The 5th of July. (DAY 5) Crossing the Border

The 5th of July. (DAY 5) Crossing the Border

Before we left the Teachers Lounge parking lot, I turned on the propane to make coffee on our camper stove. I also flipped the switch on the control panel that says "gas." I didn't need to do that. That switch turns on the gas heater on the side of the camper that heats the water. It's a bold flame, protected by a screened vent. After a minute or two, I smelled something odd and then smoke. I hadn't intended to start the water heater up, because if I had intended to, I would have removed the two Bounce dryer sheets from inside there where the flame was. It is common in campers to put fragrant clothes dryer sheets in vents, doors and other openings to deter mice from entering during storage. It's less common to leave the sheets there while using the camper, and it's really uncommon and pretty damn stupid to nearly burn the camper down by lighting a fire with the dryer sheets in the water heater while your wife is sleeping. Realizing the issue, I quickly turned off the heater switch, and ran outside with nothing on but my Fourth of July smile, and pulled the smoldering sheets from behind the heater vents. I threw them away in a trash can outside the bar. It's a good thing that parking lot was empty. I'm probably going to forget to tell Peach about this.

We crossed the border six miles north of Fortuna at the Fortuna Ougre border crossing. We were the only ones crossing. The staff was friendly and professional, but didn't feel the need to search the whole camper. We declared the shotgun and the liquor. They checked the gun, charged us $25 and sent us on our way.

Border Crossing Between the United States and Canada

 

We had a nice seven hour drive to Medicine Hat, Alberta, where we're staying at a typical crowded RV Park. The land is flat for much of the journey with lots of canola fields, giving way to dried lake beds and piles of what looks like salt, but is actually potash (potassium sulfate) left behind from the evaporation of an ancient inland sea that covered this area. There are several mines along the way. Saskatchewan is the world's largest producer of potash, with 95% of it used for agricultural fertilizer. As we approached Medicine Hat the terrain became increasingly undulating as we continue to climb from the high plains toward the foothills of the Canadian Rockies The whole day was odd because it was the 4th of July and we were doing nothing but driving. Fortunately our neighbors back home are excellent and held the annual picnic in our driveway so we felt a little bit connected (not sure what they did with the beer cans!)

When we got to the campground we hung a flag on our camper, had a neighbor take a picture of us with our patriotic shirts on, and then put the 4th behind us, had dinner and went to bed. Today will be a half day checking out Medicine Hat, and then on to Calgary to see what's going on by the Calgary Stampede rodeo. After that to the mountains!

In Medicine Hat celebrating the 4th of July