Driving through Grande Prairie, we were amazed at how
much it had grown since we passed through the small city of 50,000 four years
ago. The oil boom has had a huge impact on its economy. We saw many people
driving new pickup trucks, new businesses and new construction everywhere.
There were many oil field service businesses on both sides of town.
The road changed too. From the 2-lane Alaskan Highway,
the road was now 4-lane and smooth in most parts, although there were a few
dips in the road from time to time.
We overnighted on Wednesday in a nice RV park in the
country outside of Valleyview, just east of Grande Prairie. Thursday morning we
drove around Edmonton on a freeway bypass, but still got caught in a traffic
jam just south of Edmonton…the first heavy traffic we’ve seen in about three months.
We overnighted in Leduc, Alberta at a Lions Club RV park.
Many Lions Clubs in Alberta have RV parks to support their communities. This
one was on the edge of town, quite a ways from the highway, but got excellent
reviews on rvparkreviews.com (which we use frequently when looking for a place
to stay). The only thing not mentioned in the reviews for this campground was
that it was close to the Edmonton airport. We had commercial aircraft flying
overhead on approach to the airport, after a change in wind direction earlier
in the afternoon.
We departed Leduc around 8AM on Friday, heading for
Lethbridge, Alberta just over 300 miles away. We continued down Highway 2
through Calgary around 11AM with no traffic. It was smooth 4-lane all the way.
We stopped in Red Deer for diesel fuel and much to our surprise; it was only $
0.954 per liter or $2.96 U.S. a gallon with the conversions.
In Lethbridge, we stayed at the Bridgeview RV Resort. We
were lucky to get a space on Friday night, without a reservation, because it is
a weekend in August, the temperature was mid-80s, and the swimming pool was
full of adults and children. One thing we’ve noticed driving through Alberta is
that almost everyone has an RV of some kind (5th-wheels, bumper tow
campers, truck campers, tent trailers, or motorhomes) and they love to go
camping. There are campgrounds and RV parks everywhere.
We cross the border into the “Lower-48” tomorrow morning (Saturday)
at Coutts, Alberta and head to Malmstrom Air Force Base (Great Falls). We hope
to get a camp site in their family campground. It is first-come, first-served
as they do not take reservations. We are meeting Vince & Lisa there and
plan to go out for dinner together.
Our drive from Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Coutts, Alberta
is 750 miles and took us three days to traverse the length of the province. It
sure seemed like Alberta went on forever.
Steve & Julie Cornelius
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