Burringham to Boston-My 2003 World Trip-Part 6-Canada (Calgary)

Canada

Calgary

            If I ever get there. There now follows an account of actually getting to Calgary.

It's just after 5pm Saturday 2nd July, I’m on a Boeing 747 or Jumbo jet if you want. Plenty of space on the plane so I get myself comfortable. I think I said before I can't sleep on aeroplanes so I'll try to relax anyway. As I said we took off 3 hours late, the pilot promised he'd make up as much time as possible and flight duration is scheduled to be approx 12 hours.

     I'm heading for Los Angeles to change for Calgary, the time difference between New Zealand and LA is 19 hours. Midnight comes and it's Sunday. We cross the international dateline and I'm back into Saturday.

       The pilot does make up time and we land at LA only one and quarter hours late just after 8am Saturday 2nd July. Still time to make that connection? Not a hope. Luggage had to be collected and checked in again. After 40 minutes being processed in Immigration, we learned we were in the wrong outlet, all 260 of us. A long walk to the correct Immigration and after being processed its 9.15am, maybe still time to catch my flight at 9.38am? Then began the morning of the queues.’ You can't make that flight sir, rebook over there’, I was told as I came out. At 10.15am I was rebooked on an Air Canada flight leaving at 12.35 from terminal 2.Great plenty of time then! Got to terminal two and saw the Air Canada check ins were busy. They had about a dozen desks but only 3 were manned. I thought I'd joined the queue, but was politely told that this gap at the door wasn't the end of the queue, it was about 100 yards long outside. Got checked in at 11.30am,the little guy with all the grandkids in front of me wasn't so lucky, they sent him to join the x-ray machine queue. Making my way to the departure lounge still thinking I'll have time to relax I'm into the biggest queue of all, hand luggage and passport check. Finally I'm inside the departure lounge and just manage to ring Calgary before boarding.

          If I'd caught my earlier flight I'd have been on Alaskan Airways. Air Canada turned out to be the pits of airlines. Ten minutes into the 3 hour flight they put in front of us a tray, most of which was inedible. Thirty minutes before landing they took it away. I occupied myself the rest of the flight watching the business class passengers getting noisily drunk.

          At Calgary airport, customs and immigration was like a dream after LA, and I'm soon in the arrivals lounge looking for Sheena Biener.

          Sheena was Sheena Cargill, the eldest of my Uncle Roy and Auntie Jean's four kids back in Springfield. I used to baby-sit Sheena, Donna, Derek and Shirley. They all emigrated to Canada when Sheena was nine years old. Its been forty three years since I’ve seen her but we've been exchanging Xmas cards since1994, and we've spoken on the phone a couple of times. I walk past the waiting people in the arrivals lounge, but I recognise her from the Cargill characteristics and the photos I'd been sent.

           The family immigrated to the new world and a new life, Sheena had another brother Paul who was born in Canada. But life has its ups and downs and Uncle Roy, Auntie Jean, Donna and Paul are all gone. Life can be a bitch.

           Sheena is separated from her second husband and now lives with her son David. Their house is in the south eastern suburb of Douglasdale,and we set of in Sheena's car along the Deerfoot trail.(A lot of the main trunk roads in Alberta are known as trails).Half an hours run and we're there.

              David’s house backs on to a golf driving range, and in fact when they built the estate, they built into it it's own golf course. David’s a hard working classy kind of guy, which shows in the fact he drives a Porsche’s meet the lovely Cheryl his girlfriend

and his young son Taylor who's over for the weekend. Beautiful house, beautifully furnished. Sheena’s dog Nicky and David’s dog Luke complete the household.

David and Cheryl, inset Nicky

      I get the use of Taylors room and once I'm changed into shorts and T shirt(it's 31 degrees C),I find Sheena's got the barbecued steaks and the beer organised. A long natter and a dip and splash in the hot tub with Taylor and it's 10'oclock Saturday night. I got up at 8 o'clock this morning, only fourteen hours ago, that is until you add the eighteen hour time difference between NZ and Calgary. After thirty two hours I'm ready for bed.

