Montana adventure

Hi everyone

If you have looked at the pictures on our web site you may have noticed that we had some awesome times after leaving Canada and before our breakdown north of Salt Lake City. There is a gap in our blogs and we want to fill that in for you.

Ever since we came close to the mountains we were talking about outdoors activities we wanted to try. We did some of them, horseback riding and whitewater rafting in British Columbia but still had a big one on our bucket-list: ZIP-lining. Though we have come across some ZIP-lines we never actually did it and in hindsight we are glad about that because none of them would have come even close to the ones we found in Montana!

After crossing the border we found a nice campground in Columbia Falls which we made our home base for a week. It was very conveniently located to go visit Glacier National Park and only a day's drive from Bozeman where we planned to stop again. Bozeman again is perfectly located for yet two more national parks: Yellowstone and Grand Teton. But these would come a little later and we'll tell you about them in another blog.

So we're in Columbia Falls and had seen Glacier National Park. I had expected a little more of it based on the name. There was no ice or even snow to be found anywhere and honestly I'd recommend the Icefield Parkway in British Columbia over Glacier to anyone who is looking for an alpine scenery. All in all it was still worth seeing though. And we did the same thing as we had done last year for Canada, we bought an annual pass valid for all the national parks in the U.S. so we can visit them without spending too much money on admission fees and then asking ourselves: was it worth it?

Montana, as you might know, has some mountainous regions and so we were not surprised to find an outfit offering ZIP-line tours. I called and after talking to them booked both of us on a 7-ZIP-line tour. You could also go for 5 lines only and leave the two longest and fastest ones out. But what would the fun be in that? So two days later we were at the resort, getting geared up and instructed on how things were going to work. A safety video and the comments of our two guides later we were out the door and walked to the first line. It is a short one and kind of a test if one got the different positions you're supposed to use while on the line. You can go "pencil" (lay back and stretch out) to go as fast as possible. You don't actually have to do this if you don't want to (we did of course). The 'Starfish" (sit up and spread-Eagle) and the landing positions are crucial though to slow down and come in for a save landing at the end of the lines. Actually the spread-Eagle gives you maximum air-resistance, the only way to slow down. There are no breaks here.

After the guides decided we all knew what to do, our 14-person group headed out to have some fun. We zipped down a total of 7 lines, 8750 feet / 2669 meters (the longest ones 1900 feet / 580 meters each) in total, at speeds of over 50 miles/hour (80 km/hour) and as high as 300 feet / 91 meters above ground. WOW! What fantastic fun we had! We wouldn't miss this experience for the world. I actually envy the guides for their job. They get to zip those lines every day! Now that's a dream job as far as I'm concerned. See the pictures and watch the video on our web site and you will understand how much fun this was.

Some of you might know the song "Live like you were dying" by Tim McGraw. We kind of put our own spin on the chorus of that song:
We went ZIP-lining
We went horseback riding
We went 3.7 hours on a whitewater raft
And we went farther
And we played harder
And never before has life been this much fun
And we hope
Some day you too will get a chance to do what we have done

With this we say goodbye for now. Please com back for more new.

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.

"One who takes a journey has stories to tell ... "

There is the saying in German: "Wenn einer eine Reise tut, dann kann er was erzählen" - or freely translated: "one who takes a journey has stories to tell". And we had quiet a few adventures worth telling a story about in the past days. After visiting Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks we started our journey further south without making a reservation first. The main season seems to be winding down and most campgrounds have good spots available.

Our goal of the day was to drive past Salt Lake City towards Cedar City or Hurrican in Utah - all more or less on Interstate 15. We made it to North Salt Lake, where all of a sudden the right back tire of our home on wheels blew out. Looking into the side mirror I first started seeing a little white smoke, then more and then the tire was gone. We were glad that we caught it right then and there. It was only a short distance to the next exit and to the back parking lot of a gas station. We never have changed a wheel on a fifth wheel before so we felt more comfortable to call road side assistance for that and within about 45 minutes they arrived, changed the wheel, gave us information on where to find a Les Schwab tire shop and left again. By then it was a quarter to 6 pm and the shop closes at 6 pm.

