays to make sure we were well looked after. We parked our 5th wheel in their driveway and hooked up to power and water. We arrived on time last Saturday around 5 PM. Easy drive from Edmonton as the highway was twinned all the way to Saskatoon. They had dinner waiting and we settled in to some great Saskatoon hospitality. Sunday we met a long time friend and colleague Dr.Bill Haver for a tour of his Clinic and dinner at his place. Bill and I have been involved with Clinicare ( Computer Software) for many years and have done a lot of travelling together. Bill & Patty cooked an outstanding meal and included Russ and Corrine Pastorchick. Russ heads up the Clinicare development team in Saskatoon and has also been a long time friend. It was a wonderful dinner on a sunny Sunday evening. Thanks so much Bill and Patty.

Monday we visited Wanuskewin http://www.wanuskewin.com/visitors/history/ just outside Saskatoon. This is a National archaeological site with history going back 5000 years of a buffalo jump. Very Interesting. That evening we got dressed up and went out for dinner to celebrate Gail's birthday. We ate at Carver's Restaurant in the Sheraton Hotel... 5 stars!!!! The Gail's, and Ken had steak Diane prepared at their table. Great evening with lots of pictures.

Tuesday we left for Meota on Jackfish lake. This was a very nostalgic trip as I spent most of my childhood at the lake. Both our parents regularly took their summer vacations at Jackfish lake as it was a great place for kids. Later my parents bought some waterfront property which remained in the family until last year. We stopped at North Battleford for a tour of the Fort. National Historical Site so could use my Park pass!!! Very interesting tour. Off to the lake and stayed overnight at Ken & Gail's cabin. Gail's parents, Lionel & Val cooked a great dinner and made breakfast the next morning . Great Meota Hospitality!!! Back to Saskatoon for a dinner cruise on the North Saskatchewan River Wednesday evening.

Thursday we got up early and headed off to Moose Jaw. They have some very famous tunnels with an Al Capone connection http://www.tunnelsofmoosejaw.com/ . Lunch in Moosejaw and a visit to the Gadiner Dam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardiner_Dam on the way home. Dinner in Outlook and home by 9 PM. Today is going to be a day of rest. Ken & I are going to do a bike ride this morning and the to the Berry Farm for lunch. This afternoon we will get the RV ready for travel tomorrow and have an early night with dinner at the Nicholson's.
This has been an action packed week guided by our very BEST friends Ken & Gail Nicholson. THANKS!!!

Saskatoon Pictures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rtbrown/sets/72157605403673879/

Edmonton

Edmonton May 18- 30

It is a cloudy day in Saskatoon as I update our Blog. We arrived at Whitmud Creek Campground http://www.whitemudcreek.com/ in Edmonton on May 18 for two weeks. We stayed here last fall for two weeks so we felt like we were coming home. WCC is on the very south end of Edmonton and associated with a golf course. It is full service but lacks cable TV and Internet services. They started a new policy of charging you for your total stay when you make your reservation. This meant a credit card charge of $420 in March when I made the booking. It is usually full in July and August so you would need a reservation. Overall I would recommend WCC with the above concerns. It is very close to the Alex Hendy Freeway so it makes travel around Edmonton Easy.

Our first night we had Clayton & Lorna over for dinner. I cooked a fine steak dinner on the grill and the next day we visited Peggy ( Gails mom) at Hardisty Nursing home. On our way home we stopped in and visited Maureen and Bryn. We were able to see a long time friend Paula Whitman who was just leaving on a cross Canada driving trip. I got some good tips for our Ontario leg of our travels. Paula dropped by after work and then for lunch the next day. Larry Fowler is a long time friend who worked with me at McBain Cameras 35 years ago. We
had him over for dinner and then the following day went to our favorite lunch place... Britts Fish and Chips. Clayton and I went on many bike rides through Edmonton's spectacular River Valley. Saturday Clayton had a family barbecue for the whole family. The sun was out and we had a great evening. You will see some pictures of the campground followed by more biking pictures. No trip to Edmonton is complete without visiting Fred and Jean Whitman. They took us out to the Petroleum Club for a wonderful lunch followed by a visit to Allison ( Their granddaughter) and RJ ( Great Grandson). Final Pics are of Clay & Lorna with Gail and I going for dinner at Dejagger Golf Club for Gail's Birthday dinner. It was a spectacular evening with great food. The next day we left for Saskatoon.

Visiting Edmonton is always like coming home since Gail and I were born and raised there. Our neighbours for two weeks were Dave and Genny Harbour. A new friendship and home to meet them in Newfoundland. As we left Edmonton it felt like our adventure had begun as we crossed new territory to Saskatoon.