We had a very peaceful night in the Royal Tyrrell Museum parking lot last night. We wandered around their trail in the Badlands first thing this morning and then headed inside for a tour of the museum. This area is fantastic and the museum is wonderful. It was quite busy on Saturday but we managed to get around easily. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area. We could have easily spent a few more days here. The hiking and cycling looks to be awesome.
We headed for Leduc after lunch via Dinosaur Trail, Hwy 838. Very scenic and very hilly. We came down a 12% grade about 30 minutes out of Drumheller only to see this unmarked ferry crossing at Bleriot. We saw a few signs in the area but assumed, incorrectly, the ferry was for another road in the area. Our Garmin GPS certainly didn’t pick it up anyway. I had my doubts about our motorhome and toad being able to make it on the ferry but we decided to give it a try. I got the front axle on the leading edge of ramp up to the ferry, but our hitch bottomed out and we couldn’t make it on. The water level was just too low. So unhook the toad, back up the toad to the top of the hill, stow our hitch and back up 42 feet of motorhome up a steep downhill while a crowd of onlookers gathered and watched. Chris did a wonderful job guiding me all the way back up to a place where I could turn around to hook up the toad again. The worst part about backing up is that the ferry had left for a return run to the other side while my front axle on the motorhome was only about a foot from the edge of the ramp leading on to the ferry. I had visions of our motorhome rolling forward and over the edge into the river, when I put it in reverse and released my air brakes. Thankfully, it never budged an inch.

We did a little cross country trek to Hwy 56 and headed north and then west to Red Deer and on up Hwy 2 into Leduc. We are staying at the Lions Campground in Leduc for a few days. 15 amp power only with no water or sewer on the site we have for $30/night. Pretty pricey in comparison to other campgrounds we have stayed but it is well located for our needs. Chris and I unloaded what seemed to be most of what we have stowed underneath and inside fhe motorhome for her daughter, Sarah, who recently moved to Leduc with her boyfriend, Matt. They have just set up an apartment, so our delivery proved to be very timely. Looks like a little shopping trip is in order for mother and daughter too.

We have decided to do our first chassis service earlier than Spartan calls for in our manual. We are at 5500 miles on the odometer and feel an oil change before Alaska would be a good thing. So on to Edmonton on Monday morning for that, and then south to Calgary and Bucars RV Monday afternoon. We’ll overnight in their yard Monday and be first up for some warranty repairs on our ocach on Tuesday morning. Then it is back to Leduc until Saturday morning when we leave for Alaska with our friends Jim and Jane. They’ll come over to Leduc for a few days so we can pick up a few supplies before hitting the road together on Saturday.