The Great State of Montana

 Today (Sept 29^th) is laundry day, which we have learned is also the best time to update our blog; so since we have roughly 10 days of clothing, our goal is to update our blog every 10 days!

We are currently in a laundromat in West Yellowstone Montana.  Its been an exciting day thus far, as we learned Kendra’s credit card was hacked; someone tried to spend over $15,000 on it from various locations in the USA and the UK. 

We seem to be getting into a good routine now and are excited to enter Yellowstone National Park!

 

September19th – Going to the Sun

We woke up in one of the largest campgrounds in Glacier National Park, it was so large it had a shower building, with two showers for 300 campsites! Thankfully we showered the day we arrived at a random time so the showers were not occupied.

We woke up early and started to drive the Going to the Sun Road, the famous road specifically designed by the US government to showcase the beauty of Glacier National Park from the comfort of your automobile, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t stretch our legs a bit.  We had previously asked what hikes we should do from visitor information and were told the two most popular hikes, a hike known as Avalanche and a hike that starts at the highest point on the road to Hidden Lake, but we were told it would be very difficult to find parking.

We lucked out with Parking at the Avalanche hike and saw a clear lake surrounded by mountains at the end.  We were a little less lucky at Logan Pass, the point of highest elevation, as there was no parking spots available with tens of cars driving around in infinite loops, like vultures ready to attack anyone who started to walk towards a parked car and defend any spot they felt entitled to.  We gave up this game as we didn’t want to be so aggressive with the other motorists or fellow hikers just trying to get back to their vehicles. 

About a half mile down the road was another pull out and as luck would have it someone was pulling out as we approached.

  We took the spot and hiked up to Logan pass to do the Hidden Lake hike!

Glacier National Park, especially the Going to the Sun Road is amazing and a must do!  So many beautiful sights and pull outs, it reminds me of Highway 93 (Icefields Parkway) between Jasper and Banff.

When we got to the end of the Going to the Sun Road, we noticed that there were two campgrounds that still had spots available, one very close to where the Going to the Sun Road had ended; St. Mary’s, and another in a different section of the park called Many Glaciers.  Paul decided that we should camp in Many Glaciers, which ended up being a mistake, although the park was beautiful the rain had started and the campground was full. In reality, the campground had not been full for a while so they were getting ready to transition it to primitive winter camping by shutting down one of the loops, essentially eliminating half of the campsites in the campground for the remainder of the season.  Frustratingly, by the time we got back to St. Mary’s that campground was also full.  By luck we ended up finding a campground that was closed for the season outside the park that allowed us to stay in their campground for virtually nothing (compared to $83/night up the road at the KOA…yikes!).

Our timing couldn’t have been better as after we had set up and had dinner the weather turned with hail and rain lasting most of the night.

 

September 20^th – Chasing Waterfalls in Glacier National Park

We debated about going back into the Many Glaciers section of the park but in the end decided against it as all the hikes were very long (around 15 kilometers) and it was only 2 degrees.  It did not rain in many areas of the National Park, instead it had snowed which was not something we were prepared (or willing) to tackle.  Thankfully, one of the other questions we had asked at Visitors Information was what hikes are not popular but should be or which hikes have pretty views without having to exert too much effort to get to the views. We were informed of three waterfalls that were within 5 kilometers of each other and would make a great day hike.  We were sold. 

This was a great hike, although not all the waterfalls were “worth it’ (Baring falls was meh), the combinations of them all as well as seeing the largest waterfall, Virginia falls made it a great choice.

When we crossed back through Logan Pass Kendra wanted to get a picture with the dusting of snow that had fallen overnight, however the parking lot was worse than West Edmonton Mall on Boxing Day- see above description-(aka-tons of vehicles circling around still, people stopping in the middle of the road to the exit in the hopes someone will come and they can take their spot). Kendra hopped out of the van while Paul said he would meet her near the sign, this was easier said than done as Paul was stuck behind a line of vehicles hoping to get a spot. Kendra got her picture, waited a bit for Paul to pick her up, then decided to cross the road and wait there for Paul.  Lucky for her, a kind gentleman with a cute dog offered her a ride, after only a minute or two of sticking her thumb out, in their minivan and they rode off into the chilly day.

One other notable event was a black bear on the Going to the Sun Road.  Now usually we do not stop for photos of wildlife, but with one lane in each direction and no shoulder to drive on, we were forced to stop and take pictures as the bear walked by our van on the other side of the road.  We debated about getting out of our vehicle and feeding it, but decided Yogi was probably looking for a bigger pic-a-nic than we could offer (just kidding, we would never feed the wildlife and ruin the nature).

