OK, so we're home... got back Wednesday evening, and we now have the Bounder parked and unloaded. Probably take a few more days to put away the stuff, so it's good that we still have a few days before work beckons.
We headed north from Laughlin Sunday morning, just after the last blog post. Good trip through Las Vegas, where we broke even for the first time ever (it helps when you don't stop). My preferred view of Vegas is now from the interstate...
Our first rude awakening was just across the border in Utah - there's snow in them thar hills. Definitely a bad sign as we were hoping to get to at least Leduc before seeing any white stuff. Dang.
Sunday night was in Payson, Utah (if you followed the blog in 2008 you might remember that name - I overnighted there after purging water). The MH on the left is from Saskatchewan, headed to Palm Springs for 6 weeks. Lucky B*st*rd. We were to see more over the next few days.
Monday morning was dank and drizzly - exactly what you DON'T want when you still need to drain water and winterize. Luckily we got a break in the weather north of Salt Lake City and were able to do the deed in the back corner of a Flying J lot - by noon we were essentially water (and toilet)-less.
Crossing the border into Idaho we were again tempted to check the calendar and the casino fund and make sure we actually did need and have to keep going. Dang.
Somewhere in Idaho we passed by the oversized Budweiser case and pop cans, which broke the depression for milliseconds. Sorry about the quality on the bottom pic; it was a quick snapshot.
Monday got us to a rest area just south of Butte, Montana. As you can see it was still in the winter half of the year, although I can't really complain too much abouth the temps. Overnight it got down to about 25F, and warmed close to 40F during the day. In retrospect we could have waited a little longer to drain the water, but that's the kind of decision where a little too late can be really expensive.
Tuesday was a short day, travel-wise at least. After several stops in Helena and Great Falls to stock up on those 'you can't find this crap in Canada' items we rolled up to the rest area north of Great Falls (one of my favourites) for the night. To the casual observer these rest area (and Wal*Mart) pics may all look similar, but trust me: some of us connoisseurs can spot those subtle differences a mile away.
Yay! Back in Alberta on Wednesday morning after a stop in Shelby to top up the fuel tanks on the last of the cheap(er) gas and an extended discussion between Wendy and the customs agent on all the great things you can do with a "Cricket". OK by me, since when all the discussing was done he waved us through despite us being significantly over on both the grand total and the alcohol amounts. Go Crickets, whatever you are!
Wendy and I created a game to pass the time away on the trip north: spotting the southbound RV's and being the first to point and call out "Lucky B*st*rds!". Actually, it quickly got shortened by dropping the first couple syllables off, and putting the emphasis on the third. It made the time go by...
If we were deceived when we crossed the border into thinking that the weather was actually reasonably pleasant (just look at the pic), we were brought back to reality once we passed through Red Deer. Welcome home, us!
If your blue brick is at the top of the stack (if you don't get that, don't worry), check back in a few days as I'll compile some stats and do another post, similar to 2008. If you're blocks are yellow or green, you may want to put this bookmark onto the back burner for 6 months or so... from the looks outside we're not travelling anywhere soon (unless that 6/49 retirement plan matures unexpectedly). If you've been following along, thanks! And get a life! TTFN!
