Blogs from Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, North America

Hello friends! Even though I just got back from New Zealand, I’m already off on another life journey to an exotic location, beautiful Grande Prairie, Alberta! And work is paying for it, hooray! Now, there are flights to Grand Prairie from Calgary, but to truly get the full experience you need to drive. Only then can you appreciate what this province is all about. And what better vehicle to take than the quintessential Alberta highway king, a Ford F-150. Mine is a quad cab, 2.7L Ecoboost in stunning government fleet white with grey cloth interior. His name is Hank. Hank and I left Calgary heading north on the Queen Elizabeth Highway or QE2. I’m sure ol’ Lizzy was flattered to have such a road named after her. It’s not like it goes through the mountains or ... read more

ok leisel here they went to shower and i only have 4 minutes thats how long they say the showers last and i want to have time to troll the kitchen and counter to see if they left anything out they've been battening down the hatches ever since the cinnamon roll incident gotta say it took 3 days to get over that binge we headed over to alberta coach early and it was really rainin cats mom was leading in the car and dad in the rv i was chained to the seat mom turned on the seat heater had my favorite blanket and lamby got to go it was really scary heres the low down on the hot water there aint any till oregon the box has a crack in it so we have to ... read more

As I said in yesterday’s entry, it was planned to be a short day today. It wasn’t as short as planned though. We stopped on the East side of Edmonton last night as the rush hour traffic was horrendous. We figured we would beat the morning rush, but it doesn’t ever seem to subside. We got to the West side and stopped for our first sit down breakfast of the trip. Truck stop food up here is about the same as the lower 48. So after a leisurely breakfast we headed for Grande Prairie, and oil changes for the bikes. On a gas stop, about 2 hours from Edmonton, Mike decided to do a check that he had all of his belongings. A reoccurring theme here is that the service providers don’t speak the same language ... read more

2011-07-04 - DAY FOUR HINTON TO GRANDE PRAIRIE Today’s drive took us on the scenic route 40 paralleling the Eastern side of the Willmore Wilderness National Park. Driving in Alberta reminded me a lot of Wyoming. Almost everyone drives a pickup so they can pull their RV or Quads or Boat!! This area is certainly a huge playground, and because it was the weekend of July 1 Canada Day and July 4 Independence Day in the US, we passed many groups out for a fun filled weekend. The country was very beautiful in its vastness, something that you cannot capture on the camera. Everything was so green – many shades of green – just as if it was early Spring, and the wild flowers along the side of the road were blooming profusely. Our camp site ... read more

Day 1: Saskatoon-Edmonton: 524 km Day 2: Edmonton Grande Prairie: 459 km Total to date: 983 km Here we go again, another trip, another blog. If you missed the last one, you can catch it at www.mytb.org/patanderin. Pat R and I left Saskatoon on Saturday at noon, as we had planned. The weather wasn't that great, it's been an odd spring weather wise, with overnight frost in early June. So I bundled up, plugged in my vest, turned on my heated grips and set off for Edmonton, a ride that is just over 500 km. Pretty uneventful trip, we stayed at my brother's place in Edmonton and set off for Dawson Creek, British Columbia - mile zero of the Alaska Highway - on Sunday morning. The weather Sunday was worse than the day before. There was ... read more