Peter & Lynda's Canadian Holiday 2006

May : Week 1 : Thursday 4th through Thursday 11th

Week 1

Thursday 4^th of May

Schedule for today: to be picked up at 7am and be driven to Gatwick airport.

Check-in is supposed to be 3 hours before flight time.

TS303 is scheduled to depart at 11:45.

Our lift was on time but we were not ready and so we left over 30 minutes later than planned. The road to Gatwick is slow and traffic is fairly heavy. We checked in and went through to departures, had a sandwich and a drink…Pete changed some pounds into dollars at a rate of 1.91 can dollars. Then he wanted to buy some pipe tobacco so I watched the bags while he queued up to pay for his duty free. By this time the flight screens were showing that our flight was delayed and was due to leave at 12:30…nevertheless, the boarding time was unchanged and we had to rush to get to the gate. Gate 21 was a good 10 minutes walk and once we got there we sat and waited to board.

Our seats were 5A and 5B at the front of the plane. The plane was a A330 Air Transat. Our seats were comfortable and the flight was smooth. We eventually took off just before 1pm. It seemed a long time before we were served any refreshments but the service was friendly. Our hot meal was beef with rice and it was very nice. This was the longest flight we had ever taken and not smoking was a bit of a challenge – however we managed and we enjoyed a very smooth landing in Calgary airport at 14:30 local time.

Ontario is 5 hours behind UK time….Calgary is 7 hours behind… thus our body clocks were at 21:30 when Calgary time was early afternoon.

We took a taxi to our hotel downtown and it cost us 35 Canadian dollars. The driver had a large orange turban and didn’t say very much at all. He didn’t help much with our bags either, but he got us to our hotel without any problems. There were no porters so Pete had to unload the taxi and hump our luggage up a few steps and into the hotel. Check-in was quick and painless. Our room was 916 – on the 9^th floor. The view from our room is downtown Calgary which we will soon be exploring. Meanwhile, after dumping our cases in our room, we headed for the hotel restaurant which is called Moxie’s. The menu is typical American food, the prices are very good and the portions are quite big. I enjoyed some Sauvignon Blanc, while Pete ordered some bottled Strongbow. Pete’s burger was huge and very tasty, the chips were good and served with a pot of gravy to dip into. My Greek Salad Steak Wrap was out of this world – but I did leave the chips as I was full up.

Charges from the phone in our room would be charged at around a dollar a minute – so we decided to buy a phonecard for 5 Canadian dollars. It was simple enough to use in the phone booths in the hotel lobby. Apparently it was worth 492 minutes, so it was great value. We called my brother and my sister-in-law to announce our safe arrival and then we went back to our room. We are determined to stay awake as long as we can so that we have a good nights sleep and blend into local time as quickly as possible. Pete went to the liquor store around the corner from the hotel, and he bought a few cans of Strongbow – as I write this diary, he is sat at the window looking out onto the city streets – day-dreaming! We are both very tired.

We will go to the bank tomorrow morning and then is we are up to it we will seek out the nearest RV dealers to start our search for a vehicle.

Our Adventure has begun and we are here!

End of Day 1 ……… zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Friday 5th of May

We didn’t manage to stay awake very long last night…Adapting to local time is going to be harder than we thought…asleep most of the evening and awake most of the night…Big day ahead as we set off to find a bank and open an account. Weather sunny and around 25 degrees which is very warm in a city.

The ‘C’ train stops outside our hotel, it’s like a tram and covers most of the city, stopping every 15 minutes. It costs $2.25 each per journey or $5.60 for a day pass. We walked for miles downtown exploring and getting our bearings. The Tourist map shows a set of red footprints which we followed – the footprints are also painted red on the sidewalk…where are the people, this city is so quiet! At first we saw endless coffee shops and restaurants but it took us longer to find the ‘shops’ as they are hidden away in Malls, most do not open before 10am and close around 9pm.

Based on my research prior to arriving here, we were headed for the ScotiaBank. Canadian banks have a totally different way of charging for accounts and this one seemed the best one for us. Despite being told that we could walk in with 2 pieces of Canadian ID and get an account opened, it wasn’t to be so straight-forward! The problem being that an interview is required first to establish a ‘customer profile’ and for this you need an appointment, and these are booked up a week in advance.

Long story short we were lucky with the Bank of Montreal where I got a cheque-account, debit card and internet banking facility. Banking would be free of charge as long as I ensure that the balance doesn’t go under $1,500 and I stick to a maximum of 10 transactions per month.

Next stop, Calgary Tower…nothing like the CN Tower in Toronto, this diminutive is quite unimpressive but there is a Tourist Information office there and we managed to pick up some details on local RV Dealers.

The Bear & Quilt, a great pub in downtown Calgary. The food is great and very reasonable…we learn that Strongbow is very popular here – in fact it is on tap!

Taxi to ‘Canada Dream RV Site’ – a Huge lot filled with Motorhomes in all shapes and sizes. Again, based on our previous research, we are looking for a ‘Used’ Vanguard, C Class Motorhome, around 24ft long. Our Salesman is the owner named Al…he is very helpful and drives us back to the nearest stop where we can pick up the C Train and return to the hotel. The quote he gave us was even better than we expected since he had reduced the prices of the model we wanted to make room for the new ones coming in soon. We discover that there is only $1,000 between each year/model; between $27,000 and $29000 would buy us our dream and there were plenty to chose from. The price difference related to the year of the vehicle however the mileage wasn’t a factor, Al would simply offer us the one with the least mileage he had once we decided which one we wanted.

Train stops do not offer Change Machines…asking a passer-by for change of $5, we were offered her ticket which was still valid and another person offered us the $2.25 and refused to take any money from us…Calgary people are something else!

Internet connection is free in the hotel but it’s not easy to get connected and I keep losing the connection every few minutes.

I was able to open my emails briefly and found a message from a fellow-eBayer…(Many of you will know that prior to our trip, Pete spent many hours on eBay, selling our CDs and bits and pieces…we also found an RV on eBay and we were in touch with the seller who happened to be in Edmonton, Alberta).

We had calculated that the price he wanted for his RV was the maximum we could go to and so we still needed to shop around.

The email was to tell us that he would drop his price – this was great news!

Tomorrow we will go back to see Al at Canada Dream RVs, find out about Warranty costs etc and make comparisons.

We must be slowly adjusting to local time – both still awake at 11:30pm! On the TV in our room, Pete is watching an American version of ‘Deal or No Deal’…hehe everything American always has to be bigger and better…no offence Americans but we prefer Noel Edmunds!

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Saturday 6th of May

This Travelogue should get a lot more interesting once we set off in the RV and hit the open road!!…in the meantime, it’s a blow-by-blow report of our activities which we will be able to look back on when our 6 months is up.

So, up with the lark and still not adjusted completely to local time…breakfast in the hotel and bottomless cups of coffee start our day. I found that ordering a ‘kiddies size’ breakfast is more than enough and also half the price. We boarded the ‘C’ train across the road and set off to see Al at Canada Dream’s RV lot…

First we took the train and found we were going the wrong way...good start! Arriving at Rundle Station we called Al and he picked us up to take us back to the RV lot. The area is like a huge Industrial Estate.

We would need a 3-year warranty to ensure that we would be covered for faults or breakdowns during our trip. Armed with a full quotation to include every detail, Al took us to another lot, about 45 minutes away, where they store RVs and showed us more models that were available. Pete spotted a bald eagle in the sky, it was wide open land and in the middle of nowhere. Pete took a test drive and found that the vehicle was going to be easy to drive...the problem was going to get used to the canadian highway code!

Now back to Downtown Calgary and a bit of shopping...I've got to tell you girls, if you think that the Pound Shops are good in UK, you should see the Dollar Shops here! Of course everything is a Dollar, but it's amazing what you can buy for a Dollar!...definately a store we will come back to when we have to furnish the RV!

All of Canada's Shopping Malls have a Food Court...generally they have a whole cross-section of foods from around the world...it's fast food but good value and an experience we enjoyed.

Back at the hotel, a bit of excitement....sat chilling for a moment and an alarm goes off...realising we should evacuate, we headed down the 9 flights of stairs to reception...there everyone was gathering very calmly and orderly. Seems there was a report of a minor gas leak in the basement (which is also the carpark)...2 fire trucks arrive and several very hunky firemen come to our rescue. About an hour later we were allowed back to our room.

It's another warm and sunny day - we need to tel Al our decision by Monday since it will take 2 or 3 days to get our vehicle ready once we chose one.

Back to our fellow eBayer via email and telephone...finally we are agreed on a price and arrange to leave for Edmonton on Monday - Hooorrrray!

Looking for a good Steak House to celebrate, we consulted our 'Rough Guide to Canada' ...choosing a medium-price range we walked to 'Ceasars' which was highly recommended. Great place, lovely people...but menu scared us a bit!! We quickly decided to move on and ended up at an equally renowned restaurant called 'Hys'. Here we had to carefully chose as the wine list went up into thousands of dollars per bottle!! but we had a good meal and celebrated our succesful day.

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Sunday 7th of May

Today is Sunday and as usual I am up with the lark…it’s another warm and sunny day, the freight train echoes in the distance and a couple of Canadian geese sqwalk loudly as they fly by, but otherwise it is a very quiet morning and the streets are nearly empty.