            Sunday 3rd August. I'm up at 9.30 am and a coffee helps clear the cobwebs. I think it takes about three days to clear the jetlag. Me and Sheena spend the morning looking at photos, and she produces a load of photos from the 1950 and 60.She doesn't know who they are ,but most are of us cousins growing up, so where I can I put names to faces. Leaving Scotland at nine years old means her memories are more sketchy.

         Afternoon and we've driven to Pat's house. Pat is a workmate of Sheena's and I'm introduced to her, her husband Don and their two daughters the beautiful Stephanie and the gorgeous Dawnlynn. We're off to Strathmore to the Rodeo and the Chuckwagon races. What a Hootin'Rootin'Tootin' afternoon it turned out to be.

The show was fantastic. There was a bull run like in Spain but less dangerous to the participants. Chuckwagon races which brought to mind John Wayne being chased by the Indians.An amazing act called the 'The One Armed Bandit and Company’, who was a guy who'd lost his right arm in an electrical explosion, pronounced DOA but was now here as a rodeo act. With the help of his horse and his dog he gets three 'mean 'n 'ornery critters(bulls) on to the top of his big and shiny aluminium trailer. We had beer served by girls in cowboy hats, mighty rolls filled with Alberta beef and all the time the whoopin' and cheering was infectious, encouraged by a fast talking MC.

Chuckwagons at Strathmore

Stephanie,Pat,Sheena,Dawnlynn and Don

A big illuminated sign above the TV screen thats showing all the action is sponsored

by 'Top Notch Construction Calgary’, the significance of which I learn soon.

         The show's over and apparently we've been invited to go say hello to Alex and Joan at their Motorhome which they've fetched to the Rodeo. It turns out Alex is the owner of 'Top Notch Construction’, and the motorhome is a beauty which apparently cost $600,000 thousand dollars. This was only a fleeting visit with Joan and Alex and we would all meet up again at Alex's ranch another day. Wow!.

     We go back to Don and Pats house, with me again travelling in Don's pick up truck. Alberta must be the pick up capital of the world, everybody’s got them. After a couple of excellent bourbons Sheena and I head back home.

         Monday 4th August. A nice relaxing morning, in and out of the hot tub. What a great way to cure jetlag.

          It's a lovely sunny afternoon as we head out to Indus, we’re visiting Sheena's friends Glenda and George at their smallholding.

George and Glenda

         It's another lovely day and theirs is a beautiful place. I get introduced to Glenda and her sister Rochelle who's visiting with the baby. I get shown round the spacious and possibly spatial house complete with the Mickey Mouse room. Glenda is a Mickey Mouse nut and even has a Mickey Mouse Email address. I’m told to go out and introduce myself to George who's working on the Gazebo.

        They’ve got quite a big spread, with sheep, chickens, hens, cats and dogs, a vegetable garden and a lovely big pond with a fountain. I find George at the Gazebo and we get talking. He’s a Jamaican who lived and worked in Bristol as a BT Telecom Engineer. We talk about Jamaica, where I'd spent some time in the army. Nowadays he runs a Sounds system business. We natter for a bit, then back at the house we try to fool the ladies that it's nice to meet up again after all these years.

      After being well fed and watered, we left with an invite to Glenda's annual garden party at the end of the month.

       Back home I watched 'Dune' and 'Shrek' on David's cinema sized home entertainment system. I’m just about over the jetlag.

           Tuesday 5th August.Today I get my first taste of driving in Canada. I hire a Pontiac Grand Prix from Avis, and me Sheena and her grandson Taylor head for the Rockies. I’m getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road again, but Sheena's having kittens, thinks I drive too far to the right. I think she worries too much, I've got the white lines in my mirror. It’s a beautiful sunny day again and driving becomes a pleasure on these mighty big highways. The further west we get the more awesome the mountains become, passing by Kananaskis and Canmore where many Hollywood film companies have used as locations. We get to the National Park lodge and pay our entrance fee. We get to Banff.

       I'm not going to say too much about Banff, it’s all been said. The official guide has a line which says’ Enjoy our Rockies-the finest blend of heaven and earth you'll find anywhere' and I can't argue with that. This is the ultimate outdoor pursuit country, the ultimate in mountains, rivers and lakes, and amongst the most breathtaking scenery on earth.

