Ahhh, the Rockies!

Oct 29, 2019

We all woke early this morning, Helga was getting ready to go to work and we needed to get ready for our next leg of this journey.  John ate breakfast with us and checked road and weather conditions for us.  It looks like it is going to be a perfect travel day, no wind, sunny, and -7 degrees and warming! 

Our goal is to reach Revelstoke today, and from all accounts the highways are clear.  We said goodbye to John and Helga around 8:00, stopped in at the local Canadian Tire Store and bought a set of tire chains.  We did not want to take the chance of going through the Rockies without a set of tire chains, although we probably won’t need them.

As we headed west towards the Rockies we talked about how we have seen all of the seasons during this trip. As we crossed Canada going east, in each province we saw the progression of the growth of the various crops.  We have watched the fields being seeded, and then later watched as the crops grew out of the ground.  We have seen the farmers working on their fields and later harvesting the crops. There were still several combines working on the huge tracts of land in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Now as we travel further west there were many fields with the bales waiting to be collected and put up for the winter.

As we got closer to Calgary we could see the Rockies in the distance.  They had received a fresh cover of snow overnight and they became more and more spectacular as we got closer.  

We became part of the heavy traffic flowing into the city of Calgary.  Calgary is growing in leaps and bounds and its urban sprawl goes out many miles in all directions.  We took the bypass around Calgary to avoid the crush, that is so familiar to entering Calgary. 

As we left the boundaries of the city the mountains greeted us and we cruised into Banff to top up our fuel.  It is interesting to see that the gas prices 20 kms east of Calgary are 99.9/ liter and $1.18/liter, 95 kms west, in Banff.

Cruising through the Rocky Mountains is always a treat. The highways are in great condition with very little road construction delays.  We both agreed that the condition of the highways in Alberta and British Columbia are the best in all of Canada. 

As we passed through the sharp curves near Golden we saw the ever-present mountain sheep grazing on the side hills, oblivious of the trucks and cars whizzing by them.

We arrived in Revelstoke around 6:00 and scouted out where we would boondock tonight.  We found a quiet niche near the Community Centre.  We went into the downtown area and shared a small pizza, and then set up for the night.  We walked to the Community Centre, for a swim and hot tub and then enjoyed hot showers before turning in for the night.  

It is expected to get to about -6 degrees tonight but we are snug in our trailer with the furnace on.  Tomorrow we head for Enderby to bring our trailer to the factory so that they can check it over after this extensive trip. I also need to replace a propane tank cover that I cracked early in our trip. We will probably overnight in Cache Creek, depending on how long we are in Enderby, and make the final leg home, the following day.