This summer I tuned the front suspension, took up the engine bearings and rebuilt the coils.  After burning a hole in the spare tire with the tailpipe I even sprung for a couple of new white walls.  The pickup was all dressed up with nowhere to go; so when friends suggested we join them camping at the Dutch Creek Resort just south of Fairmont Hot Springs we decided to put the old truck to the test.

We left Monday August 14th about noon with the truck box stuffed to the rafters with camping gear. Our first stop was in Banff for gas, a sale at Bath and Body Works for Marge and two flavors of fudge for me, oh and of course, ice cream.
Late in the afternoon we made camp at Johnson Canyon campground.  This is a beautiful setting just off highway 1A.  At Johnson Canyon we quickly learned two things.  The main east west train line was not that far away and the wood we purchased for a campfire was non-combustible.  In fact I would recommend that in the case of a forest fire they should drop fire wood on the blaze to smother the flames.

Tuesday morning we planned... (click here to read the rest)

These photos show the camper with the sides up and the top lowered to touring height.  All the gear is stowed in the truck box.

The Province of Alberta celebrated it's 100th birthday on Thursday, September 1st.  The weather was nice and the Provincial campgrounds were free (no charge) for the day so Marge and I packed up the T and drove to Sibbald Lake campground in Kananaskis Country. After leaving the Transcanada Highway we were treated to 23 km of gravel road and broken pavement.  Last week I blew a tire on this road when I crossed a "Texas gate" at close to 50 mph.  The road was a little rough in spots but much smoother I am sure than the roads this truck originally endured.

On Friday our son Kevin joined us.  Marge took the modern car home and Kevin stayed for and evening of canoeing and camping.

Marge and I took the camper out for its maiden voyage this past weekend. It has been an unusually wet summer and with our busy schedule it has been difficult to find a warm weekend.

Beaver Flats Campground near Elbow Falls is about a 90 minute drive (in a Model T) from Calgary, assuming you stop for ice cream in Bragg Creek. We traveled to the campsite with the sides folded up and the gear stowed in the bed of the pickup.  Set up took about 40 minutes.

On Saturday we joined with other T's and A's for the Gord Watt tour in Millarville. I was lazy and didn't want to stow the tent so we drove there and back in full camper configuration.  I kept the speed to a maximum of about 40 MPH for fear something would break. And the truth is '40' was about our max speed on level ground.

We had planned to spend only Friday night but we enjoyed our first night so much that we stayed over Saturday as well.