We left Shelby early to avoid traveling with at least 8 other RV’s heading to Alaska. We thought the time crunch at the border would be extensive with that many vehicles. I am sure we will run into some of them later in our trip. Crossing the border at Sweetgrass/Coutts was easy peasy. The only hiccup occurred when we both thought the agent asked if we were together. When I answered “Well, yes, we are married”. The agent looked confused. We looked confused.  Then we realized what she asked was, “first time in Canada?” We all had a good laugh. The currency exchange lady on the US side thought we were crazy getting small bills for our trip but the provincial campgrounds are cash only and usually run about $11 Canadian so there was a method to our madness.

Alberta is flat, rolling prairie country with massive wheat fields, occasionally dotted with pump jacks and apparently, dinosaur tracks. The cattle all seem to be red Angus. To the west snowcapped mountains paralleled our route north. We will enjoy them during our return trip. Our stop in Lethbridge allowed us to buy a few groceries we thought could not be brought across the border. We were only asked about liquor and cigarettes. Of course, our next crossing could be different. Lethbridge is a nice town with every fast food venue and all the shopping you could possibly desire. 

Lunch was at an A&W in Claresholm, south of Calgary. It was pleasant to find that A&W is so very popular up here and sinful to have that creamy root beer in a frosted mug!

Every time we used the credit card, we were asked if our card was chipped. Finally, we had to ask about it. Canadians do not have credit cards as we know them. Theirs are really more like debit cards embedded with a chip containing all their information and are used with a pin number. So while we have no trouble using our credit card, we cannot pay at the pump when getting gasoline. It is a minor inconvenience but for the privacy it is priceless.

Verizon roaming in Canada is a crazy beast. If you have a smart phone, it locks you out of all your apps. Contrary to what US Verizon told me, I am unable to receive texts and can only receive and make voice calls. It would have been quite nice to know this beforehand. I ended up putting my phone into airplane mode so that we could listen to our audio books which are on my phone.

While Calgary is a big city, the through traffic is routed around the edges making it so simple to get through town. Now we have stopped for the night in Red Deer, Alberta at the Westerner Campground. Everything is rodeo oriented around here. So ends our first day in Canada. Tomorrow we should be in Grand Prairie. By the way, the weather has been extremely nice though a little windy. We really cannot complain.

I was unable to post this last night. The RV park had no free wifi but it did have an ethernet port. My computer does not have an ethernet port...somedays one just cannot win!