A month on the road

Storyline: Westward Ho!

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(Hmmm… This was supposed to be posted a long time ago but somehow got lost in the winds and wildfires. I guess rushing back home we didn’t have lots of spare time or wifi for that matter)

Thus, Jun 15

High winds, which kept changing directions in a way that didn’t benefit the driving, were throwing Doranya off the road. Winds across, in front and diagonal. The flexible antenna blown almost horizontal. A metal grinding squeal coming from the passenger side (sounded to me more like a screeching of wind exploiting a weakness in the door’s weather seal – A). Extremely loud and frightening. Had the feeling we’d lose a window or the side door.  Or the entire body would disintegrate.

Narrow roads with nowhere to stop safely. We’ve driven through high winds in Newfoundland, but boy were these high winds. The previous day we had tornado warnings. No tornado, not even threatening clouds today. We’ve heard about high winds in the prairies, but this was beyond our understanding of strong winds.

A month on the road. It’s been an interesting journey with the ever-changing Canadian landscape, scenery and weather so far. Definitely feels much longer than a month.

We woke to about 9°C at the Dinosaur Provincial Park. Not much different from when we started the journey in May. In a month, temperatures swung in a full cycle. From cold to extreme heat to cold again.  It rained all night.

The hills around have lost some of their colour. It all looks green-gray. Grey skies. We are not in a rush to leave. Waited for the rain to taper off. Then disconnected and dumped our holding tanks. Next was to shower. The bathrooms are attached to the main service building.

It has a cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch, plus has some souvenirs and basic supplies. At the back are the showers and a laundry room. I showered, then we had brunch and around noonish we took off. We didn’t have far to go. Or so we thought.

Once Doranya climbed up from the valley surrounded by the hoodoos and we were in the open strong winds hit us. At first, we thought it was only at that high view point. Looking back to the hoodoos we realized that deep down in the valley of the campground we were somewhat protected. The viewpoint wasn’t at the highest point. We came more or less from this level and descended in the park.

Our progress was slow. The hour and a half became 3 hours and more. Battered by the winds until we arrived in Dorothy. A historic place, so small that we almost missed it.

The hamlet was named after a girl who lived in the area when the post office opened. If you remember from some of our old blog posts, many small settlements had to take a name acceptable for Canada post at the time.

We found a grain elevator and two churches. All deserted now.

The United Church was functional between 1932 and 1961 and the Roman Catholic Church was in service from 1944 to 1967. The hamlet never grew beyond 100 residents.

It is considered one of Alberta’s pioneer communities serving as a social centre in the heart of the Badlands Country.

It wasn’t much left after Dorothy and we eventually made it to our campground. The Hoodoo RV Park. Because of the winds we skipped the hoodoos trail, but nothing looked as spectacular as the Dinosaur Provincial Park. We hooked Doranya to electricity and water and called it a day. There was some smoke coming from the wildfires further north hanging over the area. Uninspiring campground. Although the sites were decent size and no one was sitting next to the other’s table, we felt that it was better to move on. The smoke also made me cough. The decision was to stay in a hotel, where we’d feel more protected from the smoke. So far in a month we’ve spent 5 nights in hotels. Some planned. Like in The Soo, some imposed by weather conditions, like in Moose Jaw. And the next two nights – in Drumheller and Airdrie.

Fri, Jun 16

Doranya was full of smoke. The two nights we had left in the campgrounds were not worth using. We had actually paid only for two. And so far everywhere we left a day early we were able to get reimbursement. Not in this campground. I guess they are too close to the local attractions and wanted to make a profit from it. I mean Drumheller, where the Dinosaur Museum is. And the Hoodoos Trail, among others. The campground and the hotel we’d stay the next day were full of screaming kids, running around and having fun.

After having our coffee/tea and breakfast and cleaning the inside of the van we drove to Drumheller and checked into a hotel. Had lunch in an Irish themed pub (didn’t find anything Irish in my blue sangria), walked to the biggest dinosaur in the world – a statue in the city centre on the road to the museum. Drumheller, once a tropical paradise as was the entire area from Dinosaur Park to here, is a hot spot for dinosaur tourism. It attracts many families with kids, mainly little kids, although there is a lot more to the museum that a kid would not relate to.

The town established first as a railway station and later boomed as a coal-mining town. It can get very hot in the area. But we were lucky with moderate temperatures.

The smoke from wildfires was not as strong as in the campground so we could explore a bit around. Had espresso and Alex a cappuccino at a café in the centre. Walked into a buffet type Asian restaurant carrying my name, with a take-out menu, just to be met with extremely rude owner. Walked out. Back to the hotel area across the highway we ordered our dinner (spaghetti with spinach and shrimp), from Boston pizza; a chain that carries a variety of food – not just pizza.

Sat, Jun 17

Glad they didn’t have room for a second night at this hotel. We have a membership at Best Western hotels, that usually offer us deals of one sort or another. If there is such in the area, we use it. In general rooms come with kitchenette (often cheaper than a regular room). We still had one night before we were due at Lake Louise National Park. Found a nice town just north of Calgary with 2 Best Western hotels. One “The Best Western Plus” was cheaper and in a shopping plaza. I booked it for Sat night. Today was to visit the dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. After that we’ll drive to our hotel in Airdrie.

Did I say Drumheller was full of little screaming kids? Nothing wrong with it, but they all wake up and want to see the dinos. So the breakfast area was a zoo. Very small and crowded inside and although they did have a patio it was too cool for us to use it. We found a table, had our breakfast and off we drove to see the dinos together with everybody else.

The museum is well organised and curated. Full of information if only one could get through the crowds, read and absorb it in peace (ok, we’re now officially grumpy old farts – A). Have you been to the Louvre in Paris? Similar situation. I really liked the “evidence of evolution” exhibits. Ever wonder if an evangelist visits such a museum?

Amazing how many bones have been excavated; how many fossils have been discovered during the years. The stories behind the discoveries, the origins of the badlands, the paleontology on display, perhaps attracting some aspiring scientists.

In the afternoon we took off for Airdrie. The hotel was amazing. Never been in such a clean and spacious hotel. Looked like a brand new but it wasn’t. Perhaps a good management team. It was also the cheapest hotel we’ve stayed in since 2010, when the prices were different and affordable.

One can say, perhaps there were not that many visitors at that end of the world, but the other Best Western, just on the other side of the highway but a little closer to Calgary was much more expensive. In any case we enjoyed our evening, night and morning there.

Note: Posting this from home, almost 2 months later, I can say that we were lucky with the price then. Later running away from smoke and rushing back home I’d check the hotel. The price had tripled. It was summer in full speed and close to the Calgary stampede too.

Next stop Lake Louise. Thunderstorms, rain and snow in the forecast!