Elk Island National Park

May 16, 2011, Elk Island National Park - Outside of Edmonton, AB. Here is the largest assemblage of wild animals in Canada. There are elk - of course - moose, wood bison, plains bison, mule deer and white-tailed deer. There are also beaver, coyote and an occasional bear and cougar. There's a beaver lodge and a bison, above. But we don't know which variety of bison it is. You have to know your bison better than we do to discern the difference.

We began the day at Kehoe RV Service Center in Saskatoon. We ran out of battery last night, even though we were plugged in to electricty at a campground. I couldn't figure it out. I checked the power souce to see if it was putting out electricity. I plugged in a digital clock and it worked just fine. I was baffled.

The service man at Kehoe looked a little like Robert Redford. I explained our problem. He began to connect Harvey the RV to live power. He noticed that the opposite end of the power cord which should have been attached to Harvey wasn't. "Where does this plug in?" Robert asked.

Acting as if I knew all along that it plugged in somewhere, I said, "I guess it plugs in there," pointing to a female recepticle hidden from his view because of the angle. He plugged it in and everything worked just as it should. He looked at me and I grinned sheepishly. "I guess that fixes it. How much do I owe you?" I wanted to get out of his sight before he guffawed out loud.

The cord must have jostled loose on one of today's bumpy highways. I had no idea the power cord plugged into the RV itself. I assumed it was hardwired to the chassis. I had a friend in law school who was famous for saying to anyone who would listen, "Assumption is the mother of error," or something very close to that. Annie was shaking in her seat as we drove away trying not to laugh out loud. That would have been unkind. The trembling was unkind enough.

Well, hey! What do you expect from someone who was trained in the law. If I had been any good at mechanics, I be working for a NASCAR racecar driver.

There was another short delay as Annie insisted on finding a Curves so she could keep up her workouts. There are three such women-only sanctuaries in Saskatoon. Thirty minutes later we were headed west again.

Today we continued our search for a toy for BJ's dog, Buster. BJ is feeling slighted, though she blames it on Buster. "He needs, he needs," she whines. She says Buster is our granddog and is entitled to as much attention as our seven grandchildren. After 5-6 stops, we finally found Boo, the stuffed Beagle. So now we have Motocycle Joe, Lili, Leah and Buster's buddy, Boo the Beagle.

Tomorrow, it is on to Dawson Creek, the beginning of the 1350-mile Alcan Highway which has a terminis at Delta Junction, AK. At Dawson Creek, the trip really begins. The last 1600 miles have been preparation for the Alcan Highway and Alaska, beyond. Dawson Creek is where I've wanted to be for the last two years. Now, it gets really good.