On to the Oasis

Hanna, AB

Prairie Oasis Park

Site #35: $35 (x9) p/w/wifi at store

THURSDAY: We have enjoyed great camping weather and spending our days outdoors. Until this afternoon that is. No more HOT HOT . . . It is now WET WET. 😕

We set up at Prairie Oasis at noon on Tuesday. In a new to us site. The bushes had been cut at our usual spot and it wasn't as private! 

The park was busier than we usually see it during our off season visits but most of the units checked out yesterday. We did our walk and ride-abouts and we burned up our wood finds.

Another first for us and something one doesn't like to see. An ambulance and fire truck arrived at the neighbors. We think the wife went in the ambulance and the husband packed up and left in his motorhome. 

The friend's motorhome next door hasn't left yet, but we haven't seen the couple around.  We are not sure what the story is??

Today I did some indoor cleaning and we have been reading. 

We miss the wifi here! The public connection has been down for a few years and the STAFF password we were given in Spring no longer works.

We hope this rain is short lived and that we can enjoy the outdoors once again!!

Campfire and coffee liqueur... Sweet!

Staying Cool?

We opted to stay one more night at this Park. The past 5 days can pretty much be summed up by HOT HOT HOT!  With temps in the mid 30's we were searching for shade and breezes! We rigged up this little water spout for cooling.

It is amazing how much it cooled at night however. We actually used our little electric heater the first night. 

The one thing we don't look forward to when we're camping at this time of year are the flies! They are horrific. And they really want to be in the trailer!! Our traps have been kept busy!

I am reluctant to complain too much about flies because we keep hearing about the WASP problems in other places. I will take the flies over the wasps!

We did manage to get in some walks and bike rides.  And we certainly enjoyed the fires and the sunsets. Cool evenings!

Plus the birds continued to keep us entertained. The colours below are awesome and very much Fall looking with a little help from a beautiful sunset. Note the Ducks, a Blue Heron and Pelicans!

There are only a handful of campers in this park. Most of them are here to fish. A few families came for the day to enjoy the waterpark. I left some of my painted rocks hidden there. We were happy when our neighbors 4 sites over left! Four fricken dogs that barked and went crazy everytime someone walked by.

Our next stop will be Prairie Oasis.

Hooray for Camping!

Big Stone, AB

Blood Indian Park

Site #33: $35 (x6) no collection 6 night p.w/wifi

September and we are finally in the 5th wheel again. It took some effort as I had removed all the canned and dry goods after our Spring trip when the weather was so hot. That meant a lot of packing and loading. It was rather exhausting as we had just closed and winterized the cabin and I had 2 weeks of laundry to work through!

We originally planned to go to Rolling Hills but when Ron phoned the campground and was told that the beach sites were closed off for the season we changed our plan. We decided on Prairie Oasis. However, as we drove down the highway Ron suggested Blood Indian instead as we hadn't been for a couple years. So here we are!

It took a bit to get settled because I needed to make up the bed and finish unpacking, but it was great to get set up. We managed a quick bike ride, found some firewood then enjoyed a cocktail by the propane fire. (The wood will be chopped for tomorrow's fire!)

We always enjoy the bird activity in this park. Lots of Pelicans, geese, cormorants, grebes, snipes etc!

Dinner was barbecued salmon. After a little more relax time at the fire, our bed was calling and very welcoming! (Incidentally my sleep score was 87% last night!) Again, hooray for Camping!

The upcoming weather is forecasted in the 30's and we have opted for 5 nights here. We will plan as we go! 

Oh... and this is Ron's first big treasure find here!

the final days of Spring camping. .

By lunchtime on Monday we pretty much had the campground to ourselves once again. We did our usual walk and ride about and Ron managed to find bits of abandoned firewood. It was cool and windy but we attempted an afternoon fire. But with the damp wood, big smoke and gusty winds, we opted to move indoors for the evening.

Tuesday was sunny and nice. Until about 4:30. We were enjoying our "smokeless" propane fire under the Brella when the sky let loose once again. We huddled for about 15 minutes, but as the rain started to drip through, we hustled in. Once again it was a short rainfall with the sun re-appearing, but we chose to stay indoors. I think we were all "camped out"! 

So our 9 nights at Rolling Hills certainly wasn't as nice weather wise as our Prairie Oasis stay! 

We were back home Wednesday by lunch time. The RV is unpacked and stored back at the compound.  Three weeks of laundry is keeping the washer and dryer busy. Ron is off to Abbotsford on Saturday for some fishing with his bros and I will be enjoying deck time back home . . . Starting now!!

The Weekend

Friday morning before the long weekend and it is wet and cool at 8C.  Isn't that the norm for every 'May Long' camping weekend?? No complaints here as I am hearing about snow in Calgary and Pincher Creek area. Also we are very comfy in our unit-- as I look next door at the family of 4 plus dog in a tiny tent trailer! Although we have "been there done that" minus the dog! 

We've spent our days and evenings outdoors until today. There has been wind,  but we can usually find a protected spot along the 5th wheel or under our big umbrella. We were out until after 9:30 last night and were treated to a pretty rainbow although we missed that rainfall!

Saturday:  Campground activity has picked up. It is cool, but the sun is shining and people are out and about. Many in t-shirts and shorts with kids on the beach in bathing suits. They are much tougher than us old folks! The "entertainment" has upped considerably and we find our binoculars have strayed a bit from the birds! 😉🤣

On Sunday after our bacon and egg brunch we decided to do a bike tour of the other camp loops. We were enjoying a leisurely pedal when I felt a splat on my forehead. At first I thought ugh..bird poop, but then suddenly the skies opened and we had hail followed by a downpour. It's amazing how fast one can pedal when necessary!! That came with no warning and left just as quickly! Back to sunshine and blue skies. However the quick change weather set a tone for the day and we made many moves from under the canopy to sitting in the sun! 

We were able to complete the bike tour. And back at the 5th wheel we saw our first babies!

Rolling Along

Rainier, AB

Rolling Hills Reservoir Campground

Site #15: $40 (x9) p/wifi

The days have gone by quickly and the weather was great following the one day of rain and wind. On Saturday we did a quick trip to Hanna for milk and some vegetables to get us through another week. Oh yes... Mother's Day happened. Prawns and asparagus were on the menu.

On Monday after 10 nights, we packed up, said goodbye to the Oasis and were on the road by 10 am. I did leave some of my painted rocks hidden in the playground and other nooks.

We arrived at our new home at Rolling Hills Reservoir just before lunch. It was opening day for this Campground. It was not nearly as busy as their Facebook site had suggested it would be! 

There was no problem getting the site requested and only a couple of other units were spread through out. Basically we have the campground to ourselves once again! We will see what the upcoming May Long Weekend brings!? This is one of the few campgrounds that you don't have to reserve a site!

I did a short walk about after lunch and came up with this little jackpot of firewood!

We continue to enjoy evening campfires and all the bird activity. The Cormorants, Grebes and a Merganser have been hanging out and diving in our little bay.

It is such a great view! That little island in the distance is packed with gulls, geese and other water birds. And we do have our binoculars!

We paid for 7 nights, but we may extend that for a few more days depending on how things go.

Warmer Wednesday

Day 6 and we are running low on bread. No problem! We love our bread maker while camping!

We survived the 50 km high winds, rain and cold from yesterday. It was a good day to get some interior cleaning and vacuuming done. There were still bits of glass in the carpet from our previous outing which included the blown tire and ditch episode! We also discovered our microwave no longer works which may or may not be a result of that incident.

We just paid for five more nights at this Campground and then we will move on to another campground where we will spend the May long weekend.

Today turned out to be quite pleasant! Ron is lighting the campfire and it is almost cocktail time!

Monday Sun day!

It is Monday morning and we are seeing rainfall warnings for this area. However, at the moment this is the nicest morning we've had with a 21C temp, bright sunshine, blue skies, no wind and the birds happily chirping in the background. Sometimes it is just best to ignore those predictions! 

Re that gopher hunt on Saturday... Yes we heard a few "pops", but our day wasn't really disrupted. The good news is that the campground host brought a bag of free firewood to apologize for this! Awesome!!

Side Note: we have plenty of firewood, but some things never change!☝️lol

The host also shared the Staff Wi-Fi password so we could connect while we are here as the public wifi isn't working. How nice is that!!!?

At any rate we are spending our days out doors. So far! That may change tomorrow? It did sprinkle a few drops yesterday so we put out the canopy and set up the windscreen. 

That is always a good way to get the rain to stop and it did work! We were back at the fire within minutes!

There is not much else to report as our day-to-day activity is pretty much a repeat! Biking, walks, reading and campfires.

My view from our morning beach walk.

A Smooth trip!

NEW TRUCK - 2003 FORD F350

Hanna, AB

Prairie Oasis Park

Site #31: $35 (x10) p/w on Monday

And here we are! Camping 2024! We are one of two units at Prairie Oasis Campground south of Hanna. A large motorhome is parked in another area not visible from our campsite. There is a little tent in the tenting area, but we haven't seen anybody around. I would not want to be tenting! Brrrr, the nights are still pretty chilly!

We were all set up and sitting by our cozy propane fire pit for cocktails by 5 pm. Barbecued burgers were on the menu. All in all it was a great first evening and I'm glad we made the decision to come! I'm shocked more campers haven't joined us for the weekend!

Saturday brought gunshots. Apparently they hired someone to shoot the gophers. There are no campers here but there are plenty of gophers! I'm thinking it will be more than a days work!

We have paid for 5 nights although we may extend our stay. I keep hoping the rain and wind in the upcoming forecast will change. Currently it is 15C and we did get plenty of walk and bike time in should we be forced in to camper time. 

Camping 2024

After our final camping attempt and another tire blow last season that resulted in major truck and trailer damage I was wondering whether we'd ever go camping again. The truck was a total write-off.

Anyway, Ron purchased a 2003 Ford F350 that was fitted with new tires and a 5th wheel hitch. Our 5th wheel had the front panel and storage doors replaced plus a new water tank and drain pipe installed and low and behold, we are loading up!

We had hoped to bring the 5th wheel home the last week of April and start our camping but the weather didn't cooperate. We did manage to do a little pre-loading in the storage compound with the help of our little red wagon! 😁

On Friday, May 3 we hitched up, brought the unit home, packed and were on our way by 2 pm!