July 2022 – TooBusyForWork

The road from hell (or Yukon Territory to Alaska)

We left Whitehorse on 30 July to head to Destruction Bay. The scenery was as lovely as anything we have seen. The place was a construction depot during the build of the Alaskan Highway. One night a massive chinook wind of 60+ mph came through and basically destroyed all the tents near the lake where the crew stayed, therefore the name! The campground was Destruction Bay Lodge and RV Park, but there wasn’t any lodge any more. The RV park was a gravel parking lot on a sloped hillside, but they had solid 30 amp power and the best views we have had from any campground plus NO BUGS.

There are 16,000’ mountains trying to hide in the smoke haze

Gorgeous mountains with the Kluane River below them

Trumpeter swans are making a come back in Tetsin National Wildlife Refuge

Our campground in Destruction Bay looking towards Kluane Lake

Destruction Bay campground looking to the mountains

We left early the next day to get to Tok, AK. We had been told by many people including our wagon master that this would be the worst stretch of road we would be on. Everyone was right! It started out deceivingly mild, and I rolled along at the 90 kph speed limit for a while, but then the frost heaves, pot holes, and unbelievably rough road began. I have drive roads as bad as this, but never for as long. The bad part was perhaps 100 miles, and it was truly awful. Most of it I drove at 50 kph (35 mph), but I routinely dropped down to 20 kph. It was a long, long day. We took very few pictures since we were just concentrating on the road surface, trying to anticipate the next nastiness. As we got to the US border the road temporarily got better, but it didn’t last!

The US border patrol confiscated my eggs, but I wasn’t surprised. It was a brief stop. We took a picture at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign, but I can’t find it! Just as well because the welcome was the worst road yet! The US, in their infinite wisdom, used asphalt for the road after the border station, and it was the wrong choice for permafrost. The tar and rock used in Canada was much easier to repair, but the asphalt was pot holed the worst I have ever seen, and I have driven on I-40 west of Flagstaff, my precious bad example. The permafrost made massive ripples that went on for hundreds of feet, and the frost heaves were huge!I ended up traveling a lot of it at 15 mph! Ugh. When we got to Tok, I basically collapsed. It took a total of 7 hours to drive the 225 miles from Destruction Bay to Tok. Hardest driving I have ever done.

After Tok, we enjoyed continuing to drive , now mostly along the Tanana River. This river is HUGE, and it flows through a very large valley in numerous braids. The river is a major resting spot for migratory birds, and much of the area is protected in the Tetlin National Wildlife Preserve.

There is an awful lot of water heading to the Bearing Sea.

Delta Junction is the official end of the Alaska Highway, so we got the mandatory picture.

We continue following the Tanana until we got to the Fairbanks suburb we are staying in – North Pole, AK. The ride was much easier, though there were still occasional frost heaves especially along the musket areas. I also finally got a good picture of the skinny trees that were so common. I am pretty sure they are a variety of hemlock., but feel free to correct me! They get quite tall, but the limbs are very short.

The land of skinny trees. Blow up the picture to see many more across the pond.

We are now in a really nice campground in North Pole, AK, Riverview RV Park. It is north of town in a quiet area. There are all kinds of things on the schedule here, so expect a lot of pictures coming up.

Whitehorse

We stayed at another tight campground in Whitehorse – Pioneer RV park. Not only were the sites narrow enough that we couldn’t open one of our slides, but the power was flaky. Thank goodness we didn’t need much AC! If I stayed again, I would just use one of their dry camping spots which were more spacious. Whitehorse itself is a nice town though. It is the majority of the entire Yukon Territory population, so it has lots of restaurants and shopping.

Our first group activity on arrival on Tuesday, 26 July, was a dinner out on by the caravan staff. The RV park had a nice meeting room for such activities. It was a break from cooking. The next day we started early with an entire set of museums beginning with the S. S. Klondike National Historic Site. I have mentioned how a group does have some advantages, and this was one of them. The ship is undergoing renovations, and most people can only see it from shore. We got a ranger-led tour of at least the outside of the boat in an otherwise restricted area. Fabulous old boat, the last of the really big Yukon River boats that opened up the territory.

