Tripometer – 6421 mi
Gas Gauge – 498.040 gal
Location – Golden Golf Club RV Park, Golden, BC, Canada
Lodging – $30 CAD
Cans of OFF – 4
Time to warm up.
We left Jasper this morning with intention of getting through a cellular dead zone in the middle of British Columbia before Kelly was due to work again on Monday morning. The smoke was pretty bad today so the beautiful mountains were sadly not very photogenic. On the other hand, we did have to stop the rig to gawk at a black bear by the side of the road just south of the campground. That was a pleasant surprise.
We had lunch with a raven today. At a nice overlook on our way south along the Icefield Parkway we stopped for lunch from the trailer – a.k.a. “The Food Truck”. We took our chips and sandwiches to a picnic table overlooking a wide river valley. The view was spectacular. Mr. Raven decided we were his best chance at an easy lunch and he was not entirely wrong. This beast of a bird (he stood about 2’ high) pranced around our table ‘Qworking’ at us the entire time we ate. We had no choice but to feed him bits of sandwich bread filled with seeds and nuts. He was quite pleased with himself.
One of the more interesting things we’ve seen on our trip was at a much needed rest stop this afternoon. The map here was to explain the way in which the railroad goes through two spiral tunnels within mountains to take the train up the valley at a lesser grade than had been used in the past. Apparently this stretch of railway was known for its runaways and derailments prior to this change of course. We tried to grab a picture of the tunnel entrances but they were simply too far away and too covered by trees. The entrance and exit from the tunnel were both very close to one another on the mountainside, just at different heights.
The Par 3 golf course RV park that we stayed at several nights ago turned out to be very nice. With this in mind we decided to try our luck at another golf course RV park. When we pulled into our campsite tonight we were greeted by a fairly full campground, full of drunk 30-something golfers. We both got a big kick out of people watching until bedtime and everyone was looking forward to having their own bed to sleep in tonight (well, maybe not Ranger).
Special Note: All Canadian coinage has some iron content and is consequently attracted to magnets. Paul’s magnetic billfold becomes an all purpose bill and coin keeper in Canada!