Day 13 August 5, 2026 Fort Vermilion Alberta to Slave Lake Alberta 260.8 miles
We made it through the night at the campsite with very little disturbance. A few kids rode a four wheeler through the area a few times but didn’t cause any problems. The only critter we saw was a small squirrel.
Overnight the starter on the car locked up. We put the car in gear and rocked it a little bit and the problem was resolved.
We drove back to the gas station and filled up. Another customer told us that the next gas was about 170 miles away. Good thing we have extra gas. Hopefully no wind.
Seems to be a combination of smoke and clouds. So far no wind or rain. The temperature is also warmer.
More rolling hills and forest today. Very few houses of any kind. Quite a few RVs. Also several horse trailers so there must be rodeos in the area. We have seen a few signs pointing to rodeo grounds.
Red Earth finally came into view. They have a gas station with a grocery store, sporting goods store, chicken fast food and liquor store. We remember that a few years ago we bought two fly swatters here. Bought Mary Brown’s chicken for lunch.
The highway in front and for at least 10 miles is going to be resurfaced. Now it is grooved asphalt which is terrible to drive on. The posted speed limit is about 30 mph but everyone is going much faster. Well, we did not speed.
When that came to an end the road got really very rough with potholes everywhere. You could not avoid them all. Road maintenance is not a high priority in this area. We were glad to see the town of Slave Lake come into view. We had a little trouble finding the hotels but we finally found three rather close together. The one we chose has a guest laundry which was really good. Saved going out again.
Spoffords Travel 