It’s been seven years since I moved from Calgary to Victoria. It’s nice to see that some things never change:
Of course, there are some newer, bigger things.
And even new transit trains that are much more attractive than the old ones.
And the Calgary Tower is still there.
A brief stop at MEC. Ute models a poncho as a possible purchase for a trip to Newfoundland this summer.
Back at Katherine and Ute’s, Eliot keeps a close eye on what’s happening in the kitchen.
Last night was passed at Yahk Provincial Park where Eliot and I occupied one of the two sites that had campers that night. Some of the park’s campsites were out of bounds due to high water levels in the nearby Moyie River. It also turned out that the campground was near a busy (at least at night) railway line which was a surprise after lights out.
The next morning there was a glimmer of sunshine as we drove out of the campground. But that was the only glimmer we saw for the rest of the day. As we headed towards Cranbrook the rain held off. But after we left Radium Hot Springs, the heavens opened. The beautiful scenery of our mountain national parks was obscured almost completely by foggy clouds hanging very low. There were some wildlife sightings between Radium and Castle Junction … some deer and a young moose standing in the middle of the road impeding traffic. Helmut (the Westy) seemed to give him some cause for concern. When we came along he decided it was time to mosey along.
We finally arrived in Calgary around 7pm and were welcomed by Ute and Katherine who cooked a delicious roast chicken dinner which was had with wind and beer. And so to bed. Ute made me take my cell phone with me as I had left it on the dining room table. She said she didn’t want it waking her up if it rang. Who would call during the night I asked. You never know, she replied. Sure enough, at 1am the phone rang and it was a wrong number!! I’ll turn the darn thing completely off from now on.
It was really, really cold last night. No surprise, I suppose since we were at about 1,000m in Manning Provincial Park. I was glad that my resident toque was available. Even Eliot wanted to sleep under the down sleeping bag rather than on top of it.
We hit the road just after 8am. This was after breakfast where I discovered that I had only brought along instant coffee. We stopped for real coffee and yogurt in Princeton after our first mountain pass of the day. I had decided to take the southern route to Alberta as I’d never been through Manning Park and never driven Highway 3 along the southern edge of British Columbia. By the end of the day, I feared that I might have done some damage to the old van’s newly refurbished engine. We’re not outside of Creston after some brutal climbs. The last one was Kootenay Pass which goes up to almost 1800 metres. There was still lots of snow at the summit. And the grade was so steep and so long that at times we had to creep along at about 35 km/hour in second gear. It was slow going and made for a long day on the road … just the sort of day I had vowed that I would try to avoid. Even Eliot was getting pretty antsy when he still hadn’t had his dinner at 6:30pm. Oh, and I forgot to mention that it rained most of the day.
Tomorrow we may make it to Calgary … or not.
It turned out I wasn’t as badly organized as I thought although it was still approaching noon when I drove the van out of the parking lot at 419 Parry Street. Last minute tasks included getting my neighbours, Michelle and Richard, to witness my signature on a will that I had finally completed. (It’s in the top drawer in the laundry/computer room if it’s required – and I sincerely hope it isn’t – at least not any time soon.)
After a stop at Capital Iron for some electrical doo-dads, we sped up the Pat Bay Highway and caught the 1pm ferry. The trip was uneventful although Eliot did his usual shivering and seems best when just left alone in the van the traffic on the Vancouver side of things was horrendous. I think the same guy who programs the lights northbound on Blanchard in Victoria does freelance work for the city of Vancouver … or was I in Delta or Surrey. It was stop and go for miles and miles. Perhaps my GPS had led me on a round about route. It was after 4pm before we were finally on the TransCanada heading towards Hope with any kind of speed.
We stopped for the night in Manning Provincial Park. There were maybe half a dozen other campers. I spent the early evening doing some sewing on one of the van curtains that’s needed repair since I bought it and some more time installing a new car radio that will play mp3 files from a USB stick. (See electrical doo-dad reference above.) It was just a question of matching up wires by colour. It worked perfectly the first time I turned the key.
While we were having dinner inside the van the biggest crow I have ever seen landed on our picnic table to examine a few things that I’d put out to make more room in the van. He (or was it she) had a huge head and was larger than any seagull I’ve ever seen. He found nothing of serious interest on the table but gave Eliot and I some penetrating stares. Eliot did some barking from the side door of the van but did not venture out. The crow was at least as big as he is.
