We successfully travelled with Myrtle over 1600kms/1000miles, 9 days, 2 provinces, 4 campgrounds, 2 national parks, 1 provincial park and 0 breakdowns (mechanical or marital)! One thing to be mindful of on a long trip through rural areas is the availability of gas stations!
Our first stop was 2 nights in Waterton Lakes National Park, which is the Canadian side of the US Glacier National Park. Waterton is a favourite park with a gorgeous lake, surrounded by mountains. The townsite campground is fun with nearby shops and amenities. The Bear's Hump hike is a fave with a great view but we opted to take it easy and relax with easy bike rides around town.
Next stop was 2 nights in Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park where were we visited the interpretive centre and then explored the amazing hoodoo rock formations. Walking through these towering rock formations felt like being on another planet. There is also a river with a sandy shore.
Next we set out to Saskatchewan where we spent 3 nights at Grasslands National Park in the Frenchman Valley Campground. We were sceptical at first as the park is quite faraway and we generally seek out mountain areas to camp versus prairie. We were pleasantly surprised by the sheer beauty of Grasslands with diverse vegetation, rolling hills, valleys, interpretive walks and bike rides, and way more wildlife than we expected. We saw bison, pronghorn, deer, coyotes, beaver, black tailed prairie dogs, and a huge assortment of birds. The prairie dogs were particularly interesting and we visited both large colonies. These prairie dogs only exist in Grasslands. They are very social animals and we had a great time watching them interact. The Ecotour Scenic Drive was another great activity, we did part by bike and part in Myrtle. The two prairie dog colonies are on the drive and there are great interpretive displays and walking trails at each stop. Right from the campground there were also some nice walking trails where we spent time bird watching and observing two beavers building their lodge. Grasslands was the highlight of the trip!
As we headed home we stopped for the night at the Medicine Hat Gas City Campground a nicely equipped and handy place to stop. The highlight was meeting a couple in their vintage GMC motorhome on a cross country trip! We also got a great photo of Myrtle with The Saamis - world's tallest teepee.
This length of a trip gave us a good opportunity to iron out details of living on the road and making Myrtle extra cozy. We were unable to get our old fridge running so as a temporary measure we brought along the bar fridge and cooler. Normally we only camp for short periods so a cooler is fine. The bar fridge worked out well and we have a RV fridge on order.
We finally got the bathroom all set up with a Bosch Electric Mini-Tank Water Heater Tronic 3000 T 4-Gallon, new shower head and hose, shower curtain, 3M hooks to hang to toiletry bags and a Toolitries organizer on the wall. With COVID-19 we decided to primarily use our own bathroom and this was the first time using the shower. It all performed great!
We spent the days bike riding, walking, cooking and resting and evenings we watched downloaded shows on the laptop. The newly installed Lagun pivoting table is awesome for meals and watching shows. We installed a vintage table top on the Lagun device.
Another great addition is the Japanese Noren Curtain on a tension rod. We hung it up in the rear just before the bathroom which gives a great bedroom area and doesn't require us to always put up the windshield curtains. It is nice to have the windshield uncovered for the great views.
What are your comfort must haves in your camper?
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