05/25/12 UPDATE: NOW IN CANADA

5/19 Saturday - Made it to Great Falls, Montana, the last big town before we go into Canada.  We stocked up on supplies ($500).  We camped in a Wal-Mart parking lot along with several other RV’s and many vans.  I like that!  There must be a race track nearby as we heard race cars half the night.  A man camping in a van said something to us about the race; apparently the winner gets 1.5 million dollars, WOW, that would buy a lot of diesel.

5/20 Sunday - Left Great Falls and made it to Glacier National Park in 4 hours.  We found the park to be closed but a portion of the road is open.  We were not able to stay in the park but found a very nice rv park not far from the parks entrance (Johnson’s of St. Mary Campground, $20 a day with FHU off season, in season rate starts later this week, $40 a day).   We met the owners, three generations.  The grandmother is 94 years old, her daughter and granddaughter.  We are on a mountain with a beautiful view of St. Mary’s Lake below and the snow capped mountains all around.  Weather is very nice, around 60 degrees.   No cell service, no wifi, but our satellite locked on so we do have tv.  I miss being able to research the area we are in and the places we are going.  Our tv satellite gets east and west coast feeds.  No local channels so we’re not able to see local weather forecast.  We do have a tentative schedule of our summer travel, no reservations or commitments, just something to keep us on track so we cover all the places we want to see before being pushed back southward due to cold weather.   

5/21 Monday – Weather was cool, overcast and drizzly all day.  We went on a 1.5 mile hike on a trail in Glacier Nat’l Park.  It took us down to a beautiful waterfall.   The trail is on the side of a mountain,  steep in many places.  The forest reminds me of a fairy tale forest, Madison would love it.  Thick with trees and moss, and probably a few fairies hiding from us.  On the way back we passed two female moose grazing beside the trail.  One of them was to close for my comfort.  They just watched us scoot on by (me much faster than Norm).  Today I’m missing my chiropractor; my sciatic nerve is shooting pain up my back every once in a while.

5/22 Tuesday – It turned off cold today, heavy overcast, no sun, rainy all day and VERY strong winds.  Probably 40-50 MPH, shaking the rv pretty good at times.  We drove into the park and went on a short hike down sunrift gorge.  The gorge was beautiful; a waterfall carved a deep crevasse in the rock, the water was rushing fast creating waterfalls along the way.   In the forest we’re protected by the wind and the rain wasn’t too bad with our rain gear on.  However it was pretty cold, the temp was 41 degrees according to the thermometer in the truck.  We only stayed out about an hour or so.   Several rv’s left the park we’re in leaving us and two other soles up on this windy mountain.  We had a large 5^th wheel pulled by a freightliner that also had a smart car on a lift behind the freightliners cab.  They were from Texas and had two dogs, a large dog that was as big as a great dane, white with black spots like a dalmation, and a very small foo foo dog.  They put out steps so the big dog could exit the cab of the truck.  They only stayed one night, I imagine they are on their way up to Alaska. 

5/23 Wed – Cold, drizzly and very windy again today.  Hiked 1.5 miles to St. Mary Falls.  Hiking in the cold was worth it as the falls were beautiful, fast rushing water. 

5/24 Thur – Still cold today, in the 40’s.  Hitched up and left around 11:30 (yes, we are in no hurry, don’t have far to go today).  We made it to Okotoks, Ontario, Canada, just south of Calgary.  Going through the boarder was a bit of a hassle.  They asked questions for several minutes then made us pull over, go inside, ask more questions, run background checks and look through our truck and camper.  They are mainly looking for firearms.  I guess since we’re from Texas they assume we’re packingJ  We are staying at a very nice park (Okotoks Lions Sheep River Campground, FHU, 38 Canadian dollars).  It’s cold here to, normally it’s in the 60’s which would be perfect.  Unfortunately it’s high of 40’s a low tonight in the 30’s.  We have been out of cell service and wifi so have not been able to look at weather, etc.  for several days.  The park we are in gives you one hour wifi, but you have to use it in one hour of log on or lose it.  Don’t know if we’ll stay here another day or not, next destination is Banff National Park only 90 miles from here.