When we left Regina we headed north towards Saskatoon. This is a much prettier route then in the south, on the Trans Canada Highway. It is not quite so flat, but with more rolling hills and soft rolling valleys. As summer has not quite hit the country in full force, the landscape was very green and not the brown that I had expected. After we went through Saskatoon I happened to look in the side mirror, which gives me the view of the passenger side of the trailer. Something caught my eye, so I leaned in to get a good look. I could see something flapping in the wind. Almost had a heart attack as I thought it was one of our tires shredding. So I said to Ray that he needed to find somewhere to pull over as something was terribly wrong. It was good that we were on the Prairies as the shoulders are quite wide allowing us to safely pull right off the roadway. What I was seeing flapping in the breeze was the fender of the 5th wheel. I guess what happened is the plastic was cracking around a couple of the screws and with the wind beating against it, it came loose on the one end. It was not fortunately, damaged. Ray took it off and set in into the "basement" and will have it replaced when we get home. You pay a lot of money for these RV units and they are so cheaply made! Very irritating!!
After taking the flapping fender (you thought I was going to us a different "f" word) off we carried on down the road. We had decided to drive right to Lloyminster and spend the night there. The rest of the drive was uneventful. Well except that yours truly took the wheel and let Ray have a break. I tell you that within about 2 minutes I was hypnotized by the long straight highway!
Look at me! I look like I know what I am doing!! LOL
Lloydminster
We found a great campground which was a Community Campground right behind a museum. The sites were spacious and the bath house was new and sparkling clean. Not that we were going to use it, but it is always a good sign of great management. After we got parked and set up, we decided to hit the local Legion once again as it was right down the street. We met a couple of very nice ladies in there. One of them was about 48 years old. She told us that at the age of 19 she was in a very bad car accident and was left with a brain injury and has since suffered from PTSD. She explained that to help herself she has reached out to service men and women (from both the US and Canada) who are also suffering from PTSD. She runs a Facebook group where she stays in touch with the ones overseas and others around the country. She was a very interesting young lady.
We went for a walk after leaving the Legion. While walking around the town I noticed some red steel markers. Apparently they are the largest border markers in the country. They mark the Saskatchewan Alberta border and run right down the middle of the town.
The next morning we loaded up and continued our drive westward. Ray had decided that we would drive to Jasper and camp there for the night. We drove as far as Hinton and spoke with a nice lady in the Visitors Information centre. She called a couple of campgrounds around Jasper for us. All campgrounds in Jasper National Park are first come first serve. All have water but no electrical hook ups. Because of the elevation I needed to have electricity to use my oxygen. So this nice lady recommended a private park just outside of Hinton before entering the park. She said it was within walking distance of a micro brewery where you could order food and sit out on the patio and look up at Folding Mountain. This sounded perfect to us!!! The campground was only 10 minutes down the road. When we arrived it was pretty windy and it looking like it was snowing. It was cottonwood flying and the ground was white with the fluff! I took a photo but it didn't do it justice at all. We wandered over to the Folding Mountain Brewery and had a great dinner and a couple of nice cold brews! Unfortunately it was too cold to sit out on the patio.
The patio at the brewery
The next day we continued our drive. We stopped in Jasper for breakfast at a pretty decent restaurant. As it was early in the day we were able to find parking right on the main drag. The little town of Jasper has never been my favourite place. I think being to Banff previously has spoiled me. The Empress Hotel nestled in the mountains is breathtaking. Both towns are tourist traps for sure. The only other time I was in Jasper, we had driven through it from Valemount. I have never done the drive from Jasper to Banff. Neither had Ray. We were in for the ride of our lives.
I just don't think there is anything more beautiful then the Rocky mountains. I am mesmerized every time I fly over them or drive through them. My neck hurt from twisting this way and that. There was quite a bit of road work through the park and into Banff National park. We didn't care, even when we had a 20 minute wait. That gave Ray ample time to do is own looking around. We saw waterfalls, green green lakes, and then we saw the Icefields!
The above photo was taken from on my phone from the road. This is the Athabasca Glacier and is the largest ice field in the Rocky mountains. It lies partially in Jasper National Park and partially in Banff National Park. It is about 125 square miles and is between 365 to 1198 feet deep. It used to be much larger. In fact all the brown dirt you see in the bottom of the photo, it used to be covered by the ice. At one time it probably came right down to where the road is. You can't see it in this photo because it is too far away, but there was a bus (snow coach) on the left about half way up. People were off the bus walking around. That would be so cool to do! Not sure how I would make out though with the elevation. About 6 kms before we got to the Athabasca Glacier (on the Jasper side of the park) there was a glass walkway hanging out over the cliff! It lis like the skywalk at the Grand Canyon. We could not see how the people would get out to it as there was no parking lot to be seen. It was a grey day going through the Rockies, not much of a blue sky. But that didn't matter to us, we were just happy and content being in the company of the mountains.
We spent the next night snuggled into a campsite in Revelstoke sitting around our campfire with a storm blowing in. It was GREAT! We saw a fellow pull in towing his pontoon boat that he converted into a camper! Look at all the solar panels on his roof!
Ray enjoying his glass of vino
From Revelstoke we went to Kelowna. Spent two nights visiting with Janet and Gord Hardy. While in Kelowna we also visited with Shirley and Barry. Shirley is slowly healing from some recent surgery she had. She was pale and thin but coming along nicely, especially when she is being waited on by the old Barre.. From Kelowna we went to Peachland and camped right on the lake in a Provincial Campground. We visited with my sister and brother-in-law (Chris and Rod). The four of us took their little dog Georgia for a walk through the park.
My sista!
Keaton with his big boy haircut
Tanya and Keaton
Smudges
We are home now. Ray has figured out the cost of this trip. We put on 16,000 kilometres. Ray was surprised at the low fuel cost of $3700 (but we don't care!!!), camp site costs $1500 (hey and no Walmart parking lots!). Approximately $4000 in miscellanous (must have been some fancy shoes I bought while shopping with Christina in Ontario). Total for the trip is roughly $9000. Now we are busy getting the trailer cleaned up, new tires, new ladder and new moulding (that flappy thing in the Prairies) so we can head down to Washington and points south. We want to visit with Ray's cousin in Vancouver Washington.
A number of people have asked me, "what is your favourite place to be, now that you have been all across the country". After being in PEI in 2012, I had said that PEI was my favourite Province with its red earth and rolling emerald green hills. But coming back through the Rockies and into BC this time really made me catch my breath. So on this Canada Day as I write the conclusion of this Blog, I have to say that we live in the best place in Canada. We have it all here. The Rockies (partially), Mt Revelstoke, Costal Mountains all of our beautiful mountains throughout the Province, we have our dry desert complete with sage brush (Kamloops & Osoyoos), lakes (Okanagan Lake, Kalamalka, Pitt Lake just to name a few), we have glacier clear rivers, we have the rolling surf of the Pacific Ocean lapping at the edge of our beautiful Province. We have Vancouver Island and a great ferry system to get us there. So very happy to live in beautiful British Columbia!
Happy Canada Day to all of you who have followed us on this adventure.
Until next time
Lori and Ray