We then continued to the MacBride Museum with some really nicely done exhibits about the local history including mining and fur trapping. There was a nice Robert Service area too, the famous Yukon poet. They even had Sam Magee’s cabin, though we discovered the real Sam Magee wasn’t from Tennessee and wasn’t cremated “on the marge of the Lake Labarge”. Instead he was a local figure active in mining and early Yukon/Whitehorse history. If you don’t get the quote, go read Service’s poem “The Cremation of Sam Magee.” We then went to the Yukon Transportation Museum and the Beringia Museum. Beer Gia is the name for the non-glaciated area that included parts of the Yukon during the last Ice Age. It included the land bridge from Asia, and was a refuge for the mega fauna of the age.

“The little engine that did.” Cute little narrow gauge mining engine.

For dinner, we ate at the famous Klondike Rib and Salmon restaurant. It deserves it’s reputation. I had the salmon and Kevin had ribs, and both were fabulous. The roasted vegetables were particularly tasty!

After dinner we were beat, so it was early to bed. The next day was a free day – unplanned by the caravan. That meant we were able to take a very lazy start to the day. I went to Bear Paw Quilts – “Compassionate Care for the Quilting Addicted.” They had a large number of north country fabrics including some fabulous batiks; I bought 3 one meter lengths!

After having lunch and a nap, both important tasks, we decided to do some last minute sightseeing. Miles Canyon is one of the places that complicated river travel in the Yukon. The river is squeezed into a volcanic canyon with shear rock walls. It generally required an overland by-pass. While my picture lacks scale, the walls are 10-15’ above the water now, and in historic times before the dam was built in Whitehorse the river was 20+ foot below the top of the walls. It was a beautiful place.

The dam in Whitehorse was a serious obstacle to the very important salmon fishery, so a fish ladder was built. These aren’t that unusual these days, but it was the first one I had seen in person. Sadly the salmon weren’t running. I bet it was be fascinating to see the climbing the ladder!

There is also a boat lock next to the dam on the short opposite the fish ladder. It is under reconstruction though and not in use.

The river itself is sometimes wide and braided, and sometimes fast and wild. The volume of water is huge, and it moves quickly. It is easy to see how challenging it was for the early riverboats to traverse it.

We spent 3 nights in Whitehorse, and there was definitely more to see. It would be a nice place to come back to. We had to do a lot of housekeeping tasks like laundry and shopping which cut down our time in the community.

Today, Friday 29 July we took off for Destruction Bay and Destruction Bay RV Park. We had been told the road was bad, but it wasn’t bad at all! A few frost heaves and a fairly long gravel area with a pilot car, but it wasn’t a challenge. Tomorrow we go to Tok, AK, and supposedly that road is awful! We will report our experiences on that in a day or two. We change time zones again, but I am hoping my AT&T and Verizon hotspots start working again! Being with very limited service is tough for putting pictures up which is why there are so few.

From Dawson Creek to Ft. Nelson to Liard River to Watson Lake

I finally have decent cell service so I can post. It has been quite a while. I finished the last post with us in Dawson Creek at the Northern Lights RV Park. One thing I didn’t do was post the mandatory photo of us at the Mile 0 sign. This isn’t the tourist version which is much more grand and located a few feet away. The folks who took our picture thereput it on a photo sharing site and I haven’t had enough service to download it! This will have to do.

After we left Dawson Creek, our wagon master started warning us of seriously deteriorating road conditions. Let’s just say that he has a much different view of bad roads than we do! A few frost heaves, some pot holes, but I have been on much worse roads. We ended up in Ft. Nelson at the Triple G Hideaway. We just spent the night there after a fairly long trip, and it was nicely unremarkable. The road to Ft. Nelson was the most productive for animals of our trip so far though!

I like this because of the water drops, not because it was the best picture I took of her

Thought it was a grizzly, but a naturalist friend this is another black bear

We found two small nursery herds of woods bison. It is a subspecies of American bison – larger and native to the high forests instead of the plains.

The babies were already losing their red coloring

Part of a herd we passed while they were grazing

One of the not so pretty parts of the drive was the man camps we still came to. These were used for the petroleum and mining industries. Interesting.

There have been lots of these throughout Alberta and BC

The next morning we headed to Liard River and the hot spring there. The scenery was the most spectacular we had seen, full of rocky crags and big rivers.

We went through the Stone Mountain area, hoping to see some Stone sheep, a subspecies of dall sheep, but we didn’t see any. We did see even more gorgeous scenery though.

I wonder why they call it Stone Mountain?

