Vegreville to Arizona (Dec / 2015)

24 Dec. 2015
     Vegreville, Alberta --> Spruce Grove, Alberta

     We packed, and packed, and finally we're ready to leave!  It is around noon and c-o-l-d outside as we pull the Motorhome out of the storage place to drive it to our house where we will load it up and get it warm over the next couple of days to drive it to Stony Plain where we will have Christmas with Carrie and Richard.  It is cold outside and it took quite a few tries before I could get the jacks to go up all the way.  The short video is as we pull out of the storage place.

We had our RV parked in storage until the 22 Dec. when we drove it to our place in Vegreville so we could warm it up and pack it for our upcoming 5 or 6 month trip.

     After it was packed up and our house locked up and secured we hooked up our "toad" (Towed vehicle) and headed west to Stony Plain, which is just West of Edmonton.  Our plan was to stay at the Camp n Class RV resort for the 24th and 25th Dec. so we could spend Christmas with Darlene's Daughter, son in law and Granddaughter.

The Hackett Christmas Tree

    Christmas was great, turkey was awesome (we even got some leftovers for lunch on the 26th, before we crossed the border.

Carrie and Darlene enjoying some time

7:30 PM as we leave the Hacket

26 Dec. 2015 - Saturday
     Spruce Grove, Alberta --> Great Falls, Montana

     I had set the alarm for 6 am, as it was -20 outside and I was concerned about batteries, engines, doors freezing up, and other stuff you worry about when it gets that cold and you are going to be living and traveling in a RV. 

Parked at "Camp n Class RV" in Spruce Grove

     Our RV is a 2014 Thor Tuscany 43 ft. Motorhome.  On the 1st Dec. I got laid off from work...I am about to turn 64 and was not planning on working past 65 so we are getting a jump on retirement. 

     "We" is my wife, our 10 yr. old Grandson TJ, and our 2 small dogs.  TJ has been with us just before he turned 2 and will be until he leaves or is forced out of the nest lol.  Last year we decided we do not want to be forced to stay in one place because of his schooling so we started to home-school TJ which has turned out to be a blessing for all of us. 

     I digress..... 

     It was 0740 hrs before we pulled out of the "Camp n Class RV Resort" and headed our sights, and vehicle, South. 

      Problem before we could even head out was the cold temperature... -20 Celsius is hard on people and machinery, so I drove our "toad" around the RV lot for a good 10 minutes to ensure all parts had a chance to warm up and were lubricated.  

Fueling up in Red Deer, Alberta

     The next issue was the door on the Motorhome would not latch closed, so we had to put a blow dryer to it for a couple of minutes to thaw it out. 

     The final issue was Water.  I had winterized the RV a month or so prior and there was no water so we packed our own drinking (and coffee) water as well as water in case we had to use the toilet. (Which we did). Lol

     Anyway, as the sun rose it showed us the cold night had left some gorgeous "hoar" frost on everything. Being Boxing Day and early in the morning there was little traffic so we made good time on our journey. 

     Our goal for the day was to make it to Great Falls, Montana.  Google maps figured it would take us 8 hours to make the drive. Normally we go the same speed as the rest of traffic, but we topped up our fuel in Red Deer, had to stop a couple of times for the dogs to pee, and we also had to go thru Customs at the border.
The Customs has never been a problem for us.... We simply tell the truth and never seem to get hassled.

     We made it to Great Falls with 1/2 tank of fuel and parked at the big Walmart across from an industrial complex. 

     Supper tonight was a la Subway in Walmart where I picked up some water for our toilet use the next day. 

     The alarm is set for 6 am and we should be on the road by 7..... That's it for today.



Sunday 27 Dec. 2015
     Great Falls, Montana --> Salt Lake City, Utah
     Today saw the alarm going off at 0600 followed immediately by me getting up to start the generator, making coffee, taking the dogs out for a pee and poop, driving the car around for 10 minutes to get all gears lubricated before hooking it up to the Motorhome, and then heading out of Walmart at 0740.
     It was only -5 outside which meant the door on the Motorhome did not have to be thawed which was a nice way to start the day. It was dark when we left Great Falls Montana and we were soon back on Hwy 15 heading south for Salk Lake City.

     Once on the freeway we discovered some strong winds that were pushing us around enough that our speed was reduced about 10 mph. Montana is beautiful in the northern part and with some hoar frost the surrounding landscape looked quite pretty.
     As Hwy 15 snakes south there are 3 mountain passes you must go thru. Thankfully there had not been any new snow for a couple of days affording us relatively clear roads as we drove thru.
     We stopped for fuel at Butte, just South of the city at a Flying J. Cost to fill up since Red Deer was just over 200 bucks which was pretty good.