Unfortunately, it was time to leave Glacier National Park as the snow had made us want to get out of the Mountains, so after a few interesting stops, specifically a Ten Commandments “Museum’ in Columbia Falls, a stop to try some huckleberry pie (the pie crust was just doughy pastry and the filling was okay) and some grocery shopping in Big Fork, we found a camping spot right on the Swan River.  This spot was beautiful and, even as we are writing this, has remained our favourite camping spot of the trip thus far due to the wildlife we saw (deer) who didn’t mind our presence, the mountains in the distance and the calm river sights and sounds.

 

September 21^st – Camping with a View

We had been told the Big Fork MT was like Banff, but without the mountains; this description intrigued us so we spent the morning there.  It definitely was cute with some touristy shops but nothing that would make us stay for more than a few hours.  Our favourite spot was the Brewery, the beers were okay, but the view was amazing as it overlooked Flathead Lake.  We ended up sitting at this brewery for a couple hours having a couple beers and eating multiple pretzels with beer cheese.  DELICIOUS!! There was also a quaint shop that sold preserves and syrups, so we got a jar of huckleberry preserves (significantly better than the pie the previous day).

As we didn’t see much reason to stay in Big Fork any longer, we hit the road looking for a camping spot.  We stopped at the US Forest Ranger station to question about “dispersed” aka free campsites and how to find them.  We were given a list of ones in that specific area and decided to venture out to the furthest one away. After arriving at the free campsite and looking at our favourite app, iOverlander, Kendra was able to find one that looked incredible just a 10 minute drive from where we thought we would stay, a spot on top of a mountain were an old fire lookout used to be. 

Watching sunset from this spot will always be a highlight!

 

September 22^nd – Rural Montana Hospitality

We woke up in the rain and knew that today it was going to rain all day and barely get into double digit temperatures.  We had already decided that today was going to be the day we stayed in a hotel but were not 100% sure where we would stay.  In most major centres, hotels still started at $150 USD and we wanted a room closer to $100 USD. 

While looking at the map Paul noticed that there was a small hotel in the community of Ovando, MT.  The town sign said the population was “around 50” and according to guidebooks the community was home to Trixi’s Antler Saloon, A Montana Institution, whatever that meant.  Paul phoned up the hotel and was happy to hear that there was availability (in the 6 room hotel) and that the rooms were dog friendly.  Best of all the price was $100 USD.

We arrived to the hotel before noon, which didn’t seem to be an issue and vegged out, getting caught up on the world as we listened the rain pour. 

Around 4pm we headed to the saloon for a few drinks and dinner. Both the walk to the saloon and the people of the saloon made us realize that we were in a red area of a red state with everyone holding very different ideological ideas then us; however, they showed us amazing hospitality.

We spent the evening chatting, and playing bar games like Shake-a-Day, where you spend $1 to shake some dice and if you get a Yahtzee, you get the growing pot of money, which at Trixi’s was around $1400.  We didn’t’ win.

At the end of the night, we went up to pay and instead we were told that the people we had been talking to had paid for our drinks, our meals and given us a sticker for our van so that we wouldn’t forget Ovando and the good people who live there.  I don’t think we ever will forget Ovando.

September 23^rd – America Sized

We woke up well rested, warm, dry and ready to hit the road.  We had learned of a small ghost town just south west of Ovando called Garnet that was supposed to be worth a visit before we made our way to the State Capital; Helena.

Before leaving Ovando we were told we had to eat breakfast at the café across the road, which is one of a handful of sit down meals we have had in the US, and the portions were out of control. We decided to get their breakfast specialty

Biscuits and Gravy.  Don’t get us wrong, they were delicious, (we could only imagine the Cholesterol, Fat and Sodium in them) but there was no way we could finish the meal, even though we tried, and boy did we try. After stuffing our face we waddled out of the restaurant and didn’t eat another meal until around 7pm.

Garnet was neat, it was a collection of old abandoned buildings that were taken care of by the US government.  Each building had a little plaque explaining its purpose and who lived there.  Our favourite building was the old hotel, known back in the day as the Wells Hotel, which Paul is sure is haunted.  Definitely gave some eerie vibes.

We then headed to the interstate, which is the first time we had been on an interstate as drivers.  Well just as the food is bigger than in Canada the speed limits are higher than in Canada.  On the interstate the speed limit is almost 130 km/h.  It seemed like in no time we were in Helena.

We didn’t spend must time in Helena, instead we went to a Speakeasy brewery that someone in Ovando recommended we see (definitely had some of the best beer we have had in the US).  Then found a campsite for the night.

