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July 14th Banff Supper

“Let's stop here,” says Mom, “Ì can cook our hamburgers and sausage here.” Soon the enticing aroma of meat was blowing in the area, as we sat next to the aquamarine river. Mom was kind of thinking, “I bet a bear could smell this; it’s a heavenly smell.” She watched another family stop, put a coleman stove on the picnic table, read the signs, and quickly pack up again. Odd. Ron, who had been driving all day, was taking a snooze in the van, and Mom decided not to read the distant signs posted in case it said something about parking permits. After all, they were leaving shortly. So, we are all eating our hamburgers and sausage, and Ron wanders out, and reads the posted signs. He promptly come back and informs the family that there are bears around, and to be careful. “Interesting,“says Mom. ”In Alberta we worry about bears, and in Florida we’ll worry about crocodiles”.
“All this talk is making me think I want a revolver,” remarks Zachary.
“Can we eat in the van?” asks Dominic.
“Cool!!” exclaims Clayton, and looks around.

June 15th Calgary Zoo

We highly recommend the Calgary Zoo!! Our favourite animals were the

July 16 Montana and North Dakota

Memories *black clouds in the distance, sporadically displaying lightning flashes; sighting by the DeVries gang was elusive. It was a long time before every family member saw them.
*Walmart Superstore overnight!! Mom had the worst sleep, because she was always on the lookout for people who were stopping nearby. Zachary, who was NOT happy about camping-out in a parking lot, was the one slept the best!! The irony of it.

Quote of day,as seen on a Montana church billboard, 'What's missing in CH CH?
U R!!

July 17 - Turtle!

We were driving in North Dakota on our way to Rapid City (Mt. Rushmore), when Ron saw a large turtle (tortoise?) in the middle of the road. A biker had stopped, so that on-going traffic wouldn’t hit it. We turned around, and stopped too. I found a stick and Ron used it shove the beast off the road. Apparently it was a snapping turtle. You will have to see my video I took, to see that head flash out and take a chunk out of that stick. It had claws akin to eagle talons, a tail around a foot long, and it walked like a armadillo. I would say that Ron saved its life, as he shoved it towards the creek it came from, only on the other side of the road. It still had a wet shell, as if it had crawled out from the mud.

Postscript: A couple days later as we drove thru South Dakota, and Mom saw 2 dead turtles on the side of 2 different bridges, but they were considerably smaller. Later, when we found a brochure about reptiles and amphibians, we confirmed that it was indeed a snapping turtle! It said that their shells grew up to 18” and we all agree it was that large!

June 20 The Long Drive to Minneapolis

We came to a campsite and it was full, so we pushed on to the nearest KOA. It was late, like 12:30 a.m., and furthermore, the GPS was out an hour because of the time change we had driven through, but we had not reset the device. When we had thought we were almost there, we still had another hour to go!! We ended up on this road that was new, and hadn’t been updated onto our GPS. On the map portion it showed us driving blindly through black terrain. The sensation I had, in the darkness, was like driving on a merry-go-round such as you find in a playground sometimes. It literally felt like we were driving in circles, and then our GPS said, “You have reached your destination” Ahh, the familiar KOA!!

June 21 Father’s Day/ Go Skate Day

One of the reasons we had pushed on to a large city was to give Dominic a chance to celebrate “Go Skate Day” in a metropolis area. He found a place that usually charged $13 for a skate session (indoor park) and it was free. So off we went. We are so proud to say that Dominic won the “Most Kick-flips in a Row” contest - and won (drum roll) 2 PIECES OF GRIP TAPE. He also won another piece for the skate trick contest. Let’s just says he worked hard for those prizes.

Our funniest moments of the day: We went to our favourite buffet called “Old Country Buffet”. They had an “Icee” machine (kind of like slurpees) and when you used it, sprayed all over, especially if you held the cup down low. We watched an young oriental girl try to fill a cup, which resulted in an Icee shower. She just stood there looking aghast, waiting for her parents, or anyone for that matter, to rescue her.

