A light dusting of fresh snow greeted us this morning and although we did not know it when we woke this would be a very appropriate farewell from Canada nicely bookending our time in Canada and the north; snow when we arrived - snow when we departed.

Before breakfast we got an email from Norm, who is the organizer for the group of motor homes going on the South American trip, to inform us that insufficient of the group had confirmed their participation and hence the S-A trip as originally planned would not proceed. However he had a fall back plan for us, and those that still wanted to go, he would escort us to Panama, help us get on a boat to Peru, give us the documentation for the South American route and leave us to make the journey by ourselves. Moreover - this amended program would need to leave Texas before the end of June 2009. That gave us only 2 -3 weeks to get from Calgary, spend some time with our son in Phoenix, and get to McAllen TX. Quite different to what we had expected.

Thus after a delightful breakfast provided by our hosts we were keen to hit the road and start eating up those miles.

Light snow and cool temperatures accompanied us as we left Alberta and entered the US and Montana.

We asked our GPS for the fastest route to Phoenix, set cruise control to 10 mph faster than our normal cruising speed and started eating up the road. We stopped for the night at a delightful State Park - Holter Lake - just north of Helena having covered 366 miles on the day; a much longer days drive than we have been accustomed to.