 

September 24^th – A slight change of plans

We had plans to see Helena in the morning then drive to Bozeman in the afternoon, with hopes of being in Yellowstone the day after that.  We were looking forward to nights where we didn’t have to wear long underwear with every single blanket, as although the days were warm, nights were rarely above 5 degrees.

We wandered around downtown Helena and found a cute coffeeshop with free Wi-Fi where Kendra had the forethought to see what our options were in Yellowstone. We quickly learned that all campsites in both Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park (just south of Yellowstone) were by reservation only (and the earliest we could get a campsite (in the whole park) was September 29^th.  We had to slow down a bit.

Lucky for us there was a Soap Box Derby occurring in Helena and the whole community was downtown enjoying the festivities.  There was food and beer vendors (you could drink on the street), bands and of course Soap Box racers.  It was an unexpected day that we felt fortunate to be a part of.

 

September 25^th – Still in Helena

It felt odd to still be in Helena when we woke up.  We had already planned to be far further south and we didn’t quite know what we should do.  We decided to take a look at the State Building, which was interesting, very reminiscent of any of the prairie legislatures then headed to Canyon Ferry Lake. 

We felt a little aimless today, so we ended up finding a camping spot right on the lake and spent the rest of the day playing games and reading.

 

September 26^th – Off to Bozeman

We woke up and headed to the city of Bozeman, a college town with a flourishing downtown with cafes and bars and local niche shops.  It was great to wander around going in and out of shops and watching/eavesdropping on college students.  Oh, it took us back to our own undergrad.

We then decided to do a few hikes just south of Bozeman in the Hyalite Canyon area, where we saw two waterfalls surrounded by some dynamic mountains.  It was a fine day and even ended with us sitting around a fire watch the sun go down.

 

September 27^th – Unsuccessful Shopping

Paul has been concerned with our camp stove regulator for the last few days and wanted to purchase a new one and with Bozeman being a larger city with many outdoors stores he thought it would be an easy task to find a new regulator. 

Issues would involve too much propane getting to the burners resulting in a massive flame or propane leaking from the hose as a liquid and smelling up the van.

After 4 hours and countless stores we did not find what we needed, however in the time we did learn the actual name of what we were looking for, a camp stove propane regulator (at the beginning of the day Paul was showing people what he was looking for and explaining what it looks like).  We also learned why we were having issues with it as the regulator was getting saturated with propane due to how we were hanging it.

Time will tell if the changes we make to how we are hanging the propane line will fix the issues, but at the time of writing this, so far so good.

We then drove to Ennis MT, where there was a western looking downtown and cheap camping right on the River.  It was a good call, as the temperature was around 28 degrees all day so sitting in a river with a beer in our hand was the right way to spend the day (after exploring Ennis that is-aka checking out the local distillery).

 

September 28^th – I guess we are in the off season

The reason we had stayed in Ennis was because it was close to the community of Virginia City and Nevada City.  These two frontier communities had been preserved to look similar to how they looked in the late 1800’s.

We arrived quasi early ready to spend the day exploring, but both communities were more or less closed for the season.  Nevada City was just a ghost town so we couldn’t explore it at all as it was fenced off.  People still live in Virginia City so there were a couple things open, like a gift store and the local bar.  We ended up spending our time reading plaques on the historical buildings. 

The most interesting ones, for us, had to do with a couple who lived in Virginia City in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  They had purchased various buildings and companies within the community, but in 1903 Montana put in a law stating the people couple not marry outside their race, and that if they had their marriage would be nullified.  Well, this couple happened to be of two different races and they were no longer married. 

An interesting character we encountered in Virginia City was sitting right outside of the saloon at 11 am.  Cooper, the golden lab that wanders around town, made friends with Rupert and followed us for a good chunk of our time.  Rupert wasn’t thrilled by Cooper’s presence but they managed to share the dog water bowls left out of businesses and didn’t pull any vigilante moves on each other (this town was known for vigilante’s and the justice that goes along with them when it was a mining town).

Just a reminder of the way of the world in the early 1900s.

As most things were closed we ended up leaving far earlier than we had planned, so we made our way just outside of West Yellowstone MT, excited to see another national park.

Deadlines and Border

There is nothing like sitting at a distillery sampling liquor, looking at mountains and writing a blog, 10/10 I'd recommend, anyway here is out last week exploring North America!. 

September 13^th – Into Kootenay National Park

We woke up in the middle of nowhere far from any “real” campsite down a trail that the van probably shouldn’t have driven down, but hey the van was fixed, right?  After posting our blog the previous day we thought it best to hit the road, we had a deadline to meet, to cross the US border on September 15^th.  This date is important to us as it was the day, we told the Government of BC we would be leaving and the first day that our travel insurance starts[1].

To ensure we met this deadline we left Nelson shortly after posting the blog, but only after checking out the electric tram ride through the waterfront.  We drove near the entrance of Kootenay National Park, however we were struggling finding somewhere to sleep, but we saw a quasi camping spot looking location down a dirt road off a logging road and thought, this could work.  Don’t worry, Paul did walk the “road” first before attempting to drive down it.

We entered Kootenay National Park excited for the possible hikes and views, but unfortunately the smoke was still very dense.  We decided to prioritize hikes that were not dependent on the views, specifically Paint Pots and Marble Canyon.

The first stop was Paint Pots which was an awesome short hike to these humongous puddles (or tiny lakes) that due to their mineral contents and natural dyes in the mud have these beautiful colours.  Rupert surprisingly loved this hike especially jumping into the mud, which dyed his fur yellow… A quick dip in the glacier creek running nearby taught him a lesson, that lesson being he loves mud but still doesn’t like water. Maybe one day he will learn, but you can’t really teach an old dog new tricks (trust us, we’ve tried).

We then, noticing we were only 30 kilometers from Banff, and knowing we had a gift card for The Keg [Thanks Mom] drove into the community.  Our first stop was Cave and Basin as we had never been to it before and we have always been curious about it.  It was fine, glad we went but we wouldn’t go again as it was more like a museum than a natural wonder (even though the cave is very beautiful).

The Keg was great, bit expensive but we had a gift card.  After eating appetizers and a big dinner we were definitely waddling back to the vehicle, meaning we had to do one more hike to work off our meals.

We drove to the trailhead of the Marble Canyon; we had saw on the map that Marble Canyon Campground was across the road, so figured we would spend the night there. However, the campground closed for the season on September 11, 2022 and we had read that we could camp at the Marble Canyon hike parking lot, even though we weren’t really supposed to.    We set up our camp, hiked through Marble Canyon then relaxed in bed just as a huge rain and thunderstorm hit the area.

September 14^th – Finding Red Chairs

One of our favourite things to do in Canadian National Parks is finding the Red Parks Canada Chairs located at key viewpoints.  One was at Marble Canyon which we had seen the night before, a second was at Simpson River.  Thankfully due to the rain the mountains were finally viewable and there was even a tiny chair for children (or Rupert!).

The next chairs were overlooking Radium Hot Springs, and even though the trail map was a bit confusing, we found them pretty quickly.

By the time we found the last set of chairs the hot springs across the road had opened, so we obviously needed to check them out.  They were fine, like a large warm swimming pool, and the change rooms provided us the opportunity to have a shower.

There was one last hot spring we wanted to visit, Lussier Hot Springs in White Swan Provincial Park, so after getting our fill at Radium we jumped back in the van and drove.  As we passed the trailhead to Lussier we noticed one thing, it was packed with vehicles, so we decided to get a camping spot for the night and head to the hot springs in the morning.

 

September 15^th – Back to the USA

We woke up both excited and sad to be leaving Canada.  We knew there was so much more we could see and do in the Kootenays but we had our deadline.  We drove to Lussier for 8:30am and had the hot springs almost to ourselves.  Definitely in our top 3 hot springs, but I could see this one becoming one of our least favourites if it was full of people, the pools were just very small, great for 12 or so people, bad for 20 or more.

We left the springs by noon and headed into Cranbrook to spend all our PC points for non-meat products and try to find a new camp stove.  The regulator of our camp stove stopped working.  We do have theories why but needed a new stove, we store it vertically rather than horizontally, so we are going to store the stove differently to see if it lasts longer than a few months of daily use.

Purchasing a camp stove has been tricky in the past when the last one broke as the van is designed to hold a very specific size of camp stove, common ones, like a Coleman or Woods are too big.  This potential trip altering issue ended up not being an issue as after a bit of research Kendra learned that the right sized camp stove was at Sport Check of all places; crisis avoided.

After rereading everything we needed to do before crossing the border, and getting out everything they may want to see (specifically Rupert’s specialty dog food), we drove up to the border guard.

Entering the US is one of the most difficult borders for most doing the Pan-American highway, but we knew, as Canadians, it would be easier for us due to various agreements (recognition of car insurance, licenses, 6 months visa free travel, etc.), but we were traveling for 3 months.

