Calgary!

This morning we got up a bit late, but still were ready to go before the agreed upon time, so I set out with Sweetie to take a walk. Sweetie didn't last long (she gets tuckered out easily), but I walked a short loop trail with interpretive signs put in by the Nature Conservancy. I saw many varied wildflowers and learned that Mountain Rough Fescue is the official grass of Alberta.

We set out around 9:45, with Frank and Valerie leading the way, followed by the Rowes, and then us. The trip to Calgary seemed long, partly because it was overcast and kept threatening to rain, and most of the way was across broad prairies. Like Montana, this is "Big Sky" country. The golden fields of canola did brighten the scene. They looked almost sunny, even with clouds overhead.

We finally made it to Calgary, after many months of planning and looking forward to seeing many of our friends from Southern California here. When we pulled into Calgary West Campground, it was raining steadily and had clearly rained heavily for some time. The rig rocked back and forth as we tried to navigate the gravel streets that had large gullies from the rainwater runoff. When we got set up, it felt really good to be warm and dry and at home again.

The campground is on a hillside, so we have a view of Calgary's northwest sector. We enjoy the city lights at night.

We learned this morning that Wes and Jenske were having a serious problem with their motorhome. The emergency brake was stuck in the "on" position, so they had put in a call to Good Sam Emergency Road Service. Since they were camped in the national park at St. Mary, we weren't sure where the nearest service would be available, and it seemed that they would probably miss the rodeo tomorrow. It turned out that they were able to have the emergency brake bypassed, so they continued on towards Calgary, but it was late and they had to stop short. They'll finish the journey in the morning, hopefully arriving in time to make the rodeo for which the group has tickets at 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.

The rest of the group that had been traveling with Wes and Jenske decided to come on to Calgary, and they pulled in a few hours after we did. We had a great reunion, with lots of hugging, out in the road behind our rig, and we got to meet some new friends. Ed and Marlyn introduced us to their friends Walt and Sheila and Walt Sr., Lou and Judy and Natalie, and Ron and Linda. Dennis and Cheryl and Mike and Judy came in together. John and Margie came by to visit (they're staying at the Holiday Inn). We're excited to see everyone, but at the same time, it seems like we're just picking up without missing a beat.

Calgary West is a very large campground. It's on a hill overlooking the city, so the views are great. One problem is that the promised wi-fi works only in sections A and B, and our group is in C. Ken went ahead and put up the Hughes Net dish, so we're on our own network. He got it up and running without a single hitch, but the DirecTV is giving more problems. We'll try it again tomorrow.