Author: Rae

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The Best Laid Plans…

Wow. I sure didn’t expect to be here today, here as in the Okanagan Valley, here as in the capital of wine country, here as in the end of the road for the next month.

Yesterday didn’t quite go as planned. By the time I stopped for the night, I was sure that I couldn’t possibly ever again have a worst day. By the morning, though, I was grinning and realising that nothing, absolutely nothing, will ever be as bad as that crunching day between Thunder Bay and Selkirk.

But let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Here’s Miranda at the Spring Hill RV Park 9km north of Cochrane, Alberta:

Cochrane is quite possibility the most beautiful full service town I have ever visited, even more beautiful than Banff. I could have easily stayed a few months there.

I left the park almost two hours earlier than I had planned. I’m grateful that they had propane and gas fill up stations, so I was able to do everything there before pushing off. All of that, plus the one hour time shift and the week’s rest I just had meant that I was ready to drive if conditions warranted it. Tourism time had ended and it was time for me to get to work. I’d have plenty of time to come back into the mountains to explore in later months.

So, I made it to past Revelstoke yesterday, about 480km, but it wasn’t a drudging sort of drive because I did make the time for two touristy stops, one of which was an hour and a half long.

This stop was, of course, at Lake Louise.

As I expected, Lake Louise is 100% a tourist trap. Oh, the lake is definitely worth the long climb up a narrow winding road, but I can’t believe that people are saps enough to pay 55$ for a one hour canoe trip on the lake. Just call me the cynic. Or maybe I’m just frugal. 🙂 Having had lunch in the rig and craving dessert, I went into the Chateau

to look for ridiculously overpriced ice cream to munch on while I walked partway around the lake and was delighted to find merely overpriced ice cream.

My next stop was at the Spiral Tunnels. I waited almost a half hour there hoping to see a train go through them, but I finally had to press on. The pictures I took here don’t really show anything, so I won’t post them. Very briefly, the Spiral Tunnels were an answer to the Big Hill, a really steep bit of Transcanada rail line between Field, BC, and Kicking Horse Pass. This hill cost a fortune to run and was the scene of many accidents. The spiral tunnels cut into the mountain reduced the grade by 50%. I really can’t do the story justice, so you’ll just need to go read the Wiki article. 🙂

Then, I drove.

My first possibility for an overnight stop was the Kicking Horse rest area, just west of Yoho National Park. Unfortunately, it was only 3PM local time when I arrived there and there was blasting and other construction going on. So, I pressed on, surprised to find myself already going through Glacier and Revelstoke Parks.

Just west of Revelstoke, I found what seemed like an informal truck stop, but it looked very busy and noisy, so I pressed on.

Then, I found what seemed like the perfect stop to stop for the night. There was a rest area with a road leading down to a utility shed, with a large open area. It seemed private and quiet, so I decided to make that my stop for the night.

Which is when I discovered that I had absolutely no power. Now, my batteries were fully charged, but no power was getting through to my 12V system. I check the terminals and my fuse box, trying to figure out what had happened in 5.5 hours to break my electrical system! It was about to get dark and I decided to drive 10km. If I didn’t find an RV park within that time, I would come back to this spot and tough out the night without power.

As I drove, I suddenly remembered Croft’s suggestion that I try to start the generator with the truck engine running. So, having passed two closed RV parks and being ready to turn around, I pulled into a rest area and tested his trick. It worked! I had power! Noisy power, but at least my fridge was running again. I decided to go back to my previously selected spot when I realised that I didn’t need to. This rest area was built a bit like a tea cup. I was parked in the bowl. To the right of me was a thicket of trees and there was a narrow path going around this thicket, like a handle. I pulled into it and to my delight found myself tucked away out of sight of the road. It wasn’t as quiet as the other spot would have been, but at least I didn’t have to double back. It was fully dark now and pouring rain, so I was very, very grateful that my day of driving was done.

I set to work making dinner, then I read for a couple of hours. I went to bed ridiculously early, about 8:30 local time, but it was 9:30 my time and I was beat!

For a first time pulling off the road and sleeping in the middle of nowhere, I slept pretty well. I woke up around 1, then slept soundly again until 5. I ran the generator again for a couple of hours as I puttered around, waiting for it to be light enough out for me to set off. This kept most of the contents of the freezer frozen solid, thankfully, and used up only a negligible amount of gas. I can almost get used to the noise inside, but would hate to run the generator when there are people around!

