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MAR 20 CALGARY AT LAST

Today the temperature goes from 3 to 0 to -4. A sign of what's to come! Wen we ge tup at 8 most p people have already left. WE have clear roads but it's foggy. Ted had to scrape ice off the windshield today.   At 11am we hit the border and spend almost 2 hours waiting to get through. We could have brought in any amount of illegal goods. The lineup gets a bit ugly as people don't follow the general direction of going form 2 lanes to one to 4 at the kiosks. Then we are only 2 minutes at Immigration and through.   We are not told specifically not to stop on the way home so we stop at Superstore for groceries, having been away for 5 months. Later we find out we shouldn't have done that. Who knew? Thee was no ground beef or eggs there! Chickens gone on strike?   We return to Alberta, sun and blue sky but the temperature today goes from -7 to -11 to -8 to -1. At 6pm we roll into our driveway which is cleared. WE can't get our RV into our usual parking spot as it'...
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MAR 19. NEARLY HOME

Now we have TV in the evenings, we are getting a feel for just how panic stricken the world is with the C19 virus. We are up early and off to Eaglerock RV to fix the broken part. A nice young man engineers a new one as, of course, our Mercedes does not run on regular parts! An hour and $100 later, he directs us to a local RV park where we can dump for free! Bonus!   Driving north on the I-15, there is more snow now than when we came down at the beginning of February. We see two flocks of snow geese on ponds and fields as we head north, they must know something we don't about spring coming.   Tonight we contact our lovely neighbour Michelle to let her know we are coming back tomorrow.   Our friends from Oceanside are all heading back, except Don & Kathy who intend to stay the course. We later hear that friends Mark & Mary and their friends in Phoenix have decided to skip flying; they both rent cars and drive back to Calgary in 3 days! I guess people are scared ...
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MAR 18 IDAHO FALLS

We finally hit cloud and rain and its a miserable day's driving for Ted. We hear the US/Canada border is to close Friday but not for Canadian citizens.   We hit sleety rain at Malad Summit at 6,000ft elevation but fortunately no snow on the roads.   I've checked ahead to find the the FlyingJ service/truck station is open and we can pump out our water system. Glad we left plenty of time as it took an hour to do this. Unfortunately I pull on the black water (read sewer!) lever and it comes off in my hand! We drain everything else, fill with antifreeze and retire to the nice Driftwood Inn overlooking the lovely Idaho Falls. Sadly we can't walk to the end of the order for supper at our favourite little Mexican place with happy hour $1.99 margaritas! We settle for a romantic cheese fondue, lots of beer and wine, and chocolate of course. 
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MAR 17 BACK TO HOTELS

  After coffee and croissants, we are off 8am. Today the temperature goes from 14 to 10 to 6 to 19 as we follow the Colorado river for a bit, passing colourful Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, then skirt Escalante National Park in S.Utah. The water level there is higher than we have seen before.   We see a sprinkling of now on the tip of Bryce Canyon, but no time to drive through and enjoy the views. We have no cell phone connection most of the day so can't use Google maps, but it's an easy trip on main highways up over 8,000ft at one time.   We are surrounded by Alberta (and some Saskatchewan) plates whizzing past us, cars, trailers, motorhomes, we are all heading up the road past salt Lake back to the winter country! Boo hiss.   Into our first hotel room (I've made sure they will all have fridges and microwaves), I brew up a nice dinner of steamed asparagus, Thai shrimp and rice for Ted and pasta for me, with nice salad, and of course, chocolate! WE've got good...
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MAR 16 GORGEOUS DRIVE TO PAGE ON THE COLORADO

One good thing about this early return is the first two days' driving up through very scenic Arizona and Utah - national parks, gorgeous scenery, deserted roads. With our own bathroom and food on board for 4 days, we feel safe and secure for our drive north.   Feeling optimistic about our lovely drive,  I then break a piece off my front tooth! And no prospect of getting it fixed any time soon. Like the glasses I broke and glued the day we left on this trip!   We hear Canada is to close the order so we are really concerned what this might mean for us! But we can only head north and hope or the best.   I receive a note from my Shanghai  contact asking if they can send us some masks! How thoughtful. ow had is this going to be??   Up early (for us) we are off at 9am. Not far north of Phoenix we see snow caps on the mountains, a sure sign we are heading the wrong direction. We flip in and out of Navajo time and lose an hour, which we will regain tomorrow. ...
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MAR 15 CELEBRATING ST. PAT

It's a tradition with neighbours Pat & Paul to throw a traditional St.Pat's party (early). It's 'get ready to roll' day. But Ted makes his morning trip to the patisserie so we are well set for the trip with croissants and coconut macaroons.   Talking to our NY neighbour leaving for home he says it is pandemonium shopping for paper products, pasta, cans of food, etc. I should have bought kitchen roll already! He said, "Have you been to the grocery store? You need to carry a gun!" I decide its time to cut and run!   We also visit our fav Sprouts grocery store for the wonderful asparagus that is cheap and everywhere right now, and stock up at Trader Joe, mainly for chocolate! Also top up gas and air for the drive north.   I have one last swim at the pool, finish a book and attend the choir concert that afternoon. Afterwards we have fun at P&P's patio party. There are 10 of us, the max number allowed, but 2 extra ladies join us later. It's ...
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MAR 14 THE MADNESS BEGINS

We wake to a beautiful day and wonder if we should book in here for 2 weeks as the campsite we were headed to Monday is now closed. We hear rumours round the pool about Canadians being' called back" and their insurance not being valid! With poor wifi and no TV it I hard to get any true information.   Ted decides, we are heading home to be in familiar surroundings if there is any change of getting sick. I agree. I check our hotels and weather going north for the next week and book a last campsite at Page on the Colorado river just east of the Grand Canyon.   We have arranged to take our kind neighbours Pat & Paul to Ramona's Macaroni Grill, an excellent Italian place, almost deserted but with excellent food and service and a fun time together. Enough leftovers for the freezer to eat en route home next week. Paul, a silversmith and jeweller, gives me a beautiful bumblebee jasper pendant as a keepsake of our time together. So kind.   We call by Walmart for Paul to pi...
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