Devastating forest fires in B.C, the grossly over reported 'Mad Cow' scare, SARS, 'friendly fire', drought, and heaven knows what else pretty much summed up 2003. We managed a summer of camping trips anyway and items below are from the log book.
Happy Camping! Roy and Janet Schmaus, December 2003
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Snow on the hills East of Ponoka was a pretty good introduction to the first Good Sam campout of 2003 in the Ag. grounds at Bashaw hosted by the Rose City Good Sams of Camrose. Fortunately we had an indoor facility for potluck suppers, crib tournaments, our 'Pass the Ace" game and also did a clean up of the adjoining camp ground and baseball fields. |
| Cleaning up Big | . |
A big thank you for the Wetaskiwin Lions Club for hosting the two of us for three nights of camping after pointing out that the town name was mis spelled on my Alberta page. (Oops! That has been fixed! .. Roy)
We had an enjoyable week end with trips to the Reynolds Alberta Museum, the Alberta Railway Museum, and Huckleberry's cafe where we celebrated our thirty fourth wedding anniversary.
The St. Albert Northern Lights and the Parkland Jays co hosted the Alberta Samboree in Vegreville this year with lots of enthusiastic help from other Chapters and wonderful support from the town. Three hundred and ninety five rigs were on site by Friday.
The legion moved their barbecue & steak supper to today and even laid on bus transportation to their site so Good Sams could attend. Enjoyed the steak and had a beer of course.
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Early morning walk, bus tours, stores, hospitality, games, seminar on out of country insurance, cro-hook knitting classes, sign up for craft tables and Pet Parade, commercial displays, silent auction, Ladies Tea, Mens Coffee, entertainment, ice cream social. |
| Sunbeam Alpines etc. at the museum. |
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Rope making. Big |
Inside the blacksmith shop. Big |
Some of the well fed Parkland Jays in the rain after the banquet. Big |
"They didn't even bring me a lousy t-shirt."
Denver the dog.
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The R.C.M.P. Musical Ride, Rubber Soul, Randy Bachman, and Michelle Wright were some of the acts booked by the town of Athabasca for the Canada Day week end. We camped with the Parkland Jays at the Blueberry Hill RV Park. June 30 was also 'National Blonde Day.' |
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R.C.M.P.Musical Ride at Athabasca |
Weather was very hot for the musical ride then turned rainy for most of the outdoor stage performances. We took rain gear to watch Rubber Soul and Randy Bachman 'Takin Care of Business.' Our friends had tickets to Michelle Wright the next night but wound up playing card games with us in their motor home. Those who braved the rain and cold said Wright's performance was excellent.
Just us taking a break on the island after all the Athabasca activity.
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" I sure like your army truck.."..unidentified kid "It's not ours but..." One of the Spallin relatives had arrived up towing a small trailer with the rig in the picture. We were just sampling some of Aunt Barb's home brew wine in the shade next to her Intrepid but who could resist taking a picture. The machine is a 'Hummer' clone built on an old 4 wheel drive truck and was pressed into service taking kids for rides later. |
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"No Roy, you can't have one of these either!" |
Debby had her extensive genealogy collection in the hall and we also enjoyed a potluck supper and other activities. See the Schmaus page for more including a picture of Michael and Family at the Ross Creek Cabin circa 1905.
Our Parkland Jays 3 rig convoy sites were on a bluff with a great view of the Bow river and an off leash area just below us.
" I've never camped with Grizzlies before!" Janet
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" You guys can go hiking or fishing and get eaten by a bear! We're staying here and cross stitching" Janet, Isabel, and Janet |
Our camp site. |
Notes from the log book:
The two of us moved to a power site at Bow valley mainly so our deep cycle battery could be recharged. Bow Valley power sites are quite small and close together. The unserviced sites are much nicer if you can live with that. Willow Rock, just across from the entrance, is close to the highway but much less crowded and has a laundromat.
The 'Weasels" program at the Bow Valley amphitheater was well done with quite a bit of audience participation. Its a rare treat these days to visit a provincial park amphitheater that is still being used!
A good spot for an overnight stop on the way home.
A Parkland Jays campout in Canada's only border city. The Alberta - Saskatchewan border runs down the west side of fiftieth street so the road is in Saskatchewan but stores on the west side are in Alberta.
Weaver Park is just behind the tourist information centre adjacent to the impressive Barr Colony museum.
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The ladies also found a teahouse hidden in the trees nearby.
This one will be added to the Alberta Provincial Parks page when time permits. We're not sure about the exact location of the Dr. Steve West forty thousand dollar biffy but you can always look for "Ralph Klein Unplugged' with your search engine for clues.
An overnight stop on the way home already reported on in the 2002 log.
Pretty much the same as in the 2001 log.
About the same as the 2001 log except for our inviting the Peace Hills Good Sams from Wetaskiwin as guests.
An overnight stop on the way to Claresholm. This site has a special off road vehicle/snowmobile section.
The last Alberta Good Sam event of the year is the Fall Meeting and Mini Samboree. One hundred and fifty rigs dry camped for the week end next to the Claresholm community centre and enjoyed a great week end.
The Lions did an outstanding job of catering to the banquet and we did a double take when meeting the lion who had also been a Charter Member of the Spruce Grove Kinsmen Club with Roy in 1972.
We made side trips to Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump, the Claresholm museum, and to use the showers at the immaculate Claresholm Municipal Campground. (You can see part of it under the starboard wing of the Harvard in the picture.)
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The view from Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump |
The Harvard Trainer in Claresholm commemorates the Commonwealth Air Training Program of WW2 |
After leaving Claresholm we headed north for home. Very strong head winds in central Alberta made us decide to overnight at Lacombe. Things didn't improve much the next day with five centimeters of snow in the forecast so we went home and winterized the trailer.
Janet already has most of 2004 booked.
