Back in to Canada!

We weren't originally planning on crossing the border yesterday, but with an early start and several other factors, we decided to make a late day border crossing.

We've been battling the winds the last few days, and it is usually the most calm just after dawn. So we got up when the sun did, and began driving immediately.

Another great free campsite!

We left the Gillette Airport at just after 9:00am yesterday. Beautiful blue sky all day long and with a temperature of about 75F (24C), it was just about perfect.

Heading north out of Gillette, it is coal mining country. We had seen the long trains full of coal that run the rails along the highway south of Gillette, and it was interesting to pass by some of the facilities that fill the rail cars.

Heading north through an accident scene

We said our goodbyes to our Boondockers Welcome host and headed out around 9:00am. First stop was the town of Douglas, about 65 miles (104 kms) north.

We actually wanted to stay in Douglas... I had read about a city park where they allow three nights free camping and have a water and dump station. We stopped in to have a look. One other rig there, but a nice park. If we didn't need to put some more miles on, we would have stayed and visited the town. Another time.

Installed our new Winegard RV Internet Antenna

They were calling for a nice day yesterday and our Boondockers Welcome host Sally had generously offered to let us stay a second night, so we decided to take a day off from driving. We'll have to make that up though with a couple of longer driving days because we want to be back at Cabri Regional Park for Sunday, giving us only four driving days to get there.

I took advantage of the beautiful day to get up on the roof and install our new Winegard Connect 2.0 RV Internet Antenna.

A chilly day exploring Cheyenne, Wyoming

Up early, and our Verizon cellular internet ran out and I'm not going to renew it because we're only six more days in the United States. If the price was reasonable, I would... but at $35 USD for 2 GB of data, they can keep it!

So we got up and drove into Pine Bluffs, NE where we parked outside the library and used the free library wifi while sitting in the motorhome and having breakfast.

50 Campsites, and we were the only ones there...

Yesterday, we continued north from Brush, Colorado into Kimball, Nebraska. Kimball is at about 5,400 feet and is very close to the highest point in Nebraska. But the municipal park campground in behind the fairgrounds wasn't the nicest and looked to be on soft ground and they were calling for rainshowers yesterday evening.

We carried on east a little bit to the Oliver Reservoir State Recreation Area where they have about 50 numbered camp sites... and it's totally free!

Who said there's nothing to see?

Sure, the scenery may not be fantastic, but there is still stuff to see if you look for it.

Yesterday, we drove from the Neegronda Reservoir north up to Brush, Colorado. No, it's true that the scenery is not fantastic. But there are still some interesting things to see along the way if you look for them!

It wasn't worth taking the chance...

Yesterday, we drove from Boise City, Oklahoma to a reservoir at the Queens Wildlife Conservation area just north of Lamar, Colorado. I had a few ideas of where we could park for the night, but there was a heavy rainfall the night before and many of the gravel side roads were still pretty soft.

We ended up walking in to what would have been a beautiful spot, but I was worried Sherman would get stuck!

As expected, that was an expensive repair bill...

Well, I had guessed the bill would be around $2,000 USD and it came in at $2,273 USD.

Of course that's hard to swallow, but it really becomes a lump in your throat because we have to pay for it with Canadian dollars... almost $3,000 Canadian dollars!

But, we have spent very little money on Sherman over the years so I suppose we were due for it.

Sherman is almost ready...

The first day they did the transmission service, tightened the power steering belt, installed new front wheel bearings, and new front brake pads. The front pads weren't terrible, but they had the wheels off anyhow so I figured why wait until they are terrible.

Yesterday, they installed the new inner and outer tie rod ends on the driver's side and had a look at the rear brakes. It's not easy with the rear brakes because there is only a little inspection hole unless you take the brake drums off. I told them to take the drums off so we could all have a better look. It's a big job because you actually have to remove the axles. I'm glad we did though.