Ride em cowboy was our mantra this month as we made our way North to attend the Calgary Stampede. This is a traditional rodeo with major side shows to visitor entertained. We attended with the help of Fantasy RV tours who made all of the arrangements. They did a superior job of organizing our activities. Although you probably could have made all of the arrangements ourselves, we chose to participate in the Fantasy tour Rally. They provided good tickets of all of the major events and gave us advice on other interesting activities surrounding the Stampede. We did several bus tours to see the sights of Calgary and used the metro to visit the stampede itself. Camping, such as it was, was in the parking lot of a sport stadium. We were a bit skeptical at first, but this proved to be an ideal central location for our visit. A metro stop was within easy walking distance and they provided metro tickets in our Rally package. The parking lot had temporary water and electric for the RV and nice bath rooms for us. They even provided waste water pump-out mid Rally.
Traveling the 1500 miles home was took us a full week as we meandered our way home. We made stops at Blue-Ox (free full hookup camping) and again at HWH (leveling jacks) for some repairs. We also had a chance to once again stay in a COE campground along the Mississippi. These campground are very nice with ample space for large rigs. Most of the developed sites have 50 amp, a cement pad and senior citizen rates of less than $10. We'll be back to visit the many water oriented COE campgrounds again.
This episode also features our take on the new iPhone 3Gs. This device is turning into a full fledged computer with the many aps that are available. It does email, web browsing, GPS, compass, calendar, contacts, phone, out of the box. For just a few extra dollars you can add many other functions that are customized to your needs. I used the Auto info ap to keep track of fuel usage, repairs, oil changes and the like - for both vehicles. So it is one device that replaces several paper notebooks and other electronic devices. Sweet!

We also purchased a Windows Netbook this month. This is a very small Windows portable computer. 10" screen, 3 pounds, 6 hr battery and full connectivity for internet use. Aong with the iPhones, we are expecting it to get a major workout on our next trip.

There is industry news this month and it is not all bad. So take a listen to this months episode (42) and let us know what you think. Ideas and suggestions are always appreciated via email or our listener comment line, 815/230-0772.