We decided to find a nice place for breakfast and so we took the C train to an area Kensington and we went to 'Nelleys'. Incredible breakfasts and very reasonable...seems a lot nicer than other areas of Calgary so we had a good walk around. At Nelleys

Pete chose a ‘belly buster breakfast’ (still wonder where he puts it!)…he had crispy bacon, eggs once-over-easy, French toast, wholegrain toast, a mini muffin and breakfast potatoes ; I had a BLT with maple syrup and as usual bottomless cups of coffee…yummy! Fed and watered we walked back to the station where we got off the train as we saw a Safeway’s there and wanted to have a look at food prices etc. First impression was really good, everything is bigger and better, vegetables and fruit look so fresh and clean, variety is amazing and standard pack sizes of everything is at least twice the size of our British products…and the prices were so much cheaper than what we are used to! One thing impressed me ; They sold packs of tinned and packet food in bags of various values, 5 dollars and upwards – These bags of food were for the needy and so it was an easy and very worthwhile way of helping them. We should do this in the UK, I think it would take off very well!

From there we took the train again and carried on in a north west direction which we hadn’t yet seen. We stopped at a Shopping Mall – most everything here is open between 12pm and 5pm on Sundays. We had a good walk round, bought some post cards and stopped for a snack at Earls (a well-known steakhouse chain)…This food thing is getting silly; we are getting plenty of exercise but everything is so appetising it’s hard to resist trying something new each time we stop at a new place! At Earls Pete ordered a burger with fries and I had a starter-size portion of crispy ribs, by this time it was very overcast and we decided to head back on the train to the end of the line in a north easterly direction…the scenery really didn’t seem to change much along the way. We did pass the stadium where the Calgary Stampede is held in July, but otherwise the road was very uninteresting. At the end of the line we stayed on the train as it returned to the city centre and we came back to the hotel. I must be getting on Pete’s nerves as I keep saying that I will be so happy to leave Calgary tomorrow! I find this city very non-descript and cannot imagine anyone wanting to live here; like any city, there are lots of tall buildings, office blocks and apartments, but unlike our European cities, there is just no character here.

According to our Rough Guide to Canada book, it seems that Edmonton isn’t much better as they are in a way in competition with each other…there are just less people in Edmonton … O great, can’t wait to get there ; never mind, the main thing is that it is one step closer to having our RV and setting off on the open-road.

Depending on the banks we hope that our money will be transferred by Wednesday and then we will be able to get out of the cities at last. You can almost see the snow-capped mountain tops from one side of the city but they are too far away to see their true splendour - Unfortunately!

That’s all for our 4^th day in Canada, must start re-packing cases. I have to stay awake til 2am tonight so that I can call our bank (it will be 9am Monday morning in UK) – once we request the transfer of funds it should take 2 or 3 working days for us to access the money.

Made the call using a Phonecard bought for $10...once you learn how to use it, it's a cheap and efficient way to call abroad...but learning to use it very stresssssful! Worth also mentioning that, you pay for the Phone Card so you don't need money to make a call from any phone...unless you use a pay-phone! as this costs 35 cents...!!

I speak with our bank and request the transfer to be made to the BMO (Bank of Montreal). It would all be perfectly simple if the BMO had given me the Code I needed to switch the money to...grrrrrrrrr......this means I have to get to my bank in the morning and get the code, then I have to call my UK bank again and they will arrange the transfer by wire. The problem this causes is, with the time difference being +7 hours, it means that it will be 5pm UK time by the time I am able to call them back (as Canadian banks open between 9:30 and 10:00am)......

Monday 8th of May

Incorrect information from our hotel meant that we couldn't book a hire car until this morning. First things first, we head for the BMO...we get the info we need and spend the next hour trying to call UK with our Phonecard through a pay-phone...grrrrrrrrr....At last I manage to get through and we are off to find the Hertz office near the hotel, only to learn it had closed and moved some months ago...luckily we spotted an Avis office and we hired a car from there. They call it a Compact car but it is nearly new and very spacious. We drive off in a Pontiac saloon car for less than $100 a day, plus tax of course! Pete not impressed about having to drive in the city but he managed just fine.

Bags loaded into the car, it's about 11:30am, and we set off for Millet which is a town just before we get to Edmonton. We have arranged to meet our fellow eBayer there at 5pm and see the RV. It is parked on a lot in Millet, run by 'Leisure RV' which is affiliated with Canada Dream RVs. The unit has been kept in very good condition.

Bill of Sale was drawn up and we followed our fellow-eBayer to his home. He has invited us to stay with him and his family for the next few days while we wait for the money to come through. It is a very kind offer and we are made to feel very welcome indeed. They live north of the city of Edmonton and they have a lovely home. His wife is a super cook, she made a lovely supper and we stayed up late talking til late.

Glad to be in Edmonton, great to be with such good people and very happy indeed to have sealed the deal on the RV.

Tuesday 9th of May

A great night's sleep and our hosts are off to work and take their son to school on the way. We look up our Rough Guide to Canada again and read all about West Edmonton Mall...looks like we have to go and see it for ourselves!

"Your venture awaits" announces the brochure...preparing you for a place that gets 11 mentions in the Guiness Book of Records!!! Including it's main claim to fame, the Largest Shopping Mall in The World! It was built at a total cost of 1.1 Billion Dollars. The complex extends over the equivalent of 115 american football fields (or 48 city blocks) and boasts more than 800 shops - of which some 110 are restaurants - plus 19 cinemas and 11 department stores. It's carpark is the world's largest, with room for 20,000 cars. It has the world's largest Water Park (50 million litres of water) - it uses enough power to run a town of 50,000 people. Among the attractions; the world's only Indoor Bungie Jump and the world's largest indoor lake. The lake has a full size replica of Columbus' Santa Maria, and 4 working submarines - more than are owned by the Canadian Navy. It also has the world's largest indoor Amusement Park which features such attractions as ;The Drop of Doom (a 13 storey free-fall experience) and the 14 storey Mind Bender Triple Loop Roller Coaster. the World Water Park has a superb collection of vast swimming pools, immense water slides and Wave Pools. A National-Hockey-League size skating rink. The 354-room Fantasy Land Hotel is also incorporated, where the rooms are decorated to fulfill various assorted fantasies such as Roman, Hollywood, Arabian, Victorian Coach, African, Igloo, Canadian Rail and most intriguing of all....Truck! ...It would take W

We were warned to make sure we noted where we parked - obviously it is Very Easy to get lost and/or spend hours looking for your car!

(Another adventure took over when we realised that we couldn't find our way back to our hosts house...after over an hour driving in circles we had to call them and ask that they come to get us...it was very embarassing but if you saw the maps and how the houses are all alike, you might forgive us for not realising that there were more than one Avenue by the same number!...All the streets here are named by number and so are the Avenues...great once you get the hang of it!)

We had a great day there and returned to our hosts for another stupendous dinner. Peter enjoyed a lovely Moose Stew while I was quite happy with a lovely salad and pasta...We are getting very excited and hoping that our money will reach us in the next day or so, then we can set off on the open-road!...At this point we start to look into Insurance and License plates, and this begins a whole new set of worries...

Laws differ from one province to the other. Thanks to my brother (in Ontario), we are able to get some good advice which helped us a lot. After speaking with him on the phone, Peter and I would have to spend the next two days trying to sort out these two issues. Would our dream be ruined by technicalities? Would we be the proud owners of an RV but not able to drive it?!...eeeek!

Wednesday 10th of May

Great start to the day! A call to BMO and it seems money is clear. We should have been returning the Hire car this morning but we called to extend another day...it is not always possible to do this, but Avis were very helpful and allowed us to return the car tomorrow, this way we can get the Bank Draft and buy some things for the RV. Still no joy with the Insurance as everybody that we need to talk to seems to be in a meeting or away from their desk.

We get the Bank Draft raised and then we find the Dollar Store and the Army Navy Store where we manage to buy most of what we will need. (If we can't get to drive our RV we will at least be able to live in it! hehe)...

Another conversation with my brother and we have some options to try with the insurance - unfortunately it's too late in the evening and so we have to get on the phone tomorrow morning before returning the hire car, and hope that we are succesful.

Needless to say, another great meal served by our hosts and a good night's sleep followed.

Thursday 11th of May....Big Day!

It's our 7th day and our busiest day yet...

Our host has taken the day off and we all up early with several things to do. First things first, we need to make some phone calls and buy some insurance for Peter to drive the RV, after that we can sort out the license plate and registration. I finally get through to Al, (another Al!), an insurance broker…Al says that there is only one company in the whole of Alberta that will insure us because we have no permanent address in Alberta and no driving history here either. ‘Facility Insurance’ is a government program and is aimed at people considered to be ‘high risk’ – naturally the premiums are high too. One point Al makes is that we will save 50% if we can give an address outside of Edmonton…this makes life more difficult as we were going to use our fellow eBayers’ address but he is in Edmonton…this problem isn’t all that we have to get over….Main thing is we can have insurance and we can have it today ; Facility requires payment in cash only but we find out that they are in Calgary, so is Al for that matter…(as it’s a free-phone number it is not obvious at first!)…As a broker, Al will take a credit card payment for a 6% handling fee, since he has to pay Facility up front on our behalf. We decide that the RV Park in Millet will be the best address we can give…the address will only be used to post the original Pink Card within 60 days (in the meantime we will have a copy to use). Al takes our details and instructs us to get to Millet, send a fax to his office with the full address details, upon receipt he will fax us an application form, Pete will sign it and fax it back…then Al can fax us a copy of the Pink Card and Bob’s your uncle!…$2693 dollars (including tax and handling fee) (Al should become our uncle at that price!)

Ok, so now all we have to do is deliver the hire car back in downtown Edmonton ; on the way we stop at our fellow ebayers’ bank and ask if the draft is automatically cleared or if there is any red tape involved…his bank say they have to confirm the draft and then all will be ok – to confirm it they have to call the branch where I had it raised…the lines are all busy…we insist that they keep trying…eventually they get through, they are asked to fax a copy of the draft to my branch then call back – They decide to put a hold on the draft until they can get through to my branch…grrrr….

