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Post by boffo on Aug 31, 2017 20:08:49 GMT -5
Doubt anyone really cares that much but I'll be away the next two weeks on holiday. Two years ago we drove across Canada from Brantford, Ontario to Vancouver, BC and back. It was mostly a driving trip with 8 or 9 hours on the road each day and only a couple places where we stopped for two nights. A good trip to see the country, which I'd never done before but not for exploring and seeing much beyond the highway. Biggest regret being that we didn't spend more time in the Canadian Rockies parks of Banff, Jasper, and Yoho.
So we've decided to head out that way again this year, this time driving to get there as quickly as possible and taking the shorter way through the US instead of staying in Canada. After 5 days in Banff and surrounding area we'll head south, back into the US where we'll spend 5 days at Yellowstone before heading for home.
We're starting out tomorrow night just to get a few hours of driving out of the way and stopping for the night in Flint, Michigan(I've heard things about it). On Saturday we'll continue through Michigan, the small piece of Indiana up there, Illinois, and Wisconsin before stopping for the night in St. Cloud, Minnesota. On Sunday we'll finish off Minnesota and head into North Dakota before re-entering into Canada in Saskatchewan where we'll stop in Swift Current. Monday is a short driving day as we leave Saskatchewan and get into Alberta where we'll be camping in Banff until Saturday. On Saturday we'll go into British Columbia briefly until getting back into the US in Montana where we'll enjoy a night indoors in Butte. After that it's only a couple hours to Wyoming and Yellowstone Park where we'll once again camp until Thursday. On Thursday we'll continue south through Wyoming into Colorado at which point we'll start heading east in Denver and stopping in Colby, Kansas. Friday will be due east through Kansas and Missouri, swinging through St. Louis and then getting back into Illinois where we'll stay in Springfield. Saturday will be the last day and we'll stay further south in Illinois and Indiana through Indianapolis, then into Ohio, Michigan, and finally back into Canada and Ontario.
I'll probably stop in to say hi when I have internet access which is highly unlikely while we're camping in either Banff or Yellowstone as both have extremely limited access. If anyone is interested enough I'll try to post some pictures whenever possible.
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Post by boffo on Sept 1, 2017 21:12:49 GMT -5
In Flint, Michigan now.
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Post by boffo on Sept 2, 2017 21:57:52 GMT -5
Long drive today made even longer by Wisconsin doing everything in its power to make us hate it and take as long as possible to get through. Made it to St. Cloud, MN safe and sound though.
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Post by pablo on Sept 3, 2017 7:33:13 GMT -5
Looking like a fun trip.
Enjoy it John
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Lou
Weekend Golfer
Posts: 95 
TGCT Name: skipperlou63
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Post by Lou on Sept 3, 2017 8:18:43 GMT -5
Been out to the Rockies 3 times,could easily live out there,hope you take Hwy 93 to Jasper,one of the most scenic hwy's in the world
would love to see some pics
Have a safe trip John
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Post by boffo on Sept 3, 2017 21:57:31 GMT -5
Been out to the Rockies 3 times,could easily live out there,hope you take Hwy 93 to Jasper,one of the most scenic hwy's in the world would love to see some pics Have a safe trip John When we went to Vancouver two years ago we came down 93 from Jasper to Lake Louise. Drive was kind of ruined by an accident on the road that had us stuck sitting in one spot for almost six hours. Once we finally got moving we were just in a rush to get off the road as quickly as possible. Doing that drive over again in a hopefully more enjoyable setting was part of the reason we wanted to go back. Made it to Swift Current Saskatchewan today. Tomorrow is a nice, short 6ish hour driving day featuring the drive into the mountains. My wife hasn't uploaded any pictures yet but once she does I'll post some. No guarantees what kind of internet access I'll have while in Banff, so this may or may not be the last you hear from me until Saturday. |
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Post by Lowenberger on Sept 4, 2017 2:08:52 GMT -5
Made it to Swift Current Saskatchewan today My condolences  Hope the weather holds for you, been mighty smoky in these parts this summer, hope you get to enjoy the scenery. |
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Post by boffo on Sept 8, 2017 10:10:13 GMT -5
Finally some down time and found some OKish Wifi. Weather has been good while we've been in Banff but the smoke has made visibility very low so most of the time we forget we're even in the mountains. While on the road back in Saskatchewan we took a rock off the windshield which left behind a chip. We spent our first morning here down the road in Canmore getting that repaired. Now the last couple days our car has been acting up so it's sitting at the garage right now waiting until the guy ccan have a look at it, hence the current downtime. It's an issue the car has had almost as long as we've had it but it usually just goes away after 5 minutes until it happens again a few months later. This time it happened two days in row and left the engine light on afterwards so we're hoping it can be taken care of seeing that we're 3000km from home right now.
