The Pas to Winnipeg and the end of the caravan.

We spent a couple of days in The Pas, saw some beautiful lakes and nice Provincial Parks before heading to Flin Flon. While we were in Flin Flon we stayed at a city campground, saw some young First Nations hoop dancers, and toured a wild rice production plant. They grow a lot of wild rice in the many lakes in the area.

Our next stop was in Thompson where we would board a plane for a one hour flight to Churchill at 4AM the next morning. We spent three nights in Churchill and had two boat rides to view Beluga Whales and one tundra buggy ride to see Polar Bears.  We saw many whales but no good viewings of bears, although one did wander in to town one morning and walked right past our hotel. We left Saturday evening on the train for a twenty hour ride back to Churchill. The train does not go fast since the tracks are built on permafrost and they have to let the grain trains go through. The day we arrived they had a major derailment and wasn’t fixed until the day we were to leave.

Back in Thompson we rested and toured the area before heading out on a two day trip to Winnipeg. In Winnipeg we visited a wonderful museum toured the downtown area and attended to their cultural festival, the largest of it’s kind in the world.

And know we are getting ready to head home, this is the first good wifi service we have had since our last blog update. We should be home by next Friday and will be back in the States by noon tomorrow; Sunday.

 Hoop Dancers in Flin Flon.

 Flinty; Flin Flon's mascot.

 Piesew Falls.

 Bear traps in Churchill.

Grain loading dock for grain heading to Europe.

Beluga Whale coming up to the boat.

 More whales, they were feeding everywhere.

Tundra Buggy.

 The train we rode on.

Wolf mural on the end of a 10 story building.

Wolf statues at an float plane display.

There were wolves all over town.

 Ship in the museum,  they hauled this ship to a 

parking lot and built the museum around it.

Part of the 400 acre park and gardens.

Sioux Falls, ND to Swan River, MB

When we left Sioux Falls we headed for Aberdeen, SD we stayed here for three days camped in a municipal park.  The park also had a Storyland Park, a small zoo, lake and 

beach for swimming as well as a campground. It was a very nice place other than the mosquitoes. While we were  there we visited the Prairie Museum, An ethanol plant and a Hutterite Colony.

The next day we drove to Rugby, ND, for just a one night stop over and then off to Dauphin, Manitoba (MB). We stopped at the Peace Garden between the two borders entering Canada. In Dauphin we visited a historic Ukrainian Catholic Church. They fed us an authentic Ukrainian meal with music and dance. We also toured a nearby provincial park.

We left there heading for Swan River, MB, our current stop. Here we were able to tour the Louisiana Pacific Plant and see how OSB (oriented strand board) was made. The plant was totally automated and the didn’t allow photos.  The next day we went to the Spruce Products plant for another tour.  They cut dimensional lumber out of logs. This plant was also automated, the computer does a 3D scan of the log to determine what boards can be cut out of the log for the best yield and the least waste. it take less than ten seconds for the scan and to start cutting the log. We also toured a buffalo farm and learned about the raising of buffalo. We will leave here on Wednesday the 20th going to The Pas, MB.

 Ethanol Plant.

Corn after the ethanol has been removed.

It is high in protein  and is used in animal feed.

Campground in Aberdeen, ND.

Chloe trying to get a little prairie dog.

On our ride at the Hutterite Colony.

They had 160,000 turkeys in this house.

A large Turtle  made out of car wheels.

One of the gardens at the Peace Garden between

Canada and the US.

Half is in the US and Half in Canada.

The Ukrainian  Catholic Church.

 In side the Church.

The Swan of Swan River.

Buffalo Farm.

At the Spruce Plant the planer is the final

 process and does one board every second.

Log waiting to enter the scanner and the the mill.

Sorted boards going to the stacker.

From Melrose to Sioux Falls

Well I guess it is about time we caught up on our blog.  After we left the caravan in Moab, Utah we went to Montrose, Colorado.  We stayed there for three days exploring the area and cleaning up and reorganizing. We visited a quaint little town called Ouray. Ouray is known for ice climbing, people come from all over to climb the frozen waterfalls.

We then went to a state campground just west of Boulder. We visited Michele , Brandon and Isabel Hiner.  Michele is the daughter Marc and Mollie Pagan our good friends from Lynchburg. We had a great dinner there and wonderful visit and I had a chance to play with Isabel.

From there we headed to Fort Laramie Wyoming to spend a couple day taking it easy and visiting the fort.

After Fort Laramie we went to Minden, Nebraska.  Minden is the home of the Pioneer Village Museum. We spent the better part of the day touring the museum, it has more early American stuff in one place than I have ever seen before. From old steam tractors and other farm equipment  to over 350 antique cars and everything you would have had in your house through the years. Just to much to describe.

From there we went to Sedalia, Missouri. Sedalia will be the location of the Airstream Rally next year.  We spent three days there and I got to ride on the Katy Trail.

Next stop was Du Quoin, Illinois and the Airstream International Rally. We were there from Thursday June 23 until Sunday July 3. 

On Sunday we left to drive almost 800 mile to our next caravan rendezvous in Sioux Falls. 

We spent one night in Ottumwa and West Bend Iowa before arriving in Sioux Fall South Dakota.

We started the Northern Experience Caravan July 6 in Sioux Falls.  While we were there we Visited the Falls Park and the US Geological Survey EROS Center the first day and the Butterfly farm and Rosenbauer American Fire Truck Manufacturer the second day. 

 

The town of Ouray.

 Town of Ouray.

View from Ouray.

 Isabel and her new car.

 She really enjoying her new Volvo.

Fort Laramie.

 Maggie at Fort Laramie.

 Found a geocache here.

Pioneer Village Museum.

 Pioneer Village Museum.

It is amazing how big the wind turbines are.

A little castle made in the thirties by the CCC.

Bottom section of the wind turbine tower. 

It weighs over 160,000 pounds.

Sioux Falls Park.

Butterflies feeding on fruit.

Fire truck being assembled.

 Thirty four of these orange colored trucks

are going to Panama.

UL Laboratory certifying the fire truck.

Maggie just had to get in.

The last leg of the Southwest Caravan

This is the first time we have had WiFi good enough to update the blog and it is the last day of the caravan. Since our last update we have been to The North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Zion National Park, Bryce National Park, Capitol Reef National Park and Moab home of Arches National Park. 

Tomorrow we will leave this area and go to Montrose Colorado for a few days making our way slowly to the Airstream International Rally in DuQuoin, Illinois.

North Rim Grand Canyon.

North Rim Grand Canyon.

North Rim Grand Canyon.

North Rim Grand Canyon.

North Rim Grand Canyon.

Our campsite at Zion.

Zion Canyon.

Zion Canyon.

Zion Canyon.

 Bryce Canyon.

Bryce Canyon.

 Bryce Canyon.

Friendly Raven at Bryce Canyon.

Trail ride down into Bryce Canyon.

 This is Hatchet and he liked to walk on the edge.

Up the switchbacks.

 Capitol Reef.

  Capitol Reef.

Four wheeling in Moab.
 This is the most popular place in
the US for this sport.

 Delicate Arch, see if you can
 find the person under the arch.

 This is called a fin.

 Balanced Rock.

Landscape Arch, a large portion
 of this arch fell in 1991.

Arches National Park.