Hinton-Cochrane-FortMacleod

Going to use this post to try and catch up with where we actually are. We left Hinton on Wednesday morning in bright sunshine which stayed with us all day. On our way out of Hinton we stopped and refreshed our grocery supplies and picked up some disposable rubber gloves which we use when emptying our tanks.
We drove down towards Edmonton and turned off on Route 22, the "Cowboy Trail" runs all the way down to the Crowsnest Pass in southern Alberta. We had a great day for driving. With the exception of some lengthy delays due to road construction the drive was very smooth and the scenery was nice. Lots of cattle and horses.
We arrived in Cochrane by mid afternoon and set up at the Spring Hill RV Park. This park is only five years old and still under development.  The services were good. We contacted our friends in the Calgary and Cochrane area and made arrangements for them to join us on Friday for dinner.

On Thursday morning we left Cochrane and drove a loop through the Kananaskis region of the Rockies on route 40. It was a fantastic drive. Deep in the mountains, lots of hiking trails, campgrounds and beautiful scenery. A lot of the hiking trails were blocked off with bear warnings. This time of year is when the grizzlies come down to fill up on berries and whatever else they can find to get their body fattened up for a long winter. It was also one of the hottest days we have had so far, up to 30C with a strong warm wind blowing. Part way down into Kananaskis country is a provincial park named after Peter Lougheed. We drove in and covered some 40 km of roads through campgrounds, trail and lakes.  The pictures above are only a sample of what we saw. We'll post a new album in a couple of days with all the pictures.
We drove over 340 km before we arrived back in Cocharne. N was really happy because she was back in the mountains. I've got a feeling that we might have to relocate out here because of her love of the mountains.
The next day was spent getting ready for company and dinner. We had a good day talking and getting up to speed with our lives. It was great to see Gail and Sharon. They got away around 8:30 in the evening and we began to pack up to get underway the next morning (Saturday).
Needed to turn the furnace on this morning. It was down close to 0C last night but the morning dawned bright and sunny. We got underway later than usual but we knew it was not going to be a long day. We had planned to go to Waterton National Park but decided that since we had been there several times before that we wanted to go somewhere new. After a very scenic drive through the foothills, we wound up in Buffalo Plains RV Park just outside of Fort Macleod, which is just to the west of Lethbridge. We can see Buffalo Head Smashed In historic site from our window about 5 km away. This is a little gem of a park. Small, only 34 sites, quiet and not very crowded, large campsites and very clean facilities. We plan on taking a break from moving from place to place and stay put in this area for the next few days and over the long September weekend. We will either stay here or at another small municipal park in Foremost, which is south and east of here. We'll drive to Foremost tomorrow to look at that park and then make our decision. We have been on the road since the first of June, travelled almost 18,000 km to this point. Time for rest and recuperation before we start heading back east. It will give us a chance to rest up, get all our photos posted and get the rv cleaned up and looking presentable again.
Stay tuned!

Quote for the day:

Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.
  - Franklin P. Adams

Cheers

P & N