Paul was driving and the border guard asked for our passports, asked where we were going (Paul said Mexico after 3 months of traveling in the United States). Then the border guard asked for our proof of vaccination. Kendra showed her proof saved from their trip to Spain in March, but Paul did not have his saved on his phone. We didn’t need the proof to enter Alaska, so he had just assumed you didn’t need it to enter the United States.  The border guard asked us to pull to the side, kept our passports and said once Paul finds it, we can get the passports back.  He turned his phone and mobile data on (and therefore had to pay roaming charges 😐) and grabbed the proof.  Paul walked back to the border, showed the proof and a different border guard handed our passports back and with a kind smile said enjoy your trip.

THAT WAS IT!!! It felt like we smuggled the dog in as they didn’t ask for any paperwork for him (we had his vaccination status ready to go plus his dog food prescription).  They didn’t ask our route, or what food we had.  They didn’t even ask us if we had anything to declare.  We didn’t as we knew we were following all the rules, but seriously that was it. If you’re looking for a quick, relatively easy, and (other than psychological stress you place upon yourself) relatively painless border crossing check out Roosville.

We drove to the first large city, Kalispell Montana, on the map to go to Costco for cheap gas and Best Buy for a pre-paid Sim Card.  NOTE: Kendra and I have a new phone number for the next 3 months, let us know if you want it 😊).

We then decided to return to Whitefish, a cute ski town just north of Kalispell to camp so we could explore the area the next day.

 

September 16^th – Just an all around Perfect Day

When we were working, we had a pretty good idea if we would be having a good day or a bad day or uneventful day the second we woke up.  During this adventure we have no idea what sort of day we will have until we have it, we may meet a cool person, see an amazing site, or have an interesting or funny thing happen to us.  Today we woke up unaware that we were going to have a perfect day.

We went to downtown Whitefish which is full of dog friendly coffeeshops and restaurants overlooking a ski hill. It was great to spend the morning exploring the community and people watching.  As we explored, we saw a poster for a Songwriters Music Festival that was occurring this week in Whitefish.  There were musical performances occurring between 8 venues starting at 10am until 10 pm AND tickets were only $20!!  Well, our afternoon and evening turned into walking from venue to venue watching live music, drinking some local beer and cider and eating all the meat from a local BBQ place.

The time flew by.  The music was awesome, the artists were so entertaining and so talented.  It even caused us to break the #1 rules of driving the Pan-America, do not drive at night.  Thankfully everything worked out!

 

September 17^th – A day of camping

The campgrounds around the Whitefish area were both full and expensive, and for those reading who know us, we can be frugal sometimes.  It was a weekend and the weather was warm so lots of Montana locals had flocked to get one more weekend of camping in.  The state park, which would cost $30 usd a night, had no room for us.  We thought to see if we could stay at an RV park, but were surprised to hear they were also full and would cost $80 usd a night; FOR CAMPING (with water and electric hook ups- which we have no use for)!!!!  Hotels in the area were equally expensive, costing $270 usd a night, but the night before we had learned of a free campground 30 minutes north of Whitefish so we spent the night at Upper Stillwater Campground.  Knowing that it may be difficult to find camping today we decided to have a day of relaxing and vegging.  It was so needed after doing so much exploring and visiting over the last few weeks.

 

September 18^th – Heading to Glacier National Park

The reason we decided to enter the United States through Montana was to see Glacier National Park.  We had been told that it can be quite busy so wanted to enter it on Monday morning, we spent today doing laundry, finding a shower and finding a campsite near the entrance to the park so we could do the highly rated Going to the Sun road without have to compete with so many others. 

After doing laundry and failing to find a shower, we decided to stop at a local distillery in Coram, MT. Glacier distilling was open when we drove by, and with a dog friendly patio we had to stop in. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the cool fall weather and they had free wifi to post this blog!

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[1] Typically, if you leave the province for more than 6 months you lose your residence and by extension your provincial health insurance, which is the foundation for any travel insurance you purchase.  When talking to our travel insurance provider we were made aware that these 6 months can be extended if you have lived in the province for over 5 years, have no left for longer than 3 months.  We met these criteria so were able to extend, but we had to give a date, the date we choose was September 15^th.

The 4 "F" Words of the Last 3 Weeks

 

Where did we go?!?!

We are currently in the city of Nelson at a café waiting for our van to be fixed and praying it will be covered by warranty.  The last few weeks have can be summarized by four “F” words: Family, Friends, fixing (the van) and saying/yelling a certain expletive.  So, this blog post will be a little different then the last, we are going to go through each “F” word and how it has impacted the last 3 weeks.
  

Family

We did not know if we could handle vanlife or this road trip when we first started.  We were nervous for the undertaking, scared for the future and riddled with self doubt, so we decided to break the trip up into a small part, driving up to Tuktoyaktuk and Alaska and driving South.  We’d separate these two sections by saying goodbye to Kendra’s family in Edmonton and saying goodbye (again) to my family in Quesnel.

After a night in a hotel, we drove relatively quickly to Edmonton where we visited family and shared tales from the road, most of which can be read from previous blog posts. 

One of our most memorable days was meeting up with our nieces and nephews at the Telus World of Science.  Kendra’s sister drove into the parking lot with all her kids but there was something off about her van, it was making a load Tssss sound.  Well, it didn’t take long to tell that there was a significant leak in one of her tires and within a matter of a minute the tire was absolutely flat.  We tried to help as best we could but after some discussion it was decided that we would call CAA (known as AMA in Alberta and BCAA in BC). 

We decided to get BCAA for this trip, but Kendra’s sister recommended we use her son’s AMA card.  They had a family plan and Paul was instructed to call AMA and inform them that he was driving the kids when the flat occurred; unfortunately, Paul did not follow directions…  After dialing the number, the first question that was asked was “What is your name”.  Paul panicked and forgot to be honest, instead he looked at the card bearing the name of a 7 year old boy and said Oliver.  The person from AMA was nice a greeted “Oliver” with a friendly word, then asked for my number, which I read on the card.  After he read the number the man on the other line went silent and after a few moments started to make a lot of hmmm sounds, which were finally broken with, “this card appears to be for a 7 year old boy”.  Well, Paul knew exactly what to do, he then responded, oh right, yes that is my…. Son, my name is Joel.  The AMA man once again greeted “Joel” with a friendly word, found his number then asked him to verify that he was Joel by telling him Joel’s birthday.  Well… that didn’t work…

In haste Paul spoke, probably a little loudly, “Ok, forget everything I’ve been saying, my name is Paul” Thankfully the AMA person found it amusing and within the next bit of time the flat tire was replaced.  Oddly AMA does not torque your tires for you as it is a liability issue, they just tighten it to a point they think is good.  Paul found this incredibly odd and a bit unsafe, so after the AMA person had finished the paper work, Paul grabbed the torque wrench from our vehicle and tightened the lug nuts (with the proper socket end- borrowed from AMA), two of which were surprisingly loose.

The rest of our family time in Edmonton was filled with delicious meals, tasty drinks and time at Driedmeat Lake/Tillicum Beach which was actually quite nice and didn’t have any sort of smell.  For some reason, with a name like Driedmeat Lake my expectation were incredibly low.

Seeing family in Prince George/Quesnel was equally enjoyable with Paul spending most of his time with his Dad fixing the van (more on this later).  The only real oddity of seeing family again was that in our minds and hearts we had already said goodbye to Paul’s family so it felt we were more haunting the area; we had our closure and now we felt like we were destroying the closure we were provided.

Friends

The reason we started making less stops between Fort St John and Quesnel, via Edmonton was that Fall was approaching the North.  When we woke up in Whitehorse and area, we were greeted by the cool crispy fall morning feeling.  The afternoon sun also seemed to hit the trees in a manner that highlighted the changing colours.  Edmonton and Quesnel became a balancing act between not staying too long, as not to freeze at night as we make our way down south, seeing family and seeing friends.

Thankfully enroute to Edmonton we were able to go into Grande Prairie where we were able to see a couple friends at the brewery, show off our van and hear excitement or changes within their lives, as well as get caught up with the political landscape of Alberta.

In Edmonton Paul was able to have a board game night, move a “little bit of mulch” and have a fire all while catching up.

Similarly, Kendra saw a good friend at a park and caused Paul to be the Designated Driver (for once :P).

Quesnel treated us well again; we truly will miss the people we have gotten to know over the last 7 years.  Kendra seemed to live at the Den, a local coffeeshop, for a few days constantly meeting people she had developed a relationship with.  The evenings were filled with drinks and laughter and often a fire. 

Fixing (the van)

Since the incident where “we” dented the rim(s), we have had the van fixed 4 times, with the time in Nelson being the 5^th time!!  Tire shops seem to becoming a new destination for us, but hopefully this trend ends today.

#1 When we arrived in Edmonton it was top priority to fix the rims (or order new ones).  I went to Fountain tire and showed them the issue and they went to work.   After an hour or so they called me up to the counter, informed me they were able to bang the dents out of the rim and we’d be good to go.  Paul was ecstatic, thanked them and left.

