Day 7 and Ontario

Ontario was about 300 kilometers East of Brandon.  That meant about three hours of driving.  We set out early and drove by Winnipeg.  We started to see a lot more water.  Lakes, rivers, water everywhere.  One of the things I miss most about the East is the fresh water.  A short drive into Ontario and we were at the visitor information building.

I went in and looked aboot (spelled purposely).  Due to time restrictions, I had decided not to go to the International Peace Garden.  I did want to go to the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.  I got information from the aide and also asked how far to Ottawa.  She replied with a straight face, "Aboot 23 hours."  What!?!  Ontario is huge.  HUGE!

One thing about Ontario and it's size is that the provincial map does not list native lands.  This was the first province to leave us blind as to getting gas.  The information stop didn't even have wifi so we could do our own search.  They did a bit of research and gave us a single sheet of paper from the web which showed us the general locations of First Nations.

There was one located less than an hour away, so we headed towards it hoping they would have some indian gas.  The Iskatewizaagegan Tribe was located along the Lake of the Woods, about 20 K off of Rt. 17, the new number for the Trans-Canada Highway.  It was another gravel road going up and down and around.  We hoped our newly repaired tire would hold out.

We have been on the road a week now and there comes a time in most of our road trips that we become a bit edgy.  Me a bit more than Tom.  One wrong word and all hell breaks loose.  We saw the sign for the First Nation and continued on into the community.  From my left eye, I saw gas pumps.  From Tom's eye, he saw a sign saying proceed to ferry for gas.  Neither of us saw what the other person saw and I drove towards the ferry just for a looksie.

At the ferry was some gas and a store, but I made a u-turn and headed back to the gas I saw.  Tom, all this time, is telling me I'm wrong.  Me, adamant of what I saw, just ignoring him.  "You're wrong!"  "No, you are!"

We arrived at where I saw the pumps and saw that they were in-operational.  Oops.  Crap!  I was wrong!

We drove back to the ferry and pulled up to the pump.  Showed my card and filled up.  I asked the clerk if it was OK to let the dogs in the water, which would have been their first swim in Canada and for the trip.  No problem.

I didn't really think about the Ferry thing until Luther was in the water going after a thrown ball.  There had been a small passenger ferry that took some people away and brought a few more in.  Around the bend and a few minutes later, though, this car ferry came barreling in.

Luther is pretty good in the water but, as mentioned, does not always follow directions.  It was a race between the dog and the ferry as to which would get to the landing first.  Fortunately for Luther, he won.

BuddyJack did a bit of swimming too.  Along the shore were two cute and scrawny res dogs.  No gimp, but needing food and affection.  They hung around for awhile and offered some entertainment for us and the dogs.

We headed out towards Thunder Bay.  We stopped for Lunch at Hap's Pub and Grill.  It would have been great to have a pint and some nosh, but after the long weekend, their taps were practically empty.  Had some Canadian beer, which was not great.  The views of the water were obscured by a big tent which was used the day before for some festival.

Food was mediocre, but once again filled the hole.

Mural outside Hap's

We looked for a campsite outside Thunder Bay and found the Happy Land RV Park.  Wifi, Pool, Hot Tub.  A slice of Heaven, although all we did was set up camp and quickly went to bed.

Day 6 and fixing tires - Twice!

By now you know the story.  Pack up camp, coffee, ball play.  Alberta flew by.  Medicine Hat was located near the border of Saskatchewan.  It was Sunday and we still needed to get the tire repaired or we would be spending loonies galore at gas stations filling it up.

We went to the Western edge of town and found the tire repair center that Jesse had mentioned the night before.  It was early and the Sunday of a long Civic weekend.  It was closed.  We figured we would forge ahead and find a place along our route.  We filled up the tire with air and headed Eastward.

We got into Saskatchewan in a short amount of time and stopped at the information area not a moment too soon.  "Low Tire Pressure" beeped on the dash again.  The tire was turning from a slow leak to a not so low leak.