So we decide to go to my branch and we explain, they are happy to help and confirm the draft over the phone – end of problem!

Now we can set off for Millet…we need to get there asap as Al’s office closes at 5pm and the paperwork has to be raised if we want to be insured today. We dropped the hire car off and it was straightforward once we found the Avis office which is hidden away in a hotel lobby…anyway, we set off with our host now to Millet…

We are three quarters of the way to Millet (about 45 minutes from Edmonton city centre) when I declare that I haven’t got the envelope I was carrying…host pulls over so that we can search the car…in panic stage now…suddenly our host gets a call on his mobile, it’s the BMO and they have our envelope…(just to explain, this envelope contains not only contains all our bank account details but also Pete’s passport and driving license etc etc!!)…we realise there is nothing we can achieve by carrying on and we need to do a U-turn back to Edmonton ; our host is as calm and collected as can be and doesn’t show any signs of frustration whatsoever!

We arrive back at the bank, collect the envelope and then head back to Millet (again!)

When we get there it is around 4:30…we ask if we can use their address for the Pink Card, they say yes, we call Al and we send him a fax….he sends us an application form and Pete signs it and faxes it back…it is now 5pm and we learn that Millet Registration Office closes at 5pm…the nearest Registration office is in Leduc, about 15 minutes away….Leduc office closes at 6pm…we arrive there and queue up at 5:45…a painless process enables us to walk out of there at 6pm with our License Plate!

We Did It!!!…now our host has to drive us back to Millet, we transfer al the luggage and bags over to the RV…we are given a quick run-through on the workings and electrics of the vehicle and it was hugs and sighs of relief all round! We waved goodbye to our host, while somehow knowing that we would see each other again – he and his family had been so kind and so welcoming – we cannot thank him enough for everything!!

Pete is now sitting at the helm, we drive off without wasting any more time, it is getting late and we need to find a place to park for the night…109 kilometers later we came across ‘Calhoun Bay’…here we could pull in and park up – there were no facilities but Pete was very tired and the lake was beautiful and peaceful. We were the only people there…there were no officials or other campers and in the distance we could hear the wolves howling, so we shut down, locked up and un-packed enough things to make the bed and have a good night’s sleep.

Goodnight……zzzzzzzzz

Travelogue continues...see May : Week 2 : Friday 12th through Thursday 18th :-)

Week 2 : May : Friday 12th through Thursday 18th

Friday 12th of May

Waking up to a rainy day, still nobody in sight…we drive out of our parking area and find the sign which we missed last night in the dark…the sign explains that campers have to register and make a payment…we pick up an envelope and follow the instructions…we need to pay $14 for our stay – Canadians are trusting and we Rvers are honest!…we put the envelope with the money into the slot provided on a wooden post and we set off…we are heading in the direction of Jasper, we need to un-pack properly and settle in…

314 kilometers later we reach Hinton…gateway to the rockies and Jasper…we pull into a KOA campsite which the camping-guide tells us has all facilities including free internet….hoorah!

We check-in for 2 nights and expect the cost to be up to $40 dollars per night…as it happens, they offer a discount loyalty card and we save 10% …also they are having a special weekend to raise money for children with cancer…they are offering our first night free of charge, so by the time we pay our stay will cost $39…bargain!

We hook up to electricity and water and sewerage pipes and we settle-in…we un-pack some more and at 9pm we join other campers by the fire pit for hot chocolate and cookies…(another fund raising event)…the money raised will pay for children with cancer to have a holiday at a KOA campsite – it’s a great idea and gives a lot of happiness…Pete gives me my Zoladex injection and I stay up as long as I can to update our Website while we have a good connection.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Saturday 13th of May

Morning Campers! It’s Saturday – we wake up early to see the view of the Rockies in the distance…the snow capped peaks are spectacular…it’s a sunny day but chilly…I spend some time on updating the website only to lose everything after Wednesday…I am sure that my first attempt was better written and more witty, but deflated that I wasted time I decided to try again and re-write it later…

Pete went for a walk, I made breakfast in the RV and later we un-hooked and went into Hinton. We had a look around Canadian Tire but figured we had already been spoiled by the Dollar and Army/Navy Stores…we did have to get air into our front tire as it was very low. We stopped at a few shops and then diverted, we took a side road through some forest and parked up by Jarvis lake…the trees, the fresh air and the water were all beautiful – a short walk around William A Switzer Provincial Park and we headed back to the KOA campsite. We forgot to note the mileage so we estimate to have done about 90 kilometers today (remember I am updating the site a week later). Tonight they will be lighting tea-lights on the pond – another fund raiser…so we are off for our ice-cream and tea-lighting session…

Ps; we’ve decided to stay another night and so we will spend the day tomorrow planning our journey and campsites…it will be Mother’s Day and we will probably be better setting off back on the road on Monday morning…

Good night to all!

Sunday 14th of May : Mother's Day

We spend the day at the campsite and just chilled...We've called out our Road Assistance to come and change our tire (as we were told to use the service rather than do it ourselves - and we don't have any tire changing equipment!)...It looks like a slow puncture and the man said we needed to go into a garage as he didn't have the right tools to take the tire off and he couldn't tow us either...so we stay put until tomorrow.

Monday 15th of May

Our KOA campsite manager offers to blow up our tire with the help of his generator this is enough to get us on the road back into Hinton where we stopped at a garage called Tirecraft...we tell them we need our tire repaired and they instantly get to work...the culprit was the tiniest screw ever, you wouldn't imagine something so small could puncture an RV tire - but it did...we watch the mechanic as he repairs our tire and puts it back on R-Vera. A painless $35.84 including labour and tax and we are on our way again. The garage does advise us that the alignment should be looked at at some point but we are safe to go!

What a beautiful drive – mountains ahead of us and all around us…lakes and trees and waterfalls …it’s a very hot day, the sun is bright and the sky is bright blue with just a couple of large white fluffy clouds…

We are heading for Jasper Provincial Park. On our way we stop at Miette Springs…these are the deepest natural hot springs in the Rockies and are very inviting. They are expanding the pool area and so there is construction going on, but it is otherwise a lovely place to rest and take a dip. Entrance to the pools is $9 per person including towels (we had our swimsuits but you can also hire one if needed). We ate at the pool-side Café, it boasts a wide range of snacks and homemade treats. Pete has a Bison burger and said the cheesecake was also excellent!

We stop at several ‘view points’ and walk around the rocks and waterfalls…taking a few photos along the way.

Wildlife so far….a beautiful large yellow butterfly, then a squirrel, then mountain goats…

We reach Jasper Townsite, a commercial town with many boutique-type shops, restaurants, Internet Cafes etc…we park ‘Rvera’ in the RV parking lot and cross the railway tracks to the main shopping area. We try to access our emails in an Internet Café but notice that I am not receiving any mails from UK…seems I am only receiving emails from Canada all of a sudden. Stocked up on a few basic food items and head for Whistlers, one of the many campsites in Jasper National Park (but the only one open at this time of year in this area).

At the entrance of the National Park they charge us $9 per person (this is entrance to the park only and any campsite fees will be extra). We reach Whistlers Campsite a few moments later, it’s a lovely forest area. We requested a spot near to the showers –they are still almost a drive away! Of course we have our own shower but the whole point of paying for full hook-up is to make the most of the facilities…

Today we clock up 142 kilometers.

A friendly Ground Squirrel greats us and hovers expectantly around our camp…it is still daylight at 9:30pm when we decide to get an early night…exhausted and ready for a good night’s sleep.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz

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Tuesday 16th of May

Wake-up at 6:30am…a bit chilly outside, but our RV is nice and warm…we start to plan the day and Pete is anxious to keep going and exploring…so am I, but I was hoping to spend some time in the park, chilling and re-charging batteries. Getting to where we are, has been great, but it has been tiring and my energy levels are very low. The mountain air is much thinner, the days have been very warm to very hot. After receiving a text message on my mobile we walk across the highway to a Motel where they have telephone and internet…have breakfast and walk back to the RV…I am sitting here, at our picnic table, birds signing and squirrel still nipping around hoping we will feed him (would love to help him but figure that it might attract a whole family of followers and decide best to adhere to the forest code ‘it is unlawful to feed animals’).

We’ve agreed to take a couple of hours to just chill here before un-hooking…we will go to the Tram and take a ride to the top of the mountain, then we want to also find a place to rent a canoe…Malign Lake is still frozen they tell us but Pyramid Lake is ok…so we’ll see how far we get! It’s around 11am and the sun is quickly heating up the camp…through the tall trees we are surrounded by the snow capped mountains – it’s a wonderful view all round!

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Well, it was a day filled with more breathtaking scenery and wildlife…stopping along the road at each view-point, taking video film and photos. A wolf crossed the road in front of us and later we stopped to see several mountain goats, with thick white coats, were grazing by the roadside. Athabasca Falls were beautiful and the walk we took. Awesome and stunning views of rushing water and rock eroded over hundreds of years. Further down the road we stopped at Sunwapta Falls and these were also beautiful…at this point we decided to head back to the camp and it was on our way that Pete finally got his wish; there it was, a lovely black bear on the side of the road eating tiny yellow flowers and totally undisturbed by the excitement he was causing. Pete stopped and videoed the bear and I took some photos. We got back to our campsite around 5pm, another full day. The canoe and Tram ride will have to wait another day!

Today we clock up 110 kilometers.

The sun was hot and the sky was blue again all day…it’s around 8pm now and the sun is still shining between the trees on our campsite. By this time we have given in to the little squirrel and fed him a few crackers…a few large crows are ready to steal his food as soon as he collects it – they chase him up and down the tree but he is sprightly and manages to keep some crumbs for himself. A few yards away from R-Vera, there is an animal peaking his head out from a whole in the ground and he whistles…it’s a whistling marmot – Pete gets him on film and we go back to watching our squirrel.

As I write this, Pete has gone to find the showers…I couldn’t muster up the energy to walk that far! … Am quite sure it will be another early night, as tomorrow we will head off to Mount Robson Park and find a campsite there.

For an hour or so we lose our electric and notice that we are not alone, a couple from Bristol are parked 2 spots down and they have come over to borrow a lighter…they have a baby and a little girl, they have travelled a lot of miles in just a few days; they have rented their 29 foot home from Canada Dream and are paying £1000 (GBP) per week! They have driven a long way and regretted taking some very rough roads…it’s not easy travelling with little ones and they are all very tired. Anyway they also have no electric until, suddenly it comes back on. Another early night zzzzzzzzz

Wednesday 17th of May

What a beautiful day….woke up early and took in the view surrounding us. We stop in Jasper to ‘stockup’ as recommended by our Rough Guide book, as there are few stores or gas stations along our way. We walk around Jasper, bought food in IGA, wine and cider in the liquor store and found the post office to finally send our postcards off…Jasper is actually a really nice town despite it’s commercialism, the houses are nice and gardens are well kept, the roads are immaculate (as are all the roads here, no rubbish lying around!). We stop at the Bear Paw Bakery, which they say is ‘World famous in Jasper’ (hehe)…they have a huge selection of breads and cakes and cookies – all homemade and very tasty, washed down with bottomless cups of fresh coffee. Pete manages to get internet connection on our laptop so we make the most of it and catch up on our messages. We are parked near the ‘Pine Cones & Pussy Willows’ gift and souvenir store…it’s filled with art and craft and quality gifts, I could spend all day here but we have to move on…

We set off for British Columbia…at the border we go straight to the tourist info bureau which is on the highway…opposite the tourist office is one of the parks we were thinking of spending the night…but the assistant suggests another site a bit further along…we take her advice and pull in to ‘Tete Jaune Cache’….it is a privately owned site with just a few hook-ups, it is by the lake and very beautiful…we pay our $20 dollars per night (plus tax) for 2 nights and we make our way to the edge of the lake to park up. Most Canadians, I am sure, would chose a spot as far away from the lake as possible as it means midges and mosquitoes Big-Time….but we are more brave and figure that bug-life is still coming out of hibernation so not yet unbearable…We find a nice spot by the lake – it’s the Fraser River – The Fast Flowing Fraser River they call it…we take in the surrounding view and settle in for a steak supper followed by banana & nut ice cream (HageenDaas!)…and a nice dry Chardonnay…it’s a beautiful evening…our neighbours here are just ending a 3 month trip in their RV and they have been all across America…they are on their way home to Calgary and they are making the most of the quiet and peace here. I went over to borrow a can opener (thought I had remembered everything! – huh!)….but I quickly left after opening my can, as they were sitting there being eaten by mosquitoes – and seemingly enjoying it!

Back at R-Vera….we sprayed some bug repellent around the doors and vents and seemed to avoid the onslaught…I lit a cedar insence stick, bought earlier from Jasper souvenir shop, and this seemed to help a lot too!!…I rinsed through our T-Shirts and hung them from a tree…did the dishes and it’s time to sit and play with puter. The view from here is stupendous, we’ve dunked our feet in the river (freezing water I might add) and we both are feeling the heat even though it is nearly 8:30pm…still daylight and still very warm, luckily there is a nice breeze coming from the river as I won’t let Pete put the air conditioning on in case we get used to it …there will be many more hotter days ahead and we need to acclimatize!

As we have booked in for 2 nights, I am hoping that tomorrow will be a relaxing day…we did a shorter journey today since Pete wanted to stop in Mount Robsons Park…we only did 117 kilometres (clicks as they call them!)…we should spend a nice chilling day tomorrow and then make our way to Clearwater where there is a KOA Park…there we may stay for a few days for work reasons and then we should be free to move on as we wish, with or without facilities.

At this time of year, there is only one of the Provincial Parks open in BC, that is Robson’s Meadows, it is located right in front of the tourist information office – all others are either closed down completely or not yet open for the season. Our site is privately owned, very rural and no mod cons, but it does have water and electricity and boasts a well-recommended Greek restaurant which we may try before leaving?!…either way we have enough food for a few days, I have just finished making a bolognaise which we can eat or freeze for later.

zzzzzzzzzzz

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Thursday 18th of May

It’s a fresh but bright morning, the view is lovely…we slept with the curtains open behind our bed so that we could look straight out at the river and trees when we woke up. We stayed at the campsite until 2pm and then Pete’s feet were getting far too itchy (hehe – he’s a nightmare!)…we cleaned up and un-hooked and set off back down the road we had come in on…first stop, a lay-by leading to the viewpoint for Rearguard Falls…through the pine forest and at the end of the path we came to a fence, there wasn’t much space between us and the rushing water – quite beautiful and yet so obviously treacherous water, gushing at speed in front of us and winding along the river beyond. We drove on a bit further to Mount Terry Fox, there we read the information boards celebrating the hero who died trying to raise awareness for cancer victims; a lovely park area with solid picnic tables and a commemorative cairn dedicated to him…at the end of the path, Terry Fox’s viewpoint looked across at the mountain and a large drop that seemed endless. A bit further on we stop again, this time at Overlander Falls – here we pulled up on the side of the road and heard the sound of the falls quite clearly. Pete set off with his walkie-talkie in hand, video camera and water bottle…the walk to the falls should be an hour and a half so I decide to stay in the RV and catch up on our diary and make some lunch.

Mileage today 50 kilometers.

Back at our campsite in Tete Jaune Cache, we settle in for the evening...there is a lot of birdlife here, we see many hummingbirds and they are beautiful to watch...Pete made a fire and we burned some incense to help keep the mosquitos away...Greg is the campsite manager and Pete had given him a couple of dollars this morning, to buy us some marshmallows for roasting on the fire...Greg brought the marshmallows but it was about 9pm...he came into our Rv and had a couple of glasses of wine with us, he was an interesting chap and full of stories...I think my yawning did the trick (or maybe cause the wine was finished?!), w said goodnight and off he went.

zzzzzzzzzzzz

PS: Travelogue continues...see Week 3 : May : Friday 19th through Thursday 25th

Week 3 : May : Friday 19th through Thursday 25th

Friday 19th of May

Another beautiful morning...early start and we realise that as we are in British Columbia now, we've actually lost an hour, so now we are 6 hours behind UK instead of 7 hours. We decide to call ahead to Clearwater KOA campsite to book our long weekend because it's a bank holiday weekend here as they celebrate Victoria Day on Monday...that done, we've booked a site for 3 nights over the phone so we don't have to worry about getting a space on this busy weekend. The road continues to enchant, countless lakes, streams, brooks, falls, rapids, rivers...there are so few vehicles on the road, whatever traffic we do see overtake us and we just drive along obeying the speed limits which are mainly around 90 kilometers per hour...(Pete says he would never go so slow on English roads, but here there is just so much to see and you never tire of seeing another mountain or another body of water)...Like many things, trucks are bigger here and they speed along the roads, overtaking everything in their way, on a hill or on a bend!...we start to lose sight of the mountain peeks and the highway is lined on each side by thick forest and rock cliffs...it clouds over for a few moments only to get sunny again and it's getting hot. Our first stop is in Valemount, a charming little town. We park Rvera and walk accross the road to the bank, the food store and a general store. We stock up on more bottled water - never have we drank so much water...it seems everyone here carries either a coffee flask or a bottle of water and you get a very dry mouth very fast if you don't keep drinking!...

Pete checks out the Realty Office and picks up some details just for curiosity's sake...unbelievable value, houses with lots of land at very reasonable prices...everybody here is just like everywhere else we have been so far, so kind and so polite and so friendly! We stop for a coffee, bottomless of course and drink it at the beautiful log table outside the shop. We do a bit more window shopping and in the general store I find a carpet perfect for the RV and some other bits and pieces...we enjoyed Valemount very much. Back on the road, a fox crossed the road in front of us and we continue towards Clearwater. The distance on the map was very deceiving, Clearwater looked closer than it actually was, but we get there and stop at the tourist info office first to pick up more litterature (our cupboard is now full of maps and guides we've picked up along the way). We decide to find a place to eat before we get to the campsite and find a lovely Cafe...The service and the food excellent and extremely good value for money! There are several companies in this area promoting canoe and rafting trips as well as helicopter rides...Pete is anxious to try a canoe (I am not quite as adventurous and so hope he won't mind if I give that one a miss!)...We get to the KOA site and check-in...$75 dollars for the 3 nights - great value. There is a heated pool here, wireless internet connection, 2 computers, a laundry room, showers, telephones, a very large restaurant and a gift shop with some basic food for sale...our site is directly opposite main reception and the pool.

Clocked-up today 228 kilometers

As soon as we are hooked up I get onto the internet and catch up on the last few days emails...then I start to update our website only to find that I have reached a maximum of 15 paragraphs...if I chose to add further paragraphs to my travelogue I will have to pay...so I re-organise the paragraphs into weeks at a time, (lots of copy-pasting!) this way we should be good for 15 weeks and worry about the rest when we get there! it seems to have worked and I am now all up to date!

Pete is reading a thick book all about Wells Gray Park...the man at reception loaned it to us as he knows we will be exploring the park tomorrow...I am typing as Pete reads snippets from the book and it sounds very fascinating...I will try to quote some little facts and trivia for you later...for now it's getting dark so I am going to get cumfy and relax with Pete before getting some zzzz's

A goodnight from me and a goodnight from him

Saturday 20th of May

It's raining! the townsfolk are all happy as they get a bit nervous when it gets so dry and hot...it freshens the air too...