#2 Right before leaving Edmonton Paul was filling up the van with gas (as Kendra was driving that day) and looked down at one of the rims, the rim that had received the largest amount of damage and the tire looked very low.  Paul grabbed the air pressure gauge and realized that the tire only had about 12 psi of air (it is supposed to have 36 psi).
Off to the nearest Fountain tire, unfortunately a different one, and turns out that that the rim was not round and the bead wouldn’t form a seal, so it still leaked air.  Fountain tire did a bit more work on the rim and felt it was good enough for the time being.

After such a big hit in Alaska we were convinced, our alignment would be off.  We’d already started to notice uneven wear patterns on one of the tires so getting an alignment was top of mind.  Kendra had made an appointment at OK tire in Quesnel who informed us that they couldn’t do an alignment as our struts were leaking, one specifically was leaking really badly.  They also informed us that ¾ of our breaks were seized.  To fix everything would be around $3000.  Unfortunately, these are things we had to get fixed.

#3 Paul and his Dad decided to fix the brakes themselves.  Due to supply chain issues getting the right parts was always a day away.  It was a little surprising that the brakes had seized as it was only 2 years ago that we had redone the brakes in the van, but in the time, it looked like I had driven through acid, the corrosion on the brakes was ridiculous.  When we had replaced the brakes last, we learned that the van has “heavy duty brakes” which most Dodge Grand Caravans do not have and those type of brakes require special calipers, rotors and brake pads.  We knew from previous personal experience the wrong calipers or pads would not fit.
We did need a new caliper and after picking it up and taking it home we opened the box and sighed that familiar expletive, they had given us the incorrect caliper. 
Frustratingly I returned to the auto parts store.  The attendant was very confused by the caliper I returned as it wasn’t the caliper that was ordered for me.  The attendant was stumped, but just at that another man talking to a different attendant was heard complaining he was also given the incorrect caliper.  I quickly looked over and started to laugh, he had my caliper and I had his.  We had picked them up at different times but thankfully we’re returning them at the same time.  After a quick swap Paul and his Dad were able to repair the brakes on the van.

#4 We spent the money to get OK tire to fix the struts and do an alignment.  We paid the money and thought we were done with all the repairs…

#5 A few days after leaving Kendra was driving North of Nakusp when all of sudden a horrible clunking noise filled the van.  With every bump or left hand turn we would here CLUNK.  A quick google indicated that it could be a serious concern and was likely related to the work done by OK tire in Quesnel.  The work was on warranty so we decided to quickly drive to Nelson, the location of the nearest OK tire. Every kilometer and ever CLUNK was stressful causing stress headaches for both of us. Thankfully as we sit here, we got a call from OK Tire in Nelson who informed us that the issue was minor, OK tire in Quesnel had improperly installed a sway bar.  OK Tire in Nelson was able to fix it and we are happy to say that after an hour and a half in the shop we have our van back and we are confident to hit the road again.

A certain expletive

Every issue has cost money, time and stress.   Although Paul has a little side gig, we have a budget we have to follow.  When planning this trip, we decided to “Adult” and see a financial advisor on how to do this trip like fiscally responsible people.  By doing so we have various amounts locked into GIC and money in the market.  Lots of this money we can not touch for another 4 months and although we have a rainy day fund, we don’t want to break into it in the first couple months of this journey.  After purchasing health insurance for the next year, vehicle insurance and fixing the van we had spent a month’s budget in 3 days. 

We do feel like we are running out of time, as we sit here in Nelson it is barely above 10 degrees, extremely smoky, and the nights are quite cool.  We want to see more and do more but we feel pressed for time.

Both these issues have been causing a bit of stress causing us to utter, at least once a day a certain expletive, especially when we need to fix the van or go over our daily budget.

 

Our Days on the Road

August 27^th – The Hot Springs in Jasper

While in Edmonton Paul had randomly looked at campsites in Jasper for Saturday and was surprised to see a spot available.  We decided to book it so we could spend a day at Miette Hot Springs.

It was a bit surprising when we arrived at Miette to see a line up out the door.  Looking at the observation area the pools were packed, but we were undeterred. 

Although Paul found the pools nice, Kendra got pretty tired of looking down and seeing pubes float by.  The realization that no one had left the packed pool in the hours we had been there and the heavy chlorine smell was also very concerning as we had learned the smell, we associated with pools is actually the off gas created when urine mixes with Chlorine.  Yum.

After leaving the pool we decided to have a shower and sit by a fire and relax properly for the rest of the night.  We also lucked out with out timing because a week later Jasper had a wildfire destroy some infrastructure and Parks Canada has been encouraging tourists not to visit due to limited power and resources.

