Days 5 & 6

Day 5

Today we motored from Banff to Saskatchewan and got just beyond Medicine Hat to a place called Maple Valley where we stayed at Eagle’s Creek Campground.  Usually by that time of day and tired as we are from driving we will take the closest place to the hour of dusk.  We have certainly seen our variety of RV Parks and will see 60 to 80 more this trip?  Every time we leave I am thinking I could design and build a nicer one.  I realize it is a petty  foot to start off on every morning but the sad thing is that it would not be very hard at all.  Eagle’s Creek was certainly spacious and open amid  broad swaths of tree filled grassy dividers but the owners chose a tropical cum African Savanna, cum Jimmy Buffet theme with flanking  concrete lions as you entered the park and perhaps 3 dozen plastic palm trees spaced about, really.  The concrete bunker like main office was cloaked and draped with thatch weavings long gone dry and limp from the prairie sun and winds.  The shop sold long tropical shifts and the hot tub was empty save for a two inch coating of green slime.  They tried  I know and perhaps this is yet another trial for my need to learn tolerance and patience.  “They” make it so difficult. Nevertheless it was a long day on the prairies which began soon after we left Calgary.Tomorrow promises another diorama of flat lands.

Day 6

On the road todaySouthern Saskatchewan with names like Medicine Hat, Moose Jaw and almost 1000 miles of prairie including Manitoba.  Arrowing eastward on the Trans Canada Hwy 1 the cd plays CSN&Y harmonies soaring above the big V8 diesel humming a steady lower register as we tow on with that shiny aluminum tail swinging behind.  Flying grassland bugs give them selves up in green, yellow and clear Jackson Pollock slings across the windshield.  And the massive prairie oceans roll along mile after mile, hour after hour.  Thank God for cruise control, now if they could only figure out steer control then perhaps I could just sit back and write or play my guitar while the movie scrolls by.  I think that might be a train ride I am talking about but that would involve even much more encapsulation, thousands of tons of steel enclosure.  I miss motorcycling and the inescapable immersion in the elements.  There is no running away from, no hiding from the weather just a complete tactile experience of the world at your skin.  It is all right there.  But then how could I listen to CSN&Y or Paul Siebel.  We boomers are so spoiled.  Hand me that trail mix Jo, the one with all the chocolate covered cranberries!

The prairies are slowly giving way to rolling hills near Winnipeg and it is time again to drop hitch.  This time at Brandon and Meadowlake Campgrounds amongst the herd of white plastic rolling stock. I think our airstream is a curiosity.  The usual comments of “Say, I haven’t seen one of those in a long time ol timer” can be counted on to be heard.Gloves on, hook up.