Gathering of the Northern Exposure Caravan

In the last blog, we posted some pictures from Yellowstone National Park.  A mule deer was camoflodged in a growth of trees.  I remember asking if you could find it.  Did you?  Here he is.

He watched Buck take the picture!

We traveled from Cody, Wyoming to Great Falls, Montana on Friday, June 12.  A rugged adventure even in the travel with road constructoin.  Not the type we know in North Carolina.  Up here, they tear up the entire road - both lanes - for a couple or more miles.  While they are working, you must drive through one of the rough dirt lanes with the help of a guide car.  No need to wash your RV or your car - since you're sure to run into this road construction on every trip!

When we arrived to Great Falls that Friday, we met a few of our caravan members who had already arrived.  The wagon masters and tail gunners were, of course, there already.  Remember we had met the tail gunners in Branson. MO.  They had come to visit us there from NW Arkansas.  The wagon masters are also from Arkansas.
As more caravan members arrived, we met them and instantly made friends with people from Texas, New York, California, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Tennessee, Virginia, and Montana. Yep, we're the only rig from North Carolina.

The next few days were busy with a dinner for everyone on Monday night, buying groceries, doing laundry, getting a bank to convert our US dollars to Canadian money, and of course, locating a camping store that sold the RIGHT WINDSHIELD WIPERS to fit our motor home.   Carole, remember the story of the snake that keeps rearing its head when you think you've already killed him a million times?   But, hey, this time was the winner.  Those new windshield wiper blades slipped right on the windshield wipers arms.  Thank you, Lord.

As our departure date neared, we attended meetings to help us learn the procedures.  Incidentally, the organization hosting the caravan is SMART - Special Military Active Recreational Travel Club. At one of the meetings, we introduced ourselves. We are amazed at the service theses SMART members contributed to the support and safety of our United States citizens. Believe me, you'd better be on time for the meetings!

We learned about the border crossing and the credentials we needed to cross the border.  ID or Driver's License and passport are two requirements.  Also, just in  case, you may need to provide insurance verification for both motor home and tow vehicle.  You may also need medication lists.  They will ask you if you have a weapon or explosives on board, alcohol, and if so, how much, animals and if so, what species, and any other questions of their choice.  We were told not to take raw chicken - either fresh or frozen. So we grilled chicken the night before we left.  Find out how the border crossing went in our next blog!

There are 21 "rigs" in the caravan. Twenty-two were signed up, but a lady from Arkansas (not the wagon masters) fell in Walmart in Great Falls and broke her arm in three places.  She had surgery the day we left for Canada.  So 21 rigs, 42 people pulled out of Dick's Campground on Wednesday, June 17 headed to Ft. MacCleod in Alberta, Canada.

We had an order of departure.  The wagon masters and two other rigs left at 8:00 AM so they could arrive at the destination first and get all details ironed out and be ready to help with parking of all the other rigs.  At 8:30 a group of 5 would leave. We were in the 8:45 group along with 4 other rigs. This method was used to avoid congestion on the highways.  We didn't have to stay together after we departed.  We could stop for sightseeing, fuel, food, rest area, etc. as we chose.  But we were not to arrive before the wagon masters. We all had numbers assigned to our rigs.  We were number 10.  The signs were placed on the ladder on the back of the motor homes and in the windshield on the front of the motor homes.

Probably the prettiest motor home 
in the caravan.
The owner tows a burgandy truck.

Here are pictures of some rigs that are in our caravan.

Wagon Master displays our
Northern Exposure Caaravan Logo.

Fifth Wheel pulled by a truck.

Over and out!