3,103 miles

Tonight I am camped at Mosquito Creek. The RV is not more than six feet from the noisy babbling river. Mom had to direct Dad how to carefully back it down here, missing stumps and trees by inches. If Mom succeeds in loading the movie, you will see me dipping my paw in the water. We got here at a respectable time, and I was ready to rumble. I have been left out of all of today's activities, you see.

When we got to Mosquito Creek Camp, in the middle of nowhere about 15 miles north of Lake Louise, I got to chill out in a bed of little bitty pine cones next to the Creek, which looks like a river to me. I attach a photo of what the pine cones did to my butt. You can imagine what happened next. That's right, the dreaded grooming brush. Poor me!

Today Mom and Dad got in an early morning bike ride along the Banff Springs Hotel golf course, which should give you golfing guys greens envy. All the golfers had on those little sweater vests like Englishmen. Dad saw the elk herd cause he was the first to make the loop. Mom was gone forever. It took her almost an hour to go 7 miles. She's talking about that altitude thing again.

Then we took a family photo at the Spray River Falls just below the Banff Hotel, and Mom and Dad took off for yet another dip in the hot springs. Why on earth anyone would want to soak in hot water is beyond me. Give me snow any day.

Waiting in the RV during the Safeway stop, I understand. You should have seen Mom trying to park the RV in that little lot. Wish I could take a video sometime.

We left Banff and 30 minutes later we pulled off the Bow River Parkway at Johnson Canyon. I did not see a single sign that said no pets, but Mom and Dad went on an hour hike into the falls without me. They said they climbed up catwalks and changed elevation 30 meters. That's like a whole football field. I could have pulled! When they came out, they had a girl velcroed to them who was wearing a pink cap that said "I survived brain surgery". She was talking a blue streak about all her after surgery symptoms. Like instead of Deja Vous, she has something like Never vous, where nothing looks familiar. From the way Dad was nodding, it looked like she had total control of the conversation.

I did enjoy when Mom rolled down the window to take pictures of elk by the road. They have the worst winter scraggly coats, and their horns are so funny looking. Not pointed, but round, and all covered in something that looks like velvet. There were so many deer and elk roaming Banff that it got to be almost ho hum. We saw an elk with a tag in its ear and a radio collar going right down the main drag. I supposed they are monitoring him since he is making a nuisance of himself. Three strikes, and he is out of there!

I am the international ambassador of goodwill from our RV. So far I have been petted by people from Japan, India, several provinces in Canada, and Germany. Just since I started counting.

There's been a disconcerting interruption in my nightime hanging out on the longline habits. Rumors of dog eating animals have restricted me to quarters after dark. It started with Bears in Yellowstone and then Coyotes in Fort Mccloud and Banff. Makes a dog worry too much, you know?

I LOVE the night temperatures. Going to get down to freezing tonight again. And tomorrow we drive up the Icefields Parkway. That sounds like my kind of day.