As I have some work to do, I spend most of the day on the laptop...As it's raining, Pete reads his book, listens to music, plays solitaire yatzhee and is pretty twitchy...(if it wasn't raining he would probably have gone off for a hike)...(mind you he's got mosquito bites and putting socks and ankle boots only irritates them and makes them more itchy!)...late afternoon we take a short walk to a Motel and have a coffee outside (I've got my boots on and my ankles are really itchy too / it's mind over matter, don't scratch and use plenty of AfterBite!!)...we meet a group of people on the way back and exchange stories, they are from Edmonton and are just passing through...we walk back to Rvera and we have my bolognaise with pasta. Pete feels better for having a short walk but I am sure he can't wait to get out for the day tomorrow...I've told him I don't need to work again til Monday but it is looking like we sill stay here til Tuesday...then we will head for Vancouver and Vancouver Island.

Needless to say we haven't seen much wildlife today apart from birds and domestic dogs at the campsite...the rain stopped by early evening and the air is a lot fresher. At the risk of rambling on about absolutely-nothing, I will bid you all goodnight now!

PS: I've put some counters on our site earlier today...glad to see we have had 1 hit so far! hehe...keep on coming back, whoever you are!! :-)

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Sunday 21st of May

It was a quiet morning and all was well in KOA park...we set off to explore Wells Gray park around 11am...the maps are very deceiving - but one thing is clear, the road into Wells Gray is the same road you take out....Peter having read all about the various view points and history in the book (which I mentioned earlier, he borrowed from reception)...meant that we had an idea of where we were heading and what we wanted to see...

Up-sho t: Mileage 160 kilometers today

1st stop: Spahats Falls....beautiful - rushing water - easy to get to ; then, a list of creeks, rivers, lakes and falls...I wasmost impresed by the "Mushbowl" - this is visible from the road and over a bridge...where the water seems to meet rocks and is in a violent turmoil...Pete was most impressed with Dawson Falls...he had to walk about 20 minutes to reach them but he said it was totally worth it!...I can see the video he took as I stayed in the RV while he did this trek...

Overall, we spent the whole day exploring Wells Gray...we got back to town and decided to eat something before hooking up in the camp....we stopped at the local Bar & Grill and we played a couple fo games of pool, we had a couple of drinks, we met some very nice people and we had a snack between us...it was a full day...and as for wildlife: Here's the low-down!;

2 bouncy dear....so beautiful!

lots of butterflies and a few squirrels - so cute

5 Bears!!! yes, we saw one on it's own early on, then later on the way back we spotted one on the verge of the road with 2 young ones climbing up a tree, and then another one half way up a tree that dissapeared as soon as we stopped the vehicle!

We also saw buffalo at a ranch and took photos and film of them...

A good day for wildlife all round!

It has been a wonderful day - so much to see and so peaceful...the weather has held up - a few drops of rain but mainly very sunny....it has been cooler and more comfortable and we have overcome those mosquitos by covering ourselves with the spray and easing the bites with the calomine lotion!!

Basically I am hoping that the photos will speak for themselves when I get chance to download them...meanwhile it's a quick goodnight from me and a goodnight from him!

PS: nice to see the counter working...looks like there is more tha n one person interested in what we are doing!

Best regards to all our friends

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Monday 22nd of May

I was up with the lark again, at a slow pace I uploaded some photos of our day out yesterday onto the site....it started off a damp day but looked promising...then it started to rain gently and it has been a very wet day. We went into the town of Clearwater and found a grocery store, (looked like a fairly small store from the outside, but it was quite large once inside!)...Pete sat in the RV working out our next route while I walked around reading labels and signs and ingredients...(small things amuse small minds don't they?!)...I emerged about an hour later with 6 carrier bags full of shopping and didn't have to take out a mortgage either!...At the till, the bags were packed for me and the assistants were all very chatty...for you girlies or interested parties who want to know what the cost of food is like here (bearing in mind that you can get better prices in larger towns where supermarkets are huge and more plentiful!)...here are some of the general items I spotted: 2 x large (and I mean large!) / fresh beefeater tomatoes...$1.89 (that's less than 45 pence each), 2 x T-Bone Steaks @$17.50 a kilo (total weight 1 kilo - that's about £4 per steak which is not bad!...A dozen of Large / Fresh Organic eggs $4.09 (about £2)...I could go on and on of course, but that gives you an idea...One thing that was obvious to me as I walked up and down each aisle (and figure this small store was about 3 times the size of our local Waitrose!)...everything in small portions is expensive...you may think that this is the same in UK, but figure this; I wanted a small pot of mixed herbs, I stood in front of this section for minutes! so much variety was mind boggling...anyway I could buy a small packet or a Shwartz size bottle for around $4 or $5 (that's not cheap!!) - but I could buy 500g (1/2 a kilo) for $2.99.......no cutting back on quality, just a large pointer that smaller packs are aimed at tourists and campers and that the average family would certainly buy such things in large packs and save a fortune! We have found that bread is quite dear here, I always look at the price before picking up a loaf, as it is easy to spend a lot on one brand rather than save on another, don't get me wrong, price isn't everything...it's just that by being watchful you can save a couple of dollars on a loaf of bread! Today they had in-store bakery loaves, freshly baked for around $1.50 (not cheap!) - they also had 'italian style' (??) sliced loaves, the same size but branded, for around $4.00 (am sorry but no matter how special it is it's still a white cut loaf and not worth £2!!) - hehe, just a bit of fun and hope it is of some interest to someone out there....otherwise I have just written a 'grumpy old women' paragraph :-)

Ok, so we can't make a campfire as it is raining still, we are staying put until lunchtime tomorrow when we will get back on the road and head towards Vancouver...Peter is waiting for me to finish writing this so that he can discuss the potential routes with me...we're stocked up, so all we have to do is fuel up tomorrow and we'll be off.

A very good night to all - and Happy Victoria Day!

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Tuesday 23rd of May

I realise that he won't see this, but I want to say Happy Birthday Dad!!! ...88 years young...born this day 1918...Huge hugs and all our love to him on his special day!!

It's early morning and the sun is shining again, it rained all night so the forest is now a lot safer and the fire threat is very low...we're leaving this camp in a couple of hours and will be heading towards Vancouver, stopping at a couple more campsites along the way...up-dating the website will depend on getting an internet connection so, stay tuned for progress report as and when we can get back in!

Today (Clearwater to Paul Lake / Kamloops) 143 km

Well we set off on Highway 5 and headed south passing ranches and homesteads, following the railway and river almost all of the way. We are travelling in a mountainous area on a main road and still coming across little traffic to mention…a large truck carrying enormous logs overtook us on a bridge and we saw a few cars and a few RVs – but for a lot of the way it felt like we had the road to ourselves. Arriving at the sign for Kamloops we took a left and followed signs for Paul Lake Provincial Park, 18km later we picked our spot and pulled in to our camp for the night. A warden should be around later to collect our $14 for the night. The signs warn us that we are in Bear country and to be bear aware! As you pull into the park there is a sign for the beach to one side and camping to the other…we investigated the beach and it was lovely, all clean and beautiful…there was a family paddling and building sandcastles by the water…a few moments after we pulled into our site we heard some thunder in the distance…after a lovely sunny start to the day we were in for a shower…as I write, the rain seems to have stopped and Pete-the-explorer is hoping to go for a walk. I am hoping it is a dry evening so that we can use our campfire (which is complete with logs…someone must have known we were coming!)…that’ll be hamburgers and toasted marshmallows all round!

This is what it’s all about….the rain has stopped and the sun has come out…the warden was a young chap and very friendly, he collected our money for the night’s stay and also sold us a wheelbarrow of wood for $5…(wish he delivered to Ringwood!!!) Anyway, I’ve been making the burgers and preparing the salad while Pete is down at the lake taking some video and doing his exploring…the warden did reassure us that it wasn’t really bear season yet and that the signs were just precautionary! Phew!…I was a bit worried about making burgers on the campfire in case it lured them…Anyway, we’ve definitely got good wood to burn for the next few weeks! (Pete reminds me that we should have bought an axe! Oops!)…maybe when warden comes back around later this evening, we can borrow one! Meanwhile it’s going to be a big fire for the burgers – hehe – don’t worry, we’ll be careful!

I’ve got no mobile phone service or internet here…just the company of the birds…it’s a really picturesque sight and I am sure if the sun comes out tomorrow we will visit Kamloops (with a population of 77,000) and then head back for a second night here…

We obviously picked up a mobile signal when we reached the outskirts of Kamloops…my phone went off with 3 message alerts….am thinking of my friend who text to warn that she had no mobile because she couldn’t pay the bill…wish I could call her and make sure she is ok…my other dearest friend has been galavanting round Europe following Il Divo in concert and has returned under-the-weather….wish I was there for her too…and there’s my dad who celebrated his 88^th birthday today back in Ringwood…hope he had a good day and didn’t miss us too much…if we can find a place to settle here – we know he will love it!! I can’t do much right now but I am thinking of all of them and wishing them well! Big Hugs to you, you know who you are!