The guys at Les Schwab where just great. We arrived at 5 minutes to 6 pm and JP said that he would do the job anyways: changing the good tire from the freshly mounted spare wheel to the still good rim of the blown out tire, putting a new tire on one of the other rims and mounting the used but still good tire he had taken from that rim onto the spar-tire-rim. All in all 45 minutes of work but now we have two good new tires on the back wheels and a used but functional tire in spare. By now it was getting close to 7 pm and we needed Diesel and a place to stay for the night. Again - we were in the right place: gas station just down the road and a nice campground 5 minutes away.

All in all an exciting day on the road. From there we booked a spot that looked promising in Panguitch Lake. Talk about being in the middle of nowhere! The campground is located on a nice mountain lake at close to 9150 feet / 3000 m above sea level with no phone, tv or reliable internet reception, the site on a gravel surface and we had booked for one week! After the first night, André could feel the thinner air atn this altitude affect him and we decided not to push it too far. We cancelled the rest of our stay here and moved on to a new spot lower in the valley.

We arrived here after about 200 km of driving but not before driving up and down a mountain road and finding snow (yes, snow in August) on top. Cars and RV's where parked on the side waiting for a little melting but we just took our time and kept going. The new place is just beautiful with a nice panorama view of reed rock cliffs (see picture), a small creek with trout in it flowing through it, there are walking ways, a dog run and great hosts.

Now we are planning to visit a few more National Parks in the next few days, beginning with Bryce Canyon National Park, Red Canyon State Park and Zion National Park before continuing our trip. And who knows what else we're going to explore.

You can see, the days on the road can be very exciting!

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.

Rocky Mountains and B.C.

Hi everyone

The first part of our trip through the Rockies led us to Hinton in the Albertan foothills of the mountains. Getting a first glimpse of the mighty mountain-chain was impressive enough and we could only imagine the drive through the passes. But before we started on that, we made a nice KOA our base for a week. From here we went to see Jasper which is really nice. A lot like some of the high alpine towns in Switzerland. Along the way we saw some awesome wildlife, too. The elk in the picture has antlers that easily span 1.8 meters/6 feet or even more. Very impressive.

We also went to the Miette hot springs where we bathed in the 40C/104F water. The water actually comes out of the rocks at 53.9C/129F and is then cooled down for the pools. There are also a couple of pools one can go into to cool off. One is at 15C/59F, which was just too cold for us to go in. The other is a little warmer at 20C/68F and I went into it a few times, alternating with the hot water. André preferred to stay in the hot water and passed on the colder pool.

Another day we went for a 2 1/2 hour trail ride through nature all the way from the river up to a crest, about 200 meters/600 feet above the starting point. It was a gorgeous day and the view from the top was just beautiful. The ride itself was very nice and led us through forests and along steep cliffs. The horses worked up a good sweat and I was so glad to be riding and not on foot on these hills. It would have taken us forever to get up there.

Then it was time to move into the Rocky Mountains and over to Golden, B.C. The drive along the Icefields Parkway alone is worth the trip all the way to the west coast. Along the way one can see more than 30 glaciers and ice-fields.

Golden is a small town nestled on the Kicking Horse River. It also is a major railway hub and one can see freight trains with 4 engines and 150 plus cars go by. Here we went to see the Grizzly bear habitat and took the gondola to the top of Eagle's Eye high above the valley. From 2347 meters / 7700 feet up the view is something to remember for a lifetime!

And then there was our whitewater rafting adventure with Alpine Rafting. We originally booked the 11 km "Afternoon Whitewater" tour but then at the end of the upper canyon decided that we wanted to add the lower canyon as well and ended up doing the "Ultimate Whitewater" tour. The 24 km of Kicking Horse River with countless rapids, many of them class 4s, were so much fun and a true adventure we would not want to have missed. Everybody got wet and some rafts had people go overboard. In our raft everybody managed to stay in although André almost went overboard once and I almost took a dive twice. It was comforting to know that our guides were really experienced and that everybody had gotten instructions on what to do when you fall in and what to do if you have to retrieve somebody who had gone overboard. At the end of the tour everybody arrived save and sound. This was an awesome adventure and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

We have put some pictures of our adventures from both the Alberta and the B.C. sides in our web site for you to check out. Unfortunately the pictures from our whitewater rafting tour are generic ones from the company's web site. Their photographer fell and broke her ankle and her camera the day of our tour and therefor there are no pictures from that day. We wish her a quick and full recovery. There is also a short video from Alpine Rafting on our web site you should watch. It was filmed on the the stretch of the Kicking Horse River we went down and shows what we really did.

Until next time. Have fun and enjoy life!