I saw the most spectacular debris field of stones too, either an avalanche path or an alluvial fan.

Well over a mile long with rocks the size of baseballs

Liard Hot Springs was sadly a wash out. The mosquitos were thick enough to carry off small children, and we stayed happily back in the motorhome, looking at the hundreds of mosquitos trying to get in. They drove the cats crazy trying to chase them. The campground was a private one right across the road from the hot springs, and they had a boil order for their water! Glad we always keep at least a 1/2 tank, just in case.

After Liard we headed to Watson Lake and the Northern Lake RV Park. It was right across the road from the famous signpost forest. There are thousands and thousands of signs.

We also attended a decent planetarium like show at the Northern Lights Center. There was an old film (2020) about how the Big Bang created the universe plus descriptions of various components of the universe. Dated, but decent. Then there was a much better show about the Northern Lights. I have seen the northern lights as both general green color in the sky (in Iowa, far south of most of the shows) and as green moving blobs outside Ely in northern Minnesota. I hope to see the ribbon style before we head home, but between my early to bed style and the daylight that lasts forever, it isn’t a sure thing at all.

Today we drove to Whitehorse, YT. The roads are gradually getting slightly worse, but still not too bad. I generally drove about 80-90 mph, or 50-55 mph (the speed limit was 100 mph or 62 mph). It was slow enough I could react to the occasional bad spot in the road and do sightseeing without spending forever. I admit, I do have a bit of a lead foot! We saw some lovely places.

And yet more fireweed because I love fireweed!

We just relaxed when we got to Pioneer RV Park. Very crowded sites and poor electrical infrastructure. We can’t open one of our four slides due to a small tree, and the power fluctuates enough to make operating AC and any other power hungry appliance problematic. Luckily we are quite capable of dry camping without much trouble. The people with the big all-electric coaches can’t even operate their stove without electricity. Thank goodness for propane!

I thought I would post a picture of how Minnie travels, just for grins. Luna generally sleeps on Kevin’s lap.

We had dinner at Klondike Ribs and Salmon. Fabulous! I had salmon, and Kevin had the ribs. I will post what we do during our stay here later.

Dawson City and the Alaska Highway Mile 0

I hadn’t planned on posting again so soon, but our wagon master says we may have a few days of extremely limited or no cell service.

We arrived in Dawson City late yesterday. We are in the Northern Lights RV park. Pretty nice with level sites, but it is what I euphemistically call “satellite friendly” – very few trees. It is fine because the weather has been mild with highs around 80 and lows in the 50s. I was going to paste our obligatory Mile 0 photo, but the guy who took them hasn’t sent it to us yet! Hard to believe the army built >1500 miles of road in the wilderness in only 8 months!

We started the day with a nice buffet breakfast and a presentation by the local visitor bureau chief. We got our certificates saying we just started the Alaska Highway, a pin, and a few other tourist goodies. This type of thing is one of the good things about traveling in a caravan; this isn’t available for regular travelers. Next to the visitor center is the only remaining old wooden grain elevator. There used to be a string of them from Alberta into British Columbia along the train tracks, but the others were torn down when better storage methods were invented. Still an impressive building, and it now has a nice art museum in it.

They also had lots of flower gardens, and you may have figured out I enjoy taking pictures of flowers.

After the breakfast, visitor center, and art museum, we visited a fabulous historic park run by the local historical society. They had a few dozen buildings either brought to the site or recreated based on historic information. It is interesting g to think that just over 100 years ago there was nothing here.

This shows probably 1/3 of the buildings

This house was built in the 1920s and lived in until 1966

And a sign about how far north we are is that the peonies were blooming in late July!

After the fabulous pioneer village we went to another Alaska Highway historic site, the historic Kiskatinaw curved bridge. It has a wooden structure, and it was in use until 2 years ago when a landslide compromised its foundations. Some people walk across, but Kevin decided a short stroll was plenty far! The construction of this single bridge took as long as the entire rest of the highway – 8 months.

We also saw our first moose of the trip. Sadly he or she had met a vehicle and lost. It must have just happened before we drove by because the carcass was very fresh without any birds at it at all. This is an unusual sight. Most of the time a car hits a moose they both lose.

We take off tomorrow up the road to Fort Nelson, BC; Liard, BC and the hot springs there; Watson Lake, YT; and then Whitehorse, YT where we will stay a few days. I will keep taking pictures, but I don’t expect to post until we get to Whitehorse.