My other fans (hehe) are spread about and I am also thinking of them too…whatever you are all doing tonight, making tea or watching TV…I am not envious one bit! This chance of a lifetime comes highly recommended by both of us!!! It’s the life! Sure it costs money – but in fact it’s a lot cheaper than being back in UK, the major outlay was the RV it is a very comfortable home-on-wheels and gives us the freedom to stay in a civilized park or out in the wilderness and pay accordingly…we’ve spent $25 today on our big lunch (homemade beef and vegetable soup, toasted ham and cheese sandwhich, homemade deeeeep-dish apple pie and icecream and copious amounts of coffee each!! (around 6 pounds each in stirling!), then we spent $14 dollars (£7) on campsite and $5 (£2.50) on a whole lot of wood for the campfire…Gas for the RV cost us $1.05 today (that’s about 50 pence a litre)…

We will probably explore Kamloops tomorrow but if the sun comes out, we may stay here another night to enjoy the lake…there are small boats for hire at the beach….if it is another wet day then we will probably head out of Kamloops and find our next campsite which we haven’t yet chosen.

sweet dreams...................................................................................................................................................................................................

Wednesday 24th of May

I woke up to find a red light on the gas monitor…realising that we were parked on a slightly uneven surface and that this was probably the cause, Pete decided to drive down to the lake where it was level and that did the trick – green light back on the gas meter – all fine. It was still raining a little and so I cooked breakfast and then decided to move on.

On Highway 1 to Kamloops we followed the North Thompson River and followed the hills and mountains til we reached the town itself. It was still raining and nothing looks the same in the rain, however we were not at all impressed with this town and after a quick stop to use the cash machine and have a coffee at Tim Hortons, we set off on the road again. Our next stop was to be ‘Cache Creek’.

We have just parked up at Brookside RV Park in Cache Creek where we intend to stay the night. There is a heated pool, full hook-ups and internet according to the Campsite map, however so far we haven’t seen anyone around and I cannot access the internet on my laptop…never mind, Pete is happy that we are off the road as he’s having a tired day today and wants to chill for a while. The sign says full hook up $22. We are parked amongst some lovely trees and each lot has a picnic table and old hub-cap for a BBQ…the birds are signing and the weather is brightening up – but we are still close to the highway and the trucks are noisy.

It’s a pretty site but not the best location; …about 15 minutes later from my last entry, we escaped unnoticed! We got back on the road and I felt really guilty as Pete was tired but I thought it wasn’t a good spot to spend the night….we went on about 15 minutes down the road and reached a Provincial Park….it was called Goldpan Prov Park and it was right by the highway…flanked on both sides by the railway…it was just as noisy, if not noisier….but it was more comfortable…$14 a night and self-registration only – meant that we saw or heard no other people…just the freight trains…I counted one with 75 wagons and Pete later counted one with 135…these trains go on for ever on a narrow mountain ledge…what a job!

We’ve got steaks for the BBQ tonight and we’ve bought some grilling trays so that the meat doesn’t fall through the grid while cooking! (Yesterday’s 4 burgers turned out to be 2 burgers because as the grids / or grates are so wide apart!)

Anyway, the wind was up a lot and we were about 12 inches from the North Thompson River bank which has already flooded it’s usual edge…there were two picnic tables in the water…(and they would normally be on the shore!)…So we stayed in and battoned-down the hatches for the night…we left our bedroom blind open see the river in morning…

Today's mileage 167 kilometers

Nite nite............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Thursday 25th of May

We woke up a damp day – back on road with a vague idea of where we were going…we stopped briefly at Lytton, said to be the “Hot Spot of Canada”…Here the two great rivers meet…Fraser River and the Thompson River…the tourist info office is a small house in a back street…the village is very sweet and has many quirky features, colourful houses, some very artistic graffiti and a bright orange caboose parked up on a grass verge….the shops are all advertising ‘earthy or native’ art or food … we spent some time getting our emails from the tourist office and then escaped without seeing the museum or the site where a film was made starring Jack Nicholson is 2000….a claim to fame must have put the prices up a whole bundle!!

Anyway, we carried on the road, the drop from the passenger side was steep and looked very treachorous….keeping my eyes on the road ahead we finally made it through “Boston Bar” ~(nothing to mention!) – and “Kanaka Bar Café” (This was on the Old Highway number 1 and just before “Hell’s Gate”)….So Hells gate was supposed to be a world famous attraction, it was a commercial setting by the side of the highway and offered Tram tours (all of 3 minutes long) to the canyon below, on arrival there would be loos and gift shop and then back again…per person $15 (which we felt was a little over the top) nevertheless it was a spectacular view and we spotted it from the barriers without paying any money….we left there with the intention of stopping in Boston Bar, however the town disappeared as we went past it and we ended up at the Kanaka Bar Café….It seemed to be native country and most of the locals appeared to be of Indian origin…we went into this café which seemed busy and full of locals….the menu was extensive and after realising that the special of the day was a chinese meal, we soon understood that we were in a chinese restaurant-café….Breakfasts were served all day, and lunch special was chop suey, chow mein, ribs and chicken etc….Pete had a Truckers Breakfast and I had some cinnamon French toast – all washed down with – you guessed it - bottomless cups of fresh coffee….photographs all around the restaurant of the owners and the stars from the movie above mentioned…guess it brought fame to this otherwise ‘out in the middle of nowhere’ place!

We got back on the road and even though we did stop in “Hale” (the next town)…we didn’t stay more than a few minutes….a couple of turns and U-Turns took us back on the highway an we carried on until we reached “Hope”

Hope was a strange place, a town on the edge of the River with pretty parks and clean streets….it seemed to have everything right except the rhythm…we went down some side streets to look at homes and gardens and found some fabulous shrubs and flowers but no people….where there were people, they were passing the time of day in retirement mode….

Through Hope, we followed signs for Wildrose RV Park….we haed read about it in our Campground Guide and it seemed to offer every amenity for a reasonable price….anyway, we passed several RV parks on the way and headed straight for Wildrose only to find a queue of 3 Huge American RVs waiting at the gate…we were dealt with one after the other and paid our money for the night…our pitch was $26 plus tax as we settled for Gas and Electric only….There should be internet access and wireless internet access free, but we find that our spot (number 63) is above the brow of the hill and therefore is not within range….so we can use the Recreation Room (back in the Reception Area) so we walk back and obtain the ‘Key’ (password) which is required to get connection….finally I obtain my emails that have been pilling up since a week….happy bunny, I go back to prepare tea and tidy Rvera!

Pete comes back with me and makes a super campfire….as it has rained today, the twigs are damp but he wins against all odds….He is now eating his Steak cooked on the campfire with mushrooms while I hide in the RV with my laptop as it has gotten cooler outside already.

We are surrounded with mountains and there is a very high waterfall within sight….apart from the highways running both sides of this park it would be quite idyllic….anyway, we are fine – hoping for a good night’s sleep we will continue on to Vancouver in the morning – hopefully by then I will have made my phonecalls and caught up on my emails – the website will have to wait til I get to it this weekend!!

Mileage today 160 kilometres

Bless you all for your attention and Goodnight from us both ....................................................................................................................................

Week 4: May : Friday 26th through Wednesday 31st

Friday 26^th of May

Up and away, as we had to be out of the campsite by 11am, we didn’t get chance to hook back up to the internet… it’s a wet day…we drive back to Hope to have breakfast and top up with gas…and it’s still raining…we get back on Highway 1 heading west, Bridal Falls seems to be a little town but it does have 3 tourist attractions; Trans Canada Water Slide Park, a Museum about rocks and a Dinosaur Park for children…we see a sign to Bridal Falls recreation area and we follow it…Bridal Falls provincial park is green and lush with huge pine, maple and cedar trees (to mention but a few!) and a lot of enormous ferns and the odd wild flower…Bridal Veil Falls can be seen way up high in the mountain from here…they rush down into a creek below that runs through the park where I have just taken some photos while under cover of the trees as it is now raining hard…We wait for the rain to ease-off and Pete goes for a walk to get a closer look at the falls take some video of them. I would guess that this place gets a lot of rain as the trees are al covered with moss, large strands of moss hangs from the trees and also covers the trunks and forest floor amidst the pine needles…it’s like an enchanted forest – really beautiful…

We have talked about getting the ferry in the RV to Vancouver Island, it will take 1 ½ hours to cross…if it’s still this wet we won’t get to see much! The clouds are hanging very low over the mountains and hiding the peaks completely like a heavy fog…

We see that we are close to Harrisons Hot Springs which is another little town nearby...we decide to take a look and see if we can get a campsite for the rest of the day and night with internet access and a few facilities...as we get closer to Vancouver it prices seem to rise...our gas today was $1.14 per litre and most of the RV parks from here on seem to be above $25 (except for the provincial parks that are still around the $14 mark...

Our first impression of Harrison Hot Springs was charming...despite the heavy rain...all the houses are tidy and well presented and the gardens are immaculate with beautiful rhodedendrums (pardon the spelling!) and vibrant colours...we stopped at the Tourist Info Office to ask about the best RV park (we had seen so many advertised we thought we should ask thier advice)...they gladly recommended "Hot Springs RV Park" which was right in the town (only a minute's walk from the shops)...no heavy traffic here and plenty to see...the RV Park is small compared to all the ones we have seen so far and some are appear to be permanent residents...full hook-ups available with cable tv and internet access for $25 per night. The original owners have just sold up and are going to go on the road themselves in their RV to explore Canada, the new owner called Larry is officially taking over at the beginning of June - meanwhile both couples are working the park together and it's a very friendly place...

At the entrance there is a water feature - the lots are either grass or concrete based and there is quite a bit of birdlife about...we are next to a creek and accross the road from the river...there is a beach and also a marina, we are central to all the shops and restaurants...Settling in we had to ask for the passwork to acces the internet and this was handled by one of the permanent residents whose name was Jean (French for John)...John was form Quebec and moved here some 10 years ago - he is offering web connections for $5 total and had to bring his laptop over to unblock the access (it's a very secure connection)...as soon as I was able to download emails, we started to think about food again...Pete had already walked into town and reported back that there were some nice shops and good restaurants around...so in the drizling rain we walked together and stopped to eat. The restaurant was a large log-built cabin and there was a smoking annex too...the special of the day was Prime Rib steak (grade AAA beef matured for 28 days)...with the steak came garlic bread, fresh mixed salad with a choice of fresh dressings, a lovely fluffy jacket potato and some healthy stirfried fresh mixed vegetables...on the side came some ramekins, one with a special hot horseradish, another with the 'au jus' (hot beef juices) and another with sour cream which was topped with spring onion and crispy bacon bits...the whole meal including a couple of drinks each came to $46 dollars (£23!)...it was a very good meal indeed.

