“No animal on earth has touched so directly and profoundly the lives of so many human beings.

For all of history and all over the globe she has
been a nuisance, a pain, and an angel of death.
Mosquitoes have felled great leaders, decimated armies, and decided the fates of nations. All this, and she is roughly the size and weight of a grape seed.”

—Andrew Spielman[1]

“Mosquitoes troublesome.  Mosquitoes quite troublesome.  Mosquitoes extremely troublesome.” A few quotes from Meriweather Lewis, in his journal when co-leading the Corps of Discovery to the Pacific Ocean.

At White Bear Islands, Montana on 15 July 1806, Lewis groaned that:

“The mosquetoes continue to infest us in such manner that we can scarcely exist; for my own part I am confined by them to my bier at least 3/4ths of my time.     My dog even howls with the torture he experiences from them.    They are almost insupportable, they are so numerous that we frequently get them in our throats as we breath.”

We try as hard as we can, by quickly dashing into or out of the Airstream, but they still get inside.  Karen’s combat weapon of choice is the fly swatter; I prefer the small hand held vacuum.

Outside, you need thick clothes, a hat, and a spritz or two, or three, or four of 100% DEET,  to help keep the pesky little critters at bay.  Most of them at bay, that is.  There are still some ambitious ones that will get ya.

They seem especially fond of the insteps of our  feet, somehow finding a way to find me THROUGH my socks.  My insteps have about 30 welts.

They come in small, medium and large sizes, but the most prevalent so far seem to be the little ones.

Karen asked “What are all of them eating, if they are not eating us?”  One of many ponderous questions that  will require further research.

As Allen and I were talking at cocktail hour, he asked if I had seen the fresh oysters at the Real Canada Store where we had stopped for supplies here in Grand Prairie.  I said I did not, but I had seen them in the store we shopped at 9 days ago.  

He said “Some BBQ oysters would have been a great first meal”.  ONE MINUTE LATER, I was unhitching the Airstream and the two of us were off to get some fresh oysters, just 15 minutes from the RV park campsite.

Upon our return, Karen added a fresh zucchini, mushroom, onion and tomato stir fry, Kerri brought over some spinach ravioli, some red and white wine, sliced toasted baguette with butter and garlic……

On the drive to get oysters, Allen said, “This trip is going to be just like when we were in our twenties – spontaneous – not like our planned and scheduled (and responsible) thirties, fourties’, fifties and sixties.  We are going to be like our younger selves!”

Life is good.

Namaste

With Allen and Kerri, and Starlink. Standby for more, it is cocktail hour…..

Just a few teasers before I get to WiFi.

Have used 4GB of my 5GD high speed data – posting pics burns data. App is laborious and slow. Will not upload additional pics for 6 more days until we have WiFi. Currently camped in middle of nowhere but do have cell service. Need data for mapping.

Namaste.

Software is terribly quirky. Have lost two posts that I spent over 30 minutes composing, editing and preparing.

Finally getting all of the stuff in the truck and the Airstream in the right places. We are both feeling very comfortable about our preparation and organization. Drove 90 miles north to Calgary and took the bypass east, then north of downtown. Stopped at a food store unlike anything I have ever shopped in. They had everything- live lobster, 5 varieties of live oysters, and two aisles of ethnic food that were 150’ long. It was impressive. You could find food to satisfy any race, religion, political or sexual preference.

Landscape was flat to rolling hills and all agricultural. Little irrigation and mostly what looked like wheat, barley and other grains.

From the web:

AI Overview

Southern Alberta, including the region south of Calgary, is a major agricultural hub in Canada known for a variety of products

. 

Key Agricultural Products:

• Grain Crops: Wheat, barley, oats, and canola are significant crops grown in this region.
• Pulses: Southern Alberta is a leading producer and exporter of dry peas, beans, faba beans, chickpeas, and lentils.
• Livestock: Alberta leads Canada in beef production, with a significant concentration of cattle ranching in the southern part of the province.
• Other Crops: Rye, corn, and specialty crops such as canary seed, buckwheat, hemp, and mustard are also grown. Sugar beets are grown in southern Alberta, providing the only domestic source of sugar in Canada. Taber sweetcorn is a notable regional product.
• Honey: Alberta is the largest honey-producing province in Canada, with abundant clover, alfalfa, and canola fields supporting beekeeping.
• Market Gardening: Market gardening is also popular, with farmers producing fresh vegetables like beets, broccoli, carrots, and potatoes, and selling directly to consumers. 

The town of Drumheller is dinosaur fanatic. There are statues, recreations, likenesses of dinosaurs all over town – some monstrous in size – and many are painted in vibrant colors. I will make an effort to develop a post tomorrow. The brightly colored ones would be interesting to photograph.

i have spent 30 minutes attempting to paste a link to the Royal Tyrrell Museum. I guess you will need to search for yourself to see how spectacular it is…..

Will also be posting pics of meal time. This is not hot dogs and canned beans camping…..

Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water. W. C. Fields

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. Benjamin Disraeli

If all difficulties were known at the outset of a long journey, most of us would never start out at all. Dan Rather

To travel is to take a journey into yourself.  Danny Kaye

Yesterday we toured the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site museum and interpretive center. It was informative and well presented.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site | Official Virtual Tour – SeeVirtual

Especially interesting was a video of how the Native Americans lured, steered and scared the buffalo into a stampede and over the cliff – thousands of years before they acquired horses.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site | Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Found a city park in Granum and will stay here again tonight. We are 90 miles south of Calgary.

Have caught some trout for dinner tonight in the 3 acre lake we are camped next to.

Warning! Alert!

These blog posts most probably may contain history, geology, maps, facts AND fiction, science, religion, satire and hopefully a decent dose of humor.

This legally researched warning is to insure that you have received a disclaimer notice to insure that you should be cautious if entertained in any manner.

So we went to see the BIG truck, a one of a kind monster.

Spoke with the camp host briefly before heading out – she was friendly, about 60 and had maybe one canine tooth and a few molars -wasn’t really sure if there were 2, 3 or 4 – and inquired about what else there was to see or do in town. She smiled at me and said, “Nothing much else to see or do, honey.”