We left Calgary at noon on Friday.  We had a bit of shopping to do before we headed out of town.  Specifically the purchase of the laptop I am using to write this blog.

Once again we were on familiar roads.  We had been thinking of going north from Calgary to Saskatoon since neither of us had been there before, but there is a large Jazz Festival and something else as well going on and not a hotel room to be had.  We decided to stick to the Trans-Canada for another day.

The weather was fine again.  No rain, just clouds and sunshine.  It was very nice to see the fields looking green with new spring growth.  Our other trips along this stretch of road were in later summer so everything was much taller and a much dustier green.  There has been quite a bit of rain in the area of late so all the crops were coming up and looking new and fresh. I love the wide open cloudy skies.John’s sister and her family lived in Medicine Hat for quite a few years and it was always a great visual image to see the gigantic        tee pee on the hillside as you drove into town. We crossed the Alberta/Saskatchewan border and made our way to Swift Current for the night.There is a very little traffic on these wide open prairie roads.  John is thrilled that my SSR is making about 30 miles to the gallon on fuel consumption.  That’s what happens when there are no hills.

We began our cross-Canada tour on June 20.  Day 1 was not hugely exciting.  It was really just a normal drive to Calgary.  We headed out a little later than we had planned; almost 11 and made a quick stop in Sicamous to say goodbye to Trish and hello to Kieran who had just arrived from Airdrie  to spend the summer with his dad and Trish.

The drive through the Rockies was uneventful but with the sun and  scattered clouds, new green growth on the trees and bushes, and the white snow high on the mountain tops it was, as always, a spectacular sight.I have driven through the Rockies many, many times in my life and they never fail to move me with their grandeur and beauty.  We do live a lovely part of the world.We had dinner in Calgary with John’s nephew Mark and his wife Julie.  The big draw at their house, however, was not Mark and Julie, nor the wonderful dinner we had.  We wanted to see Decker!  He is almost four months old and we have not had a chance to see him yet.  But….the little beggar missed his afternoon nap and had just gone down to sleep minutes before we arrived.  We left at 9 and he was still sleeping so we only got to peek into his crib.  You better be awake on our return little guy!