     Our first stop is the Surprise Corner viewpoint on the Bow river where I see my first Mountie. I know this view, I can still picture Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe on the raft in 'River of no Return’. I’m awestruck that I'm here.

Me, Sheena and Taylor-The Rockies

             A short walk up the river and the crescendo of the Bow Falls, I'm humbled. 

Sheena and Taylor are lagging behind so I sit and look and I think of Peggy. I say thank you.

'River of no return'

            Next we take a ride up to the Banff Springs Hotel, the Castle in the Rockies. Here the rooms are $220-660 dollars a night in the low season. We make use of their luxurious toilet facilities, look round their shops, battlements and terraces and enjoy the magnificent views.

View from the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

             Hunger takes us to the Rose and Crown for a lovely meal then we're heading back to Calgary.

The only downer on a brilliant day was a problem we had in the car with petrol fumes. Back in Calgary we drove straight to Avis where they changed the car-it hardly mattered I was handing it back in in the morning.

                Wednesday 6th August. I took the car back to Avis. The manager Abdulla gave me a $25 dollar voucher for our discomfort with the fumes. Taylor’s mum Kelly picked him up and Sheena and I went into the city for the day, which included a trip up the Calgary tower with fantastic all round views of the city. Later went round the Nursing home where Sheena works and met her colleagues Mary and Christine. Went to the Marlborough Mall and had Chinese food. Late afternoon back at the house and we lazed in the sunshine on the deck, I enjoyed the hot tub and we finished the day off with barbecued ribs.

                   Thursday 7th August. The highlight of today is our visit to Alex Lockton's ranch. We go with Pat, Stephanie and Dawnlynn in their cars.

                  Alex bought his own tractor back in 1966, now he heads 'Top Notch Construction' a company with more than 150 employees, and an annual turnover of $16-18,000,000 dollars.

                 Alex lost his wife to cancer a few years ago, and there is a bit of a fairy story about how Joan came to be his partner. Joan worked with Sheena and Pat in the nursing home and she was always struggling to make ends meet. Buying coffee and Bagels one day she got mad with this pushy guy, even telling him she'd buy him his coffee and bagels. He invited her to back to his shack, and after a visit she told him to 'Get me home before your boss comes back'.

          We get to the entrance to the ranch and I'm reminded of South Fork from the Dallas series. After being welcomed to the house Alex whisks me Stephanie and Dawnlynn of to the stables in one of his many Chevrolets to show us his collection of traps and buggies, some of which are a hundred year old. The horses are out at the moment. Two of his horses, I think they're called Raven and Crow are used regularly in blockbuster movies. There is also a collection of beautiful hand made leather saddles.

Alex's Buggys at Nanton

             Alex appears to be a very charitable and even philanthropic sort of guy and sponsors many worthwhile causes such as the seniors day out.

       Back up at the house, Alex begins cooking the steaks, Joan and the ladies prepare the rest of the food, and Dawnlynn gives me a tour of the house.

           This house with it's eight bathrooms is a palace. Palatial bedrooms and reception rooms, beautiful furniture and architecture, a games room with framed shirts of favourite hockey and football players are just some of it's features.

         We settle down in the lovely dining room with it's imported Austrian chandeliers, where we're joined for dinner by Robin who is Alex's top manager.

Stephanie, Joan, Dawnlynn, Alex, Sheena and Robin, Pat kneeling

         An evening of good food, great wines and spirits and great dialogue followed. The evening finished off with Alex inviting me to accompany him for a couple of days on my return from Swan Hills, and receiving a signed copy of a brilliant photo book of Calgary sponsored by 'Top Notch Construction'.

Sheena with Alex and Joan

                Friday 8th August. I took Luke for a walk along the river this morning. The Bow River is only little bit less majestic than at Banff .A handful of fishermen in boats and waders were out trying their luck.

       This evening we're at a bar called 'What about Bob' .Karaoke is very popular in Canada, and David, no mean singer himself runs a very successful one 'Dave’s Waves Karaoke’, this is one of his regular spots. Me ,Sheena, Cheryl and Mary are joined by Steve and Andy from Yorkshire who are doing a Cancer Charity bike ride over the Rockies.(I get a mention on their website later).We have a great night.
I wonder if these guys are still together.

