Taber Day

The Todds have been just great, showing us the sights of Taber, AB. They're camping in the park while Steve builds their new house in town. Today the concrete was poured for the Todd's basement, so we've enjoyed a grand, guided tour of fine local diners, rough and tumble cowboy karaoke bars and traffic accidents. Taber is the richest (per person) town in Alberta from oil and farming. Because of the fertile soil, the potatoes, sugar beets and especially corn is reknowned for quality and taste. Then there's the oil - we're standing on it!

Steve informs us that each windmill costs about a million dollars (and 36 acres) to start operating and pays for itself within three years. And there must be at least a thousand of the windmills in this area. Back in my home province of Ontario there's one in Toronto and maybe twenty near Shelbourne. While there's many areas around the great lakes to build such clean wind generation, too often local communities resist them because they don't like their appearance. I think they look great and tell everyone that you're thinking of the future.

There's more kookie characters with outrageous stories in Taber than you can shake a stick at. It would make a great setting for a 'comedy of errors' TV series. Hear that, Skipper? Just listen to Steve talk over the campfire about delivering calfs for fun in -40 degree weather, 'pulling bulls' technique, guys who light cigarettes inside oil containers, or the Chinese immigrant high school linebacker who demands you learn Chinese to talk to him.

On Jane and Steve's suggestion, the Taber Times came by the campground to interview and photograph us. Tomorrow we plan to stop by Taber Christian School (thanks Steve) and the Taber Special Needs Society (thanks Jane).

Then we plan to push on toward Medicine Hat by Friday night.

Aloha, Taber!

-- Major Dude