So, my first day in BC dawned like my first day in Manitoba, very rainy and foggy. I decided to drive until such time as the weather cleared up and run the generator again for about an hour for the fridge’s benefit, then I would make a straight run for Oliver where hookups would give me time to figure out what was going on with my electrical system.

I was in a really good mood this morning. I’d slept well, had an indecently yummy cup of coffee while watching the sun rise at the rest stop, and realised that the part of my journey I had feared the most was over: I was clear across the mountains! Sure, part of the day before had sucked (driving in the dark in rain with no power and chicken about to thaw in the freezer), but, sum told, it had actually been quite a good day. I was especially proud of myself for being able to recognize a good place to stop and, most importantly, for not pushing myself any further than I absolutely needed to.

So, I set off in pea soup fog and made a quick stop at the site of a major event in Canadian history:

And that was it for tourism. I drove quickly through Vernon and Kelowna, glad when I saw them that I wasn’t stopping there for my week of reconnaissance, and then I pulled over at a rest stop outside of Penticton for lunch (thawed out pizza that I hadn’t been able to stuff into the colder part of the freezer with all the other stuff that was still, thankfully, frozen solid).

The Okanagan area looks quite like I expected it to, except for the hills which remind me of the Sierra Nevadas!

Okanagan Valley

Sierra Nevadas

I’m now settled for a week just outside of Oliver, which is the wine capital of Canada. I passed too many wineries to count on the drive down here, so I think I’ll just start at the closest one to here and work my way south to Osoyoos, and then north again, asking at each one if they’re hiring pickers yet. Tomorrow, though, I just might take the morning for a wee bit of sightseeing as I am very eager to see Canada’s only (non-Arctic) desert. But, after that, it’s time to look for work!

So, the first stage of my great big adventure has ended. I have successfully traveled the roughly 5,000km (not counting mileage done with the toad) that separated me from my old life in Gatineau to the new one awaiting me in the Okanagan Valley. I arrived here a lot less naive and cocky, but in excellent spirits and with a month’s worth of memories that make up for a lifetime of disillusionment.

Now that my rig is well broken in and I am more knowledgeable, it’s time to think about finding work, a place to spend the winter, and a way to make Miranda comfortable during that season.

In a way, I feel that my journey is still just beginning. Today is not an ending, just a really, really, really major milestone.

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British Columbia, Here I Come!

This time tomorrow, I will be in British Columbia! After tomorrow, the only province I will have left to visit is Newfoundland and Labrador!

I’m trying to plan out my route to Oliver. It’s a 700km journey. Normally, I’d say that I could easily do that in two days, with just one overnight stop, but normally I’m not driving through several national parks with slow speed limits and let’s not forget the mountains. I think it will probably take me three days to get there, but it can’t take any more since I could be called to work on Monday. Could is a big word, but I wouldn’t want to miss my chance.

I’d like to invite you all to visit the Parks Canada website and get information on RV camping along this route just so you’ll see that I’m not exaggerating when I state that this is a ridiculously frustrating task. In order to get information on campgrounds, their amenities, and their rates, I have to visit an average of four websites!

After about an hour’s worth of Googling, I finally was able to determine that my first overnight stop will probably be at Kicking Horse Pass campground in Yoho National Park. Camping there is 30$ per night. No hookups. 40$ if you need a day pass. No hookups. Let me say that again. No hookups. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the campground doesn’t take reservations, so if they’re full, tough luck, I have to push on to Golden. This type of fleecing by the Canadian government is par for the course, unfortunately. If you’re coming to Canada, I suggest sticking to provincial and private campgrounds. Visit the national parks by day only!

Because there are apparently so few places to stop overnight between Canmore and Golden, I’m not guaranteed a spot at Kicking Horse, and I won’t be pushing off till noon tomorrow, I doubt I’ll be detouring to Lake Louise. 🙁

I have to say that this is the first night before departure since Thunder Bay that I’m just about raring to go! I’ve been here a full week and it’s been really nice, but I’ve had my fill of the area for now.

