Category Archives: Canada

May 2022 Cost Updates and Instagram posts

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GAS PRICES IN CANADA

While we were waiting to cross the border into Canada on May 17, 2022 , we recorded the mileage on our motorhome at 10,925 miles. We have driven 902 miles from May 17 to the 31st, and have purchased 433.47 liters of gasoline, which equals 114.50 gallons. Total cost for fuel on the motorhome since crossing the border May 17th was $585.60. This works out to an average of $5.11/gallon. And this was all in the Province of Alberta. Where gas is cheap! Alberta prices ranged from 1.69/liter to 1.769/liter. Per our friend Don, gas is well regulated here, so you don’t get the wild price swings like in the US. One gallon of gas equals 3.78 liters (it’s all about the math!). We are now in British Columbia, and gas is over $2/liter.

May campground and entertainment costs

We had 15 nights of camping in Canada in May, at a total cost of $510.98 American, which works out to $34.07 per night. We have had full hookups (water/sewer/electric) and places with just electric (and the electric is 30 amps). There are many options to choose from, so your campground costs will vary. Don’t plan on having much for wi-fi! Even the campgrounds that advertise internet – it’s not always usable. (I’m currently writing this at 4:30 am – that’s when I can get on the campgrounds free wi-fi. It’s been light outside for about 45 minutes, so if feels more like 6 am.) We don’t have a satellite dish, and have always relied on over the air for television. We have not been able to pick up anything over the air, so if that is something that is important to you, pack a lot of DVD’s!

We have visited many museums and toured the local towns. Entertainment costs will vary based on your own personal interests. We have spent a total of $97.00 since May 17th on museums and sightseeing adventures. These are in American dollars. Right now, $1 Canadian equals 78 cents American, so we use our credit card as much as possible to get the more favorable exchange rate.

Prices in the grocery stores are comparable to costs in the United States for most products. Dairy and Canadian meat and chicken are a bit higher. Butter is sold by the pound (454 grams) but it is not divided into quarters like in the United States. I would have an issue with this for baking!

May Instagram posts

As promised, for those folks that are not on Instagram and/or don’t want to be on more social media sites, (thinking of you Ole!) I will have links to the posts that I made. So if you are interested in what else I have posted, just click on the links below. You can go through the photos on the posts by swiping to the left on the pictures. Given the limited internet, I will continue to use Instagram for quick updates on where we are. Instagram will always be the most current way to keep up. For more detailed posts on some of the places we have visited, I will continue to do blogs (although I need to stop taking so many photos!). I still have several more blogs to post on some more museums from May, so stay tuned.

If for some reason the links are not working, or you have any issues, please let me know at liv2rv@gmail.com

Quote of the day: “Often, bumpy roads lead to beautiful places.” – Dave Martinez

The Military Museums

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Located in Calgary, Alberta, is The Military Museums (yes, plural). The building complex contains museums honoring the Air Force, Navy and Army, along with various divisions within the Army. Plan on spending several hours here, as there is a lot to see.

Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI)

Established in 1914 during World War I, the PPCLI is one of Canada’s most famous regiments. It was named after Her Royal Highness Princess Patricia of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

PPCLI soldier’s in WWI bunker
Handguns assigned to PPCLI soldiers

Below depicts PPCLI soldiers using the Lewis Gun, an anti-aircraft machine gun used during WWII.

The PPCLI not only served during WWI, WWII and Korea, but most recently in Afghanistan. They had on display LAV III “Charlie” which was used in 2008 in Afghanistan.

Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC)

Almost 22,000 women were a part of the CWAC, and were stationed at Army bases in Canada and overseas. The women provided support services in transportation, medical and administrative areas. The museum pays tribute to their service. The CWAC was demobilized after WWII ended.

Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF)

The RCAF was founded on April 1, 1924. The airman’s uniform was modeled after the Royal Air Force blue uniforms.

The museum has models of all the planes used by the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII. It’s a model airplane lovers dream display.

A separate building held several airplanes used by the RCAF. A CF-104 Starfighter was on display.

There was a platform to view the cockpit of the Starfighter.

The museum also contained a CF-18 Hornet.