Back at the camp we are thinking about staying here an extra day...we have already been invited to a little party on the site which is happening tomorrow evening in honour of the previous lady-owner who is celebrating her 65th birthday...we've accepted and I am sure it will be fun...

There is so much to talk about and a lot more to see in this town - but I think I will save some for tomorrow and have an early night...it's been another full day and another good day despite the rain...

Was low mileage today, only 58 kilometres

Bonsoir to you all ...goodnight............................................................................................................................................................

Saturday 27th of May

Wake up to another rainy day....when they say that the weather on the west coast is like England, we can see why!...they tell us that this is unusual in so much as they would normally get showers and intermittent sunshine, but we have seen no sunshine since we got here. It's a lazy day talking with our neighbours and walking around the little town. We walked to the beach...it's a lovely sandy beach...they refer to it as The Sand Sculpture Capital of the World...between May 10 and 14th, there was a Tournament of Champions and between September 5th and 10th they will also have the World Championships of Sand Sculpture...Next time you take a bucket and spade to the beach, just think of these magnificient sculptures! (a couple of photos can be found in our album)...They cordon off the area and put the country flag at each exhibit that represents the nationality of the artist(s) who made each one...there is a little booth at the entrance and they charge $6 each to go in and view them closely...at each exhibit there is a bucket to collect visitors votes, and in a week or so they will count up the votes and award a prize to the winning artist. You would never think that such an exhibition would be so interesting...I took over 80 photographs and left totally impressed by the talent - it was spectacular! (shame I can't post them all into our album but there just isn't the space and it takes too much time...if anyone wants to see more photos of these sand sculptures, just email me and I will gladly send them to you!)

Our lunch was burger and coffee at the Settlers Pub, again great value and good food...later we decided to try out the Hot Springs Public Pool...this is right accross the road from our camp. Apparently the water in the natural main springs (a bit further up the road) is too hot to bathe in and so it is piped to the public pool and cooled...nevertheless it's still hot and is said to be very healing...it's $8.50 each to use the pool for an unlimited time during the day between 8am and 10pm...leaving there totally refreshed, I went to buy a card and small gift for Lena, the lady's who is celebrating her 65th birthday today...we had only intended to stay long enough to be sociable but as it was still raining, our neighbours all had their awnings pulled out and so we did the same to create more under-cover seating space...soon the birthday girl arrived, totally surprised to see everyone here, balloons and fairy lights all over the place...Larry the new manager made a speech and everyone applauded Lena...everyone had brought food and there was plenty for all!...from lasagna to spicy samosas, salads, chicken, chili etc etc...then there was the cake and the Happy Birthday song...then we chatted until midnight under the awnings, people returning to their camps as they got tired...it turned out to be a good party. Lena by the way was given official 3 certificates from people in high places wishing her a happy birthday, so to add to this, Larry commented that the queen of England had sent us as representatives and everyone enjoyed the joke...we all had a good time.

..................................................................................................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............................................

Sunday 28th of May

Well we're still here and it is still raining...we've now decided to stay another night here and set off for Vancouver in the morning...it will be a quiet day so we might get Rvera tidied up a bit...all this rain means that the floor doesn't stay clean for long...the routine for getting back on the road involves making sure that everything is packed away and nothing rattles! (something I am pleased to say, we seem to have mastered!)...Jean, our neighbour from Quebec, managed to fix the pressure from the hot water tank and so now I don't have to wait 5 minutes while a trickle fills a bowl!...it was a simple switch that was not in the right position...we continue to learn about the ins and outs of our new home!

(sometimes, Pete reads our diary back to me and he points out the various spelling mistakes I make...hope everyone accepts my apologies for not spell-checking each entry...making the most of the internet when we can, it's very time consuming to double-check everything)....

I will now pick a few photos for the album...hope you enjoy them!

You all have a good day now!....................................................................................................................................

Monday 29^th of May

218 kilometres

Good morning readers in UK and in Canada!…Well we finally left Harrison Hot Springs after 3 very enjoyable days at ‘Hot Springs RV camp’…before leaving we said goodbye to the people we met and exchanged email addresses…luckily I can just give them a link to our website and that way we can all keep in touch!

We took the road past Sasqwatch Provincial park which ran along the lake before going back on ourselves, through the town one more time, and taking the road to Agassiz…apparently world famous for it’s hazelnuts (and thus hazelnut groves)…we had breakfast in a truck-stop-like Café, picked up some groceries and then followed an un-planned but very pleasant route to Vancouver via Highway 7, through a town called Mission and then Maple Ridge…then Highway 7B back onto Highway 1…

As we got closer to Vancouver, the traffic on the road increased a lot! We quickly guessed that we were approaching a big city…and we weren’t wrong! We followed a signpost we saw indicating a Tourist Information Office, in hopes that we would get the best directions in and around the city of Vancouver…Big Mistake…we followed the turn-off and followed the signs, through heavy traffic, up and down steep hills heading towards the water…suddenly we reached the end of the road but still could not see the Tourist Information Office….grrr…Pete was not a happy-bunny (and I can’t blame him)…we took several one-way roads before managing to get back out of this suburb and back on the road we had originally left….

We took a turn to the Ferry Terminal & Village which we hoped would give us a chance to enquire about ferry routes and costs – alas, the road divided into a few lanes and each lane had a destination sign above it…we pulled up at the wicket to be asked which ferry we wanted and had to explain that we were only enquiring and not wishing to immediately take a ferry immediately….we got some info and were then directed out of the ferry lanes….a bit further up, we saw a sign for Ferry Information, so we parked up and took an elevator to the 2^nd floor….there was on lady behind a wicket and she was talking on the phone…we patiently waited until eventually she looked up and offered to help us….her help was of little use and contradicted what we had already been told – so we thanked her and went back to Rvera….

There we looked through free-local maps we had picked up and spotted various possible parks ahead of us…knowing that Pete didn’t want to be in traffic and that he needed to rest, it seemed wise to take the road to Sqwamish….it was an easy exit on Route 99 but the road was cut into the rock of the mountain….we went up and down as the road went steep and full of bends…passed a whole lot of road construction until we reached Sqamish…first we stopped at a Liquor store which was next to a Native Craft store…the Liquor store also carried all manner of domestic needs including sweets, canned and fresh food as well as books and postcards…all of which were sensibly priced and a lot cheaper than other places we have been….the Art Store had some amazing local art on show…everything as you would expect, from natural resources and great talent….there we also picked up the free local magazine to find more local information and listings of the Parks ahead of us…these were not mentioned in our other literature and so we decided to stop along the way and check them out before deciding on a spot…the second one we came to was “Klahanie Campground”…at first, it was a worry that no prices were advertised, but when we pulled in and enquired, and we found it to be a self-registration park…for this area it was very cheap (at only $23 plus tax) – (Everything around Vancouver is expensive!)…a man greated us on the way in and asked what we were looking for….I replied that we wanted somewhere “quiet and picturesque” – he replied immediately that this would be site number 108….if we didn’t like it we could move – there was no problem…so we found our spot and saw immediately that it was indeed picturesque…ok, we still have a train track very nearby – but this is a forest area park, Shannon Falls are in view in the mountain ahead and the water can be heard falling against the rocks….directly below our site (on the edge of a rock) there is a river….it is a lovely and secluded spot.

So we parked up, and as we chose to have no hook-up, I’ve heated up the bolognaise which has finally thawed from the freezer, I’ve poured boiling water over the pasta and the broccoli that I cooked yesterday – and bob’s your uncle, supper was served.

The sounds of nature surround us, the view is quite spectacular – it’s a lovely evening and it’s even stopped raining! (well, actually it stopped raining as soon as we left Harrison – but there you go…it’s a lovely still evening – we have no electric or water, but Rvera is prepared with plenty of propane and battery to keep us warm and cosy tonight.

The sound of those falls and the beauty of the trees…we are very aware that the weather is improving…well, that’s enough for now…I shall say good night…Sweet dreams to you all……………………………………………………….

Tuesday 30^th May

295 kilometres

Leave camp early – weather looking good…we stop in Squamish to have some breakfast and also did some shopping…Ever since we arrived in Canada, we have seen posters saying “Save On Food” – by now we understood this was the name of a grocery store…but until now, we had not stopped to look at one…we had our breakfast at The Naked Lunch café, it was really good and as always good value (although a little more expensive than some places, it didn’t let you down on the freshness and taste!)…right next to this café was a Save On Food grocery store…It was a great experience ; endless aisles of fresh produce and all laid out so well….it was a huge store…I spent half an hour in the fruit and vegetable section alone, marvelling with curiosity at all the weird and wonderful produce, both local and imported…I had seen purple cauliflowers and green ones too, but never so big and fresh, and I had never seen bright orange ones or pink ones! There must have been every type of melon on the planet, including a miniature grape-melon that looked very exotic indeed! I shall resist the temptation to talk you through each of the aisles…suffice to say that I applied for their store loyalty card and shopped very sensibly – a whole $60 later, I had lots of bags full of good fresh meat, veg, fruit and treats!…on the other side of the café was a “Bargain Store” – a bit like a “Dollar Store” but with a much wider range of goods including clothes and bedding….(I can hear you saying, oh dear…she’s on a spending-spree hehe)…well, again, I was very well behaved…1 plastic bowl, 6 plastic shoeboxes (44 cents each including lids!!) and a full set of Queen Size sheets and pillowcases – grand total parted with ; $39 (less than £20)…

Shopped-out and facing divorce, it was time to get back to Rvera and set off for Whistler…56 kilometres from Squamish.