Even though I’m nine kilometres from the nearest full service town and thirty kilometres from Calgary city limits, I still feel that this location was fantastic. I really enjoyed doing my daily excursions and coming home to this spot. It’s not as quiet as it could be since it’s right at the intersection of two busy roads, but it’s peaceful and the staff is very friendly. I just wish the window in front of my computer didn’t overlook the dumpsters. 😀

I’m seeing a lot of rigs in this park that are not much different from Miranda all gussied up with skirts in preparation for the winter. Oh, those brave souls! As for me, I’m headin’ for the promised land. 🙂

But I have to say the weather here has been incredible. It dips to close to freezing at night and goes up to about 25 during the day. Miranda turns into an oven (it was 32 in here this afternoon!). I don’t know how to describe the sun out here, but it feels really close and it’s unbelievably intense. Soon as it sets, though, BRR! It’s meant nice days for exploring or puttering at home, but nights that are really comfortable for sleeping, so absolutely ideal RVing conditions. Pity they can’t last all year. 🙂

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New Batteries

Reader Croft essentially adopted me on the battery issue with my coach. He realised from my blog entries that I was facing eminent battery failure and took me under his wing to see a replacement project brought to a successful conclusion. Thank you so much, Croft!

As it turns out, he was right. My battery was the original one that came with the coach and had more than surpassed the average lifetime for a battery (seven year lifespan vs. twelve year old coach, hmm)… Also, it had probably not been maintained by the POs, and I discovered tonight that the cells were bone dry. Yup, this was definitely not a project I could postpone.

The first thing he advised me to do was replace my standard 12V battery with two 6V golf cart-type batteries to get more usage time between charges. I found some that he said would be satisfactory at Canadian Tire. Then I came to the issue of installation. Canadian Tire quoted me 400$ to install them and an RV place 300$. Croft seethed at that! So, he gave me two lists. One detailed the steps that I needed to take to replace the battery myself and the second gave me all the components I needed, including the Canadian Tire inventory number for some of them. Can I say thank you too many times in one post?

Once I knew what to do, I had to get permission to do it at this campground and I had to find myself a helper who could lift 136lbs, the weight of just one of my new batteries!

I had to ask for permission because there are a lot of rules here, one of which is that you are not allowed to work on your RV. I spoke to the manager and said “May I change my RV battery here?” She said that that was fine as it’s neither a messy nor noisy job. I then asked her if she could recommend a strong guy to help me. She volunteered her husband!

Today, I went to town (Calgary) to get all the parts I needed, including some lumber to reinforce the compartment floor. I was lucky to find what I needed in the scrap bin, so my costs for wood were negligible, and I scored some 3/4 plywood for the floor!

I’d called Canadian Tire ahead of time to make sure they had two of the batteries in stock and to put them aside for me. They did have some and they were on sale now! I saved 20$ per battery. When I arrived, all the items I’d asked about were waiting for me as were a few other things the clerk had assumed I’d need (he was right) and someone made himself available to bring the batteries to the car. WOW. Canadian Tires out west sure aren’t like the one in Gatineau! My shopping list there included the batteries, a voltmeter (on sale from 40$ reduced to 10$!), a battery watering thingy that looks like a turkey baster, a 9V battery for the voltmeter, and a gallon of special battery water (same price as I’d seen for the same quantity of distilled water at Walmart, so I figured I might as well go with battery-specific water).

I got home mid-afternoon and set to work cutting the wood for the floor and corresponding back and forth some more with Croft working out other little details and questions that came up. Let me say that it was so nice to work on my home like that. I sure missed being a homeowner in respect to doing fun projects!

My helper arrived at 6 as promised. Getting the old battery out of the RV was tougher than I’d expected. It was in a tote… that was bolted to the RV floor. It took about a half hour for him to get the tote out of there, put in the plywood, and put in the two new batteries. He kept on needing tools and laughed each time I pulled out what he needed. And some people said I was an idiot to bring all my tools (save the miter saw)!

He accepted only a thank you for all his effort. Some people are just so nice.

It didn’t take me long to hook up the batteries as per Croft’s specifications, test them with my shiny new voltmeter, and hook them up to the charger which informed me that the batteries were already fully charged. I then installed some 2×4’s to keep the batteries from moving, opened a beer, and set to work putting all the stuff that I’d taken out back into my coach. That was the longest part of the process!

Total cost of the project, including the beer, but not including the hardware bits I had at home: 270$.

Here’s a picture of the final result. The way I cut those 2x4s leaves me with a little compartment in front of the batteries that is just the right size for my container of water, the voltmeter case, the battery baster, and a couple of rags. Croft says that everything looks good, so I’m having a beer now and calling it a day!