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.

From Ontario to Alberta

Hi everyone

A lot has happened since our last post and I have to catch you up a little on what we've been doing the last few weeks.

After leaving Ontario for our second summer on the road we crossed the border to the U.S. once again and drove to Cedar Lake, Indiana. While I flew out of Chicago to Switzerland to surprise my mom for her birthday and was having a wonderful time there, André travelled the next few thousand kilometers to Alberta all by himself. Well with our "zoo" that is. The cats and dog of course would be with him not only keeping him company but also keeping him busy looking after them. 7 Days on the road left him little time to rest and see the sights but he enjoyed the trip to Delburne, Alberta non the less. One of his few stops was to check out the West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping center in Canada. André loves to shop and so visiting a shopping center is something he really likes to do. I on the other hand don't like shopping and was really happy that he had the chance to go see the mall without having to drag me along.

After my return from Switzerland on the drive from Calgary airport to Delburne, where we are right now, I was taken by the landscape of Alberta. Not having seen the prairies, the wide open land has something very calming to it and we just love it. We could not get enough of it the other day when we drove to Dinosaur Provincial Park, too. Patches of bright yellow canola alternate with the lush green of wheat fields as large as a whole farm in Switzerland. The road a grey band as straight as an arrow stretches before us until it is but a fine line disappearing from view before it even hits the horizon. A distant stand of trees raising over a field like an island in the sea and gently rolling hills have "calm" written all over the the landscape. The buildings of a farm here and there are the only witnesses that people even live here. Then we turn a bend in the road and the road suddenly dips into a canyon about 250 feet deep.We cross a bridge and clime the other side of the canyon. Looking into the rear-view mirror nothing of the river which carved the canyon out of the land over thousands of years can even be seen. The canyon is but a scratch on the surface of the great flatland.

Dinosaur Provincial Park had been our destination that day and it was worth the trip. It is the world's richest deposit of dinosaur bones of its size. Like with the canyon I just told you about the flatland all of a sudden completely changes its appearance when one approaches the park. An outlook offers a great view over the scares receding glaciers left millions of years ago and it doesn't take a lot to imagine dinosaurs roaming here. One display shows a dinosaur skeleton where it actually had been found in 1959. Another explains how bone excavation works, showing the tools needed and giving a very good idea of how hard that work must be. It is brutally hot and not surprising one can find prairie rattlesnakes, blackwidow spiders and scorpions here, creatures which like this kind of climate. Visitors are warned about them and it actually scarred me a little and I was very careful not to get too close to bushes or big rocks. I also kept Princess on a short leash and away from them.

Now we are getting ready for another change of scenery. The next leg of our trip will take us to the Rocky Mountains and Jasper. Please come back to read what adventures we will encounter there.

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.

Medieval times

Hi everyone

The weather has finally warmed up enough in Ontario's Near North for us to drive all the way back to Lake Nipissing. When we first left Florida and then Georgia it was still so cold up there that we decided to stay in Michigan for some time and wait it out. After all we did not go south for the winter to return to snow flying in spring.

At Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park we had met a nice couple who owns an RV park in Grass Lake, Michigan about 2 hours from the Canadian border and we knew they would be open. That's where we spent a few weeks before coming to Powassan where we stay at our good friends',  Pia and Alfons who just purchased Knowlton Ridge Equestrian Centre. It is a beautiful and very busy place with events every weekend throughout the summer. The first such event that we witnessed was a visit of the Knights of Valor who offered an educational day to schools of the area.

The kids got to see birds of prey and learn about those majestic aviators and hunters. Then the knights came to the arena for some medieval games and jousting competition. What a great thing to watch! Dressed in the garments of the time, the horses all decked out for the event they showed some amazing skills on horseback. Using spears, lances and swords the knights fought for points and honor. I had never known just how hard real jousting is. When a knight gets hit squarely in a duel, the impact is comparable to hitting a brick wall in a car going 60 km per hour! No wonder their armor is as heavy as it looks. When I picked up a piece of armor to help the lady carry it back to their trailer, I was surprised at the weight of it! The jousting ended with one knight getting knocked off his horse, badly denting his helmet when he hit something on landing, and the victor being declared.

It was a great event to watch and we took over 250 pictures. André's camera is ideal for this kind of photography. It lets one choose to shoot several pictures in a row by pressing the shutter button just once. This way you always get at least one picture which is 100% focused or even a whole series of shots showing the progression of an event. We have put such a series into this blog not only to show you this great feature of the camera but even more to give you a little impression of the jousting.

