After my visit to Helena, It was a direct shot up I-15 to the border.
It wasn’t exactly a straight shot, but if you keep the round tires on the pavement and your eyes on the road, with an Interstate, you eventually get where you are going.
There is some amazing scenery out there in this great land of ours. I snapped this shot at a rest stop. The clouds kind of reminded me of waves crashing.
And, I had to snap this shot through my windshield for two reasons:
- The name of one of my brothers is Craig.
- I consider numbers that are in order, like Exit 234, to be a sign that my father is looking out for me. The story of that little game Dad and I would play is somewhere in my blog.
You can tell the clouds are moving in. They move in, they move out. Oh, and there’s rain on my windshield. I “love” rain.
I spent the night at a local campground in Shelby, so that I would be ready to cross the border at Sweet Grass in the morning.
I’ll bet that this park is well-used in season. I was passing through during the week at the beginning of May, so I pretty much had the place to myself. I paid my fee at the “Iron Ranger”, which is just a tube where you drop your money, and spent a quiet night at the park. I didn’t even unhitch.
The next morning, I gassed up and found my way to Canada.
I was full of trepidation when I got in line. This would be my first border crossing with my trailer, although it was hardly my first border crossing.
I had been crossing the border my whole life. My first crossing was when I was about four days old. I was born in Buffalo, but we were living in Canada at the time. 
I still can’t get over the idea that you can enter Canada without crossing water. But, that’s just because I’m a Great Lakes sort of person. The photo above is of the Peace Bridge, otherwise known as “The Bridge”. It connects Buffalo, New York with Fort Erie, Canada.
Anyway, we inched up to the barrier and then it was my turn. Would they send me over to secondary inspection? Would they go through my truck and trailer? Was my paperwork adequate for bringing Cora the Travel Cat into the country?
I handed the agent my passport, Cora’s papers, my truck and trailer info. We discussed what I was bringing into the country. I had no firearms, fruits, vegetables, alcohol, or tobacco, so I was good to go. Oh, I did declare the four cans of Bud Light I had in the fridge, but he probably didn’t count that as beer. (Most of my beer loving friends don’t.)
He welcomed me to Canada and I was in!
I pulled over and captured the requisite “Welcome to Alberta” sign photo. I didn’t know Alberta was known for its wild roses.
I was aware that it was known for its petroleum deposits, so it wasn’t a surprise that they would also welcome me with some information about the dinosaurs.
I’ll let you read the information they posted, if you are so inclined.
The next sign I noticed was a sign honoring the First Special Service Force.
It turns out that the road from Lethbridge, Alberta, to the border at Coutts and Sweet Grass and on to Helena was dedicated in 1999 as a memorial to the First Special Service Group, an elite WW II unit known as “The Devil’s Brigade.”
In 1942, 700 volunteer Canadian officers and soldiers took this route to join 1100 United State soldiers for intensive training at Fort William Henry Harrison, west of Helena. Although combat casualties were high, but the force never failed a mission. According to the information at the roadside, this small unit received a disproportionately large number of medals, over 5,100.
They were named “The Black Devils” by the Germans for their legendary nighttime fighting ability.
In 2013, the unit received the USA House of Representatives’ highest honor, The Congressional Gold Medal of Honor.
I drove on until I got to Stavely, when it was time for a fill up.
Don’t you just love having your mind boggled? If I wanted to know what the price would be in US dollars, I’d first have to figure out how many litres were in a US gallon, multiply that times the cost per litre and then figured out the exchange rate.
So, what did gas cost in Alberta?
Who cares? It cost whatever it cost. It wasn’t like I was going to head back across the border to fill up.
And, as long as I was filling up the truck, I might as well have a little snack myself.
How do you like your coffee?
I like my coffee crisp.
I was rolling through the prairies and the productive-looking farmland.
This grain elevator is in Stavely, which was named after the chairman of the Oxley Ranching Company, Alexander Stavely Hill. Oxley Ranch was one of the bonanza ranches.
What is a bonanza ranch? I did a big of digging, because I was wondering, too. In 1881, an Order-in-Council was passed that allowed individuals or corporations to lease ranches not to exceed 100,000 acres for 21 years at the annual rental of one cent per acre.
Just in case you need some help visualizing the size of 100,000 acres, that is equal to about 155 square miles. That is about the size of South Bend, Indiana.
The era of the bonanza ranches didn’t last long. About ten years later, the Government canceled the the ranch leases, which made way for homesteaders.
As cattle gave way to grain, the population grew. Stavely was incorporated in 1912. The Alberta Farmers’ Cooperative built a grain elevator in 1910, which was the largest of its kind between Winnipeg and Vancouver.
For those of you not up on your Canadian geography, here’s a map to help you.
I resumed my trip toward Calgary. I arrived at the campground I had selected – Calgary West Campground. It took me a couple tries to get backed into my site. Since it was so early in the season, I don’t know why they couldn’t have given me something easier to get into. It was the first time I’d had to shift into four wheel drive to back the trailer up into the spot.
But, once I was in my spot, I was set for a few days. The next day I’d explore Calgary.
(That’s Calgary in the distance.)