Winnefred Mulligan

From the Atlantic coast of Florida, to the Pacific in Alaska and on to the Arctic Ocean in Tuktoyaktuk, we're finally back where we started, in St. Augustine, FL. Our return trip on Google Maps We drove the back roads of GA all day. Peach trees in the Georgia country side Pecan Trees Quite a few small towns You know you're in the South when you see boiled peanuts for sale! More Pecan trees It was overcast and rained quite a bit with a few rumbles of thunder. Luckily, we seemed to have missed the worst of the thunderstorms. The cloud cover helped to keep the RV cooler on the inside. The solar panels were still cranking out voltage despite the clouds - tells you how strong the sun is here in the South. We finally pulled into St. Augustine around 11pm or 12am. We passed the iconic St. Augustine Castillo. We got a lot of our stuff, but not all, and parked Winnefred. We'll be back to clean her up an

We hit a lot of traffic on our drive and didn't pull into the campground til after dark. We had temporarily forgotten how bad the humidity can be. We started out on the interstates, then switched to the back roads when the traffic got too bad. on Google Maps No shade here, you gotta have good AC. Luckily, ours works wonderfully! Actually a very nice place. You can pay extra to park along the creek where there are shade trees. You can also swim in the creek. They rent kayaks here and canoes. Ok, we're off to Florida ;-)

Our route since leaving Tuktoyaktuk: and on Google Maps You can always follow our location in real-time with Garmin Leaving Minot, ND, it totally worked out that we would be staying in the small town of Winnebago, MN. We've noticed a number of small towns in Canada, ND & MN, have very small RV "parks." Managed by the town itself, these small campsites don't have a lot of extras. They are very affordable though. Usually $20 for full electric/water/sewer, maybe a picnic table, maybe not. There's no "host" around if you have problems with something. These towns aren't big enough for a hotel, so these small campgrounds serve that purpose. You don't really find them off the big interstates though. Anyway, we stayed in the town of Winnebago's campground. It was very nice and even had a shower house with toilets. They don't advertise these sites much so you have to hunt online. The town-managed small rv campground in Winnebago, MN

On Google Maps We entered the US in Portal, ND, same place we entered Canada for the first time. No issues. The guard did "search" our RV. We had to get out and he went inside for a total of about 1 minute. No problems. We were allowed back in. Back to the farmlands of ND Interrupted by the occasional small town. We chose not to take the interstates. We spent the night at a Flying J Truck Stop in Minot, ND. Free overnight parking and they have washers and dryers. It was pretty hot, probably in the upper 80's. We did a couple of loads of laundry then fell asleep to the sounds of the big diesel trucks.  We woke to the sounds of the diesel trucks too.

Our return route so far: Here it is on Google Maps Of course you can always find our real-time location here Yeah, back at Canadian Tire, but this time in Estevan, SK. We had gotten our AC belt tightened while in Prince George, BC. The belt broke shortly after we left. Anyway, we decided to try this Canadian Tire since it was on our way. They replaced the belt and found that one of the bolts holding the tensioner was very, very loose. This could be the source of a lot of our problems. Ok, new belt installed, bolts tightened and ready to roll.

On the road again, heading south and east. Lots of farmland, and much flatter. Sandy Beach We made it to Lloydminster, SK, and the Sandy Beach campground. We called ahead and paid over the phone since we would be arriving after they closed. We arrived well after dark at around midnight. We got hooked up and fell asleep quickly. The next morning, we woke to an early thunderstorm at 7am, then fell asleep again. When we got up at 9 am it was a beautiful windy morning in the 70's.  Wind = no flying insects, yay! A little too cool for me to test the lake water for a swim. If it had been in the upper 80's... Back on the road, headed south.

At Canadian Tire, they recommended we re-tighten our lugs in 100 Km, turns out that's also the location of "The Ancient Forest." A beautiful stop along our way. The boardwalk built through the magical forest was shaded, cool and an easy walk. Amazing redcedar trees, some over 1000 years old (!). A great opportunity to stretch the legs and take the doggies for a walk. Continuing on 16 east, our route took us right through Jasper National Park, the largest national park in Canada. This big elk was strolling down the side of the road Tons of RV's on the road. Prime vacation time. All of the reservable sites were already full. The non-reservable sites were also full, with one exception. The Snare River Overflow Site. This was according to the signs as we entered the park. We took a gamble that there would still be room by the time we got there in a couple of hours. Yep, still room. The "overflow"