Friday, 10 August – Outpost Motel, Cardston, AB

Breakfast wasn’t crowded today at the Comfort Inn but we arrived 15 minutes before they closed for the morning so Kim didn’t get his eggs : (

Smiley face, this morning I transferred some money back to NZ and we got NZ$1.50 for every US$1.00.  Thanks Donald, at this rate we will be making money on the motorhome.

The smoke haze still dominates so we continue with our plans to drive directly south to just north of the border today, ready for an early start tomorrow which is Saturday, not ideal for changing countries.  Never mind, we got nuthin’ else to do.  Banff has fires and so does the Lake Louise area so a good call not to go that way.

Leaving Calgary - air traffic control in the snog - must make their job extremely difficult

We start our drive by heading a little ways into Calgary for petrol and to give the windshield a good scrub.  As we head south on Hwy 5 there is not much to talk about scenery wise, it’s flat and you can’t see the horizon because of the haze.  However we do see donkeys x 2, sheep x 3, hills x 3.

We have been glad to have radio stations the last couple of days, we only rescued 4 CD’s from the coach and one doesn’t work, so George Strait, Blake Sheldon and The Young Bucs (from the show we went to at the Safari Rally) have been keeping us company – they get a bit wearisome but if I ever have to do Karaoke with music from one of these artists I will know the words without looking, bonus!

We stop off at Tim Horton for refreshments, it’s 101F outside.  Then it’s only another half hour to Cardston where we have booked a motel based on price alone!  This is the most ‘rustic’ we have had to date, the floor slopes, the hot water takes 15 minutes to flow, that doesn’t matter too much because it’s 101F outside, our duvet cover is from the 60’s, the AC unit is from the Arc but does work.  On the upside the fridge has mini bar stuff in it, the WIFI is great and that’s about it.

Rattly old AC unit in our room, the rest of the decor is of the same vintage!

We checked in around 2pm and after getting set up decide we will go for an explore to the supermarket, the local pool (not a single cm free for two more hot punters), the Visitors Centre and eventually out to the St Mary Reservoir 15 miles away where we might get a swim.  I do get a swim but it is a muddy beach, we sank to our ankles in the damp places.  The water only got as deep as my knees, and there were a lot of people there – why we ask?  Answer, there is nowhere else.

Back to get cleaned off in the cold shower and then off to A&W for dinner.  I get to try Poutine – it is a French-Canadian classic consisting of French fries, fresh cheese curds, and brown gravy.  Glad I got to try it before we leave Canada but probably wouldn’t rush to have again.

Poutain

Cheers Kim, it was only rootbeer!

We still have some Canadian $ left and as A&W don’t have any ice cream treats we wander along (in the car) to Dairy Queen to spend our last $10 on a couple of generous sundaes, yum!

Back to our hovel, catch up on the blog etc and it will be an early night.  Kim is watching cable TV (that's a plus) – I guess it doesn’t matter where you and what your duvet looks like if are if you are engrossed in TV.