It got colder the further south we drove and I pulled in to a rest stop to let the dogs have a pee and also to stretch my legs. Shortly thereafter we came across another Flying J just north of Salt Lake City o we topped up the fuel again (100 bucks) and Darlene got some Gatorade for TJ as he has thrown up the last 2 nights and we think he has a stomach flu.
     It was -14 as we drove thru Salt Lake City and almost dark. I was starting to get tired so we pulled into Walmart at a small town about 1 hour south of Salt Lake City. We watched the second part of Avatar movie after supper and then shut it down, planning for another earl morning with the end in site tomorrow sometime.

28 Dec Lake Havasu City

I had trouble sleeping, and woke up at 0300.... Went back to sleep after 15 minutes and woke up again at 0400.

Enough is enough so I got up, took the dogs out for a quick pee, and then fired everything up and we were on the road by 0430, while Darlene and TJ slept peacefully. 

There was still snow everywhere and the temperature had dropped to -13 C overnight as we headed out of Walmart RV site. 

Darlene and the dogs came heading out around 0740 and the snow started to disappear 150 miles North of Las Vegas.

 As the snow disappeared, so did the cold temperatures. By the time we hit Vegas, I had turned the heat off in the Motorhome and TJ had crawled out of bed. This time we cruised thru Vegas and on towards Lake Havasu without a hitch. 

Experience does help and this time we stopped just outside of Kingman at Truck Tub to get the Motorhome washed and a coating of Reflex put on it and the car for 65 bucks (and towel dried). We topped up the Motorhome fuel wise at Topco and arrive in Lake Havasu just before 3 PM. The last fuel up was a gong show with my card being denied (then I found out it was the Internet was down) a very slooooow pump at the Flying J RV pump so we moved to the truck one to find out that in Arizona the RV is 8 cents cheaper than truck pumps!

We backed into our site, got hooked up, and then

went to the Golden Corral for supper. TJ threw up in the parking lot due to the stomach flu, and I started to come down with a bout of bronchitis as Darlene's sinusitis hung on. The temperature had warmed up to 15 during the day which felt really really nice.  Once back at the RV site we crashed pretty early, after taking the dogs for a quick pee and walk. 

Sept 2015 trip to Ontario

We had planned to leave on the 3rd of Sept., following my night shift, but a wicked storm moved in so I got us a Pizza from BP and we crashed in the RV storage lot that night.

Next morning we headed out around 8:30 for Manitou Springs, near Watrous, Sask.   We arrived there without incident, had to get some branches cut down to get into out site properly and then went to the hot pools for the afternoon. The springs are supposed to have a healing property as they are quite warm (103 degrees) and very high in sodium phosphate and other minerals so that it is impossible to sink. 

Sept. 5th - we were up early and on the road, hoping to make a lot of miles today. We did quite well, putting on 970 km and spending the night in a rest area in the US. 

Sept 6 - Another long day of driving sat us ending up in Canada by Sault St. Marie. I was quite tired and we ended up pulling into a Walmart very close to the border crossing and right next to a railway line that had a big load of tourists leaving early the next Morning (Sunday). 

Sept 7th - We 

Grand Canyon, Arizona

Today we went to the Grand Canyon on the South Side, as the north is closed in the winter.
We left our place in Havasu Lake just after 9 AM, after the dogs had been walked and everything checked for the day.

There were some clouds in the sky which is great for Landscape photography, but the clouds disappeared by the time we had reached Kingman.

Before we even reached Kingman, we had a stop of about 20 minutes while an ambulance helicopter took off for Las Vegas with some accident victims.

As we approached Dolan Springs, there were hundreds and hundreds of Joshua Trees, which, we were unsure of their names at the time. Anyway, when you arrive, you have to take a bus to the three sites that the Indians have for you to visit.  Obviously this costs money, and it ran about 225 bucks for TJ, Darlene and myself to take the bus and also go on the famous "Skywalk".

There were 3 stops on the buses and they ran continuously, so you could stay at any site as long as you wanted. Since this was TJ's and Darlene's second visit, we passed on the first stop, which was a western town they had made up. Apparently you can go on horseback rides along the edge, learn how to rope and a few other things as well as food were offered.

At the second stop there is the "Skywalk".  It is truly quite impressive to see the Grand Canyon, and you can actually walk right up to the edge and look straight down a good mile to the bottom! We spent