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Easy Decisions and Provincial Differences

The park where I’m staying runs through the winter, but with only a small section of its sites open. When I pulled in last week, they didn’t have a spot in their winterized section available, so they put me in their ‘about to be closed’ section and told me I’d probably have to move today. Bummer. Today, I went to confirm that I was moving and where to. They said I could stay on my site if I didn’t mind… not having running water. Okay, run this by me again. I can pack up and move for two days or I can stay here, with sewer and 30A power, and my full tank of water? Ooooh, now that’s a toughie. This was pretty much my confirmation that this park attracts a higher end clientele; the manager couldn’t believe that it’s no hardship to live off my fresh water tank for two days! What’s nice is that I now have no immediate neighbours.

As for provincial differences, I ran out of beer this week as I finished the 12 pack I’d bought my first day on the road. I decided to replenish my supply and looked forward to seeing how beer is sold in Alberta. In Quebec, you can buy liquor at any grocery store or convenience store, or go to a liquor (SAQ) store to get higher end items. In Ontario, you go to the liquor (LCBO) store to get wine, spirits, and fine beers, and you go to the beer store for beer. I’m exceedingly fond of that system. Sure, the beer stores can sometimes be in out of the way places, but it offers every single kind of beer imaginable in one aisle. Kind of like the M&M meat shop of the alcohol world. At any rate, I didn’t really register where to buy beer in Manitoba or Saskatchewan. Parked in front of a Safeway grocery store today, I noticed that it had a separate entrance with ‘liquour and spirits’ written over the top. I imagined that it might be an LCBO-type setup, but figured that they might have some beers. I went in and found a proper beer cooler, with a decent selection. So, I guess that Alberta is similar to Quebec, in that you can get your beer at the grocery store, but in a special section of its own.

Well, I’m off to get creative with my battery compartment. An update about that will follow, provided my coach doesn’t blow up (*winks at Croft*).

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Banff

Today was the kind of day that makes you realise that you’ve been given enough gifts to last a lifetime and that asking for anything more is just greed talking.

I had a lot of misgivings and preconceptions about Banff. I expected it to be kitschy, expensive, and over rated. By the time I got to the town limits, I was in an absolutely foul mood and wondered if there was any point my being there at all. To enter Banff National Park (in which Banff is located), you need to pay an access fee of 10$ for a day or 65$ for a year for an individual or 130$ for a family. I decided that the annual pass would make more sense since it’s good at all national parks across Canada. I asked the attendant if I was going to need a second pass for my motorhome, even if I was towing my car behind it and only one vehicle would be on park roads at a time. She said yes. That was sort of the proverbial straw for me as to dealing with Parks Canada. In order to stay at their grossly overpriced campgrounds I had to pay an additional 130$ per year? I decided right then and there that I was taking the Crowsnest Pass on Thursday and not going through Banff again.

But I talked to someone else at the Banff Information Centre and what she had to say was much more logical, that I didn’t need a second pass. I realised then that Parks Canada employees are like a lot civil servants I work with and unable to see their jobs as anything but black and white. So if I get questioned for having just one pass, I’ll just tell them that the people at the Banff info centre said I didn’t need a second one.

My mood greatly improved then and one of the most amazing days of my life began.

Let’s start at the beginning.

I stopped for a bit of a break on my almost 1.5 hour drive to Banff at Lacs des arcs:

I’ve always wanted to say: “I’m Rae. From Canmore.” Non Royal Canadian Air Farce fans can just scratch their heads at that one. *ggl*



Entrance to Banff National Park

Welcome to Banff!

Banff Avenue

A lovely, eye-catching, sculpture on Banff Avenue

So, Banff. A compact, aesthetically pleasing but not kitshy, friendly town. The first thing that I noticed were gas prices; they were the same as in Calgary! Then I noticed all the signs announcing RV parking for two hours on the street and 12 hours (but no overnight) in special lots reserved for RVs. Then I noticed that all parking in Banff is free! I wouldn’t want to take Miranda in there at the height of the tourist season, but today I would have had no problem finding a place for her and she would have been secure all day, without my having to beg for a place to park her while I explored. I therefore award Banff the distinction of being the first truly RV friendly place I’ve been to so far. I’ve never felt so welcome!

First order of business in Banff was pretty funny and goes to show that I’m living my real life and not on vacation. Yesterday, I managed to lose my ATM card. I’d had my previous card for 15 years and I wasn’t able to hang on to my current card for more than a few months! So, off to the CIBC I went to get a new card. This illustrates one of the many reasons I love being with the CIBC; if a town has more than one banking institution there is usually a CIBC (unless you’re in Quebec where the same can be said about Caisse Pops). I was therefore not surprised to find a CIBC right across the street from the lot where I parked.

