Tripometer – 5779 mi
Gas Gauge – 463.001 gal
Location – Tunnel Mountain Village II Campground, Banff National Park, AB, Canada
Lodging – $29 CAD
Cans of OFF – 4
Early in this trip Paul said that he didn’t want to turn around and head south until he sees snow on the mountain tops. Last night’s cold temps (~38F) and pouring rain knocked the smoke out of the sky and deposited a glorious touch of snow to each and every mountain top. This morning is the definition of clear and cold! We started off the day with coffee indoors for a change turning up the heat to the 60s to get a head start on warmth for the day. We dressed in layers consisting of every piece of cold weather gear we brought shy of our thermals, winter hats, and gloves. Check out the difference between the picture of our trailer this morning versus yesterday evening. Note how clear the mountain is today.
Paul’s cough has gotten bad. Lots of coughing at night means little sleep for either of us because the trailer shakes on the suspension with each cough. Our beds are at either end of the trailer so leverage really helps amplify any movement at the other end of the trailer. Historically Paul’s allergies flare up in the spring and fall and manifest as sinus issues and a nagging cough. Maybe it’s just the dynamics of our sleeping arrangement but this feels worse than normal.
We spent the early afternoon looking through the town of Banff, a tourist town of high order. Tiring quickly of pushy tourists and redonkulous prices we decided to take a drive out the Bow Valley Parkway back to Castle Junction to appreciate the beautifully clear day. We don’t know how long this clear air will last and don’t want to miss the gorgeous views.
On the way into town this morning we noted a large liquor bottle near the curb behind the truck. We joked that it likely belonged to the owner of an overland camper parked behind us. On the way out of town this afternoon we promptly forgot about the bottle and ran it over with the back right tire. Two car incidents in as many days… Paul confirmed that it wasn’t loosing air fast enough to hear so off we went down the Bow Valley Parkway. Most of the mountain pictures above were taken on this drive. It’ was amazing! Predictably, about an hour into the drive the tire pressure warning came on and we pulled over. A quick check of the tire pressure (with a pressure gauge) showed no loss of pressure at all? 15 more minutes down the road and the tire pressure warning began blinking. As we were to find, out a blinking pressure warning light does not mean the tire pressure is significantly low, it means there’s been a malfunction in the tire pressure warning system. Would someone like to tell us the odds of having a tire pressure warning system failure an hour after running over a liquor bottle? We dodged that bullet!