(RV 21) Planning a big trip to Western Canada and down the West Coast. 1988.

After we returned from our trip to New York and Michigan we relaxed. The rest of the year we only made four little trips. The longest was a weeks stay on the beach at Galveston. But we were making plans for a long trip. The trip we planned would last for five months. From May to October 1988. We would pull our fifth wheel 7000 miles. Of course many more miles than that were put on our Ford Diesel pick up for side trips. I just added up the number of times that we made camp on this trip. It added up to 41 times. On the average we moved about every four days for five months.

For many years Jackie and I had heard stories about the far north in Canada from her maternal grandparents. They were George and Neway Smith. Around 1915 they had homesteaded at Elk Point in Alberta, Canada. A young couple with two little girls. Moved from Chicago to the very north edge of civilization in Alberta, Canada. This was a big deal in their lives and we heard a great deal about it. It was very interesting. They lost a girl in the 1918 flu pandemic. World wide this disaster killed fifty to one hundred million people.. Probably one of the greatest natural disasters in human history. Jackie's Mother and George and Neway survived. Jackie's Aunt was buried in Vermillion. The King of Spain had the flu, so it was named the Spanish Flu.

We planned to visit Elk Point and Vermillion.

At that time the world's largest mall was in Edmonton. It had indoor surf, a zoo, a midway, and replicas of the three ships that Columbus used on his voyage. Jackie and I were mall fans.

We were in contact with a group of Escapees (a club of RVers that we were members of) that were planning to build a coop RV park on the Olympic Peninsula. We wanted to look at the place, talk to people, and consider moving there as members of the coop.

We planned to drive in the Canadian Rockies

, see Vancouver Island, and the San Juan Islands. Picture is of the Athabasca Glacier in the Columbia ice fields.

Then down to California to visit three of our children and then drive back to Walnut Cove, Texas.

We did all that in five months. We were getting to be experienced RVers! The next several posts to my blog will describe the trip. Last November I blogged about much of our trip. Seven posts. I will have links to them when I get to the appropriate part of our trip.