July 23, 2010

West of Roblin, Manitoba to St. Albert, Alberta

76o & Sunny

Day 62

We started early this morning knowing we had a 12-hour road trip ahead of us.This will be the longest leg of our trip.The morning got off to a rocky start when the retractable stairs broke a bolt.We stopped at the first RV dealer we passed about a half hour down the road.We waited patiently until they opened.When the service guy came out to look at the problem he was lead by another shop employee.He was blind!God as my witness the man who was going to repair our stairs was as blind as a bat.He felt his way around the problem and when he assessed the damage he knew what type of specialty bolt was needed, and that he did not have it.He did find a bolt that would serve us temporarily.The whole time this was transpiring I could see Hugh with a look of stupification on his face.When the repairs were made he gave the guy $20 for 5 minutes work.Seriously, we have never been so impressed by any service person.We were on our way in fifteen minutes.

We traveled west and north towards Edmonton.We marveled at the beauty of the prairies and the unexpected rivers and valleys that appeared suddenly along our route.

We arrived at St. Albert Kinsmen RV Park in the early evening.We set up and decided to wash our windshield.As we cleaned we noticed a foot long crack in the drivers side windshield.What a bummer…two things in one day.Of course it's Friday evening and even the insurance company cannot find a glass repair shop to service us tonight.I will have to call the glass service company tomorrow and hope for the best.

All that was left was to take Abbie out for her constitutional.Abbie is such a trooper.She rides all day and is a good girl about adjusting to all the new things that come her way.This RV Park has a real thing about where the dogs go.They can go anywhere other than on the grass.Now dogs are not stupid…if Abbie has a choice she will choose grass.On our walk she did just that.Two feet off the road on the nice green, soft grass Abbie did her business.I promptly cleaned up, leaving no traces.The poop police nailed me!The lady came running out of her home and said she can't go there.I said I'm sorry, but it's pretty hard to stop her, and I explained that I did clean up.She said that no pooping is allowed on seasonal persons lawns.I wanted to know how I was to tell which lawns were which.She said it just wasn't allowed.Not being able to put the poop back, I just apologized again and said we'd promise only to use the road.As we moved on Abbie gave me the "fat chance look".When it comes to rules I can really pick the RV parks can't I.

When Abbie and I returned, Hugh had a glass of wine waiting.We sat and chuckled about the illicit poop run.The sun was getting low in the sky we were stationary for a few hours.It was beautiful!