Jasper area

After our boondock parking at the Columbia Icefields, we went to a very nice KOA outside of Hinton, AB and just north of Jasper National Park. We spent some time in the town of Jasper, and I like it much more than I did Banff. Fewer people, interesting atmosphere, and really good food!

We enjoyed the architecture of the town – very British with additions of more modern style. Here are a few.

Provincial government building with modern addition

We ate lunch at a fabulous downtown upscale restaurant called “The Raven.” I had macaroni and cheese with onions and ham, and it was the best I have ever had. Note to self: grilled onions add a wonderful sweetness to Mac and cheese! Kevin had breaded tenderloins that were gluten free. The breading was made from seeds, and it was very good also.

And then we went back to Jasper, almost to the Icefields, to see the things you just can’t see from a motorhome.

And braided rivers below the glaciers and snowpack

This one captures so many things about Jasper National Park

And this was one of my favorite waterfalls. Note the guy in red, center left.

See the braided river with the purple flowers along the shore

We took the following pictures on the way back to Hinton. Still in JNP.

All that melting ice and snow flow into rivers that widen into lakes

We left the Hinton KOA today for an almost 300 mile trip to Dawson Creek, mile 0 of the Alcan Highway. It was an easier drive than our wagon master said it would be, at least for us. We are used to smaller state highways and a bit rougher roads than those who stay primarily in resorts. We transitioned from the Rocky Mountains to foothills to the Alberta plains. The foothills are heavily forested, and logging is the major industry. As we moved to the plains, oil and gas became the largest industry, though we still saw quite a few logging trucks and huge piles of logs in various locations. We crossed into British Columbia just before we reached Dawson Creek, so I haven’t formed any impressions yet.

We did see our very first grizzly bear, or at least Kevin did. We had stopped at a roadside pullout to take a break, and this big boy was grazing in the ditch next to the roadside. As we pulled up, he started moving away, but Kevin got enough of a picture of him to see it was a grizzly. I always prefer a nice long distance between me and grizzlies!

We are here in Dawson Creek two nights, then we have three travel days in a row.

More on the Icefields area

The last post was getting pretty long, so here is more of the Icefields tour.

We were brought to a staging point by regular tour buses. Then we were moved to the ice buses. Obviously they are very unique. Top speed is about 10 mph, but they have 400hp engines that generate 4,000 pounds of torque!

A 32% grade was a challenge even for these behemoths

Very little was level. In this shot, the level is the Icefields Centre in the back. The glacier extended that far in historic times!

Athabaskan glacier from where we were dropped off

Two unrelated glaciers not fed by the Icefield

Closer view of one of the orphan glaciers

Being a bunch of old farts, people were walking pretty gingerly on the slick, slushy surface. Anyone interested (which was pretty much everyone!) got a drink of the fresh, cold glacier water.

And did I say something earlier about waterfalls?

The truly adventuresome could sign up for a walking tour on the ice with a specialized guide. The guide provides coats, hats, gloves, walking sticks, and crampons. For some reason, none of our group chose to do this! The guides are important because their are deep crevasses.

After a remarkably quiet night in the parking lot, we took off to head to our next spot the other side of Jasper. More on that later.

Rocky Mountain House and Columbia Icefields

We stayed at a lovely campground called Riverview a few miles outside Rocky Mountain House. Fabulous place! It is right on the Saskatchewan River, though only a few campsites have a good view; we weren’t one of them! Big grassy sites that were quite level for grass.

After the exhaustion resulting from the Calgary part of the trip, we took it easy for a while. We did visit Tim Horton’s (great sandwiches) and Canadian Tire, both staples of Canadian life. We got to have a special activity at the Rocky Mountain House National Historic Park which I would like to spend more time. Rocky Mountain House was the westernmost big trading post for the Hudson Bay Company. There are actually four historic forts on the grounds, or at least the foundations are there. We just stayed at one end though, doing our activity (making moccasins by hand with Pendleton Wool blankets!), then spending far too short a time at another exhibit. There were docents everywhere, and we enjoyed the presentations about the Métis in the area.

Models of the Red River carts used by the Métis and others in the country, resting on a bison hide.

They also had an enjoyable presentation about the music of their community. It was a combination of Scottish/Irish jigs with overtones of indigenous dancing – similar movement to jigs, but quieter with less pronounced foot movements. The Métis were persecuted in the later 1800s, and they were not permitted their language and dancing, but like most such groups, they just hid their actions and kept going.

The historic site was filled with lovely wildflowers.

We we’re headed to the Olympia Icefields the next day, but we were advised that most of the scenic pullouts aren’t big enough for motorhomes, so we drove the road in the car up and back. It was a great idea even though it was rainy part of the day. I think the sky and clouds gave a very gothic look to the mountains. We did see one bear by the side of the road, a two year old that was pretty skinny.

The sun and rain alternated the entire day.

Glaciers were numerous, and the melt from the snowfields and glaciers fed waterfalls everywhere we looked.

“Weeping Wall” where water comes out of cracks in the rocks

Distance view of a waterfall showing the scale

Close up of the previous fall.Full drop that hits a ledge and goes airborne before falling again

And of course there were wildflowers!

We then moved our rolling caravan to the Columbia Icefields for a overnight in the RV parking lot! Obviously dry camping without any hookups, but the views were impressive. We also took a ride to the Athabaskan glacier fed by the icefield on a specialized bus with MASSIVE wheels! Here is what the tour looked like from a distance (pictures taken before our trip).

The tiny dots in the last picture are the people in the first picture.

I think the pictures from the Icefields tour deserve their own post.

Banff

We got back to the motorhome a bit after 12:30, and we were both asleep before 1:00 am. The problem was we had a bus trip Thursday morning to Banff at 8:00 am! After 5 hours sleep, we got up, drank our coffee, groggily took showers, and generally got ready for the day. I was still feeling quite poorly, and my Achilles’ tendon was killing me! I took all my meds, and tried to bluff my way through, but I wasn’t very successful. We will have to come back when we are on our own.

First impressions of Banff is that it is really, really crowded in the middle of July! We did a classic bus tour with “stop at major tourist place, snap a few pictures, get back on the bus, and go to the next picture spot” type of trip. Not my normal style, but Banff was truly amazingly gorgeous.

We started with another fabulous buffet lunch at the Gondola ride. They were having issues with their credit card reader, so I am really glad we picked up some Canadian cash to buy post cards. Based on the lines and distances involved plus my issue with heights, we didn’t do the gondola ride itself.

Our next stop was Lake Louise. What more can be said about this incredible place?

The lake is fed by the glacier in the middle

I have no idea what the Voyageur canoes rented for!

Then it was on to Lake Moraine.

The bus then dropped us off downtown Banff. I was feeling even worse by now, and my foot was killing me. I just found a shady spot and just sat for the 3 hours we had in town. Banff is just a huge, upscale tourist town. It reminded me of Aspen more than anything else. Lots and lots of people, tshirt shops, upscale tourist clothing shops, and lots of candy shops. One of the classic Banff foods is a Beavertail – a piece of fry bread drizzled with some chocolate. I love fry bread, but the line was almost a block long! Kevin did buy some chocolate truffles that were fabulous and a sack of frozen peas for me to use as an ice pack! Finally we were on our way back to the campground, and we got home around 7:30.

The next day we traveled to Rocky Mountain House. More on that later.

Calgary Stampede

Our tour had 2 days of tickets to the Calgary Stampede. We started on Tuesday morning with a bus ride downtown for breakfast in Rope Square. It is a tradition that “Traveler”pancakes be served during Stampede. A Traveler is a pancake that has bacon and syrup added as it cooks. It is then served in a simple napkin that serves the role of plate, cutlery, and finger cleaner! It was fun.

Gorgeous flower pots were hanging all around the square.

Red flowers show while the old time wagons, all original from many years ago, lined up for a display.

They even had music! How can a band perform at 8:30 am?

After breakfast our bus picked us up to visit the Calgary Tower. My height phobia just wasn’t going for that, so we just met the rest of the crowd after they went up. I did get an interesting picture of the contrast in Calgary architecture! This is a old bank building juxtaposed with a very modern apartment/office building. And yes, the new building really does look that angled! As the floors go up, the width of the building decreases and the window angles change.

