Cowboy Time in Alberta, Canada

After two days, we're on the road to our second stop on our Canadian adventure. Instead of driving north up the interstate, we're taking the less traveled and more scenic "Cowboy Trail" aka Highway 22.

We've seen a little farmland, but the vistas are mainly filled with miles and miles of prime ranch land. We passed the Waldron Ranch, whose sign proudly proclaimed they had 65,000 acres of land here along the cowboy trail. That's a big ranch! We also saw some unusual signs along the side of the highway. It looks like those cowboys have to cinch down their hats as we were warned about the wind several times. We were glad to be driving this route on a wonderfully calm day.

We can now say that we have experienced our first Canadian overpass. It's a little scary when you approach, and you hope you know your motor home's height in meters.

We did the math, and we're just a little under 4 meters, so we cleared this railroad bridge easily.

Our destination today is the city park in Longview, Alberta--Tales and Trails RV Park. This tiny town has a gas station and a jerky store. So we did our part to support the local economy and bought a package of the jerky made from that famous Alberta beef.

Because we bought a national park pass, we also get free admission to certain national historic sights. So we headed out to the U Bar Ranch soon after we got into town. We were glad to take the optional transportation from the visitor center down to the ranch buildings.

This is the only Canadian historical sight that celebrates the ranching history of this area. This was once part of a 160,000-acre U Bar Ranch. At their peak, the ranch owned 30,000 cattle. They have restored some of the buildings, and keep some livestock so city dudes can come and experience a day on a ranch like it was in the 1800's.

That would include stopping in at the chuckwagon to talk to the cook. This was once a surgical wagon from the Civil War. The cooking table was originally the operating table, and a Texan by the name of Charles Goodnight figured out it would make a great rolling kitchen.

The big horses that pull the wagons at the ranch are percherons. At one time U Bar owned 1,000 percheron horses. Today, it looks like six are all that are needed at the historical site. While one team was working this afternoon, four of their friends were just hanging out in the corrals.

These big guys are friendly, and enjoyed making friends with a traveler from the United States.

We visited the ranch house, the blacksmith shop, the tack shop, the barn . . . It was an interesting look at ranch life in Canada. With all that touring, we also took a break to try out these red chairs. We have read that the national park system has placed these bright adirondack chairs in nice spots to take a break throughout their parks.

Enjoying some cowboy time was a nice introduction to this cowboy trail section of Alberta, Canada. But the main reason we are here in Longview is its proximity to the mountains. So we'll be changing from cowboy time to mountain time.