Steve does a great version of Robbie Williams 'Angel’, Cheryl sings like an angel and when I pluck up the courage I murder 'You're Sixteen'.

Cheryl, Sheena, Mary, Steve and Andy

           Saturday 9th August.A game of golf with David at Shaw-nee slopes this morning. Beautiful course, reasonable golf. David’s got a great swing.

    Rest of the day relaxing and a talk on the telephone to cousin Bert (one of Jean's brothers) and his wife Margaret in Nelson, British Columbia.

            Sunday 10th August. Said cheerio to Sheena, I’m heading north today. David and Cheryl take me down to the Greyhound depot, I’m going for a bus ride.

Burringham to Boston-My 2003 World Trip-Part 7-Canada (Swan Hills)

Swan Hills

        Most of my life I've loved things Americana, especially old films. Now here I am boarding a Greyhound like they did in all those old films, and I'm reminded of a line from a Chuck Berry song 'Promised Land' which goes ‘Straddled that Greyhound, rode him into Raleigh and on across Caroline’. This is the Promised Land; all my childhood dreams seem to becoming true on this trip.

          The journey from Calgary to Edmonton was uneventful but very comfortable.

A ten minute break at Red Deer and passing through Gasoline Alley were among the highlights. One thing noticeable since I came to Canada is space, this is a big wide open country.

         I mentioned at the beginning of my account that Peggy was one of fourteen children. With the exception of a few days back in Calgary the rest of my trip is with the McGovern clan. I consider the 'Eddie Charlie’s', my adopted family and feel as close to them as my own family.

         I'm met at Edmonton Greyhound depot by Betty McGovern (nee Gunderson).

Me and Betty

       Betty is a native Canadian of Scandinavian descent and married to Tommy, one of Peggy’s brothers. We’d met at the big reunions in Ireland in 1993 and 1998, and she doesn't look a day older after five years.

        We set off in her beautiful Cadillac and head for Swan hills. A slight detour takes us to West Edmonton mall (The biggest mall in the world), where I get cassettes for my video camera. We travel up highway 33 stopping at Barrhead to use a cash machine. Up to now the landscape has been pretty flat and mainly farming, including buffalo. Reaching Fort Assiniboine and the mighty Assiniboine River the landscape begins to change. Native spruce becomes the norm and we begin to gain height, we’re two hours north of Edmonton now .Swan Hills is situated at the highest point in Canada east of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of four thousand feet.

It's 63 kilometres from Fort Assiniboine to Swan hills, and for most of the way the highway is straight, undulating and as far as the eye can see. In Canada journeys are usually measured in time rather than distance.

Just coming into Swan Hills we pull up at TMS. This is Tommy's woodworking and antique shop.

Me and Tommy

                He's pleased to see me and greets me in his own inimitable way with a few colourful words.

        We get to Tommy and Betty's lovely house and I've got a room in the basement. I’ve also got a lovely neighbour in the next room who is introduced to me as Sonya, a friend who's moving to Edmonton. Tommy calls her a 'Temperamental Oriental'.

            Tommy and Betty have three grown up children, Thomas Ole (Bud), Tracy and Tanya; they weren't at the 98 reunion so its 10 years since I'd seen them.

Betty, Me, Tommy, Bud, Tanya, Teighn and Daryn

                  Tonight I meet Tanya, her husband Daryn and their enchanting daughter Teighn.

         Dinner at the Swan Hills Palace and watching the 98 reunion video sees the day out. Over the next two weeks I come to love this place and the community spirit of the people in it.

       Monday 11th August. Up late, Tommy and Sonya have gone to work, Betty shows me where all the breakfast stuff is in the kitchen. Betty does a lot of community work herself, and so I'll be on my own much of the time. This will give me lots of time to explore this 'Wilderness Playground'.

       Swan Hills has a population of 1800, but has community and recreational facilities for a town 10 times its size, which are all in evidence as I take a walk round.

      I’m heading for Tommy’s workshop and I call in at the Tourist centre on my way where I talk to Pat who’s manning the kiosk. She’s a very friendly lady and provides me with loads of brochures and some Swan Hill badges as mementoes.

      At the workshop and what becomes a daily routine for me, Tommy’s got the coffee percolating, and we talk about England, Ireland, Scotland and the rest of the world, regularly being interrupted by friends and customers alike.

        Lunch at the Palace brings my first encounter with Mayor Gary Pollock. Tommy and Gary have a friendly rivalry throwing insults at each other and working out whose turn it is to pay. Gary is of Scottish extraction so he sees me as an ally and he also plays golf, I can’t argue with that.

   I meet up with Bud later; we have a few beers and get re-acquainted. Bud and his wife Sue lives opposite Tommy and Betty, and he tells me to help myself to the use of his spare pick up truck. Sue was away on business during my stay in Swan Hills.

I need a bit of exercise now so I borrow Sonya’s bike, cycle down to Tanya’s one street away and borrow Daryn’s bike. It’s a lovely evening and a beautiful sunset.

            

Canadian Sunset

         Tuesday 12th August. Today I take my first of many trips out in Bud’s pickup truck. My first walk into the bush at the ‘Centre of Alberta’ and ‘Trapper Lea’s cabin and I’m a bit apprehensive, what do I do if I meet a bear. Luck was with me, in all my time in Swan Hills the closest I came to seeing a bear was almost stepping in fresh droppings. Exploring the wilderness playground becomes a labour of love.

  I head now for Chrystina (Windy)Lake and coming over the brow of a hill I see in the distance what I think may be a moose. As I stop by the side of the road getting my video camera ready, a couple of pickup trucks go flying past and the animal has gone. I get my first look at the waste recycling plant. It looks very clean.

        I talk to a camper before getting to the lake, he tells me there’s a Lynx close by and if I go quietly I’ll see it. I get to the lake and there are the two pickup trucks that passed me. It turns out the occupants are day-trippers from Edmonton with very noisy kids, so any wildlife has by now scampered.

The lake and surrounding scenery is beautiful though, and on a later visit a nesting Osprey is pointed out to me by Rob one of the local game wardens.

Windy Lake

Mealtimes at Centennial Crescent usually ended up with me overeating, I wondered whether Betty was fattening me up for the kill, but the food was always so irresistible. Tonight after dinner Bud and I head off in his pickup for a spot of ‘Boozin Cruisin’ and filming. Out into the oilfields and Bud gives me the low-down on Pump Jacks,gas and water separation and a  general idea of how it all works.

Pump Jack

It’s a beautiful evening and Edith lake looks like a picture postcard as I film a heron in flight reflected like a mirror in the still water.

Edith Lake

We see lots of beaver lodges, but they are very shy creatures. We don’t see any beavers but I get to film some majestic stags, bucks and does. Across the Swan river we reach a high point with views of hundreds of square miles of nature. One of the outstanding features is the evidence of the last forest fire in this region, where the stumps of the old burnt trees stand blackened against the sky with the new forest growing underneath. Heading back we stop and talk to a colleague of Bud’s, night is coming in and a thunderstorm in the distance is an amazing backdrop to the lights of Swan Hills far below us. I’ve really felt at one with nature today, what a big beautiful country.

             Wednesday 13th August. Borrowed Daryn’s bike this morning and cycled as far as the waste plant about 18 kilometres away. A long long climb going and I sweated buckets, but the views and seeing deer, buzzards and being dive bombed by a screeching Loon made it worth while. The mystery woman waving at me turns out to be my ‘roommate’ Sonya.

After a shower and lunch, I’m into the pickup and down to Tom’s to meet up with Mayor Gary Pollock and on to the golf course. We pair up with game wardens Ken and Rob, and have a great time. With the exception of Cushendall golf course in County Antrim this is the most challenging nine holes I’ve ever played. Gary’s a pretty mean golfer.

                     Bud and me are out to the rivers, lakes and creeks again tonight. We go to Penn West first. Apparently yesterday a Grizzly had been spotted trying to get hold of a moose swimming in the lake. No luck for us though, but it was brilliant to see a really big beaver swimming in the Swan river which I managed to get on the video camera. Lots of deer again tonight.

