Friday, September 12, 2014

The Dry Run

Ideas! Ideas! Ideas!

clip_image002Thank you all for so many helpful hints!!

We’ve tried to follow up and plan our winter. We must have come up with at least a dozen different scenarios. What with no home to travel in and a new vehicle to replace the Tracker, our summer was a lot of changing and searching. We did some visiting and touring hoping to get a feel for what it would be like to be homeless.

We enjoyed our travels but still have no idea what our winter will be like.

So-o-o we are doing a dry run to New Mexico, maybe check out some spots in Texas, and then come back through Casa Grande and Yuma . . .Who knows!

We enjoyed our travels this summer but still need to test out our new situation!

Our 2014 Summer Travels

First, we went up to see Chuck & Sheila in Wetaskiwin to take part in our usual card-playing marathon . . . I still can’t win but we enjoy our visits with them so much that it really doesn’t matter.

Then we went off to Eureka, Montana in the Tobacco Valley, to spend a few days with Faye and Carl.

Faye was our neighbour way back when we first came back to Alberta from Cape Breton. Their place here is so comfortable and relaxing. When they first moved there, it was a lazy kind of place. Originally, the Tobacco Valley was a logging area but when the logging died out, some farms and ranches and a lot of home-styled crafts supported the community.

Development has now crept into the Valley. Californians looking for a quieter life-style and Canadians looking for a simpler, quiet summer get-away are now moving in.

It has become a busy, bustling community but we managed to find some out-of-the-way places to explore.

You always find Faye surrounded by her animal family.

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Gardens and cooking were our big things then . . . gardens and food are still big but wildflowers and out-of-the-way places always top off our visits.

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Stalking Back Roads

We took the time this summer to stalk some back roads to find old weather worn buildings that have always fascinate me.

The first sighting we made was of the Old and the New.

There are very few old grain elevators left and even fewer sitting side by side.

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An old barn (that is still in use); the shed in the middle of the field; and an previously loved old cabin hidden in the trees . . . all watched over by our bull of loving grace.

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Not only are buildings well used, we can across Cooper’s Auto Sales that had a field of wrecks about the same vintage as the buildings.

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Finally, we got to Del Bonita (an obscure little border crossing) that is desperately fighting extinction.

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They have developed a Ghost Town Street to attract people going through.

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We are so fortunate to live where we do!!

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