July 13th to 17th - AB to Saskatchewan

July 13th - Sun - Calgary
We had a brochure for a flea market/antique mall that was open on the weekend so we went to take a look. It was indoors and there was a lot of stuff but we got away light with a hatchet - ours disappeared somewhere along the line. Filled up with diesel & propane on the way back to the RV park.
We looked for a car wash for the truck but decided to do it ourselves at the park since the weather was nice and our neighbors had left. I also did some cleaning inside the 5th wheel.
After dinner, Terry went to the office to ask about the wifi which had just been changed to have a password. The office was closed so he stopped to ask a couple if they knew the password. He chatted with them for a while and then came to get me to join them. They are Rob & Sue from Victoria, BC and are on their way to Alaska. They are new to RVing and think they might like to full time for a while so we had a lot to talk about. The weather suddenly got cold and windy so we put up their awning and headed inside in our rig to continue talking. They were thinking they should leave when a storm hit with lightning, thunder and mega rain. So what could they do but stay until the rain let up! We enjoyed them so much and really hope to meet up with them in the future.

July 14th - Mon - to Rosetown, Sask
Can you say gumbo? No, not the southern stew but the sticky Alberta mud!
Got away at 9:20 after talking with neighbors and our new friends and dumping our holding tanks. Just before Drumheller I saw a sign for a scenic viewpoint. There was a tour bus parked in the lot so we drove back around onto the road and parked on the wrong side since it offered more room. Terry stepped out onto mud but I was mostly on gravel. By the time we were in the parking lot, Terry had an inch of mud stuck to his shoes. Everyone from the tour bus was trying to clean off their shoes. When we got back to the truck, I got our Crocs out of the rig so we could just change shoes. There is a dinosaur museum in Drumheller but we decided that we have had enough of that sort of thing for a while so gave it a pass.
We saw diesel for $1.29 a liter in (small town) Hanna so topped up. We paid $1.43 in Calgary. I took the opportunity of the stop to make some sandwiches for lunch. We stopped in Kindersley Sask as there was a golf course that we thought we would play but the RV parks turned out to be not where we wanted to stay so carried on. We stayed in Rosetown in a park just out of town and off the highway. There was also a nearby golf course but it was so windy that it would not have been fun. Got all the fun I needed cleaning the gumbo off our shoes! The wind finally died down about 9:30. Neither one of us slept well last night so we turned in fairly early.

July 15th - Tues - to Watrous, Sask
At the Calgary stampede, there was a large booth with tourist information for Saskatchewan. A guy who helped us was from Watrous and said there was a salt lake with supposedly therapeutic qualities and a nice golf course nearby at Manitou Beach. We needed no better reason to head this way.
About 30 miles of our trip was on a pretty beat-up, bumpy road but it was a short day of driving. When we checked into the Manitou & District Regional Park, our first assigned site was muddy. Terry backed part way in and had to use 4 wheel drive to get out so we got a different site. We paid $2 a night more for a pull-through site and it is lovely - large, treed and not stuck in the back corner of the park.
I made lunch before we headed in to check out the town and pick up some bits to stabilize our reading lamp.
On the way back, we continued on to the lake at Manitou Beach which is just past the park. There is a nice sandy beach but the lake is covered in green “crud”. There were a few people swimming so we stopped and talked to a couple in swim suits who were sitting on a bench. We asked if the lake was always like that and if they swam in it. They said earlier in the day it was not so bad and, yes, they did swim in it. They were from Quebec so we chatted a while and decided we needed to see if Terry could float in the lake as the literature says.
So, back to the rig to put on swim suits and then walk slowly into the junky lake. The top was warm but it was cool underneath. Very shallow so I walked out to where I couldn’t stand. I was definitely more buoyant than normal but didn’t want to lay back and put my head in the floating ick. I tucked my legs under me in a upright position and paddled back to shore with my arms. Had to shower & wash the green/brown stuff off me and my suit when we got back. Terry just waded a bit and said he didn’t have to float.

July 16th - Wed - Watrous/Manitou Beach
When we checked into the campground, a sign said to ask about the “stay & play” golf package - so we did and took advantage of it. 2 nights of full hookups, entrance to the park, 2 medium buckets of balls and 2 rounds of golf & a cart at the 9 hole course across the road for $70 sounded OK. It was cloudy this morning so we put on long pants to go golfing. By the second hole we were wishing we had put on shorts. We did not play particularly good golf but the course was in great shape and very pretty so it was fun.
Just after we got back, it started to rain but was still fairly warm. The rain quit by the time we finished lunch so we unloaded the bikes and rode around the park which is quite large as there is lots of room between sites.
We drove back to the beach and along the lake for quite a ways, checked out an antique/junk store and had an ice cream cone. Then we went back into Watrous for a couple of items at the Bargain Store. Chatted with some neighbors before dinner and then cooler temperatures sent us inside for the rest of the evening.

July 17th - Thurs - Saskatoon
We are staying in overflow camping as the Gordon Howe Campground is full. We have internet but have to walk to a table outside of the office. Will finish this entry later.