Route 63 to Ft. McMurray -- Way up North!

Being in western Canada, we headed to see Morey's sister, Terri, and her husband Chris.  We parked BIW in Red Deer, rented a car, and headed north.  On arrival in FtM, we met with Terri & Chris.  They had lost their home a year ago in May due to a wildfire, and are now living in an apartment, hoping to get back by the holidays in 2018 (problems with rebuilding).

Took Ruthie to see the reason for Ft. McMurray's existence, the Athabaca Oil Sand deposits.  There is estimated to be 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels of oil contained in the sand.  After over 30 years of open pit mining, work continues.

After leaving FtM, we headed back to Red Deer, dropped off our rental car, and headed back to the USA.  But first on the way, we had to stop at Canada's Deadliest Rockslide.  On April 9th, 1903 a huge rockslide traveling at over 80 mph, buried part of the town of Frank.  82 million tons of rock.

Finally, back across the border near Eureka, Montana.  Unfortunately the heavy smoke from wild fires in British Columbia, Montana, and Idaho caused us to alter our travel plans.  No bike trip on the Hiawatha; we headed straight down to Red Fish Lake, where the smoke was not a factor.  On the way, we did stop for the night at Flathead Lake, where we kept the windows closed and the air conditioner on, to filter the smoky air.