GRUELING

                                                                          DAY 4

 

    Don’t know how else to explain this day.  We both woke up at 4:00am and could not go back to sleep.  Had breakfast, talked about the route that day and where we might be able to get to without pushing too hard.  From Lewiston to Banff would be about a 520 mile trip. We have decided that our maximum for entertainment reasons was about 350 to maybe 400 miles.

     By 5:00 am we were on the road.  We thought that if we could make it to Lethbridge, Alberta, we could spend the night and go on to Banff the next day.  That would be a journey of about 300 miles for the day.  That should be no problem and we could rise early the next day and make it too Banff by mid morning.  Pretty good.

    As we traveled through Northern Montana, the terrain did not change for the longest time.  Lots of fields, rolling mounds and not much to see. About 100 miles from the Canadian border we finally saw a large mountain range far to the West.  We speculated that is was the Rockies and possibly even Glacier National Park.

    Amazingly the countryside turned to beautiful ranch and farm land. As we were looking off the side of the road we noticed some animals with white behinds. As they were off the road quite a distance, we were unable to identify them. They appeared as white spots in the fields. Finally we saw some closer to the road.  We had been looking at Antelope!  Over the course of about 30 or 40 miles there were a ton of small herds.  Altogether we think the total could have been 3-500 animals.  Way cool.

   The terrain returned to one of rolling fields, rolled up hay and straw and not much else.  The only thing of great interest was the mountain range to the west.  It seemed to get larger and appeared to go on farther north than we realized.  They had to be the Rockies.

    We arrived at the Canadian Border at 10:20 am. Lethbridge would only be another hour or so away.  We thought that maybe we could extend our day until we got to Ft Mac Cleod.  We arrived in Ft McCleod about 12:30 and pulled into the first gas station we could find.  As were fueling up one of our fellow Great Alaskan Holidays (AKA  GAH) pulled in .

 

                                                                                                          Border Crossing

     This is a very nice couple that we first met at the airport in Minneapolis, sat close to on the bus to Forrest City and have seen several times on the road.  Their names are Jim and Shirley and she speaks with a very pleasant and distinct accent .  The first time we introduced ourselves I asked her what part of North Carolina was she from.  She got a big kick out of it and wanted to know how I knew. Told her about some people I knew from Wilmington via Deltaville VA.

     After fueling we decided to treat ourselves to lunch from a local place.  Diners Drive Ins and Dives have not been to Ft Mcleod yet, so we were on our own.  About 3 blocks from the gas station we saw a local pizza parlor and decided that would do.  Simultaneously, we noticed a small local hamburger stand, The Igloo Drive Inn,  almost next door to the pizza parlor.  Talk about almost manifest destiny.  We both ordered cheeseburgers.  Sign on counter said onion rings were fresh and homemade.  So I ordered the rings.  Hamburgers were very good, but the  Onion Rings?  Off the hook dude.  Crisp, hot, tasty and the onion did not  fall out of the crust, but in your mouth.  We took a vote and it was unanimous.  Absolutely best onion rings on the planet.

    Stopped at a bank and bought some Canadian money.  Irene tried to turn in the $60.00 we had in Canadian coins but was told that she would have to roll it first.  Alrighty then.  Made the decision that it was early enough that we would go all the was in to Banff today.

    Southern Alberta looks pretty much the same as Northern Montana with rolling fields, lots of ranches and farms.  The mountain range we had been watching out to the west was much more pronounced and there is little doubt that it is the Rockies.  Peaks are now defined and covered with snow making a beautiful, sharp  contrast with the bright  blue sky.

    We drove right through Calgary on the way North.  I mean we drove right through it, not on a freeway or highway.   Calgary is a modern city of about 1.5 million people and maybe 7 million cars.  We were on the road with all of  them.  Think rush hour at 5:00pm on a Friday in LA.

 

                                                                                                Entering Calgary at 3:00pm

     Leaving Calgary behind, we drove straight thru to Banff arriving at the Tunnel Mountain campground at 5:30.  After 12 and a half hours on the road we were both exhausted and in no mood to go sight seeing, for a long hike or even socialize with fellow campers.  To celebrate our completion of a marathon day, we decided to take the time to cook a special meal.

             Parkway leading to Banff

 

                                                Tunnel Mountain Campground Banff

     Our celebration was to barbecue a steak, bake a potato and cook corn on the cob.  This was all part of the provision we did at Wal-Mart in Fairmont, Minnesota.  Potatoes were huge, cooked to perfection and very tasty with butter and sour cream.  The corn on the cob was from package with 6 small cobs about 2 inches each.  They hit the spot like nobodies business.  The steak was exactly what the doctor ordered, thick, juicy and mouth watering good.  Gonna sleep like a baby tonight.                                                                                    Elk at Campground in Banff

  Absolutely gorgeous campground, surrounded by unbelievable mountains and crags. The kind of place that you would love to stay a week or longer.  We will get by with 2 nights. Tomorrow will be out first day that we are not actually on the road. Looking forward to some rest and down time, even if it means quite a bit of walking to see Banff. 

Thrilled to be here and can not wait for tomorrow to see the town and area. 

   Although Banff is actually situated in a Valley with incredible mountains rising immediately above it, we are noticing again that darkness comes later and later each day.  Our motor home has sun shades that pull down inside the coach as well as roller shades.  The inside of our coach needs a night light for us to be able to see our way around.