Playing catchup

 

 

So even in this day and age, traveling through the mountains does not allow good internet or cell phone connectivity. I for one am glad that there are still disconnected places on this earth even though I have missed all of you.  So here's the deal.  I have made notes of our trip since the last blog that I will put in here tonight since I have a good internet connection...Oh by the way we've made it to Prince George, British Columbia... and I will edit them as I can to include the pictures we've taken.

Beginning insertion:
May 30

We are at the Bow River Campground in Colchrane, AB. We are in need of a rest, so today is a no-travel day. We have done not much but rest, shop and have dinner in a nice Thai restaurant. I have been looking for maps of our route to Alaska since I am reluctant to throw caution to the winds and found them in a store called Canadian Tire, that sells everything from hocky sticks to motor oil (didn't see any tires, though). That may not sound exciting in a blog, but it was to the RV driver. Tomorrow, we will continue on our way to Banff National Park.

June 1

We started to leave Colchrane this morning, but could not get one of the towbar legs to latch, causing the truck to lurch towards the coach and veer to the right every time we slowed down. We found this out in a parking lot before we got on the road, so returned to the Bow River Campground for another night. I was able to disassemble the latch on the bad tow strut and found it full of grit. After cleaning it and reversing the latch spring for a better pull, it worked quite well. We continued our lazy ways until the next morning. 

Glenn and Stephen were right when they said to get all the tools you think you need then add more.  I would have never gotten the job done without a pair of tweezers!!

Since time was available, I set up the portable work table that was invented by Glenn Miller, Springfield's resident clever guy, and was able to spend some enjoyable time carving a piece of the cherry tree that smashed my truck a few years ago.

June 2

Today we continued on Canada highway 1, the trans-Cannada highway. It is a fine four lane divided highway that transects the Canadian Rockies at Banff National Park, runing along the Bow River Valley in a scenic drive past craggy mountains and a beautiful river.

 We reached Canmore, AB and stayed at the Spring Creek Mountain Village RV park. It rained all day long, making for wet work outside of the RV. The tow bar worked correctly today, what a relief, since had it not, we would have returned to Calgary to find a repair shop. Since Canmore is close to Colchrane, we had much of the day for sight seeing. We drove to Banff and looked around the town and the Bow River falls.

Cute Lady!

We continued to Lake Louise, a village at the entrance to the northern route through the park and the home of the famous Lake Louise Chalet. We found the information we needed to get campgrounds and travel north to Jasper, AB at the northern edge of the four parks that make up this portion of the Canadian Rockies. We returned to Canmore and spent the night.

June 3

Today we traveled to Lake Louise via highway 1-A, the scenic route through the park. It was great to be back in pine/spruce forests and among mountain rivers and lakes again. The day has been rainy again, limiting the amout of running around outside. This fellow was taking his rainy day easy off to the side of the road and causing a respectable traffic jam while the rubber-neckers (me included) took pictures.

After checking into a park service campground, we set off to see some famous sights.    We went to Lake Louise, a few miles south of the town up a steep mountain road and visited both the lake and hotel.  Lake Louise is a beautiful sight with an amazing hotel built on its shore, Chateau Lake Louise.

Chateau Lake Louise

Lake Louise

Moraine Lake

We also went to Moraine Lake, a cirque lake 15 km away from town.










So today is our 25th wedding anniversary and we celebrated with dinner at the dining room in the Lake Louise Chalet. What a great venue. 

  What wonderful 25 years. A great way to spend our anniversary day.