There is only one road into Whistler, once you get there and look around, you have to take the same road back again…there are currently a lot of road-works going-on on that road…it’s a very bendy road as you can imagine (since we are going up a mountain)…and they appear to be widening it in preparation for the Winter Olympics in 2010.

We have been warned that Whistler is a lot like Mont Tremblanc (where we visited in December 2004), after all they are both man-made ski resorts and both boast expensive hotels and extensive winter sports for all ages. Whistler is said to be amongst the world’s top 5 winter ski resorts…and offers North America’s finest summer skiing. They tell you it’s a busy place, over 2 million lift tickets are sold here every winter (more than any other North American resort). The sun was out and it started to get quite warm, there were quite a few cars and RVs parked but it wasn’t crowded, so we walked all around the village and saw the many gondolas (those cars that carry skiers up the slopes)…then headed back to Rvera with a long drive ahead of us.

Agreeing that we would do Vancouver another time by car, today we just wanted to by-pass it as much as possible and carry on Highway 1 heading eastward. As we approached the outskirts of Vancouver, again it was like being on the M25 except a lot bigger…queue after queue of cars, all heading in and out of the city – it was mayhem…we truckled along anxiously trying to put as many miles as possible between the city and us!

Eventually, the long day started to get to Pete…I grabbed the map (oops!) and cross-referenced it with our “Camping Guide”…A place called Cultus Lake sprang out at me and I persuaded him to take the exit from Highway 1 and follow the signs…we soon realised that it wasn’t as close as it looked and Pete wasn’t impressed that I had taken him off of the Highway on a wild-goose chase – but it was worth it in the end!

Sunnyside Campground was to be the most expensive campsite yet…$32 for either a lake-side spot Or a full hook-up (you couldn’t have both)…and prices went up according to the length of the vehicle and the number of people…We chose to have no hook-up as the lake-side spot sounded good…(one thing you have to accept when you check into any of these parks…you don’t have a clue what the spot they give you is like…you could be surrounded by noise or nuisance or miles from the loos and showers…there’s a lot of luck involved!)…Anyway, we took the directions and the sheet of paper with it’s very long ‘List of Rules’…we were told to look out for a bear and her cub and report any sighting immediately…(this is very sad, so don’t read if your name is Mary, Wendy or Suzie…just skip to the next paragraph!!)…apparently, the bears second cub had been knocked down a week or so ago and she has hung around with her fist cub trying to find him…awwwe – how awful it must be for that poor bear – how can she understand that her cub is not lost but no longer with us….it’s a cruel world (even in the wild)…

Well, our spot was just fine, secluded under tall pine and cedar trees, with the usual BBQ (which by the way, I keep referring to as a ‘hubcap’ but in fact is a large tyre rim and not a hub cap – my admission will please Pete!)…and the picnic table of course. As soon as Pete got Rvera level on our plot, we took in the view of the Cultus Lake, beautiful and clear, which was surrounded on all sides by green mountains…there was a beach area and lots of drift wood – it was an idyllic spot for sure…and even more special as it’s bright and sunny today…Supper was beef burgers on the campfire and an early night followed.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……………………………………………….

Wednesday 31^st of May

Today we clocked-up 232 kilometers

I was up early this morning – another lovely clear day…as the sun comes up I start to go through the tons of guides, maps and brochures we have collected…(remember the shoeboxes I bought in Squamish for 44 cents (including lids)…well that was what I bought them for! All sorted out, next I had a bit of a spring clean while Pete was still fast asleep. Check-out time 11am, we set off to have breakfast in the town of Cultus Lake before getting back on Highway 1.

Breakfast was good and very cheap – again it was in a Chinese restaurant that served both Canadian and Chinese food including breakfast.

Back on the highway we headed for Hope, but as we had been through Hope already when we were heading westward, we came off at Highway 3 to avoid going through it again… Highway 3 is was a lovely mountain road – not for the faint hearted and it did put some strain on Rvera, which meant that we stopped a few times a long the way to give her a rest…The first stop we made was at a Viewpoint just off the road, it was Hope Slide…(in January 1965 the side of a 1,983 metre mountain slid into the valley killing four people)…The view was stunning and there was a small memorial there remembering those that perished – it was a true natural disaster.

Further along, we turned into a Provincial Park area which was for daytime-use only (ie picnics and hiking but no overnight camping)…it quickly turned into a gravel road which was full of potholes….poor Rvera, she was having to really push herself today!)…luckily the road wasn’t long and within a few hundred metres, we reached a totally secluded forest area with picnic tables, loos and hiking trails…the trees were so huge! We took photos that I will post when I can – meanwhile trust me, the girth of these trees was something else! We took a little short walk and found a creek and another lovely view of the mountains and water…

Further along, we stopped at another Provincial Park area – this one had a 10 minute round-walk which took us down to a small ‘wildlife observation area’…it was a kind of swamp and signs showed the various animals that lived here…(the mosquitoes were big too, but we were prepared and managed to escape without a bite!)

Carrying on along Highway 3, higher and higher up the mountain we went, along the whole way, we have been following rivers and creeks by the side of the road, breathtaking views one after the other…It’s a highway, but it’s a very quiet highway…we see very few cars and only a few trucks every now and again, mostly we appear to have the whole road to ourselves.

We reached a point called Sunday Peak and we are thousands of metres up, there is snow laying between the trees on the forest floor and the sky is bright and blue. At each part where we guess we will be going downwards, we end up climbing again…finally we reach Princeton, and this is where we stop at the Tourist Info and as always, we get the best place to stay for the night…a super little campsite called “Rivers Edge RV & Tenting”…really nice proprietors, it only has 12 sites and only half of them have hook ups, but we are lucky and get both a site by the river and a full hook-up for $18…

On checking-in we ask about internet and although they cannot offer a wireless connection, the lady lets us use her computer which is there in reception…free of charge and the connection was quite fast too (not much broadband going on in the outback of Canada!)…

So we’re here…saw two Elk down the road and the river is rushing by with quite a current…at least with electricity I can catch up on our Travelogue even if I can’t post anything until we get a connection of our own…

Pete is tired tonight and we feel an early night coming on…however our next few days should be low-mileage as there are lots of places we want to see and they are all quote close together. The Tourist Office suggested that we should take a walk tomorrow morning and they highlighted the route for us on the local map…

Another full day behind us – and a lot to talk about – hope I haven’t bored you with too much detail but trust me, there is a lot more I could have talked about…all in all we are settling into RV life and enjoying having a new back garden each time we chose, and each one is special in it’s own way.

Sweet dreams…………………………………………………………

Week 5 - Thursday 1st of June through Wednesday 7th June

Thursday 1^st of June

Kilometres 48 today

The sun is trying to come out and we set off for our walk (as recommended by the Tourist Bureau)…We get some advice on the red light on Rvera’s dashboard, seems she is low on ‘engine coolant’ which at this time of year means ‘water’… we put some oil in her yesterday but still the light is on…it seems she’s low in ‘engine coolant’ (fine but it’s a red liquid and we are not sure if there is a special mix we should give her)…anyway, we are advised by an RV Veteran that it should be fine to put clean water in her – at this time of year it wouldn’t need anti-freeze (here anti freeze is not only blue!)…so ok, we top her up with water and set off to the town of Princeton and have breakfast…the advertisements in the local guide tell us that “Billy’s Family Restaurant” is famous for it’s all-day breakfasts…so we find it and pull into the car park – we find a table and the waitress greets us with coffee…we chose our breakfasts and we ask to keep the menu for a few minutes after we ordered so that we can read it properly…The menu explains that ”Billy” was the most famous robber in this town’s history…he was born in the late 1800’s, he robbed a train and struck lucky, $15,000 worth…then a year later he robbed a second train but unlucky for him, it only had $15 dollars on board, after an hour and a half chase on horseback he was caught and jailed…he did escape but the story ends with him dying in a prison some years later…anyway, Billy’s is a good place to have breakfast – even if the waitress is a bit authoritative…she declares that we are from England (Pete has his summer shorts on…) and we admit it…she continues to say that the only good thing that England gave Canada was that first Heiffer….”look at our coral now” she exclaimed! And no we didn’t even think of bringing up any other history with her as we just wanted breakfast and we weren’t in the mood for an international debate with her…(by the way, Billy, the most famous outlaw from the area…Pete says was “probably the Only outlaw here”)…

Ok, Princeton is also supposed to be world famous for mining – the town itself consists of a few stores on just one road and a few houses dotted around it…it’s peaceful, it’s actually a bit spooky to think that these mountains were booming in the mining days, and now it’s like a town that time forgot…there’s rushing water and there’s mountains and there’s trails – but none of these are man made or tourist attractions per say!

We took the trail on foot recommended by the Tourist office…took us a bit of time to work out where she suggested to park our RV (she said “there is a vacant lot there and you can park for free” – yeh, but there were lots of vacant lots and it wasn’t at all obvious where she meant…anyway, we parked up and hoped for the best)…we walked down a dirt path that led us t

Our first RV Experience & Travelogue

Navigation:

May : Week 1 : Thursday 4th through Thursday 11th

Week 2 : May : Friday 12th through Thursday 18th

Week 3 : May : Friday 19th through Thursday 25th

Week 4: May : Friday 26th through Wednesday 31st

Week 5 - Thursday 1st of June through Wednesday 7th June