Sonya's Blogs - Day 274 to 290 - Home to Calgary

Sonya’s Blogs - Days 274 to 290 - March 22nd to April 7th - Driving home to Calgary, Visiting in Calgary and Driving back out.

We left Utah and drove to Great Falls, Montana. It was a long drive and it started snowing along the way, right after Helena. It was still snowing when we arrived in Great Falls. We went back to the same KOA that we stayed at when we left Calgary 9 months ago. The campground was open, but nobody was in the front office. Blake called the number pasted to the door and the guy told us to go and pick a campsite and there would be no charge. Bonus!! We had debated setting up in the Walmart, since it would just be for one night, but had decided it just wasn’t worth the hassle. It is so much better to be able to unhook and have power and water, it wasn’t worth saving the $40. Well we got all our hook-ups and still saved the $40, so that was nice. We got all set up, just as it was getting dark and settled in for the night. We were all tired, but Blake was exhausted since he had to do all the driving.

View from our campground in Great Falls, in the morning right before we left. The snow was all gone:

It was a good night, nice and quiet, but very chilly. We didn’t have to leave quite so early in the morning, since Calgary is only about a 5 1/2 hour drive. We got out around 9:30 and started our trek home. The drive went well. It was a clear, warm day and we had no problems. The border was a breeze and we were soon at Tim Horton’s getting some lunch and drinks. We got into Calgary around 4, set up at our campground and then headed to Blake’s parents house. Blake and I immediately dropped off the kids and headed out again to the local AMA office so I could get my driver’s license. We got that all done, I received my new temporary license, and I will not leave Calgary until I have my new license.

Calgary was a whirlwind of visiting with family and friends and appointments. We had a lot of people who wanted to see us and a lot of appointments (dentist, eye, homeschooling, bank, etc) while we were in Calgary. The kids also wanted to see all of their friends, well as many as possible, while we were in town. We had many late nights, the kids had many sleepovers and lots was accomplished. Thanks to everyone that had us over and fed us, took our kids and spent time visiting with us. We enjoyed our time in Calgary.

Blake's Dad - hamming it up:

Natasha and Simon - she painted his toe nails and he fell asleep:

Blake helping his brother, James, set up for his gig at Distortion - The band is Nora's Attic:

Me and my Sis, Tanya:

We were hoping to leave Calgary on Tuesday, April 5th, but I still didn’t have my license. It finally came on the afternoon of the 5th so we headed out on Wednesday morning, April 6th. We drove to Cranbrook, BC and stayed one night. I did the driving on the way out of Calgary. I drove to Frank’s Slide and then Blake took over. The next day we drove to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. We, again, had no issues at the border. I thought we might, because we were the only people crossing the border. The one guy questioned us, while the other walked around our RV with a mirror and checked the underside of our RV. They also asked us different questions than our previous crossings, it is never the same. I guess we answered them well enough and there was nothing suspicious about our RV, because we were only there for about 5 minutes. We took some pictures at the Welcome to Idaho sign and I took over the driving. I drove all the way to our campground and it was all good. Blake is so excited that I have my license back again! It does make the drives better.

Driving with the big rig:

Back to the USA:

We are staying in a lovely spot, Blackwell Island and our campsite is right on the Spokane River (well it is where the river meets Lake Coeur D’Alene). It was 23 when we got into town yesterday and will be 26 tomorrow. Awesome. Due to leaving Calgary late, we only have 2 nights in Coeur D’Alene. We were here 2 summers ago, so that is okay. We need to stick to our schedule from here on out, in order to get to Vernon, BC by the end of May.

We are back to regular blogging from now until the end of May. Lots more adventures ahead of us, hope you enjoy the rest of our journey.

Sonya