That done, I went to the visitor’s centre to raise hell about the park passes and to see if I could add anything to my day’s itinerary, which contained just two items.

I wandered down Banff Avenue for a bit and then went to Gopher Avenue to visit the Whyte Museum for the sole purpose of viewing the Group of Seven et. al. exhibition. Yes, we finally get a bit of culture! LOL

Of all the members of the Group of Seven, A.Y. Jackson is my favourite.


There were also some lovely pieces by Japanese-Canadian artist Takao Tanabe, another favourite of mine. I couldn’t believe I got to see this piece in person; it’s my favourite of his!

There was more to the museum, but it was way too nice a day out to stay inside for long!

Next order of business was something I learned about at the info centre: the Sulphur Mountain Gondola. Even though riding a gondola was in violation of everyone of my instincts, I’d never done it and figured that I could survive the 14 minute round trip.

I didn’t enjoy the trip at all, I’m afraid, even though the views were spectacular!




At the top, I continued up to the Cosmic Ray Station.

I have no problem being that high up when I’m on solid ground!

Coming back down on the gondola, I really impressed myself when I actually turned around and took this picture. EEP!

The ride down was a lot harder than the ride up as the first time around there had been people in the gondola with me and they were able to distract me.

Back on solid ground (and having lost fifteen years off my life), it was time to do the second item on my to-do list, something I found I’m not sure how. I got back onto the Transcanada Highway, then exited at the Bow Valley Parkway where I cruised along until I got to Johnston’s Canyon. It features an amazing hike through a canyon, mostly on cantilevered walkways (non-scary; they’re made of concrete and steel). There is a short hike to the lower falls, a longer one to the higher falls, and very long hike to pools of water known as the ‘Inkpots.’

Making an attempt to reach the Inkpots was no small decision on my part. I’d already hiked 3km uphill to get to the higher falls and it was another 3km uphill to get to the Inkpots. Add to that the climb at Sulphur Mountain and the late hour of the day. This was a case where a good decision could only be made with firm knowledge of one’s abilities. On flat terrain, I can hike 3km in about 30 minutes. Uphill, make that 45 minutes. Uphill and exhausted? Calculate an hour. So, that put me at the Ink Pots around 4. Add a bit of sight seeing, picture taking, and talking to people on the trail and I wouldn’t be back at my car before 5:30. I was dressed for the weather, had enough supplies on me to face a ‘worst case scenario’, and knew that I was smart enough to turn around if I reached my limit. I set off and decided to reevaluate around 3:30. I’d just about had enough by this point, but, thankfully, some hikers came up from the Inkpots right around then and told me it was a downhill shot from where I was standing. I knew I’d have to climb back up again, but that after that I was looking at mainly downhill to get back to the car. I pushed on.

I’m so glad I did. 🙂

The Inkpots





Doing the uphill hike up out of there, I had to keep reminding myself that I could not spend the night on the mountain. Someone was bound to question the car at the trail head and come in search of me! That would have been so humiliating! So, I pressed on and made it back to the trail head for bang on 5:30! There was an ice cream stand open now and I decided to treat myself to a double scoop cone! I’ve only just started to eat ice cream again and I have to say this cone was just fantastic! 🙂

Driving back towards Banff, traffic came to a standstill on the parkway because of these three little guys:

Since I had an hour and a half to go before home and I felt that I’d earned a nice dinner out, I treated myself to salmon and chicken in Banff, then ambled back to my car. I had to stop to take this picture:

I call it ‘Deer on Banff Avenue.’

Oh, wait. That name is taken!


I got home at 8:30; my longest day out as of yet and the first time I’ve been out after dark other than to go to the cinema!

One thing I didn’t get to do today since I went to the Inkpots was to catch a glimpse of Lake Louise. I’ll swing by there on Thursday on my way through the park.

I have two days left here. I had thought to go to Drumheller, but didn’t realise that it’s almost a five hour round trip drive. So, I’ll save Drumheller for the spring. Tomorrow, I’ll go into Calgary for supplies for Operation: Batteries and Wednesday I’ll putter around at home, do laundry, pack, and plan my trip across the Rockies.

I can consider Banff to be the perfect cap to this first portion of my incredible journey. Now, it’s a straight shot to the Osoyoos area (site of the only desert in Canada, not counting the Arctic) where I need to find a place to park my butt as I will be on call for a grape picking job as of Monday!

It seems that even good lives have no shortage of good days.