How do you tell the difference between a Canadian Hornet and an American version? The Canadian Hornet has a large light on the side by the cockpit. It is used for identifying aircraft in the darkness of the Canadian Artic.

Naval Museum

This was my favorite section of the museum, as they had a large display of aircraft, drone boat, uniforms, torpedos, various weaponry and models of ships past and present.

Among the many models of ships in the museum, is the HMS Bellerophon. This is the first Bellerophon, launched October 1786.

To the more modern day HMCS Calgary II. It is a Halifax Class Patrol Frigate, commissioned in 1995.

In 1955 Canada purchased 39 McDonnel F2H-3 Banshee planes. These planes were used until 1962 when the Royal Canadian Navy discontinued the use of fighter aircraft.

Hammerhead, a remote controlled small attack boat, with a maximum speed of 40 knots/74 km hour. Developed in Canada in 2008, it is still in use. It is the first time I have seen a “drone” boat.

This gun mounting was used for training at the West Coast Fleet School in Canada until 1995.

Ho, Ho, Ho and a Bottle of Rum!

The Royal Navy started the daily ration of rum to sailors around 1655. Rum was used as it kept better than beer in hot climates. Conditions were harsh on ships, and it was something the sailors looked forward to. The Canadian Navy followed the British and continued the tradition of rum rations until 1972. Below are various storage containers used for rum.

This copper set was used in WWII on HMCS Saguenay to measure out the daily issue of rum, about 2 5/8 ounces.

Naval Uniforms over the years

Enigma

The four-rotor Enigma machine was used by the German Navy in 1942 to securely transmit communications from Naval headquarters. The allies realized the only way to break the code was to capture an Enigma machine. The Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Griffon made the first capture of an Enigma machine and documents on April 26, 1940 from the German trawler Polaris off the coast of Norway. It has been suggested by post-war historians that intercepting and decoding German communications shortened the war and saved thousands of lives.

If you are in the Calgary area, we would highly recommend a visit to The Military Museums. My blog only covers a fraction of what they have on display. It is truly a remarkable place.

Quote of the Day: “We must never forget why we have and why we need our military. Our armed forces exist solely to ensure our nation is safe, so that each and every one of us can sleep soundly at night, knowing we have ‘guardians at the gate.’ ” – Allen West

The Bomber Command Museum of Canada

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Our first stop in Canada was in High River, Alberta. From there, we were able to visit several museums/parks within a 45 minute drive. I will have several blog posts on these museums over the next several days. For quick updates, I will use Instagram, as that works well with limited internet. For the more interesting things, or rather the touristy places that I take a lot of photos at, I will do a blog post, as Instagram is limited to 10 photos. Our Instagram page is liv2rv. https://www.instagram.com. Occasionally I may just post a blog with links to the IG pages, for those that are not on IG.

Located about 20 miles south of High River is The Bomber Command Museum of Canada https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca. The museum commemorates those that served in the Bomber Command division during World War II.

The memorial wall contains the names of over 10,000 Canadian Bomber Command members that died in World War II.

During WWII the bombing forces of Canada were under British command to fight in Europe against the Nazi’s. The bombers suffered great losses during daylight raids, so they began operating almost exclusively at night.

The museum has displays of the instrument panels from the Lancaster bomber airplane.

This is the pilot’s instrument panel and flying controls, along with a photograph of a pilot.

The Flight Engineer’s Panel

Dan was checking out the mockup of a Lancaster cockpit that you can sit in. This mockup was used in the 1992 film “Map of the Human Heart.”

Air training bases in Canada had their own fire department. This is a 1942 Ford Aerodrome/Crash Fire Truck. After the war, the town of Nanton used it as their first fire truck. It remained in service until 1977. It was called “Old Bumpy” due to it’s ride.

This is a 1942 De Havilland Tiger Moth. It was the most widely used basic training airplane under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

In 1939, the Royal Air Force established the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) which grew to 180,000 members during WWII. In 1941, the Royal Canadian Air Force Women’s Division (WD) was formed. Over 17,000 Canadian women joined and served. The museum has a display honoring their service. The women in the Air Force were issued bicycles for transportation.

