Home!!! 73 days, 18,363 kms (11,410 miles), 30 States and 3 Provinces...

We stayed Saturday night in Connell, WA.  Got there after dark but took the cats for their evening walk nevertheless (with flashlights!!).  The next morning we were able to see where we had walked, and it was a lovely field of scrub brush and tumbleweeds behind the RV park. Lovely scenery around here.

Sunday was a long drive.  John winterized the trailer before we pulled out - emptied all the fluids and put anti-freeze in the lines, then we set out for Montana.

It was sad to pack up the trailer for the last time this trip.  We organized all the things we were planning on taking into the hotel with us and battoned down the hatches for the rest of it.

The cats were very restless with such a long drive.  Sammy spent part of the afternoon "helping" John drive, something he hasn't done this entire trip.





As a matter of fact, Tawny has taken to co-piloting from the front seat the last couple of days... she sits on the console between John and I for hours at a time.  No one seems to like their kennels anymore!  It was very "busy" in the front seats the last couple of days.  And it made it hard for John and I to eat our snacks, particularly black pepper triscuits and ham pieces!  Tawny had her face in the middle of our food whenever she heard containers coming out of the pack.  Funny.

The drive to Kalispell, MT was dreary; sometimes wet and then of course it turned to snow as we got higher into the mountains.

We got to Kalispell in the dark (again) and the cats were ready to be out of the vehicle!!  Unfortunately, the parking lot at the hotel was sheer ice (John had the truck in 4-wheel drive!) and we couldn't keep our footing enough to walk the cats that night.


We brought in all the things we didn't want to freeze and then spent the evening with the kitties in the room.  Tawny had never stayed in a hotel before, and she was a big freaked out at first, but settled in when she found the big fluffy bed and large window sill to look out of.  Sammy is a seasoned hotel traveller, and so John took him for a couple of "hallway walks" on his leash.  He enjoys that.  I couldn't get Tawny into the hallway, so we just hung out and I compiled our list for Canadian customs.



Monday morning we pulled out of Kalispell without a cat walk as it was very windy and cold.  Unfortunately, we didn't find anything any better along the road and so we just headed to Glacier National Park and Marias Pass.

The roads were snow covered with icy patches, but it wasn't blizzarding, so we were grateful for that. We've had worse trips through that pass!

We got to the Summit about 12:30 pm and headed down into Browning with still no suitable place to walk the cats.  It is ALWAYS windy and cold in Browning...





We crossed the Canadian border about 2:00 pm.  Ahhhhh.... good to be back in Alberta.  Then stopped in Fort Macleod before it got dark to get the poor cats outside.  They had a great walk around a church, and though it was windy, it was the best temp of the day and they didn't want to get back into the truck... but they did.

We got into Calgary about 6:30 pm and home about 7:30.

The cats were confused!  I'm not sure they really understood where they were.  Sammy just wanted to walk around the outside of the house, and didn't want anything to do with it until he heard the gate creak open.  Then he ran over and rolled on the driveway and went in the back yard.  Tawny ultimately figured where she was and ran to the back door and waited with her face in the door jam for John to unlock it... she was ready to be home! Sam took a while to want inside, and then spent about an hour wandering around the house, trying to get his bearings.


So... the adventure ends.  We had a wonderful holiday.  We were on the road for 73 days and toured through 30 states and 3 provinces.  We visited 2 Portlands! - on opposite sides of the continent: one in Maine and one in Oregon.  We visited with my Uncle Jim in Washington, DC then his wife in California, 6 weeks apart!  We saw my cousin Kim in Chicago in September (for her birthday) and then again in Denver in November (for my birthday).  We stayed on cousin Julie's driveway in Pennsylvania in October after she moved to Colorado, then saw her beautiful new home 7500 ft up a mountain near Boulder, CO in November.

We witnessed the most amazing displays of colour in most of the places we drove through.  We couldn't have hit some of the states at better times for maximum autumn foliage; we were extremely lucky in that regard.  We had wonderful visits with many family and friends along the way, who showed us great hospitality and warmth.  It isn't easy to host a 36 ft 5th wheel trailer with 2 people and 2 cats!  So thank you to everyone who made this trip possible.

18,363 kms (11,410 miles) later... we are home again.  Safe and sound.  Love and hugs to all who have followed our adventure on this blog.  Thank you for the well wishes and support in our journey.

xo John and Dawn, and of course the real travellers... Sammy and Tawny...  >^..^<, >^..^<