Some days at work it is hard to complain about much.












This was one of those days!















I had to drive out to the Ya Ha Tinda ranch and pick up a couple of horses.
It was a pretty nice day, tho a little dusty on the road at times.









































On the flip side, the owner of this 5th wheel I passed by was NOT having a good day.

Wouldn't ya know it? Just back to work for a few days, and already it is 'days off' again! Stuck around on Friday for a ball game and get-together afterwards (still collecting bribe money to NOT show the photos).

Headed north from home, exited the park near Sask Crossing and spent one night along the North Saskatchewan river, flowing high and dirty at flood stage. Watched the kingfishers and a small black bear on the far bank.






Overcast and breezy in the morning, so headed over to David Thompson Resort, further east.
There was a large group of motorcycles at the resort just departing ahead of me, but clouds of huge dragonflies must have made riding a bike a bit of an experience! I imagine there more than a few bruises to those riders not hiding behind a windshield and fairing?















Just missed the mine tours in Nordegg, so on to Rocky.
Window shopped some new pickups and RV's, then headed out late to the south west.
Cow lake provincial recreation area (There were NO cows at Cow lake.) was a very busy, family, recreation oriented resort, so carried on out into the bush, off the end of the paved portion.

On the way we encountered a Clearwater County enforcement officer with a pickup truck pulled over. It must have been a good check, as within a few minutes a provincial parks or conservation officer pulled up to assist, followed soon after by an RCMP.































Found a grassy area by the creek with no ATV's in the area. Lots of campers and horse trailers leaving. The previous occupants had left a good supply of firewood, so had a nice fire in the evening and roasted some dogs for supper.














The night was quiet, but in the morning, a group of large animals came silently out of the bush and surrounded the camper, much to Harley's alarm. We had not 'herd' them coming.

Harley looked out the windows and this is what he saw.










































Due to their proximity, a pre-breakfast departure was in order. It was a nice, sunny day, and the 'plan' had been to carry on further down this forestry road and come out near Caroline or Bearberry, but the heavy gravel truck traffic and copious quantities of dust convinced us otherwise.















Headed back onto the pavement and stopped near another provincial recreation area on Prairie Creek. Kicked back on the river bank with a hot cup of coffee and contemplated the water. It was near the main road and a bewildering quantity and variety of oilfield equipment paraded past, including a water truck that proceeded to pull in beside me and fill up from the river.














Took advantage of the weekday in town to get the big GM an oil change and grease job.
Not a cloud in the sky, a full mug of Tim Horton's coffee - where shall we head next.

Guess you better check back later to see!
Click some ads, click on photos for larger vews - you know the ritual.

Well, it finally arrived, and now it is over for another year.

The Merritt Mountain Music Festival, that is!

This is a country music festival in it's 15th year, held in Merritt, BC, which is on the Cocquihalla highway, midway between Kamloops and Hope.

This year's headline entertainers included the likes of Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker, Carrie Underwood, Gretchen Wilson, The Roadhammers, CCR, Jamie O'neil, and many many more. And as usual, there was a great line-up in the beer garden as well. It is hard to find photos to post that are not incriminating to someone, or that contravene the rule of Merritt. "What happens in Merritt - Stays in Merritt"!
But I did find a few that were OK!

Here is the main gate into Merritt, not the gate into the festival!















Surprisingly, I did not take a photo of Harley who spent much of the time in a shady, fenced-in area under my camper, where he could stay cool in the green grass and feast on grasshoppers while watching passers-by. Many people got to know him and they would always stop and listen to him talk when they walked by the camper, and they would get upset if he was not there to greet them. People are just not used to seeing cats out and about, but I did see a very similar cat (a scaredy cat) camped nearby.
Here is a pic of our camp. We had about 9 units in a big circle with our own little courtyard in the middle.
















Also hung out a bit with the Brent Lee Band
Brent and Pam, Kelly and Tammie, and various of their 'fan club'.
Here's Brent and Pam with me in the beer garden.
















And a pic of some of the 'fan club' showing off their Brent Lee shorts!















There was also a line dancing group from Gabby's in Langley.















And, I met some people from The Big B Saloon in Mission, B.C.

The weather was very Hot most of the time and the temperature inside the camper was frequently at 37C, but with a bit of a breeze, some shade, and a few cool ones, it was all quite 'beerable'.
Almost everyone flocks to the Coldwater river during the day - as it runs right through the middle of the grounds.
















Both coming and going, I chose the quieter highway 5A option to get back to Kamloops. It goes by several lakes including Nicola Lake, Stump Lake, and Douglas Lake.















Another shot of the highway west of Golden, B.C.

And the gas prices in Golden are the highest around, quite consistently, so don't buy gas there if you can avoid it.

















Don't forget: You can view larger versions of the images by clicking on them. You can add a comment to a post or send me an e-mail via the link near top right, you can view almost 2 years of posts by clicking on the archives links and selecting the dates. And if you click on some of the advertisements, Google pays me!

Okay, this will be just a short, disjointed post of a few pics and not much of a story line.

Oh, ya, I finally gave in and joined FaceBook!


Been out patrolling the rails the last few days, looking for grain or bears on the tracks. Unfortunately, lots of both.















Got a call today to assist the local fire department. They wanted to use some of our fire pumps to help out with a basement flooding situation at a local restaurant, so I pulled one of our fire trailers over to assist.




























There was also a steam-powered passenger train in town today - westbound for BC.














Finally a nice hot, sunny day. It was forecast to reach 28 today, but I'm not sure what the actual high temp was?