Crossing into Canada

Oh Canada! I want to be Canadian. I'm mad at Devin for not becoming a Canadian citizen when he had a chance - when he was married to Maple! (If he had become a Canadian citizen then, I could now, and we could move to Vancouver!) Canadians just seem... generally less insane than Americans. Canada is so neat and, well, nice. And beautiful - the Canadian Rockies are Gorrrrrgeous!

We kept seeing these signs along the road, and so we followed them. The signs advertised smoked salmon and more for miles, and finally led us to a fish truck! We bought some smoked salmon - yum! They were frozen, and I kept them cold and ate them like popsicles - Devin thought the idea of Salmon-sicles was gross, so, hey, more for me! He he.

We drove up through funny name entry - uh, Port Rooseville, up to Radium Hot Springs. There were these odd boulders up on legs at the crossing - art? Nice easy crossing with no waiting - and yet again, we didn't even get checked.

At Radium, we were looking for a campsite, and realized that if we went west there, through Kootenay National Park, there were only two choices and the likelihood of us finding a spot big enough on a Saturday evening in July, so close to Calgary and the Stampede days, were probably pretty slim. So we decided to go north, which would take us through Yoho National Park and into Lake Louise, from where we would continue on up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. We stopped at the visitor center in town and the terribly nice staff loaded me up with free information and maps, and we headed north - only to find that traffic was backed up because of a bad accident, and it could take 2 hours to clear... another very nice Canadian drove over to our window to tell us this. Canada is just so nice!

So, since we were by a driveway, and up the road there would be no turning around for us, we turned around there. I noticed it said RV Park, so we figured it was serendipity and drove down. Secure gate with intercom to get in - it looked extremely nice, but when I asked how much, it would be $50 for the night!!! Not so nice. So we consulted maps, turned around and drove back south of town to a nice little Provincial Park, Dry Gulch, where we found lots of open campsites for $17 a night. That's more like it.

Driving through the campsite, we were witness to the final stages of what must have been a very heated argument, as a guy was throwing someone's stuff all over the campsite, a girl was on her cell phone crying across the street. Okay, maybe not all Canadians are perfect. Then the campsite staff came running - there were at least four of them, and when I was down at the pay station, the Mounties were there! The RCMP - a very nice young man, and I directed him to the trouble. They all spent quite some time sorting it out - quietly - and ended with the arguers leaving and apologizing profusely. Okay - when do drunken (I'm assuming here) arguments end with heartfelt apologies to authorities in the states? Not that often, I'd wager. Back to nice.

A Thunderstorm came through as they were sorting things out - with the same rhythm of build-up, crash and flash, then gentle rain and sunshine through the clouds in the end. Very nice - especially since it cooled down the very hot afternoon considerably! Devin and I sat out in lawn chairs during the rain! I wanted more, but it was great to get any after such heat.

I made another version of "Bamix Bean Dip" for dinner (with black beans, pepper jack cheese, non-fat plain yogurt, lime juice, some salsa, cumin, lemon pepper, cayenne, and paprika), and that's all we ate (with chips). A nice cool meal. I wish we could run the air conditioner on the inverter - I mean, we can, but it would drain our batteries pretty quickly, I'd guess. It's hotter here than it was in Baja!! Of course, we were there in March and April, and it's July now.

With new tires in front, and properly aligned front wheels, our ride today was SO much smoother!! Now we are ready for the Alaskan Highway - and we'll probably get there by next week. We hope to be in Jasper tomorrow night, and then we need to find an RV Park with good WiFi so Devin can do some remote consulting/contract work for a few days. After than, we are on the Alaskan Highway! We may have to stay in Dawson Creek for the WiFi, as there aren't any listed in Jasper, and as long as we are heading up, we may as well go to Mile One of the Alaskan Highway.