September 7^th – Leaving Quesnel again

We woke up in 100 Mile House beside Valentine Lake.  We had planned to drive to Nelson right after Quesnel and with it being such as long drive decided to leave the evening of September 6^th.   The Rec site was packed full of people, we were lucky to even get a spot so instead of feeling confined in a small camp spot we hit the road.  It was recommended the we check out Kentucky Alleyne Provincial Park known for its beautiful glacier blue colour.  Once we had arrived, we were happy we decided to only drive that far.  The lakes in the area were beautiful and perfect to swim in.   We also saw a young couple bring their pet in the water, why is that odd you wonder?  Because their pet was a bearded dragon. Rupert was unwilling to get his feet wet, but the bearded dragon was living its best life.

Regardless it was great to sit beside a lake and think about the road a head.

 

September 8^th – Errands in Kelowna

We stayed at the provincial park as long as we could, but within short order it was time to do some errands in Kelowna, we wanted to get some fresh fruit, drink some cider, get some groceries.  Kendra also wanted to get a hair cut, although she was 9/10, she thought she could do better, now she is a 10/10 :P

It’s funny how errand days seem to take up all your time, by the time Kendra was done her hair appointment it was almost 3pm, so after some googling, we found a rec site on top of a mountain, 12 kilometers up a forestry road.  We had the place to ourselves and with the fire bans removed in BC we were able to play music, have a fire and not worry how late (or early) we went to bed.

 

September 9^th – Kendra’s Decision

As we may have mentioned we trade who makes decisions for the day.  Kendra decided that she wanted to relax in nice hot springs and wash away the memories of Miette so we went to Halfway Hot Springs just north of Nakusp and just as we arrived to the campground all of a sudden, the van started to make a CLUNK noise, which we now know was a loose sway bar but at the time it was incredibly frustrating. We set up our camp prayed it was just a rock lodged somewhere and headed down to the water.  Although not as good a Liard River Hot Springs, Halfway Hot Springs is still a must go.  The natural pools and laissez faire attitude will mean that you will always have interesting conversations, perfect people watching opportunities and late night shenanigans.

Surprisingly we even saw someone we went to Undergrad with at Halfway Hot Springs which made the whole experience that must more special.

 

September 10^th – Okay there is something wrong

Paul didn’t sleep well, he kept tossing and turning thinking about the noise the van was making, so decided we need to get it looked at and with a place open in Nakusp we decided to make our move.  We were still hopeful the it was just a rock and were hoping a drive down a washboard road would dislodge it.  We were wrong and it became pretty evident that we needed to get this issue fixed.

Only one place was open in Nakusp but the person there was only able to look at tires, so he would be no help.  Feeling confident it was an issue with Struts we looked for the nearest OK Tire, which was Nelson and slowly drove to Nelson.  This drive was the longest drive of our trip.  It was stressful with us making note of ever sound, but not acknowledging out loud our individual thoughts, concerns or stresses.

When we arrived at Nelson we had hoped to get the van seen to that day, but everywhere was booked solid, so our plan changed to finding a spot to stay for the night.  Since it was a weekend, all the official campgrounds were booked, so it was recommended we head to a little unofficial campground a local told us about.  Well as soon as we arrived to this unofficial location we decided to leave.  There were “No camping” signs everywhere.  We looked on iOverlander and saw that just up a forest service road was another spot.  After a stressful 3 km drive up a mountain, we had our spot and met another Vanlifer.  It was a breath of fresh air not to talk about the van and instead chat with a stranger about everything and nothing.  Well after that we weren’t really strangers anymore.

 

September 11^th – Parking the Van

We were able to get a camping spot at the Nelson Municipal Campground which we thought would be a better spot for us, so we VERY SLOWLY drove down the mountain into town, slightly annoyed at ourselves for driving all the way up with an unknown vehicle issue, (but hey we have BCAA…right?).

We made it down in one piece and got to the campground without incident.  We set up our camp and decided to explore Nelson on foot.  We learned that is definitely the right way to see the city!  This town is what we’d call a “Hallmark City”.  It’s a cute little mountain down that embraces its arts scene, is oozing with culture and contains countless historical buildings.

We met back up with our Vanlife friend for beers at the end of the night and watched the sun go down and her dog play in the water, while Rupert slept.  It was good way to end the day.

 

September 12^th – FIXED!!!!

We woke up early to be at OK tire when it opened and as you’ve read the van was fixed.  It was even free of charge since it was under warranty. So, we get to spend the rest of the day exploring the alleys of Nelson which contain murals, grabbing a beer at one of the breweries and taking a historic electric tramway trip along Kootenay Lake. 

We are so happy to finally feel like everything is fixed, and hopefully we won’t have any more issues.