Monday, July 23.
Day 8 of our two month journey.
Hi Folks. SRD
here. This morning we depart for Banff
National Park. Saturday and Sunday we
stayed in a very nice Ramada Inn outside of Calgary, Alberta for a little
R&R. This is the nicest hotel room I
have ever seen for dog owners. We even
have our own external door to go to the Tundra, parked just outside. The hotel has a pool, hot tub, and gym, all
of which I used Sunday to get the driving kinks out. On Saturday afternoon we completed the 6th
day of straight of driving. We covered 2660 miles in that time, averaging
450 miles per day. In a typical day, we depart
at 8 am, drive all day, and find a motel about 7 pm. This can be sketchy because if you don’t find
one at 7, you have limited choices and none of them are good choices. We have been fortunate. Does not seem to be a ton of travelers on the
road, plus there are usually a lot of motels.
I have not done much of this kind of day-after-day
driving. After a couple of days of this,
my bod starts complaining, various parts start hurting, and I get tired &
drowsy towards the end of the day. When
that happens, we try to find a place to get a latte (side note: you have to be
in a larger town for this strategy. We definitely
have stopped at places where they would look at you funny if you ask for a
latte). After a week of this, I can
report that I am getting into the groove
It turns out one of two Bass-Pro shops in all of Canada is
right here in Airdrie, Alberta. (that is
why we wound up here). We went there Saturday
for advice on fishing in BC and Alberta, as well as obtaining bear spray for TL
and me. We are about to go up into bear
country and according to everything I read, this is a good idea. In fact, we were told you must have it if you
are hiking in the Banff National Park.
The idea is to handle yourself so you don’t need it (a whole ‘nother
discussion), but if you do need it, you have a much better chance of avoiding
getting hurt. The bear spray was $80 for
two small spray cans that hang on your belt.
The fishing advice was free.
Those guys in hunting and fishing at Bass-Pro seem to be retirees who have
a passion for the outdoors. The guy who
helped me in the fly shop was a retired engineer who could talk knowledgably
about fishing, big game hunting, and dealing with bears (i.e. avoiding!).
That’s it for now.
Take care and we will be back
when we get internet access.
Don and Linda- fascinated by your story, laughed at Don's description of driving. We did just two days getting up here to Ingonish and that was enough. At least there's a spa at Keltic with massages and hot tubs should one need it; it sounds a bit more hit and miss on your route! Photos are great, especially good for people like me who have never seen that part of the country....Have heard from Ty and Elise that there has been two days of rain in the past week at home, good for the gardens. Wonder what the divine Diva is thinking of all this?
ReplyDeleteIt is really great to follow you on your adventure! Love seeing what it looks like up there too. Thanks for taking time out to share with all of us. Hope you came through the last few days unscathed, kinks worked out and didn't have to use your bear spray ;)
ReplyDelete