Finally heading East! Garith and Eileen and family.

We are officially heading East again and we stop at Sheila's brother's place where more fun begins. 

We are greeted at the highway turn-off and Jasper and Vienna hop in the truck with us. Jasper drives the rig up the road a couple kms into Garith and Eileen's yard. He successfully keeps us between the ditches :)

Sheila, Vienna, Chris and Jasper - bringing the RV into the yard.

As soon as we are set up it is game on with the kids. We love all these siblings kids like they are our own grandkids. Really special. 

Vienna and her kittens. 

We spend the day at the pond and it is amazing. It's almost 30 degrees out so swimming is awesome!

Chris fishes while Vienna supervises

Just a beautiful picture of Vienna :)

After a full day of touring the entire farm with the kids, it's time for bed and Sheila is happy to read the bedtime story. 

Jasper, Vienna and Sheila  - Nighty Night :0

Chillin' in Drayton Valley, AB while Chris attends a funeral in Edmonton

Today is a chill day with the family for Sheila in Drayton Valley, while Chris heads off to a funeral in Edmonton. Sadly his high school friend Darren has passed from bone cancer and the funeral is today. Thus part of the inspiration of this trip as you just never know when your card is going to turn unfriendly. Live life now!

RIP Darren

We all meet up in the evening at Wayne and Kathy's other daughter, Nicole's. Very relaxing visit around the deck. 

Sheila and Kathy

On the way back to Wayne and Kathy's farm the sunset is stunning. Lovely end to the day. 

Sunset to the west of Drayton Valley

Sundre to Drayton Valley, AB - Wayne and Kathy + family

 Before saying good-bye we get a tour of the facility Gerrit and Beth operate. They are 100% in charge of this business and they use high tech state of the art technology to grow their crops. We are super proud of all they have accomplished. 

Gerrit and Beth

This is a massive building

So proud of Beth and Gerrit :)  Hugs till the fall. 

We arrive at Wayne and Kathy's to find their daughter Melissa and her two kids are visiting. It turns out super useful as the electrical cord on our RV has fallen down inside the RV and it takes Carlo's little hand to reach inside and grab it. Too funny and so thankful to Carlo!

Elia, Chris, Wayne and Carlo - little hand is very useful :)

Successfully pulls our electrical cord out from where it had fallen

Over drinks on the deck somehow 'deep-fried pickles' come up and before we know it Melissa is inside whipping up a batch of them. Wow they were delicious. 

Kathy, Melissa and Sheila - deep fried pickles. 

Elia, Carlo and Sheila making dip for the pickles

We all enjoy a wonderful dinner together. Always so happy to spend time with Sheila's brother Wayne and his lovely wife Kathy.

Chris, Sheila, Wayne, Kathy, Carlo, Elia and Melissa - Cheers!

On our way! XC Canada Leg 2 - Gerrit and Beth acreage

After a 4-week visit in our own backyard, we are on our way again heading north. Ultimately we are heading to Sheila's family farm area to enjoy the July 1st week, but our first stop will be at Gerrit and Beth's acreage just outside Sundre for the night.  

Our full next leg is likely going to be 6,000 km this season. It takes a lot of work to get going, but the rig is ship, shape and ready to go.

A few of our lovely neighbors swing by and send us on our way. We have the best neighbors...true friends :)

Sheila, Liz, Jeff and Chris

Sheila, Chris and Dan

We safely got out of town on a long weekend before rush hour, so we decided to stop in at one of our favorite watering holes, the Water Valley Saloon to wet our whistles. 

The Water Valley Saloon

Next stop is Gerrit and Beth's acreage to enjoy a wonderful meal they prepare for us. Beth's parents even join us :)

Sheila, Beth, Gerrit and Chris - Cheers till we see you in the fall. 

Feet up and ready to go

 With most things loaded before our depart tomorrow, we enjoy the back deck. We will truly miss Cochrane over the next few months as we live in a beautiful neighborhood :)

Our backyard view of the golf course. 

Meet up with Joel at Citizen Brewing Company

 We meet up with Joel and Nova at the Citizen Brewing Company for a hug before we leave. 

Nova gets a table treat at Citizen Brewing Co. 

Father's Day Dinner

The boys come over for a lovely dinner to celebrate Father's Day. Nice day of catching up with everyone's busy life.

Happy Father's Day - Joel, Sheila, Chris, Beth & Gerrit

Barley is hopeful for a treat :)

Cochrane day

Today we head out for a walk up the Cochrane valley and back via our iconic cowboy on the ridge. 

"Men of Vision" bronze cowboy has overlooked Cochrane since 1979

We even take in the old museum at the Cochrane Ranch. 

Cochrane Museum

Tonight our Oilers loose game 5 of their run for the Stanley Cup. We have dug a hole as the next game in Florida is a must win in order to drag it back to Alberta for a game 7. So stressful.

Oilers Fans win or loose...though we were 25 last time they won the Stanley Cup

38 Years of Marriage

Today is our 38th wedding anniversary and we make it a full day. We start by kayaking the Bow River right out our back door to the Bearspaw Marina about 18 km down stream. We are able to put the wheels on our kayaks and wheel them from our house to the river. 

Wheels make it so easy to transport the kayaks.

We invite our neighbor, Dan, to join us and it is an absolute magnificent run through  gorgeous landscapes and a few sets of rapids. It's the first time we have ever kayaked a fast moving river like this and it's great for our confidence on the water.

Bow River widens out near our take out point

We are on the river about 3 hours and the end section is very calm and wide allowing a few photos.

Dan and Chris enjoying the calm glorious day.

Once at the Bearspaw Dam, we again put the wheels on and have about a kilometer haul to our truck, which we dropped off earlier at Haskayne Park.

Dan doesn't have kayak wheels so we drape Dan's kayak over ours and we successfully get all our gear back to the truck. 

Team effort gets the kayaks back to the truck

Almost to the truck dropped earlier at Haskayne Park

We head home for a quick rest before our good friends ,Carmen and Dave, arrive for dinner. These guys are some of our original Calgary friends from 1988. We were both married in 1987 within a week of each other and have celebrated together many times over the years. They treat us to rib eye steaks and champagne. So fun as usual.

Chris, Carmen, Dave and Sheila - anniversary buddies

It's a late night filled with great company and fine food :)

Oilers game 4 of Stanley Cup series - Calgary

Chris's mom has recently moved into a new seniors center in our old neighborhood of Brentwood in Calgary. We make a supper and deliver it to her new suite and we watch game four of the Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup run.

Sheila, Ann and Chris - Go Oilers

At one point the Oilers are down 3 to 0 after the first period,  but we never give up hope and they end up having an amazing comeback and winning the game in overtime 5 to 4. Heart stopping!!

Canada flag on the ice

Fun Fact - For the Stanley Cup Final, Rogers Place in Edmonton utilized ice collected from the hometown rinks of several Edmonton Oilers players. This "home ice" was incorporated into the Rogers Place ice surface, creating a unique and symbolic connection to the players' roots. The initiative was part of a broader campaign to rally support for the Oilers during the playoffs

Sundre road trip

We met Wayne and Kathy at a campground in Sundre for the afternoon. They were in the area for a wedding and stayed an extra day for a meet up.

Chris, Kathy, Sheila and Wayne

After supper we stroll over to the  Sundre Pioneer Village Museum. Unfortunately it's closed today but the metal artwork in the perimeter fence is a wonderful collection of old western gadgets, tools and oilfield bits and pieces. Very cool.

Wonderful old preserved buildings.

Artisan metal work creates the perimeter fence

Horse shoes and bridle bits make up this section

It's a very nice visit with my brother and his lovely wife...plus little Lucia.

Kathy, Wayne and Lucia :)

Cochrane Golf Course

The 9 hole golf course in Cochrane is such a great little course. Sheila volunteers on the course every Thursday morning. Today we had all sorts of visitors on the course to entertain the golfers....some with 4 legs and some with webbed feet. I will miss this morning gig when we pull away at the end of June. 

Deer are plentiful in Cochrane

Little goslings are so cute

P.S our Edmonton Oilers won in OT last night in the first game of the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers. They beat us last year in game 7 of the series. Fun Fact : It's the 12th time in NHL history and the second time in 40 years, that the same two teams are meeting in the Cup Final. It's the first time it happened since 2009. Go Oilers - Canada is cheering us on!!

I

Canadian flag license plate :)

Getting a few odds and ends done to continue our cross Canada trip in a few weeks. We opt to swap out our front license plate to a Canadian flag. This trip has become about Canadian unity and we sure hope to experience some love.

Dressing up the old girl - Glennifer is her name :)