Tom took care of the dogs as I went into the office to pick up a map and check out there wares.  They had a nice array of Saskatchewan schlock but one clothing line stood out:

Saskatchewan  Easy to Draw.  Hard to Spell.

I regret not buying a cap but I was more concerned about that tire.  I checked with the aide at the counter about getting a tire fixed on this long weekend.  She quickly gave a call to a person in the next town over.  He agreed to meet us in 15 minutes at his shop about 10 K away in Maple Creek.  Perfect.

We arrived quickly, so we drove around town and checked out Maple Creek.  We drove down one road and took a left.  Drove down that road and took another left.  One last left and we had gone through town.  We headed back to Southwest Tire and waited for our tire repair person.

He arrived and opened the garage door.  Tom took the dogs to play ball in the field next to the building.  I drove the car in and the repairman hoisted the car up.  The tire was off in a flash.  A few minutes later he handed me a broken screw which he found in the tire.

It was repairable and he started to work on it.  I went outside to find two spent dogs.  It was already getting hot and they were hanging in the shade.

The oddest thing happened while I was outside.  Somewhere, someone was watching the dogs play ball.  In the distance and what seemed from all over, a voice was heard, "I like yer dogs."  Tom and I looked around but never found where that voice came from.  I figured that it must have been the man inside, but I asked him and, through a really strong accent, he said no.

The tire was fixed and paid for (no receipt needed) with a $20 bill.  Yeehaw!  On the road again!

All was great.  We headed West again and traveled for about an hour when, "Low Tire Pressure" came on again.  Ughh!  Fill with air.  What to do now?

Regina (sounds like vagina) was a few hours away.  There would have to be someplace open.  We found a Canadian Tire and proceeded to get the tire fixed again.  Estimate, $30.

Canadian Tire is like a cross between Home Depot, Sears and Costco.  It was going to take over an hour or two so Tom took the dogs to the front of the store along the median of the main road.  He tied them to the tree and set up a small seating area.  There were lots of sticks which entertained the dogs while I paced the store killing time.

It only took an hour and the tire was fixed.  It seemed that there was more screw in the tire which Southwest Tire did not see.  Hopefully, this time the repair would stick.  We headed out of Regina towards Manitoba.  Thankfully, the map of Saskatchewan listed the Reserves across the Province.  There was a tribe located within an empty tank of petro.  We had to travel off of the TransCanada and down a very rugged road.  At the end of the road was a bridge that took us over a grand river.  Along the banks and on the side of the road was a brilliant yellow flower.  I tried to capture the brilliance.

We got to the gas station, filled up and headed towards Manitoba.  We were still leery of the tire and as always, the battery.  We arrived in Brandon about 8 PM and found a nice campground off the highway.

We set up camp at Meadowlark Campground.  It was pretty full due to the long weekend, but there was room for the two dudes and two dogs.  They had clean showers and it was a great opportunity to clean up.  They also had wifi and power, both which I utilized.

We were a bit tired form the long day, so we decided to splurge and eat out.  There were a few local restaurants and a few chains.  I headed towards Clancy's in the downtown area.  To get there, we had to pass through major detours.  It seems that the flooding we heard of in South Dakota also affected the rivers in Manitoba.  The flooding really affected the town of Brandon.

We got Clancy's and found it to be closed.  They did have wifi at the tavern, so I logged on and found out where the other places were.  I headed to the local steak house which was closed too.  We ended up at Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar.  I've been to a few while traveling with work or while visiting my parents.  I never particular found their food tasty.  Too much sodium and too little food.  I did notice that as a "neighborhood" restaurant, they wanted us to like them on facebook.  Hard to do without wifi.

The meal was consistent with my previous meals.  It filled the hole, though.

We went back to the campground and slept.  Full and clean.  The dogs were used to the routine by now and simply climbed in the tent and took to sleep.

Day 5 and Civic Day

Woke up early and packed up camp.  Today was Banff Day!  Golden is the entryway to Yoho National Park and Kootenay National Park in Britsh Columbia and Banff National Park in Alberta.  All we had to do is travel the TransCanada through the parks and over the Great Divide.

What we didn't know was that it was Civic Day, a made up holiday in Canada so the citizens could have a long weekend every month of the year.  It's a great idea, I just wish we were not here for it.  Our intention was to see Lake Louise and then travel south through Banff into the Grass Plains of Alberta.

When we arrived at the information area, we were inundated with traffic and peoples.  They were everywhere.  Lake Louise was just a few kilometers away, but when we tried to go there was no parking.  Lines everywhere.  Not a good place for dogs that often don't mind their leashes.

We quickly left and took 1A, a secondary road through Banff.  Much less traffic and totally beautiful.  It followed the river, now traveling East.  We stopped in a few places looking for an opportunity to get the dogs in the water.  The first stop had no water to get into, although they tried.  The view was amazing.  The water had a greenish hue.  Trees everywhere.  Glorious!

We got to the Town of Banff sooner than we had planned.  We were fortunate to do so as when we were coming into town a warning of "Low Tire Pressure" lit up on the dashboard.

We drive a 2009 Ford Escape and prior to leaving had the oil changed, tires checked and other "multi-point" things looked at.  We got passing grades in all areas except for the battery.  It failed, but they were not sure why since the car was starting ok and there were no noticeable issues.  I decided to take our chances with it, taking care not to overtax the battery along the way.

We stopped in Banff and checked the air pressure of the tires.  Driver side front tire was low.  Very low. We filled the tire with air and continued on.  Now there were two things to keep an eye on.

The town of Banff was bustling.  They had some hot springs there as well, so we headed up the curvy road to the top of Banff.  Once again, no parking.  We passed on the hot springs and headed back down.  

There was a native store at the base of town.  We decided to stop in and check out their wares.  I am generally not a big fan of these stores as the Moccasins are usually not hand made and there is a lot of schlock.  Tom did find some nice beads though.  They were made by the Stoney First Nation located in Alberta.  He bought some for the niece and nephew we would be seeing in a few days at PowWow.

Town of Banff

Tom by the river

Carved Door at Indian Store

We headed out of town towards Medicine Hat, Alberta.  Fortunately, we came across another reserve with gas.  Another discount, and another opportunity to fill the tire which didn't seem to be holding it's air.

Siksika Nation

The plains were just that.  Plain.  Not much to see, not even Prairie Dogs.  We did pass through Calgary which was a shot of urban along the route.  We had no wifi so the iPhone did not offer us any side trips or odd roadside attractions.  It was OK though as it was pretty hot outside.  We did have the books, which told us of some Hoodoos only 20 K off the route.

We got to the stop sign and took a very rough road for many miles.  We never found those darn hoodoos.  The road followed a small stream.  Up, down, down more, up, veer this way and that.  We decided to stop along the disappointed way back.  Still trying to get these dogs in water, but the stream was not that reachable due to brush and bugs.

The bugs swarmed us as soon as we got out of the car.  Fortunately for the dogs, they were not getting bit through their fur.  Not so for us.  90 degree weather and we are putting on sweatshirts to keep the bugs off.  It was the least enjoyable PB&J meal on our trip.  We were also hoping that our tire would out.

We approached Medicine Hat, finding out that they were having their Pioneer Days that weekend.  The information area had a giant teepee on it's grounds.  One kilometer down the road was also a ball field.  We took the opportunity to get out and stretvch and toss the balls with the dogs.

Medicine Hat, The Gas City had a few campgrounds.  We headed to one, which was located by a golf course near the teepee.  We never really found it so we headed to the another called Gas City Campground.   Pioneer Days really filled up the town so there was no room in the campground.  Fortunately they had an overflow area, which was basically setting up tent away from the campground on the open plain.  It was hot and buggy.

We headed into town to get some food after we set up the tent.  Dogs out of the car.  Dogs back in the car.  Poor dogs.

The best thing about small towns is that you can drive short distances and see everything.  We headed towards the historic district of town where all of the lights were gas lights.  Cute.  We randomly saw a sign that looked urban and not at all Cowboy.

Local Public Eatery

We entered into the outdoor patio of Local and were pleasantly surprised to find a bit of urban in this pioneer town.  Multiple beers on tap.  A decent menu.  A pleasant bartender named Jesse.  Jesse had dressed for Pioneer Days by creating a large belt buckle with glitter and glue.  Just had to ask if I could take a pic.

The Cowboy (Arrow Up)

The Horse (Arrow Down)

I owe this man a favor as when we were telling him about our slow leak, he stated "It's not going to get better."  Simpler words were never better to hear.  He told us of a spot outside of town to get that leak fixed.  He had been there countless times himself.

Dinner was good.  As usual, I had the fish and chips.  They ranked up in the top 5 of all times.  Breading was light and the fish was meaty.  Tom had hoped for some of that Alberta Beef from the day before.  So much so, that he had the chef checking the beef himself.  It wasn't the delectable beef that he had the day before and he was a bit disappointed.  We never stayed for the offer of Pims and Ginger, but instead headed back to the campground and slept under the stars, Two Dudes, Two Dogs, One Small Tent.

Day 4 and very long daylight

We awoke the next morning early, which was pretty standard for our trip.  Repacked the car again a little different and headed out.

A few months prior to our departure while doing research of this route, I ran across a few books on Amazon which became our bibles while driving across Canada.  They are:

Canadian Book of the Road, A Complete Motoring Guide to Canada

Back Roads and Getaway Places of Canada

These books proved invaluable.  They separated the country into small driving routes through the provinces offering information about the history, terrain, flora and fauna.  The items that we were most interested in.  Todays route was to head to Banff and Lake Louise, one of our stops planned.

We drove North up Route 1 towards Hells Gate, BC.  There were some signs for the Hells Gate Airtram in Fraser Canyon.  We arrived in the morning and found it to be a gondola heading down to the gorge.  We decided not to take the time to go down in it, although dogs were allowed on the tram.  It would have been fun to see Growly and Whiney dogs in the tram with 20 other people.

We moved forward on our route, while Tom looked for First Nation Reserves.  We were on the lookout for "Indian Gas."  I learned a while back that a registered indian gets gas without taxes while on reserve land.  Gas is near or over $5 a gallon (I never really figured out the formula for Canadian Dollar/Liter to US Dollar/Gallon) in Canada.  I'll take savings were I can.

I have always gotten the cheaper gas on my own reserve, but never have I tried to get it at others.  I was curious though after getting last nights discount at Telte Yet.  Not too up the road was the first chance.  I am sad to report that I didf not write down the name or location of this petro station, but if you are passing through, look for the res dog.  Every reserve has them.  Dogs with gimpy legs.

Res Dog

I pulled up to the pump.  Went into the store and asked for a fill up.  I showed my card and they did a bit of calculating and , "Bam!"  Discount!  I love Canada.

We continued on towards Revelstoke at the base of Mount Revelstoke National Park.  We passed many rivers and lakes, but still no swimming for the dogs.  There would be time for that soon enough.  We were hungry and the dogs needed to play, so we stopped at a local park and tossed some balls with the dogs.  We headed back into town, stopped at the information store and picked up some information on Banff and Lake Louise, tomorrows destination.

Right behind the store was the Regent Hotel.  They had a nice outdoor dining area and we ordered some lunch/dinner.  I am pretty standard when it comes to eating out.  I like to try Fish and Chips or Chicken Fried Steak.  I actually have a running contest in my mind for the best in the world, but that's another entry.  I ordered the fish and chips.  Tom ordered a burger with Alberta Beef.  My fish was tasty.  Tom found a new love.  Mmmm.  Alberta Beef!

We walked around town a bit.  It seems that the downtown area is used often for outdoor concerts and people watching.  It was busy.  They also had many statues of Grizzly Bears around town.

We got back in the car and proceeded over the mountains through Glacier National Park and Rogers Pass.  We wanted to get to Golden, BC before nightfall to set up camp and get an early start to Banff.  It was early evening and we had a few hours of driving left, but the sun never seemed to set.  It was then that I realized that the sun is setting a lot later than normal due to being so much higher in longitude.  It was great.  Driving at 9 PM and feeling that you could drive much later if you wanted to.

We arrived in Golden and was planning to stay at the Municipal Campground.  Sold Out!  We were referred to another which was located right off the highway.  The Whispering Spruce Campground had no whispers.  Only the sounds of cars and trucks running up the highway.  Once again, I slept no problem.  Tom, on the other hand, not so much.

Day 3 or Entry into Canada

We started our day with coffee, eggs & Beans and anticipation of entry into Canada.  We packed up camp fairly quickly and set out to locate the local dog park so we can tire out the dogs before the border.

We found the Thurston County Off-Leash Dog Area easily this time.  The county had turned their former landfill into a dog park, so it was huge.  The entrance had a huge bone made of brick at the entrance laid out to walk on into the main gate.  Too cute...

    

         

 Luther & BuddyJack played ball.  Over and over again.  Enough to tire them out and stay quiet as we started today's car ride.  Up I-5 until we reached Mt. Vernon were there was a detour.  This was our first for the trip, but certainly not our last.

It was recommended to take Route 9 for a few miles.  The road was winding and slow, but offered a very scenic route through the backroads of WA state.  We passed some beautiful lakes and followed a river to the Canadian Border Crossing at Sumas, WA.  

I am a Native American from the Mi'gmaq Tribe in Listuguj.  I possess a Certificate of Indian Status card which allows me entry into and out of Canada and the States without issue.  I have always used my passport upon entry into Canada and back into the States, but my passport had recently expired and I wanted to verify that I could go through with just the archaic card.

Tom had his passport and the dogs had their papers.  Nothing major for the dogs, only verification of rabies shots.  All of these papers, as well as checkbook and expired passports were held in an old blue bank bag that I have used since owning Contrast Restaurant in Dennis, MA.  Tom knows that if there is ever a major problem or fire, "Just grab the blue bag!" and he knows what to do.  The joys of a ten year relationship.

We approached the border with great anticipation of what the road ahead would bring.  Neither of us have ever traveled the Trans-Canada Highway.  We've done traveling in the states back and forth a number of times.  We've done it often enough that we are running out of routes.

A nice woman took our papers.  I must admit I was nervous about my "Indian Card", but all went well.  Reason for Visit?  How Long?  Asking were we work was a new one.  At least for me.  A nice Welcome to Canada and we were in.

First order of business?  Head to the Highway, straight ahead.  When we get there, take a right.  Detour.  Wrong turn!  We land up on the Frontage RoadNo 3G.  Saw a sign for information.  It's basically an "i".  "Look for the i!"  Traveled down the road to our first information stop along Highway 1.

Flags of Canada

We picked up the necessary items entering into a new area.  A local province map, camping information, special or unique things to do along the way were all freely given by the woman attendant.  She also offered more maps for further provinces as well as guides for the few ahead.  We headed East toward Quebec, and as if welcoming us, a Bald Eagle flew overhead.  We were both very excited to see it, which would be one of the many wild animals we were to see along the way.

Our first planned stop was the Tetle Yet Campground in Hope, British Columbia.  Prior to leaving, I looked up First Nation Campgrounds.  I read that a number of tribes are opening their lands up to tourists but Tetle Yet was the only one I found on the web.

We arrived in early evening which gave us some time to set up camp and explore the District of Hope.  I went into register at the office and asked about an indian price.  The young man asked for my card, wrote down my band number and gave me a discount.  YeeHaw!

We set up camp along the Fraser River.  There were very few people there and the campground was fenced in so we had an opportunity to play with the dogs with a Chuckit and balls.  The wind was strong and constant.  Not a bad thing.  No bugs!

We headed out to downtown Hope, the "wood carving capital of the world."  We headed South to the Rotary Centennial Park were we saw some examples of the wood carving.

     

Participatory Art in Downton Hope

We had a great night.  We bought some wood, played some cribbage and watched the campsite fill up with people from all walks of life.  The rush of the wind and water always there.  This was our first night in Canada and we felt at peace and slept.