Starting East

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Day 22. 4729Km.

Cochrane, Alberta

I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m sure my subconscious was going over all the things left to do in the morning despite my best efforts to pack up as much as possible before bed. An easy breakfast of PB on toast and a dish of yogurt with raspberries makes for minimal dishes left in the sink for the evening. Water hose, electric cord and drain the holding talks was about all there was to do but I still think it was 7:45 before I got on the road.

The Trans Canada Highway to Calgary offers some spectacular views leaving BC for Alberta. Again the smoke ruined all of them but I snapped some photos anyway. The smoke did lighten up the further I got into Alberta allowing for some clearer pictures.

There are a few spots of construction along the way where the road is being widened, the longest stretch being just East of Golden, BC. I didn’t mind the 40Km per hour construction speed limit though, it allowed more time to look at the views. They are truly hanging the road off the side of the mountain with large piles driven into the rock. It’ll be something to see when it’s done. Banff is synonymous with skiing but with all the new condos I saw in Canmore I suspect it’s fast becoming popular too.

The winds really picked up as I left the mountains and are still quite strong as I write this at eight p.m. I finally get to have a campfire tonight with a $12 bag of crummy softwood so I am hoping the wind calms down as the sun goes down. I have to wonder if these westerners have ever burned good hardwood like we have in Ontario.

Very close to camp is a large “big box” shopping centre so I stopped to grab a few things from Walmart and to see if they had any of the pop (soda) I’m looking for. No luck with the pop but I did replenish a couple trailer supplies. As I left the parking lot headed to camp a message pops up on the Jeep informing me it’s doing an exhaust regeneration and I need to keep driving. Hundreds of Kilometres from Sicamous and now it’s time for a regen. Grrrr. So I left it running while I topped off the fuel tank and then drove around for about 15 minutes until the warning went away.

Once at camp I realize it’s actually run by the local Rotary and Lions organizations and all profits go back into the community. It’s another perfectly laid out grid of gravel sites and paved roads. Not the kind of camping I’d want to do long term but it’ll do for one night, even though I had to pay for two because it’s the weekend.

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