                 Thursday 14th August. A drive in the pickup to Fort Assiniboine. This is the second oldest fort in Alberta, the Hudson Bay Company established a trading post here in 1823.I visit the museum and learn a lot about its history and its strategic importance.

       The Athabasca river is big and powerful here, and I see an eagle carrying a snake but by the time I get my camera out I’ve missed it.

         Tonight I accompany Bud to Sonya’s farewell party. We have a great night and over indulge mixing drinks. Budweiser, Vodka and Lime and Rye and ginger is asking for trouble, and with Sonya encouraging me I carve ‘Uncle Jim and Sonya Chu’ into an already well scarred bar.

             Today there were big power failures in large parts of Canada and the USA.

                  Friday August 15th.AM, a trip out to the beautiful serenity of Krause lake, where I talked with Jim Wurm a colleague of Buds.

Krause Lake

  Friday August 15th PM, Daryn gave me a conducted tour round the waste plant, which I found to be reassuringly safe, being a survivor of a chemical disaster. The Flixborough explosion is standard material in most fireman’s training manuals, and Daryn being a voluntary fireman was interested in hearing my first hand account.

A beautiful evening and I  go for a long walk with Betty, Teighn and Tracy’s dog Sydney who’s being looked after by Betty and Tommy while Tracy and Jay are holidaying.

           Saturday August 16th, Eighteen holes of golf with Gary today. Tommy joined us in the clubhouse for lunch after the first nine. Tommy’s carpentry is in evidence all over the Swan Hills area and here it’s no different since Tommy made the furniture. I just love this golf course.

              Tommy’s real antique collection isn’t in the shop but in the garage at home, and I spend the late afternoon browsing .This is a real Alladins cave of memorabilia and antiques, ranging from complete collections of old books and comics, pocket watches, clocks, china, crockery to old typewriters, tools and old farm implements, some of which were used by Betty’s family early 20th century. Later looked at Tommy’s extensive coin collection.

                 Sunday 17th August. Down to Tommy’s AM. Tommy’s latest project is trying to get a Seniors Lodge built in Swan Hills, and he’s busy organising meeting with the various boards and authorities he’s got to deal with. The people at Barrhead might put the block on it.

     A trip out to Windy lake and I hear the haunting howl of a wolf and see a big trout jumping.

      Afternoon on the golf course with Bud and a few beers. We team up with Cal and Darcy a couple of youngish guys. They’re great players, Darcy especially. Bud tells me their good play wont last, he’s right and whenever whatever wears off they’re a couple of wrecks. Brilliant fun.

   Back home and Tracy and Jason have arrived. They’re staying at Bud’s for a couple of days, before heading off to their home at Rainbow lake, seven hours north of Swan Hills.

Jay and Tracy

Tracy’s as cheerful as I remember her. Jay’s a team leader with one of the big oil companies, Husky I think. He seems a great guy. We have a great evening, watching the reunion video, showing photos and drinking beer.

          Monday 18th August. I’m up and out early this morning to Penn West Reservoir and Edith Lake. It’s a beautiful sunny morning and the mist rising off the water, with only the sound of an occasional bird makes a picture of perfect tranquillity. It’s beautiful but I’d hoped to come across bears and moose this early.

  After coffee with Tommy I head out to Freeman Lake and the Freeman River.

Freeman Lake

Walking up the Freeman river ,I see fresh bear prints on the river shore and evidence of lots of beavers with whole 30ft trees being gnawed clean through, amazing creatures. The further in from the road I go the more vicious the mosquitoes get. I get to a swampy area and see a cow moose grazing on the edge of the trees, I manage to get a little bit of footage on my video camera. I think my inability to see even more wildlife than I did is that I never stayed in the one spot long enough.

       Decided to drive down to the town of Whitecourt, passing logging camps and oil installations. Joined the Alaska highway heading south east into town. Had I been travelling north west I’d have been heading for towns I’d read about as a boy, Grande Prairie, Dawson creek and Fort Nelson. Again I crossed the Athabasca River

Athabasca River

This is Alberta’s longest river over 700 miles long, rising in the glaciers in Jasper national park in the Rockies, it wends it way right across and up the province to discharge into Lake Athabasca. It would be brilliant to travel its length.