We got to the Stampede in time for lunch before the rodeo, but it was miserably hot.We also had to walk well over a mile to get to the Grandstand, and my Achilles’ tendon and my scoliosis were both having a fit by the time we made it. To call the Stampede “just a fancy rodeo” does it a HUGE injustice. It is more like a major state fair with all kinds of vendors and a big Midway. They have all kinds of other activities too like Indigenous dancers and a pow wow, dog agility type displays, etc. However I was far too miserable, sore, and HOT to enjoy any of it. Our seats were good ones, close to the center and not high, but we were in full sun on a 90+ day. I gave up and found a shady spot to stay in. Sadly, even though the rodeo performers were top of their game, I am just not that fond of rodeo! I did like the entry though.

We got home, and I took some meds. I gradually began to feel a bit better, but Kevin had to work to convince me to go back on Wednesday. We did by-pass the main rodeo itself, but we took in the dinner, chuck wagon races, pony relays, and the evening Extravaganza and fireworks.

One thing I will say about Adventure Caravans is they get some outstanding buffets! We at at the grandstand, and this time the bus driver parked close instead of at the other side of the grounds! I would not have gone otherwise. It definitely was worth it, even in some pain. Note some of the pictures are taken in the evening, and the only way I could do it was to take a picture of the display screen.

And we’re off. They have to circle the barrels then go around the track.

Down the stretch. There are riders involved too.

Between heats they had other activities while they reset the track.

Some fabulous dancers were there including this hoop dancer.

Finally it was time for the evening show. They bring in the entire set behind a huge tracked Case tractor. The wings with the screen expand. There are other screens on the far sides too.

After an opening ceremony (I am learning the words to “O Canada!”), a couple of country western groups played. Then they transitioned to a large number of dancers, some as young as 8-9.

There were drones taking pictures and they were projected on the big screens. I particularly like this backlit skyline showing a lot of the Stampede grounds lit up.

Drones caught this picture of the Stampede grounds and the Calgary skyline

Prior to full darkness they had some other acts. I particularly like the rope tricks.

Yes, he really was on the ground with the burning rope above him

And then there were more dance groups trying to steal our attention but totally losing it to the fireworks! They were truly as spectacular as you can ever imagine. They went on and on.

Screenshot of things my camera couldn’t catch

When everything was over, it was 11:30 and I was dead on my feet. The bus picked us up and brought us back to the campground around 12:30.

Before I leave the Stampede, a few summary notes about Calgary. It is a very urban city with thousands of apartments and offices in massive towers everywhere you look. I always judge how urban a community is by the size of the parking spots at a store, and the ones in Calgary would have trouble with big SUVs let alone pickups! Traffic isn’t too bad (for a big city), and there are buses and light rail all over the place. It is an incredibly diverse place too. Bike and pedestrian trails all over, and a lovely river front is maintained nicely. If it wasn’t for the awful winter weather, I could be convinced to live there.

Oh the joys of border COVID testing in Canada

I actually have decent campground WiFi for a bit, so I thought I would summarize our experiences with Canada’s random COVID testing process. I will update this post as we learn more, because it is an evolving saga!

Canada reserves the right to randomly choose border crossing folk for a PCR COVID test. If you are selected you are supposed to take the test within 24 hours of crossing the border. It makes great sense to me. We crossed the border Saturday, and nothing was said about it. Normal, right? Wrong!

On Tuesday, four entire days after we entered Canada, I got an email telling me someone in my party had been selected for the entry test. It didn’t even tell us whether it was Kevin or me. Sigh. And since the process is really much more oriented to air travelers of Canadians returning home, the instructions were pretty meaningless for RVers like us. It took two long phone calls to figure out what we were supposed to do. We needed to provide an address for a kit to be sent via Canada Post, planned for 5-7 days in the future. We are here in Calgary until Friday, then we spend 3 nights at Rocky Mountain House, so I gave them the RMH address. It confused the poor man on the phone so much because it is a very, very, very rural address! (Has anyone else ever seen an “house” number of of 400,009? I added the comma for readability. Yup, that is part of the street address of our campground.)

So I think I have everything settled, though it is still iffy whether we get the test in time. And, of course, the night after RMH is boondocking with no address. Then today (Wednesday) I get a call from Canadian Public Health, automated, informing us (finally) that Kevin was the lucky random testee. Also part of the call was “Did you take the test with it 24 hours?” No. “Why not?” Luckily, “No one told me,” was the second alternative given. The call ended with Kevin being told to call the lab which we did yesterday. Sigh. Oh the trials of international travel in COVID times. Oh, and we have at least 3, maybe 4, people in our tour group of around 40 that have COVID right now!

To be continued …