July 22, 23, 24

FORT McMURRAY, ALBERTA




At the RV Park, some of the RV's are entirely covered with silver insulation. It get's very cold in the winter.
























BIG EQUIPMENT!



BIG TIRES!




How can this many people fit into that tiny airplane?











View from the air.




















Fort McMurray Home Hardware Building Centre Event

































Our interview with Kevin from 93.3 Country and Rock 97.9 Radio








July 18, 19, 20, 21



ON THE ROAD AGAIN ...










Mile O of the Alaska Highway in

Dawson Creek, British Columbia

Alicia from CJDC TV in Dawson Creek interviewed us in the motorhome.

It was a busy time for Home Hardware store drop in visits.
We dropped in at R. Home Supply Centre Home Hardware in Dawson Creek and met Rock Petric and staff.


We signed cookbooks at the Spirit River Home Hardware Store in Spirit River, Alberta. We had met Doreen Solli at the Home Hardware Market in St Jacobs. She invited us to drop in to her store where we met her husband, Earl and her daughter, Sue. We sold four cookbooks before the ink was dry.


We stopped in McLennan, Alberta, and met Bruce, Jay, and Cam Brulotte at the McLennan Home Hardware Store.


At Pops Hardware and Building Centre in High Prairie, Alberta, the staff all came out to see the motorhome and for a photo opportunity.
We saw many logging trucks and canola fields along the way.












Troy Adams from THE FOX 850 AM CKBA and Andrew de Souza from the Athabasca Advocate interviewed us at the RV Park in Athabasca, Alberta. Andrew also dropped in when were visited the Athabasca Home Hardware Building Centre to sign books.















Road Crew Ruth shortened a pair of Phyllis' slacks.







We left Athabasca for Fort McMurray. Everyone warned us about the crazy, speeding drivers and dangers of Highway #63. On the way out of Athabasca, before we even made the turn north onto highway #63, a truck threw a rock and cracked our windshield.

We stopped for diesel fuel at Grassland and put patches on the windshield crack to try to stop it from spreading. While we were there, a trucker came over because his mother loves watching us on RVTV. We signed our column in RV Lifestyle magazine for him to give to his mother. He also warned us not to take highway #63.

With trepidation, we turned up highway #63. There was some construction but it was a good paved road with lots of trucks and no crazy drivers.

We arrived in Fort McMurray all in one piece.

July 17, 2008

FORT ST. JOHN, BRITISH COLUMBIA

The marquee at the Fort St John Home Hardware Building Centre announced our arrival.


Roger and Ruth hold the itinerary board for Lamont.


It was standing room only once again.









A photo opportunity when Lorna Pomeroy drew the lucky ticket for the DeLonghi Countertop Oven.








Glen Pomeroy, Darlene Alexander, Lorna Pomeroy and the Cooking Ladies hold the Thank You sign for the local charity.



A whopping $5654.16 was raised for the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation CT Scan.





Store employee Linda White baked us six of her Grampa Doug's Bran Muffins.

Yum!






Road Crew Ruth's Nephew, Jason Brant, who lives in Fort St. John, attended the event.



Ted Sloan, from Moose FM Fort St. John reported live from the
event.
He arrived in his brightly decorated VW.

July 13, 14, 15, 16

ON THE ROAD AGAIN...


We drove from Houston through Prince George and north to Chetwynd.



More beautiful scenery... (click on photos to enlarge)



And even more brown trees the farther north we travelled. The pine beetle had destroyed entire forests. Some were mere shadows of their former selves. Many evergreens had turned black and lost their needles. We named them "The Black Forest."










Chetwynd, British Columbia is known for its chainsaw carvings.

We stopped at the Chetwynd Home Hardware Building Centre. Karly from Peace FM dropped by and interviewed us in the motorhome.











In Hudson's Hope we took an underground tour right inside the W.A.C. Bennet dam.

It is an earthfill dam that is 2 kms long.








We saw this curious deer in Fort St. John, British Columbia







In Fort St. John we were treated to a helicopter ride by Home Hardware owners Glen and Lorna Pomeroy and their daughter Naomi and her husband, helicoptor pilot, Bob Batchelor.
Glen, Lorna, Naomi, and her sister Valerie drove us to the airport and waited for our return.

Bob was not available to fly the helicoptor so Gordon Fevang filled in for him.

We flew into canyons, along rivers and over the Fort St. John Rotary RV Park where the motorhomes looked like tiny toys.

Lamont sat up front with the pilot. Roger, Ruth, and Phyllis shared the back seat. This was a very special adventure because this was our first helicopter ride.






The Canola fields were in bloom and all the yellow was spectacular.