#VegasStrong

I said yesterday Brenda had a mission in Vegas, we headed in today, got set up in the Las Vegas RV Resort and then headed off to complete that mission. A few weeks ago she watched a news story about the massacre on October 1. She saw some fellow had made memorial crosses for all 58 victims of this modern day massacre and each one had an American flag on it. Four of the folks shot down that night were Canadians so she wanted to make sure that was recognized. Today we visited the site and she put Canadian Flags on those four folks crosses. Jordan McIldoon, Jessica Klymchuk, Calla Medig, and Tara Roe Rest in Peace and know that those of us north of Medicine Line are remembering you.

On the Road

We spent Thursday and part of Friday hauling stuff out to the rig and packing it away, loading things for our southern migration. About noon we figured we had enough stuff to keep us from blowing away in the wind so we fired up the truck and headed out. The plan is to do something we haven't ever tried before and just wander our way south, taking it easy. Our first stop was going to be somewhere around the border, Milk River or Shelby, but we didn't actually find a decent spot to pull off until pretty Dutton, Mt. There is a good little Rest Area just north of there that is quite a way off the road and makes a good place for a "rest". And a great spot for the dogs to get out and do a little exploring.

We got a good nights sleep and Saturday morning around 9 we got on the road, I told you it was going to be different, in the past we would have already been 4 or 5 hours down the road by that time. Just a while down the road we pulled into Great Falls and filled the Ford, and then headed into Denny's to fill our own tanks. Brenda had her favourite Chicken Fried Steak with white gravy and I tried something new called Sticky Bun Pancakes. They were Pecan Pancakes dressed with some sauce off of Sticky Buns and holy smokes they were good, fattening, and not healthy, but oh so good. After a leisurely breakfast we headed back out onto the highway. Our plan was to head for southern Montana and called it a day south of Dillon, at the Clark Canyon Reservoir. There are a few spots to camp there, we chose Horse Prairie and it was sure a hidden gem. Rumour has it that it can be windy in that valley but it was dead calm the whole time we were there.

A pano the lake from our spot, probably 6 or 8 images stitched together

Sticking with our theme of taking it easy we hooked up about 9 and got on the road soon after. Today we had a big day planned, about 5 1/2 hours on the road, Seems strange wandering along, hooking up in the daylight and setting up in the same, not my usual way of heading south, but usually I am racing to get to DPS to meet Brenda coming on the airplane, but this time she is traveling with me and long days and her CRPS don't fit well together. We stopped for the night at Cabela's in Lehi. We have pulled in here before both with and without the horses, they had corrals here for them but those have been removed so it is not a horse stopping spot anymore. We did slip into the store and pay the rent though with a few purchases.

This morning we got on the road about 9ish and headed south again, it was a nice driving day and we slipped down the Virgin River Gorge and pulled into our regular stopping place at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Logandale, Nevada. This is a great spot for those hauling horses, nice pens, some covered stalls and even an internet connection that works pretty well. We always throw some money in the honour box as even though we don't haul horses anymore we do use the internet and the power that is available. This a well kept place and I was a little disappointed to see that some folks don't appreciate it, looked like at least two trailers had been here recently and cleaned themselves out in the parking lot. There are great spots here for doing just that but these goofs just pushed it out the back onto the parking lot. I worked off my dinner shovelling a couple of idiots manure and shavings and piling it in the proper place if we don't look after these places they will not welcome transient horse folk anymore. And you just know that people that do that probably didn't put anything in the box either.

Logandale Sunset

Tomorrow we are heading for Vegas, Brenda has a mission in mind so we will have a short, 60 minute, drive day and get that job done.

Hey look at that two entries, one month.

Getting Ready

Well despite my good intentions here it is almost 2 and 1/2 months since my last journal entry. When last I wrote we were heading to Vancouver Island to visit our good friends John and Gina, and planning on visiting with Renè and Jeanette along the way. All that went according to Hoyle and we had a great visit with them all. We went to dinner at Fort Langley with Renè and Jeanette and then once we were back at their place we headed over towards the ferry terminal. We originally planned to just roll up to the locked gates and spend the night right there, but along the way we came across a Bass Pro Shop in Twassen and decided that looked like a better spot to hole up for the night. We were on the early ferry the

She fits and didn't actually take up the whole ferry

next morning so were pulling into John & Gina place around 9ish. Our rig was a tight fit, but with some help from our new neighbours, and rolling across their lawns we made it into our spot at the Resort on the Lake near Westwood Lake. It is a nice place with friendly folks and some great walking trails that Maya and Max just loved down by the lake.

We spent a great ten days hanging out here, picked a few berries, told a few stories, shared some laughs and met Brenda's long time online friend Angela and her husband Don, RV'ers who spend their summers on the Island and their winters in Arizona.

Then it was back to Dogpound North, but first we had to navigate the forest fires that BC has had going on all summer.

Fires along the Trans-Canada Highway just east of the Rogers Pass

I snuck out one day to see our nephew riding a bull up at Sundre. It was a learning experience for Justin as just after this shot the bull won the battle and drug him around the arena a bit before he got loose.

Early September is birthday time for the Tomasir kids so we headed in to spend a little time with Kash and Everly at their birthday bash. A good time was had by all and Grandma got some snuggles in, tell the truth so did I but there were no camera's spying on me.

Kash and Grandma

Everly and Grandma

 The rest of September was taken up just fiddling around here at Dogpound North, got a little road work done, fill in some sunken spots around our fire pit and closed up the big burning pit we used to get rid of our old barn. Then it was time to take our rig up to Allandale to get a few warranty things looked after. One of our solar panels must have taken a direct hit from a meteorite or something as it was shattered, so that was replaced under warranty as well. Allandale did a pretty good job, but Heartland the manufacturer of our Road Warrior is pretty slow getting parts out to their dealers so it was there a lot longer than was the plan.

Dry Island Provincial Park along the Red Deer River

Last weekend Lacey and Clayton brought the girls down to have one last visit with us before we head south for the winter so it was great to see them one last time as well.

Alle

Ella and Alle monkeying around

We got the rig back today and other than the 50 mph winds that blew me home from Red Deer that went well. Tomorrow we start loading it for our southern migration, so we are hoping to be south of the Medicine Line and looking for warmer climes pretty soon.

Sunset over Dogpound North last night