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Post by theclv24 on Sept 8, 2017 12:10:08 GMT -5
This doesn't sound like that great of a holiday so far. That's too bad. I was in Banff and Jasper around this time last year and it was incredible.
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Post by boffo on Sept 8, 2017 12:30:44 GMT -5
If the guy at the garage manages to figure out what the problem with our car is and fixes it so that it never happens again, this trip will have been worth it. At the very least aside from the car it's been a relaxing last few days, hiking a few trails and enjoying the outdoors.
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Post by theclv24 on Sept 8, 2017 19:10:59 GMT -5
If the guy at the garage manages to figure out what the problem with our car is and fixes it so that it never happens again, this trip will have been worth it. At the very least aside from the car it's been a relaxing last few days, hiking a few trails and enjoying the outdoors. If you make it or are going to Lake Louise, the Lake Agnes Tea House hike is a long one (at least for me, I'm not a hiker), but they have the best peanut butter and jelly sandwich I've ever had up there. |
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Post by boffo on Sept 9, 2017 20:57:03 GMT -5
This doesn't sound like that great of a holiday so far. That's too bad. I was in Banff and Jasper around this time last year and it was incredible. Not a great holiday? I was folding our laundry yesterday and found not one, but two bonus pairs of underpants mixed in. Even better it was a pair each of men's and women's so there was no fighting or jealousy over only one of us getting some new, slightly used underpants. Then, when we were at Lake Louise for the first time in my life I had someone tell me I have beautiful eyes. Some random stranger. Some random male stranger. I would have hiked to the Tea House but there was no way I was going to convince my wife to do it. We did the Tunnel Mountain trail in Banff two days earlier, so after hiking to the top of a Rocky Mountain she wasn't going to set foot on another trail that had more than a 10m elevation increase. |
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Post by theclv24 on Sept 9, 2017 21:01:07 GMT -5
I would have hiked to the Tea House but there was no way I was going to convince my wife to do it. We did the Tunnel Mountain trail in Banff two days earlier, so after hiking to the top of a Rocky Mountain she wasn't going to set foot on another trail that had more than a 10m elevation increase. Only reason we did the hike is because we had no concept of kilometers so we had no idea how long it was, lol. |
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Post by boffo on Sept 9, 2017 21:05:06 GMT -5
Currently in Butte, Montana. It took most of the day driving through Alberta, British Columbia, and Montana but the smoke is finally starting to thin. Currently sitting in a motel room with a view of the continental divide outside our window. Only a couple hours outside Yellowstone and don't expect to have any internet access while there, so I probably won't be checking in again until Thursday.
As for the car it cost $350 but we are cautiously optimistic that our long standing occasional problem may have actually been fixed. He tested the battery connection to the engine and analogized it to be like a kinked garden hose(for car dummies like myself)so current was barely getting through. He cleaned everything up and now it is flowing with no resistence. Fingers crossed our car issues are behind us as it ran great today.
Pictures probably won't be coming until after we get home but I will post some eventually.
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Post by boffo on Sept 12, 2017 10:47:53 GMT -5
Been in Yellowstone for 2 days and just today decided to head out the west gate into West Yellowstone, MT only 14 miles from our campground and find out it's actually a full featured town with McDonald's and free wifi. Better, closer, and cheaper than the in park food options.
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