Canadair CT-114 Tutor. Originally used for training pilots from 1963-2000, the plane is now used by “The Snowbirds,” Canada’s air demonstration team.

The main feature of the museum is the Lancaster, a heavy bomber plane. It was the most successful bomber used in WWII.

View from the rear

Specially modified Lancaster were used to transport and deploy the Grand Slam Bomb. Forty one of these 22,400 pound bombs were dropped near the end of WWII. The museum houses a full-size mockup of the 25 foot long bomb.

A large number of Nose Art reproductions are contained throughout the museum. We always enjoy looking at the creativity on display.

Quote of the Day: “The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. The fighters are our salvation, but the bombers alone provide the means of victory.” – Winston Churchill, September 1940 (this quote is on display at the museum)

Bienvenue au Canada

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We finally made it across the border into Canada! We had no issues crossing. The border guard only inquired about alcohol, firearms, tobacco products and weapons such as pepper spray (not allowed) and bear spray (allowed). They did not inquire about food or plants when we crossed at the Sweetgrass MT/Coutts, Alberta border.

The ArriveCAN app is still required, and that is where you enter your passport and vaccine status (you must be fully vaccinated). They did not inquire if we had a pet, and we did not offer. The big piece of advice that all the Canadians gave us was to just politely answer the Border officers questions in as few words as possible.

This webpage has the most current information if you are planning on traveling to Canada, via vehicle, cruise ship or airplane.

https://travel.gc.ca/

We feel very blessed

For two years, we have been trying to get to Alaska for the summer. In February 2020, we first started to hear about this thing called Covid-19. At the time, we were told it would be over “very quickly” and that only 7 Americans were sick, and they would be fine. So we continued to be optimistic that we would still be able to go in 2020. Well that information didn’t turnout so well.

The weekend before we crossed, we were at a campground in Shelby, Montana. I kept staring out the window of our RV at a giant United States flag at half staff. It had been lowered in memory of the one million Americans that have died because of Covid-19. It’s a humbling figure.

Not a day goes by that I don’t feel grateful for the life that I have. The last two years have really reinforced those feelings. Between Covid and family and friends battling serious illnesses, it just puts things in perspective. Life is so uncertain. Drown out the noise, and just do the best you can each and every day. Don’t live in fear, just live.

VERIZON COVERAGE

While we were waiting in line at the border, our phones dinged with a message from our carrier, Verizon. It welcomed us to Canada and said we would be on roaming coverage in Canada, and we would be limited to 0.5 GB of high speed data per line, per day. After that, it would switch to 2 G speed. I used up my data once, and let me tell you, 2 G speed is useless. We are doing our best to be thrifty. My phone is connected to TELLUS network, and Dan’s has connected to Roger’s Network. We have identical phones, but have no idea why we are on two different networks,

Karen and Al have both Verizon and AT&T. They have not had any issues with coverage in Canada with their AT&T plan, but Verizon has limited them as well.

INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT

I have set up an Instagram page, and will use that for quick posts, due to the lack of cell/internet access. Our friend Bob “Buckeye” Miller started following us before I had even made a post – thanks Bob!

Here is a link to my first post.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd0p-IGOyf5/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

So if you are looking for photos, you can click on the link. We have visited several interesting places so far, and I do want to post some blogs when I have more robust internet. 0.5 GB doesn’t allow for photos. But it seems to do fine on Instagram.

My Instagram account is a work in progress, so be patient.

We are currently in a campground in St Albert, Alberta, and they have free wi-fi, but you are limited to just two devices. I will try to get a few blog posts ready to go, but my photos are on a laptop. We are using our free device coupons on the iPads. We went to a nearby Walmart yesterday and I found an SD card adapter for my iPad that I will try out. Hopefully I can put the photos on the iPad using that device.

On a side note, the Walmart in St Albert no longer provides plastic bags. You have to bring your own reusable bags. I’m not sure if that is a city-wide ordinance here or not. Also, you have to put in a coin to get your shopping cart (like Aldi does). Can you imagine Walmart banning plastic bags at all their stores in the US?

Quote of the Day: “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius