Canada: Pincher Creek & Waterton NP, all in Alberta

Saturday, August 25, 2001
Diesel Repair shop parking lot, Pincher Creek, Alberta, Canada:

We spent a leisurely day driving the motorhome from Banff to Calgary
where we planned to get the oil changed at a Wal-Mart. The drive from
Banff to Calgary took us east out of the Rocky Mountains. Within
30-minutes of leaving Banff we were in plains with wheat fields as far
as the eye can see. The conifer forest, prevalent in the Rockies, was
no longer. This area is a treeless expanse of open prairie.

When we got to Calgary the Wal-Mart would not do an oil change on the
motorhome. We laughed it off and continued on our journey toward
Waterton Lakes and the Canadian portion of Glacier National Park.

Around 5:00 we spotted a diesel and auto repair facility. OK Tire and
Auto Service was a mom and popshop on the edge of town (Pincher Creek,
Alberta) with a large parking area. We stopped and made arrangements
for them to do the oil change and some other minor repairs. The
radiator for the diesel and the transmission has gotten dirty and is
not cooling as efficiently as I would like. These fine folks are
going to pressure wash the radiators. That should help the radiators
transfer heat better. With arrangements made for the repair work
tomorrow morning they invited us to stay the night in their parking
lot. What mind readers these folks are. It was perfect. Now all we
had to do was make plans for the nights entertainment and food. Joyce
had already hinted that she was not cooking and I was getting hungry.

The owners and mechanics told me about The Great Canadian Barn Dance
around 20 miles south of here where we can eat and dance tonight.
Joyce already had her eye on the same place from advertisements but
the local GOB (Good Old Boy) input cinched it. We were off to the
Great Canadian Barn Dance and Dinner.

The Great Canadian Barn Dance is smack in the middle of 20-miles of
wheat fields. In this area on the east side of the Rockies wheat
fields cover every inch of ground that is not highway. Farmers are
frantically harvesting wheat along the way. The proprietors of this
place have converted an 80-year old two-story barn into a dining
facility and dance hall. We really did not know what to expect but
they quickly explained that for one fee they would feed and entertain
us. We joined over 200 folks in the activities and food. Two
busloads of college kids, studying English, from a University in
Calgary were in here for a sleep over. Most of these were Orientals
with a smattering of French. There was a wedding party that was the
remnants of a noon wedding down the road. The remainder was couples
that just wandered in off the street like we did.

They started us off with dinner featuring 12 to 14 ounces of simply
scrumptious tender roast beef. We ate dinner outside enjoying the
blazing red sunset. After dinner most people took advantage of a
hayride featuring a wagon pulled by two draft horses that rode you
around a 20-acre lake adjoining the barn. We did not do this, because
it was chilly, but watched everyone else. The view was awesome with
the sun setting over the Rocky Mountains to the west while wheat
fields surround us. Simultaneously the band started playing and dance
instructors started giving dance lessons in the warm barn.

The band played all types of music in an attempt to keep the diverse
audience happy. The Orientals had a ball with the line dancing with
all participating. They particularly got into the Macarena. Older
folks preferred to waltz and polka. The Orientals and old folks had
fun with the 50/60s hip hop music. That type music was close enough
to what the majority was familiar with and the majority would dance to
these numbers. Everyone was having fun.

During one of the intermissions they had everyone tell where they were
from. Joyce and I came the longest distance (from Florida). They
gave us a prize to remember them by.

During one of the bands intermissions we noticed a large group sitting
outside around a fire. We were impressed with the number of
activities available. Individuals and groups were wandering from one
activity to the other.

The proprietors of the Great Canadian Barn Dance "DELIVERED" what they
promised. They had good food and plenty of entertainment. If you
visit Waterton Lakes National Park (Canadian Glacier NP) you should
try to fit this in. They also have a small RV-Park.

Sunday, August 26, 2001

Waterton NP, Alberta, Canada: Elevation: 4,300'

The mechanic met us around 11:00. Normally we would be in church at
this time but we have been trying hard to get this work done for
several weeks and are tickled pink that this place has agreed to do
it. After getting the oil changed and radiators pressure washed we
connected up and headed south about 30-miles to Waterton National
Park. The remainder of our day was spent resting and walking around
the RV-Park. We love to walk around RV-Parks striking up
conversations. Today we met two couples from nearby towns and spent
several hours sharing experiences.

Monday, August 27, 2001

Waterton NP, Alberta, Canada: Elevation: 4,300'

We spent the entire day in Waterton NP. On one drive we visited a
large Alpine Lake that was part in the US and Canada. Since the road
came in on the Canadian side we could only view the US at the south
end on the lake. Information at the site told us that the Continental
Divide straddled that mountain. The US Canadian border is the 49th
Parallel or 49 degrees from the equator. Not long ago in Yellowstone
NP we crossed over the 45th Parallel (45 degrees from the equator and
½ way from the equator to the North Pole) it was the border of Wyoming
and Montana. Now we are 4 degrees north of that. How is that for a
piece of trivia?

Prince of Wales Hotel

This park is utilized almost exclusively by Albertans, at least that
is what the tags on the vehicles tell us. Many families are
vacationing here. The weather is so nice (high of 80 and low of 40)
and everything in the village is within easy walking distance of the
RV-Park. Deer and mountain goats are grazing throughout the RV-Park.
Snow is visible on the mountains out our front windows. Boats with
fishermen and skiers are running around the lake. We had intended to
eat lunch at the Prince of Wales Hotel, but they were a bit too proud
of their lunch selections. The Prince of Wales Hotel stands on a
prominence of land overlooking a majestic sweep of Waterton Lake.
Waterton Lake is billed as one of Canada's finest alpine splendors.
Joyce and I toured the lobby and admired the view of Waterton Lake
before returning to the village and more reasonably priced vittles.
Now can we say we have been there and done that?

Since we are returning to the United States tomorrow we had to go by
the money exchange and convert $25 of Canadian currency back into
$16.00 US currency. We also had $4.26 in Canadian coins. The
currency exchange only exchanges bills and the smallest Canadian bill
is $5.00. What are we going to do with $4.26 in Canadian Change?
After a bit of thought we stopped by the service station and
purchased------you guessed it $4.26 worth of gasoline. We thought
that was a clever way of using every penny.

We have been in Canada for 9 days and have not been able to download
e-mail the entire time. Tomorrow we will stop in an RV-Park that is
modem friendly. The primary reason we were not able to download in
Canada was because we were staying in National Parks. We have found
all National Parks, Canadian & US, to be virtually impossible to get
modem connections in. National Parks do not have to be concerned with
customer satisfaction.

Montana: Great Falls, Montana.

Tuesday, August 28, 2001

Dick's RV-Park Great Falls, Montana. Elevation: 4,000'

We left Canada this morning heading to Great Falls, Montana and the
good old USA. As we left Waterton NP in the Canadian Rockies we were
surrounded by alpine forest. Soon we were leaving the conifers
behind, trading them for wheat fields and prairie. The Rocky
Mountains wring all of the moisture out of moist Pacific air flowing
over the Rockies. It is warm dry air that heads east across the
prairies. The conifer forest literally stops at the eastern foot of
the Rockies.

The hi-light of our morning had to be the border crossing. Customs
was a piece of cake. The "Agricultural Officer" was another matter.
This "Jackie Gleason" individual had a form to fill out and fill it
out he did. Why he picked us out for the big questionnaire I will
never know. His quick look in the refrigerator and subsequent giggle
should have been enough to send him packing. I really did not think
that an "Agriculture Officer" would be interested in canned cokes.
Little did I know that he had that ubiquitous government form. He
asked question after question, each time we would try to give him a
well thought out honest answer. Each time he would say it did not
really matter. After 20-minutes of answering dumb questions I was
about to scream. Just when I was at my wits end, it was over. We had
answered all of the agricultural questions. Glory Halleluiah!!!! We
were on our way and "Jackie" was off to entertain another lucky
vehicle with one of his blank forms.

The landscape north of Great Falls is wheat fields and open range. We
passed one place in the middle of all those wheat fields that sported
a sign on multiple grain bins stating they were the malt capital of
the world. I suppose that means that the wheat we have been seeing
might be barley. In any event it was amber fields of grain about 14
to 16 inches tall.

Wednesday, August 29, 2001

Dick's RV-Park Great Falls, Montana. Elevation: 4,000'

This is a day that we have to visit Wal-Mart to get prescriptions
filled (that usually means two visits) plus some serious grocery
shopping. While in Wal-Mart we met a couple from the RV-Park that
has just returned from a 50-day trip to Alaska. They had been in the
same RV-Park in Waterton that we were in and had driven the same route
down to Great Falls that we had. The husband was a retired mid-west
farmer. I took the opportunity to ask him if that was wheat we had
been driving through. He said that it was. When I asked him if he
had seen the sign on the grain bins about 50-miles up the road. He
had. Then he said that you could not tell barley from wheat, so some
of the wheat must have been barley.

Joyce and I visited the Louis and Clark museum in Great Falls. It is
an excellent museum. We spent 3-hours completely absorbed in the
exhibits. The town of Great Falls, Montana got its name from a series
of 5-falls in the Missouri River that the expedition had to portage
their canoes around. Louis and Clark had planned on spending one day
on the portage around one fall. When they scouted the river upstream
of the first fall there were 5-falls instead of one. It took the
exploration party over one month to portage the

Thursday, August 30, 2001
Dick's RV-Park Great Falls, Montana. Elevation: 4,000'

Joyce and I got up early to have the motorhome at FMS Fleet
Maintenance Service by 8:00 am. Ouch! We are not used to that.
Anyway, we spent the day with some of the nicest people on earth. The
mechanics and owner were wonderful. My transmission that had been
running 150 degrees all trip long has now decided to start running 200
to 210 degrees. The mechanics were trying to determine why. There
was/is nothing wrong with the transmission, the fluid level was
correct, the color and clarity indicated that it had not overheated.
The temperature gauge was checked and was right on. Allison (it is an
Allison Transmission) representatives told the mechanics that 200 to
250 was normal operating temperature for the transmission. What no
one understands is why it was running 150 and now runs 200. That
concerns the mechanics, the Allison representative and me. At my
insistence they serviced the transmission changing both filters,
internal & external and checked for any abnormal wear like filings or
whatever in the pan and or filters. There was none. I am somewhat
relived, but at the same time perplexed. Most knowledgeable mechanics
say that the transmission temp should mirror the engine temperature,
which it is doing now. However, for the first 5 months of this trip
it was running 150 while the engine was running 200. What changed?
Two possibilities exist: First the temperature gauge may have been
reading inaccurately when it was showing 150 and for some reason is
now operating properly. (This is certainly possible since just before
it started reading 200 it started fluttering like a butterfly). When
we shut down the diesel for several hours and started it again the
temperature gauge rose in a normal manner until it reached 200 then
stayed there. The second thing that could have caused the temperature
to run 150 would be a valve that senses the temperature and diverts
the fluid back into the transmission without going through the
radiator until the proper operating temperature has been reached. This
valve could have been stuck thus always allowing the fluid to
circulate through the radiator and never reaching "operating"
temperature.

In total I did 4-test drives down the highway to see what the
temperature would do after we had tried one thing or the other.
Nothing we did seemed to have any effect.

Joyce was patient through the entire process alternating between
reading, preparing lunch, tagging along on test drives and playing on
her computer. Thank goodness because it was a long day. We arrived
before 8:00 and left after 5:00.

Friday, August 31, 2001
Dick's RV-Park Great Falls, Montana. Elevation: 4,000'

We have been looking forward to this day for some time. It is our 5th
month anniversary (on the road) and it is the day Joyce's Sister and
our Brother-in-Law leave on their two-week vacation out west. They
will be visiting Jackson, Wyoming, the Tetons, Yellowstone, Cody,
Wyoming, Great Falls and Glacier, NP in addition to flying into and
out of Salt Lake City, Utah. We are excited for them and the
possibility that we may actually get to see them in Cody, Wyoming.

That was what we woke to but things would change as the day wore on.
With assurances that the temperatures we were experiencing in the
transmission were within Allison "specs" we decided to head south to
Billings, Montana and from there into Cody, Wyoming.

As we drove from Great Falls to Billings we were traversing open
"short grass" prairie and undulating hills. The elevation climbed a
thousand feet or more then dropped a thousand feet. The transmission
generally ran between 220 and 245. I did not like it but have been
assured that it is "operating range" for my Allison transmission. My
cell phone did not have a signal between Great Falls and Billings.
Those 200-miles are not through a metropolitan area if you get my
drift. When we get to Billings I contact the mechanics back in Great
Falls to see what they have learned when they again contacted Allison
technical support. Things are changing. My temperature reading is
coming from the pan after the fluid has been COOLED. Allison's
"operating range" temperatures are the temperatures exiting the torque
converter (the hottest place) not the temperature of the fluid after
it has been COOLED. I am advised to immediately stop driving the
motorhome and get to an authorized repair facility. Oh Boy! It is
5:00 Friday afternoon with Labor Day on Monday following the weekend.
On top of that we had wanted to meet Joyce's sister and our
Brother-In-Law in Cody on Tuesday. All of our plans for the next week
are a-changin fast.

The mechanics and Allison technical people still think I have a good
transmission. They now believe that the temperature sensing valve may
be malfunctioning and not sending the hot fluid to the cooler in
sufficient volume. Or something is obstructing one of the tubes
transporting fluid from the transmission to the cooler. Or the
transmission radiator is clogged (or something). None of these are
easy to find. From now on nothing will be simple.

Joyce found us a suitable RV-Park in Billings to spend the next three
days waiting for Tuesday when mechanics will return to work after the
Labor Day weekend. Oh well! When lemons start falling you find some
sugar and make lemonade don't you? We are looking for some sugar. J

FSU Florida State University is playing Duke this weekend. That will
be a football game for those of you that are not sports fans. Missing
FSU Football is not one of the positive things about this trip. I
want to see that game!! Out here it will not even be on the radio.
These folks do not even know that FSU exist. (That is a sin isn't it?)

Saturday, September 1, 2001
Yellowstone River Campground, Billings, Montana. Elevation: 3,160'

note: be aware that Yellowstone River Campground became active in the campaign to have city fathers prohibit RV's from overnighting at Wall-Mart in Billings. Because of this we will not stay with them again.

Saturday was a day to relax and wait for Tuesday. Joyce got her hair
fixed and we got some prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart. It was nice
to relax. As dusk approached we watched as a number of deer came out
of the woods to feed in the field next to the RV-Park. I saw on
television that FSU pulled out their game with Duke in a 55 to 13
squeaker.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix