Trip through Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, South and North Dakota

For 10 days, my Wife Karen and I traveled 3312 kilometers in our Monaco. For a vacation starting in late September, 2011, we left our home in Lumsden, Saskatchewan and traveled to Kanora, Ontario. From Kanora, we crossed the border into the U.S. and visited Duluth, Minnesota.


We stayed the night on the North shore of Lake Superior just outside of Duluth.

We spent a good part of the day walking in the market in the port of Duluth. Karen wanted to have lunch at Northern Waters Smokehouse in Duluth. Karen is a follower of Diners Drive-Ins and Dives from the Food Network. We've made it a point on our travels through the U.S. to eat at different locations highlighted in the show.


















From there, we pushed through to Little Girl's Point, just into Michigan.

We camped there for a few nights. We certainly enjoyed this area. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. The weather was changing from sunny and warm to a couple days of rain.





















From there, we stayed in Wisconsin along the shore of Lake Superior. The area was again very nice, but with rain and bad weather, we moved on.

We traveled again through Duluth and had lunch at At Sarah's Table in Duluth. We found this as well through the DDD show.

We left from lunch and drove through Minnesota, heading towards Fargo. We stopped at a campground about half way there. The next morning we traveled North through South Dakota, into North Dakota.

Karen and I stayed a couple of days and nights in Minot, N.D. We were sad to see the damage to the town from the recent flooding. There were a large number of homes and businesses that were wiped out by this year's floods. We felt badly for the residents. It clearly was a tough time for them.

This trip was the longest trip we've been on with this motorhome. It ran great, not giving us any problems. It was very comfortable, relatively fuel efficient and just a great trip through this area of the U.S. We loved it so much, we are planning next year's trip to travel the same route and perhaps further South.

Molly the Moose

In 2010, we added a new member to our family.



Meet Molly. She's a purebred Border Collie. She's about 5" taller than Annie and full of energy. We are currently in the process of training her for Flyball. We hope to race her in 2011 and travel with her and Annie in our new Monaco motorhome.

New motorhome

Well, we finally did it. We've always wanted a diesel and that's exactly what we bought. In August of 2010, we picked up a 2000 Monaco 36' Turbo Cummins Diesel Pusher. It's built on a freightliner chassis. It has leather interior, carpet and ceramic tile flooring, full size fiberglass shower, full size queen bed in rear bedroom, and 1 huge pullout. We've taken it to Saskatoon, Souris Manitoba, Calgary Alberta, Minot N.D.

The plan is to go on some long road trips with hopes of hitting Vegas, California, B.C., Alaska, Ontario and Northern Saskatchewan. Being a full size Diesel pusher, it gets "relatively" good fuel economy. It's a great rig to travel in. VERY comfortable and rides like a dream.

Plane Crash site near Coleman, AB

This plane crash site from the 40's is located South of the town of Coleman. N49°34.446' W114°34.246'. It's best to get there by horse, quad or dirt bike, but a hike from the Coleman staging area would get you there and back in a day. Very intersting site with wreckage strewn about from the crash.

Ram Creek Hot Springs, BC

Awesome, awesome. A natural hot springs (and at times "natural") located on an ugly logging road near Premiere Lake, BC. Clean, warm and relatively quiet. Although it's located in a "nature preserve", we stayed at the springs in the '72 Brave for 2 weekends on 2 consecutive years. The beauty of being completely self contained!

Allison Creek/Chinook Lake, AB

N49°40.021' W114°35.259'. Allison Creek is located in the forestry. Random camping but far from quiet. In the peak of summer and on long weekends, it's very, very busy. This is a popular spot for quads and dirt bikes so it does get noisy. The trails seem to be never ending. Use a gps or have a good map. It's easy to get turned around and lose you're bearings (not ball). Chinook Lake is nearby with good early fishing and Government camping. Not free but plentiful, relatively inexpensive, no services, but well laid out. Nice quiet camping only a few miles from highway 3.

3rd (and final???) upgrade

This is our 3rd motorhome. Sadly, it's isn't a Winnebago. It's a 1988 32' Triple E. We've been looking for a rear bed and found one. Unfortunately it was attached to 32' of motorhome with a larger price tag $$$. It's definately bigger than we need but the price was awesome (thanks to Brian @ Skyline Travel for treating us well) and it's in great shape.

Spoiled and pampered! We've only been many times since we bought it in November. I'm afraid that the size will definately limit our accessability that we enjoyed with the 19'. But.......who's complaining. Looking forward to years of enjoyment.

Second RV

This was our first upgrade. This is our '83 - 26' Winnebago Brave (see the trend). More room, more camp "stuff" to take along. Large and comfortable with solar power, generator, air, bunks, huge awning, etc. Although this is a great machine and in wonderful shape, it doesn't have the "funky 70's character" that the '72 had. In 2005, we made 12 camping trips in Alberta and Montana. We had rain on EVERY trip. She's proven to be watertight.

First RV

First motorhome. 1972 19' Winnebago Brave. Awesome little machine. This little baby treated me very well and never let me down. It would go places you'd never expect. Had her for about 12 years before the need for size and comfort got the better of me. Sold it to a co-worker that enjoys owning and using it. Their family camps along with us. My wife cried when we sold it and had to un-pack the gear to move to the next RV. Lots of fond memories.

Annie

Nothing like the companionship and love of a GOOD dog. Annie (Schmoopie) is my baby. Smart, smart, smart.

Campfires

Campfires..........nothing beats enjoying a little outdoor cooking, heat, drinks, and companionship around the fire.

Westcastle, AB

N49°17.855' W114°24.024'
Ahhhhhh....our second home. Westcastle near Middle Kootenay Pass. Spent many days, weekends, weeks camping, hiking, fishing, quading, and picking huckleberries here. The drive in is one of the roughest road you could ever drive (35 minutes for 4 km) but it's very quiet.