Jeanette went to take a rest in the restroom, and as she was waiting in a line-up (Father’s Day was busy!) she asked the South American older and younger woman who were standing in front of her in the line-up which country they were from. They said they were from Mexico City. Meanwhile, Jeanette is looking down at the feet in one of the stalls. ‘Hmm. They look quite manly, actually,’ she thought. ‘Those look an awful lot like man’s trouser pants and man’s dress shoes.’ Then, she stepped out a minute to get her camera to take a picture of the watermelon that had “Dad carved on it while she waited. As she turned around, shegot a glimpse of a MAN marching quickly out of the Womens and into the Mens. It was the elderly Mexican woman’s husband, and she was in her stall giggling so hard she choked. Soon we were all giggling.


Soo Boat Locks (Sault Ste. Marie) - We watched a modern day pirate ship and a huge 1000ft boat being raised 21ft in water, from one level of river to the other. This was rated by our family as a 3½ star attraction.

Badlands
Mom was all enthralled when we arrived to Moose Lake and she saw green fluorescent lights flash on and off in the bushes - FIREFLIES!!! The most amazing thing was that Jeanette caught one!! It was sitting on the door of the women's bathroom waiting to be caught! She put it in a Burger King cup and brought it to Clayton to see but he was sleeping. It was so neat - his back end just lit up every few seconds! God's wonders...

Father’s Day - Dad

Lake Huron Swim & Snorkel (L&J Campground)
*Zach got bitten (by some sort of creature) repeatedly on the shoulder, but the after-bite lotion disappeared.
*We had an electrical dust burn in the trailer, and boy did it smell!
*And, did you know that Dominic has mosquito phobia? He will NOT smack a mosquito with his bare hands “because it's gross.”
*Mom was washing some dishes on a picnic bench and a raccoon came along - not a quiet creature!! Dad shooed it away.
*Our coolers were malfunctioning and all the food was warm. Really, the whole night felt like a real fiasco. We had grilled cheese sandwiches and scrambled eggs and pink lemonade. Picture warm cheese, a soggy cardboard egg carton, and a warmish, defrosted from-concentrate pink lemonade can.
Clayton started a nice fire, but we nixed the smores because it was 11:30p.m. We’ve now driven through 3 hour time zones. Our clocks are a little out of whack.

When we woke up, we swam in Lake Huron. The temperature was quite comfortable and the sand was smooth and fine. Ron saw a fresh water clam, and Clayton dug out the snorkel equipment, and learned HOW TO snorkel!!
We saw a fish, about a pound, hanging around the dock. It seemed to have made a wheel rim, with a yellow rope floating out of it, its home. It just swam around its habitat the whole time!!

Here's how the trip has gone so far, if you are interested:

Friday, June 12 - 1st Night Ponderosa Pines (Out of Kamloops)
Saturday, June 13th - 2nd Night Edelmans (Calgary)
Sunday, June 14th - 3rd Night “
Monday, June 15 - 4th Night “
Tuesday, June 16th - 5th Night: Besant Campground (Caron, Saskatchewan)
Wednesday, June 17th - 6th Night : Walmart (Williston, North Dakota)
Thursday, June 18th - 7th Night Mt. Rushmore Shadows
Friday, June 19th - 8th Night Mt. Rushmore Shadows
Saturday, June 20th - 9th Night KOA (Minneapolis)
Sunday, June 21th - 10th Night Moose Lake (fireflies)
Monday, June 22nd - 11th Night Wisconsin ( in & out - the blur)
Tuesday, June 23rd - 12th Manitoulin Island, Ontario (L & J Campground)
Wednesday, June 24th -13th Night Mississauga, Ontario (Meandro’s)
Thursday, June 25th - 14th night " CRASH DAY
Friday, June 26th - 15th night " Toronto Sight seeing/CN Tower
Saturday, June 27th - 16th Night St. Lawrence market/Niagara Falls

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