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August 13. We drove 449 miles today. That much closer to home🥰

Got an early start. 7:55. Early travel was good. After lunch there was more traffic and more construction areas. It was in the 70s today.

Camping in Verona Beach NY at the state park. Beautiful SP once again. We are on the easterly end of Oneida lake. Quite windy. This should be our last night and how ironic is it that our first night was on Oneida lake , but on the westerly end!!

What a trip it has been. We can’t wait to see the family. Especially the granddaughters. No offense to the other family members 😅😂🥰, and friends.

Thank you to Kate for keeping the business running. Hey 290, I’ll be back to clean😘

See you soon

[quebectoalaska2023]

August 12 2023. Happy Birthday Gail

418 miles today. Lots of traffic. We thought being a Saturday that it might be lighter😂

We are in Port Clinton Ohio at Glenhaven Campground. Sort of on Lake Erie.

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August 11. 492 miles to Kawanee Illinois. A good travel day. I80 got busy the further east we went.

Corn fields soybean fields and windmills were the landscape

Camping at Johnson Sauk Trail SRA. Beautiful setting in tall pines. A unique look.

We saw 2 active accidents and remains of 3 others. Never seen so many before.

91 degrees today.

[quebectoalaska2023]

August 10, 3023

Drove 385 today. Camping in Doniphan Nebraska at Mormon Island SRA. Another nice state park

Corn fields and cattle stockyards today. Makes me want to give up beef but probably won’t 🙃

It got to 91 today. A breeze and dry air but still hot out of the truck.

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August 9. 275 miles to Wellington Colorado to visit with Doug and Megan. Got there around 4. Had a nice visit. Took them out to dinner for Doug’s birthday. So nice to see them.

We hit the road east bound tomorrow (Thursday)

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August 8, 2023

We drove the wildlife loop. We saw a few herds of buffalo and prairie dogs. That was about it.

We had breakfast in Custer and then did a 4 mile loop hike on Lovers Leap trail. Nice hike. Had some thunder but thankfully that stopped

Stopped for a buffalo burger at one of the rally tents. So yummy.

It has been a great place to visit and will return. We head to Colorado to see Doug tomorrow

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August 7 continued

[quebectoalaska2023]

August 7

No cell service at campground. Was able to add another night to our campsite when we went for our ride today.

The very helpful person at the Visitor Center said to do the Needle Highway early before the bikers and families get on the road. We were on it at 7:45. AMAZING.

From there we did a big loop. Stopped in Custer for pastry and tshirts. Then to Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore. Crazy Horse is a work in progress but the visitors center and movie they show are so informative. Much better than Mt Rushmore. Glad we did both. We caught Mt Rushmore just before it totally clouded over.

Drove Iron Mt Road in heavy rain. Wow. Hairpin turns everywhere. A total of 5 tunnels today.

Had lunch before Rushmore. Very good. Our waiter was from Ethiopia. Very nice young man. He is going to college back home but the US dollar has power. His words

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August 6 2023

A 300 mile day to Custer State Park SD. Lots of changes in the scenery. More oil wells and coal mining in Wyoming. The trains here are so long. I counted 70 cars but didn’t make the end. All coal cars on that one.

It is bike week in nearby Sturgis SD so there are a lot here in Custer and the State Park.

Got to campsite at 4. Great location. Lots of wildlife.

After going to the visitors center we decided to stay until Wednesday.

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August 5, 2023. Still on the road. Will probably stop in southern Montana off of 90. We have avoided the interstate but will soon be on 90. The roads are great with 65-70 speed limits. They go through tiny towns. Some have very little life showing. It’s a nice ride.

Arrived in Hardin Mt around 4:00. Good time for us.

Nice campsite. Full hookups. Harvesters stay here but they put us away from them!!! Wheat, sugar beets and corn are big crops here.

[quebectoalaska2023]

Aug 4th. Back in the USA!!

360 miles or so to Choteau Montana City Park. Lovely town. $10 camping fee!!!

The ride was great. Alberta horse and cattle country then the mountains of British Columbia came in to view as much as they could through a smoke haze Crossed the border in Chief Mountain Montana. Some really nice views along the way and then farm land as far as we could see. Got to 80 degrees today.

This town is so cute and pops out of nowhere. From prairie land to tree lined streets

[quebectoalaska2023]

August 3. Today was an amazing drive. Really no words to describe the scenery. We drove the Icefields Highway from Jasper to Banff. A beautiful clear day to start but unfortunately after 40 miles or so there was a heavy haze of wildfire smoke. We could still see everything but not clearly. We would definitely go back. One part we didn’t like was the end in Banff. We will not return there!! Not our cup of tea. When the gas station convenience store rest room has a bidet and heated toilet seats we know it’s not for us. A little too hoity toity!!

We found a nice campsite in Bow Valley Alberta. We are between Banff and Calgary.

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Aug 2. We stayed in Grande Cache. A municipal campground with full hookups and laundry. Probably the nicest municipal campground we have stayed in. $50 Canadian which became $32 US.

We had things to catch up on. Including laundry. I cleaned the fridge and organized cupboards. Shawn made sure the camper brakes were all set and he was able to do a full yoga and stretching workout.

We drove back to the coal mining area to check that out. Saw some big horned sheep. Also went to DQ for our favorite treats from there. 😄

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August 1. Wow August already! 371 miles today of good roads and back into some farm country for a bit.

I drove for a bit and Shawn napped. We did stop for lunch in Dawson Creek. Mile zero of the Alaskan highway.

We did see what looked like a 2023 wildfire and it did have a smell of burn. The eerie thing is how the area fills in with beautiful fireweed. This section was so pink/purple with fireweed.

We made it to our destination of Grande Cache Alberta. A new area for us. We wanted to take the Icefields Highway home so are setting up to do that. That goes from Jasper to Banff and we hear is spectacular. We saw gas/oil work today. Lots of man camps. Then as we got closer to Grande Cache in the middle of nowhere we realized we were seeing coal mining. That’s a first for us. Beautiful scenery then a coal/gas plant in the middle of it.

We will stay another day here in Grande Cache. Do laundry, rest and relax a bit. 5 days of just driving behind us.

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July 30 & 31. We made it to Watson Lake BC on the 30th and Buckinghorse River BC on the 31st. We stayed in both campgrounds in 2017.

We have seen amazing scenery, met interesting people, and a different way of life for many. What we would consider a dump at home we have found to appreciate their services and kind conversation on this trip. I guess it’s like a trip back in time. We try not judge a book by its cover

We finally had some wildlife sightings and a 25 minute stop to watch the bison block the road, feed their young, take dirt baths, wrestle and try to get a piece!!!😅😂😅

Also saw the stone sheep again briefly. And some free range horses.

The fireweed has been beautiful.

We did hit heavy rain on the 31st with some pea size hail. Got the windshield cleaned really well!

In Watson Lake Shawn went for a swim at 62 degrees. Brrr.

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July 29. Another slow going day as this is the worse stretch of roads. Tok to Destruction Bay YT. We went about300 miles. We had a 45 minute delay with road work!!

Camped along a river in Haines Junction YT. Quill Creek. Beautiful spot. The campgrounds that we would like were full

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July 28. Got an earlier start today which was good as it was slow going. The scenery along the Matanuska River and the Matanuska Glacier had us stopping for pictures a lot.

We saw a small area of smoke in the dust, then some Forest Service Fire trucks with their lights on going to a fire. This was about 35 miles SW of Tok. Hopefully it doesn’t grow into anything serious.