After a walk round Whitecourt, I had a beer and a sandwich in Shooters bar where I talked to a couple of real life cowhands complete with cowboy hats.

Back in Swan Hills, myself, Bud, Tracy and Jay were invited to tea at Tanyas. After the best roast beef I ever tasted, or so I thought, I was informed I’d just eaten Moose. Bring it on it was beautiful.

    Tuesday 19th August. Pretty routine today, but again found fresh bear droppings on one of the snowmobile trails on the edge of town.

Tracy, Jay myself and Bud are partying again tonight. This time were at their friends Tony and Terry’s. We’re drinking beer by the fire and the ‘Craic’ is brilliant. Tony is a natural wit. The food is brilliant, Terry cooks lots of traditional Canadian food and her Huckleberry pie just melts in the mouth. Another great night in this wonderfully friendly town.

     Wednesday 20th August. A trip out to Krause lake clears the cobwebs then lunch with Gary and Tommy at the Palace..

   On the way to the golf course I filmed a family of coyotes crossing the highway. I must get a zoom camera for my next trip, they’d have made fantastic still pictures.

         This evening Betty and Tanya have a beautiful tea prepared. Tanya, Daryn and Daryn’s mum Millicent are over for tea .Millicent’s a widow with a great sense of humour. She’s up from Edmonton for a few days.

Millie and me

Late evening sees us all on Daryn and Tanya’s deck with a big fire going watching the amazing spectacle of the Aurora Borealis or Northern lights, with Millie’s making quips about me finally filming a moose, albeit on Daryn’s deck.

Thursday 21st August. Today I accompany Tommy on a round trip in his pickup truck. He’s got a few calls to make. After about an hour of travelling past logging camps, fields of buffalo and sandy shortcuts we reach the Klondike Ferry. It’s on a wire pulley system and of course it’s over the Athabasca river.

Klondike Ferry

Now heading north east the terrain becomes flatter, there’s still some forestry but we’re well into farming country. Monster sized fields growing various grain crops, livestock including beef and buffalo and dusty roads that tell you somebody’s ten minutes ahead of you. We do get onto the main highway heading for Athabasca town and call at the farm belonging to Tommy’s friends Lesia and Dennis, we come back later to eat.

   Tommy concludes his business in Athabasca town, and then we’re on through even more farming country, spotting a couple of very large cranes in a field. All this area was settled early 1900 by Ukrainian and other eastern Europeans, and hundred year old Dutch barns and churches with names like St Demetreus are everywhere. Then we’re on to Lesia’s Uncle Bill’s place in the middle of nowhere, which is a foundry and farm with the beautiful name of ‘Wilderness Castings’. He’s got tractors sitting there that haven’t moved in 50 years.

      Back at Lesia and Dennis’s farm we’re treated to a meal of some of the best beef in Canada, Lesia and Dennis save their best beef for themselves and family and friends. Tommy provided a lot of their beautiful furniture, and there’s an intriguing desk which used to belong to a dentist, complete with newspaper cuttings about it’s history.

      Well fed we’re on the road back to Swan Hills, stopping at Westlock for fuel and a cl ean of the million bugs on the windscreen, and at Barrhead for Tommy to drop some correspondence off. Today we must have covered an area about the size of Northern Ireland. A brilliant day.

       Friday 22nd August. Today’s my last full day in Swan Hills. Out to Windy lake where Rob the game warden points out the Osprey nest and chicks. Then a visit to Edith lake and the Swan river.  Spent the afternoon talking to Tommy.

  Tonight we have a bit of a farewell party for me, and there are no superlatives to describe Betty and Tanya’s cooking. Everybody takes lots of pictures and Teighn’s made me a lovely card.

Saturday 23rd August. Up early and down to Tommy’s workshop for the bus to Edmonton. Tanya and Teighn have made a farewell placard. I’m really sad to be leaving here.

                                                               Goodbye Swan Hills.