We will stay here at Knowlton Ridge Equestrian Center for 10 more days before hitting the road again. The plan now is to head west and then decide whether to go north (Yukon / Alaska) or south (northwestern US national parks) once we reach Calgary which will be just around the time of the famous Calgary Stampede. We will try to post more blogs along the way now that we are about to cover more roads and adventures again so come back and check out what's happening with us.

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.

Heading North

Hi everyone

We are currently in Grass Lake Michigan, about an hour from the Canadian border, where we will stay for another 3 weeks. After having spent the winter in Crystal River, Florida, we are on our way back home to Ontario but have to wait a little for campgrounds there to open. From what we hear the weather has greatly improved in the North Bay area so that part would not be a problem any longer. If one lives in a fifth wheel, cold temperatures can be a real drag and one definitely does not want to see snow. Now that winter seems to be over with in northern Ontario, all we need is a place to park our rig and hook up to services. This means a campground because of the services part. But most of them will only open on the May long weekend so we have to drag our feet for a few more weeks before we can return to Lake Nipissing.

We will also need a campground which allows pets. Hunter and Trapper would not normally be a problem as they are cats and for the most part stay in the fifth wheel. But now that we also have a dog, this has to be considered. Speaking of the dog: we are all learning a lot. André and I how to handle a dog, Princess what we want her to do and not to do and the cats simply to get along with our new family member.

Tomorrow we will go visit with friends and spend some time with them in Frankenmuth. They live in Stirling Heights but love Frankenmuth and so we decided to meet up there. We have last seen them a while ago and are looking forward to catching up with what's new with all of us. They will also get to meet Princess which we will take with us. And then (in just over 3 weeks) it will be time to drive north and see all our friends in the North Bay area! Can't wait for that. Ahhh... sitting on H. & I.'s porch having a beer and a chat. And then there are all the others of course, too. This will be so great!

But for now it's Michigan for a little longer and then Ontario before we head out on a new adventure again. We will keep you posted of course, so please come back to read up on our travels.

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.

Getting ready for another trip

Hi everyone

It's been a while since we posted a blog and you might have been wondering what we've been up to. First of all we did enjoy the winter here in Florida. Having our things we like to do we really didn't have a lot to tell you without repeating ourselves. That's the reason for the pause in posts. Now we are getting ready to hit the road again and take another trip.

Though we have put quiet a bit of thinking into our 2013 travel plans, we don't want to lock in to a schedule too much and leave ourselves open for changes of route along the way. The general plan is to go back to Ontario before heading west and back to Crystal River for the winter of 2013/14. A few way-points are set but that's about it for now. The first of these is a stop in Ashburn, Georgia where we will spend a couple of weeks on our way back to Ontario. We will stay at Wanee Lake Golf and RV Resort again and hope to get a lot of golfing in. The great thing there is, that while you stay with them, you can golf all you want free of charge. Another stop is in North Bay where we will take care of some appointments and "housekeeping" issues then we will be headed west. We don't think that we will make it all the way to Alaska and Yukon as we had originally planned because of time. So we think we will go west on the Canadian side and then south to visit some of the great national parks in the US which we have last visited over 20 years ago.

Traveling will be a bit different this time around since we now also have a new family member: Princess is a 18 months old shepherd/collie mix and a sweetheart (you may have been wondering about the picture). We adopted her on March 23 from the animal shelter in Inverness. She is already very well trained and great with other people and dogs and even Hunter and Trapper. It's the cats, especially Hunter, which need a little more time to get used to her. Having a dog of course means daily walks which is really good for the both of us, too. We will just have to adjust driving and stops to accommodate her needs and exercise requirements. But all in all this should be good for all involved.

In the next 7 days we will get everything packed up, hopefully get a chance to wash the fifth wheel, (after being parked under the trees here for 4 months it needs a wash down) and say goodbye for now to some people we've met. Many of them will be back at Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park next winter just like us and so we will get to see them again come December. Meantime we are looking forward to seeing our Canadian friends after a long absence from the North Bay area.

We are back to blogging about our adventures so please come back and check out what's going on.

André and Sue

@ home on the road

PS: Don't forget to read our other blogs (listed on the side) and to follow us on facebook and our Google Map. You can also check our web site for new pictures.