Lake Louise, Banf and Jasper

At last a campsite with WIFI.  Today's trek was 280 miles through the breathtaking Canadian Rockies from Banff National Park to Jasper NP, with a stop at the Columbia Ice Fields for an Ice Buggy ride to the Athabasca Glacier.   Wildlife was plentiful - we dodged herds of mountain goats, saw a grizzly bear and several elk. 

Shari, Charlie and me at Lake Louise

Charlie at Lake Moraine

One of many pull-outs en route

Columbia Ice Fields feeds several glacier

Andromeda is a hanging Glacier

Our ride parked on the Athabasca glacier

Tires on the ice buggy are 5' tall approx 2' wide

Pardon me, this is a goat crossing (so cross will you)

Grizzly having a roadside lunch

Elk (roadside lunches are popular with the locals)

North to Alaska

Success - the insurance adjuster showed up a day earlier than scheduled.  So we are on the road headed North - pretty much on schedule.  State Farm will pay for the new front cap and the paint job.   The dealer will have them by the time we return from Alaska.  So we will hot foot it to St. Paul for the installation and paint.  

We are spending the night in Moorehead, Minnesota -- our first Walmart boondock experience.  I have loaded up on supplies.  It's pretty cool, wheeling my groceries out to my RV kitchen.  I foresee many sunrises in a Walmart parking lot.

St Paul

Here we are camping at the Shorewood RV Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

The Shorewood genies have made the coach roadworthy for our Alaska trip - Not pretty, but safe.  We have a new headlight, and the mirror has been repaired.  The front is covered with screws - not sure what is behind the screws - definitely not pretty.   A very large BandAid is appropriate. 

We need a new front cap, a generator door, and a paint job.  We will have to sit here until the insurance adjuster arrives - hopefully tomorrow, probably Thursday.  Then we plan to go on to Alaska.  We may have to play catch up with the caravan.  After Alaska we will return to St. Paul for 1-2 weeks for the cosmetic repairs. 

Headed for Alaska

After a few days in Iowa, we began headed westward to meet our Alaska caravan.  Just north of Cedar Rapids we had a collision.   A three point buck jumped out of the tall grass right in front of our rig.   Fortunately no one else was involved.   We are ok, the rig and the deer are not.

The Generator door is catty-wampus

Front Cap is broken

Headlight required a little duck tape

Charlie called Red Bay and they suggested we go to Des Moines for repairs.  90 minutes later the Des Moines dealer told us that we needed a new front cap but that they did not do body work.  They did make the coach roadworthy so we can drive to St. Paul where there is a body shop.  That involved securing the generator door so that it will not fall off driving down the road - Charlie offered them his duck tape, but they preferred screws.  They said we were lucky that it had not fallen off during our 90 minute drive.

Light is still gone, but generator door looks pretty good

Since we do not have a headlight we cannot drive at night.  So tomorrow we are off to St. Paul.  Meanwhile a glass of wine (or two) is on the agenda.

Cape Girardeau MO

We spent the night at the Cape Camping & RV Park.  We drove downtown on the "Kings Highway"  to see the wall of murals and have dinner at a Brew Pub.  They have built a wall to keep the Mississippi from flooding the town and decorated it with murals depicting local historical events.  I took pictures of a few, but was more interested in eating than hiking, so I skipped many more.

Mississippi River Bridge

High Water Marks 

Charlie is standing in the doorway to the wall.  The highest watermark was in 1993.  Imagine the river that high.  Guess the wall works, as the downtown area showed no signs of flood damage.

Happiness is Red Bay, AL in our rear view mirror

Monday we got the driver's side seal replaced then drove out to Ricky Johnson's house to have the coach detailed inside and out.   My carpets are clean and stain free till the next storm.   The outside looks really good too.

 Tuesday morning we checked out of the Allegro Campground and headed out to Chris Barry's shop.   It took Chris most of Tuesday to create and install our desk and end tables.  The results were well worth the wait.  Meanwhile I hooked up with Chris' parents for some blackberry picking.   We had blackberry pie a la mode for dinner.

We spent the night at Chris' shop and got an early start in the am.  Time to head for Alaska.

Too cool

Still at Red Bay

Another weekend in Red Bay.  We had omelets and sausage for breakfast with fresh tomatoes.  We are on our 2nd package of sausage and fourth batch of tomatoes.  

We did get a lot accomplished this week.  Got a new wet bay floor and new roof rails.  Lots of time spent in the Lounge.  I made bracelets,  earrings and sleeve pins.    Sold several sleeve pins to the cleaning team.   We are still waiting for our desk and end caps - Chris has the tops and we have an appointment for Tuesday to have them installed.   Charlie is installing the R-O unit today.  Also have an appointment to have the coach detailed- inside and out- Monday evening.     We thought the rails would be our last service work - BUT.  when the slides came in, so did the gasket on the driver side front slide.  So Monday morning at 7:30 am we are scheduled to have that repaired.   That should be our last repair - fingers and toes are crossed.    If all goes well we will hit the road on Wednesday. 

New rail awaiting installation

Gluing the new rail in place

Wet bay floor is gone

New floor awaiting installation

Working on a bracelet in the lounge while the rails are being installed.  The Tray was a gift from Chris Barry.  Works great - keeps them little critters corralled.

The Allegro Campground - Remember your campsite # as they all look alike.

Service Bays