Goldeneye Lake AB to Hanna AB

A travel day today, we're positioning to get to Saskatoon for overnight Sunday. We'll be mooch-docking in the Pleasure-Way travel van factory lot and taking a tour Monday morning. Just for research and because we're here!!

Once out of the mountains, the smoke was still an issue for visibility and air quality. CBC news had a satellite picture of a huge cloud moving east from BC. I hope we're not dragging it with us!

We do enjoy the prairie scenery too usually, but limited today:

Very smoky at times

Various grains are ripening quickly now

Could have been a lovelier vista with clearer air

It was laundry day today, so we stopped in Rocky Mountain House to see if they had one. Yep, all done quite quickly by the staff for $5. That should hold us until we're home now. Got 4 litres of DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid) that the van emission system needs, at Canadian tire; should be lots to get home now for that too.

We saw 2 deer at the side of the road, on the wrong side of the "deer-resistant" fencing. Now they were trying to get back over, away from the road. Tough to do.

I was reminded that we did see bison earlier this trip, when we had a picnic outside a paddock with several bison residents, in Minnedosa Manitoba. We saw some more today at a Bison farm north of Drumheller. As far as roadside viewings though, we did see several antelope today, in a field quite a ways off the road.

We decided to drop down to Drumheller for a visit to the Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum. Traffic was light, it was getting on for 4pm, so shouldn't be too busy, right? Nope, it was a madhouse. Employees were directing traffic in the parking lots. Kids all over the place. We decided on discretion and got out of there quick.

This badlands terrain will look familiar to some of you

Every time we stepped out of the van today we were reminded about the air quality. Thanks to the cabin-air filter in the van air intake, the smoky air was much less noticeable in the van with the windows closed and the fan on (no AC needed today). I wonder if the filter will need replacing with this year's service (nope, it was still ok).

We got stopped for the night in a campground in Hanna AB. It's just open sites with full services including Wifi, adjoining a motel. The washroom building looks pretty beat, but good equipment inside, with the showers we needed after this travel day. 

Today's route: