Here is a summary and small photo gallery of some of our camping activities over the last couple of years. (2000 - 2001) Pictures on this page are copyrighted so don't take anything from here without permission.
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Us after coming out of church. If you don't like formal portraits last year's Halloween picture is here |
Our 1985 Crown Victoria with our 1986 Bonair 1690 trailer at the Pembina River Provincial Park. We have had both since new and the car has less than 130,000 km. on the clock. |
Puppy Denver in late Winter, 2001. He's a very lively Bichon Frise - American Cocker Spaniel cross born December 10, 2000. |
Ok, it's really supposed to be the Parkland Jays Chapter of the Good Sam Club. The person in the with the trucking outfit cap of sideways is our Wagonmaster. (Janet) Some of us actually did go boating, fishing, and hiking on the park trails.
A record (For us!) seventeen rigs attended.
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The Parkland Jays first camp out of the year was in group area "B" at Thunder Lake Park. Drought conditions led to a fire ban in the park but we were able to use the Franklin stove in the shelter.
Six RV's from our club were there Friday and Saturday plus our kid's tent on Saturday night.
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The layout is similar but a bit smaller than the group area at Carson-Pegasus. |
Six couples and six dogs attended the Thunder Lake group camp. One couple has two dogs. One other couple used a stuffed sheep in lieu of their two Rottweilers left at home. |
We had four rigs at Wetaskiwin and attended the Reynolds-Alberta Museum Special Event Week End.
Drivers and passengers in period costumes run vehicles of every year from 1901 to the present. The children in the top two pictures were eagerly awaiting rides in the 1903 Rambler and the 1920 Detroit Electric. Parade time was approaching just after two o'clock in the afternoon when the boy's grandfather told me that the kid had been waiting there since ten o'clock that morning.
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Light rain had moved in as the Locomobile and the museum's now fully restored 1935 Chrysler Airflow went by. The Airflow was years ahead of it's time but never a commercial success.
8 RV’s from our Chapter attended. We had to miss that one.
Lorraine's photograph of the Parkland Jays at the Medicine Hat 2001 Samboree is here (48k jpg.)
We had 9 RV’s at Athabasca for the Canada Day celebrations and the very pretty golf course next to the camp ground.
Canyon Creek has large full hook up sites, a challenging golf course, the Rocky Mountain House Historic Park nearby, and the odd tornado warning. We had 4 RV’s there.
This event was cancelled until September due to very wet grounds after heavy late July rains.
Roy retired from the University where he had worked since starting as an hourly paid employee in June, 1961.
The Smoky Lake trip got started last year when a few of us were handing out Good Sam Literature at an RV dealer's open house in Morinville. The operator of a new campground in Smoky Lake told us of Rodeo and Combine Demolition Derby events in the town during the August long week end and eventually four of our rigs made reservations.
Smoky Lake is close to the Victoria Settlement with the oldest house still on it’s original location in Alberta.
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Smoky Lake is well known for the annual pumpkin festival every October. |
The domes of this Greek Orthodox Church were visible from a high spot in our campground. The copper had been replaced about two years ago and was still it's natural colour. |
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The rodeo clown has to try and be funny while doing the most dangerous job in the rodeo. |
The big Case combine on the right was the eventual winner of this demolition derby. |
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"Located on the North Saskatchewan River along the Victoria Trail, the Reverend George McDougall founded a Methodist mission to the Cree in 1862. The Hudson's Bay Company established Fort Victoria in 1864 to trade with the local natives. The Mission and Fort became a nucleus for an English speaking Metis community whose river lots extended six miles along the river banks. The 1890s saw a wave of Ukranian and other European settlers taking up homesteads in the area. The once thriving commercial and service centre collapsed when the railway passed it by in 1918. Victoria Settlement was declared a Provincial Historic Site in 1961"
We spent a few days at the Pembina River Provincial Park. The 'Lone Wolves' had their annual 'River Run' and car show in the town of Evansburg, just across the river from the park.
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Carson-Pegasus is always a favorite spot for our club to visit and we had 11 RV’s at the group camp on the week end. Janet and Denver the dog enjoy some peace and quiet in the the power site that we moved to on Sunday night after the group camp was over. Someone had left quite a collection of 'Texas Firewood' there. |
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Red Lodge is situated West of Bowden, Alberta. The picture was of the Little Red Deer River was taken in early September during an overnight stop on the way to Calgary. |
A number of rigs from our 'Parkland Jays' Chapter of the Good Sam Club stayed at the Pine Creek Campground on highway two South, just outside of the Calgary city limits. The Masters Tournament and a number of other events were going on at Spruce Meadows, just West of the campground.
Pictures below are of the 'Cardston Trolley' with it's handsome trio of Clydesdales, and of the rare 'Little Horse of Iron', a.k.a. the Canadian horse.
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We had originally planned on going to Kananaskis after leaving Calgary but closures due to an extreme fire hazard and the onset of much colder weather changed our destination to Drumheller for a couple of nights. Janet had always wanted to go to the Dinner Theatre at the Rosebud Theatre School so we made reservations for the next days Matinee and decided to move to the small primitive campground at Rosebud in the morning. |
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The man from the fifth wheel with the satellite dish near us came over waving his cell 'phone. "My daughter just called from Nova Scotia and told me to turn the TV on. America is under attack! It's all over the TV!" " Who would dare? They spend over forty billion a year on the Military" "The Pentagon's on fire and the World Trade Center in New York has been demolished!" "Osama Bin Laden?" Our small TV didn't work and the only radio station we could get was the local CKUA booster station so the full impact of the shocking news would have to wait until we got home next week. |
Rosebud, population 100, is about as far from New York City as it's possible to get. "Well, what can you do?" said Janet. "We need some comedy relief after this morning's news so we're still going to 'Chickens'. "
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Lines more or less cribbed shamelessly from the frustrated farmer's wife in 'Chickens':
"Men reach their peak at eighteen. It's like giving fireworks to a monkey."
"Women reach their peak at thirty five, about the time men start watching 'Hockey Night in Canada' in bed!"
Link: Rosebud Theatre
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Samborees and for that matter Mini Samborees are always great opportunities to renew old acquaintances and make new friends. Here Janet is chatting with the folks in the next site who run a White Angus farm in southern Alberta. Fine Fall weather and excellent banquet facilities resulted in around 92 rigs there, including the four from our chapter, a record attendance for a Fall Meeting. |
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Our last destination was an overnight at Miquelon on the way home from Rumsey. A busy Fall schedule and nightly frost meant it was time to return home and winterize the trailer. |
Some of us, of course, are eager to start planning next year's itinerary. Happy Camping!
Roy and Janet Schmaus, April, 2002
