Beautiful Athabasca

I think there needs to be more towns like Athabasca. I guess I'm hoping there are more of them, is more like it. I arrived in Athabasca on Wednesday and right away I found a spot to camp on the landing. There is an open parking area right in front of it which is used by people in RVs, so I knew I was safe. I decided to explore some of the trails around, and crossed the little bridge to the other side of the river. I did some food shopping (first time since I left Edmonton!), read for a bit, made supper (first time cooking in the camper!), and then set up my slackline. After about an hour, I packed the line up and was walking back to the camper when I bumped into another slackliner. Of all places!

I was hoping to find some free wifi around, but there is a dearth of this amenity in Athabasca, so instead I did some more reading and I blogged for a bit. I spent the night on the landing and the next morning I biked up to Athabasca University (I never knew they had a physical location!), where I found free wifi and a warm welcome from the receptionist. I Skyped with my sister for an hour or so, then I spent another couple of hours surfing. Later on I drove out to Grassland to visit Krystal and Stefan, whom I wrote about in my previous post.

I came back to Athabasca on Friday morning and this time drove right up to the university. They have some great trails up there (with bear warnings) which I explored and photographed, and then I used their wifi for a few more hours.

I spent that night in the same spot on the landing, though this time it wasn't as peaceful since I had the company of some very loud and very drunk amateur musicians just outside. I remember waking up at 2am and they were still at it.
When I got up the next day, I was greeted by a friendly Australian man named Matt, who is himself on a cross-Canada trip, with his ultimate goal being Quebec. For some reason he is under the impression that Quebecers are more like French people in France...
Matt offered me some great Congolese coffee and proceeded to regale me with his adventures from Western Australian Burning Man (he was instrumental in building Blazing Swan!). After hanging out for a few hours in case someone from Athabasca needed a ride to Slave Lake, I set out, and arrived here three hours later. I'm camped out at the local Wal-Mart parking lot and it's awesome, I actually have an external hook-up for the first time! So many firsts!!!!