Day 8 Home:

Only one picture today, made it home with no problems. Customs agent was surprised I decided to go from Colorado to Boston via Canada, but waved me through after only a few questions. I was expecting to cross the border in Vermont, where I usually pass when coming from Montreal but from some reason my GPS directed me to enter in Champlain New York and cross over to Vermont via a bridge over the lake into Swanton Vermont. I thought it was ironic that after travelling through North America, today I went a different way and saw a different town in my home state.

I know I'm biased, but the beauty of Vermont and Interstate 89 is not lost on me. Spent the rest of the day unpacking and trying to power wash the bugs off the front of my car.

My tips for travelling through Canada:

- Bring an Atlas, just using GPS will not help if you really want to know where you are, or you have no cell coverage.

-Old school guide books comes in handy for places to see. Two I used this trip and used on all my road trips since 2020 are: 1,000 Places To See Before you Die (In The United Sates and Canada) Patricia Schultz and 50 States 5000 Ideas (Includes 10 Canadian Provinces) National Geographic

- If you think you needs gas, coffee, or the bathroom you should stop. Could be a long way before the next opportunity. 

- Don't be like Nate, plan a few more days to go from Colorado to Boston via Canada. I missed out on a few sights and pushed the daily miles a little too much this trip.

- It's worth it, Canada is big and beautiful.

 Day 7: Toronto to Ottawa: I think I saw more cars in my 18 hours in Toronto, then I saw all week. Soon after leaving Toronto, the highway traffic eases up and it's gentle farmland as I headed east. One of my guide books suggested I get off the major highway in Kingston Ontario and head north along route 15. Drive was nice, got a few glimpses of a lake along the way. 

You wouldn't know you are approaching the capital of Canada as it is pretty uncrowded and unspoiled almost all the way until you get downtown. I stopped and met up with my college roommate (all 4 years) who lives in Ottawa. He gave me a great tour of the downtown area and some of the nice parks and water views in the area.

1st picture is from downtown Toronto the night before from the roof deck of my friends in Toronto's Apartment, next picture is of Parliament in Ottawa and the 3rd is kite surfing on the Ottawa river.

 Day 6 Wawa to Toronto:

Will be a short post today, I made it to Toronto where I plan to see friends for dinner.  Left Wawa before 6, grabbed breakfast at Tm Horton's and stopped to take a picture of the famous Wawa Goose (see below). Not long after I left Wawa, I saw a huge Moose, that had just crossed the road. No picture, but the owner of a gas station down the road told me that if I had hit the moose driving, it wold take the top of my car right off.

Other pictures from today are more of the views of Lake Superior, views were even better today than yesterday. One other interesting note, saw flags today at a gas stations with a feather and "Every Child Matters" I understand this is in reference to the mistreatment of the indigenous children, that the Pope was here to apologize about earlier this week.

 Day 5: Winnipeg to Wawa, Ontario

Another long day, after rest and coffee stops it was 14 hours.  The landscape did get more beautiful as I headed east. It took me 30 minutes on city streets to get out of Winnipeg and find the Trans Canadian highway again. At one point my GPS had me on a dirt road! I can't make this up. As I approached Ontario the plains gave way to pines trees and pretty good uncrowded roads. When I hit Thunder Bay, I got a look at Lake Superior. I would catch glimpses of the Great Lake and smaller lakes and ponds for the next 6 hours as I skirted the northern edge of the lake down to my stop for the night in Wawa. Really beautiful and unspoiled territory.

Interesting note from the hotel in Winnipeg yesterday. When I walked in I noticed a security guard hanging around the lobby. It struck me as unusual to see security in almost any Hampton Inn, unless it's in the middle of a large city. Guard was there when I got back from dinner and this morning when I got coffee. I then noticed a printed schedule for meals for the Ukrainian's. It was written in english and what must have been Ukrainian, There was also a note posted telling Ukrainian's how to to apply for Truck Driving positions in Canada.  The post mentioned CUET (Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel) I confirmed with the security guard that the hotel was hosting Ukrainian refugees. Good for Canada - and I  reflected back on my visit to the Ukrainian heritage center back in Alberta. I can't imagine what it must be like to be living in a hotel by the airport in Winnipeg with all the destruction and sorrow going on back in your home country.

Last night I had dinner in downtown Winnipeg. I had a really good meal at a place called Brown's Social  House. My observation is that any place with "social" in the name is going to be good. After dinner I walked down by the river where there was a food court, entertainment and people just hanging out with their families enjoying a nice night in Winnipeg.

Book on Tape: Started Dream Town David Baldacci "an Archer Novel" Hollywood detective story set in the 1950's - it passes the time.

Podcast: Travel with Rick Steves - episode on Berlin (Planning my next trip)

Song of the Day: Sanctuary Hiss Golden Messenger (Not sure why I picked this, but when it comes on, it makes me happy.

 Day 4: Saskatoon to Winnipeg

No stops today, the one place on my list was the Canadian Royal Aviation Museum at the Airport in Winnipeg, but by the time I rolled in, the museum was going to be closed. Today was only an 8 hour drive, but I lost an hour, I'm now in the Central Time Zone.

This trip is not for everyone - you have to love to be on the open road, admire the landscape for what it is and appreciate that this is where a lot of the world's food supply comes from.  Today leaving Saskatoon on the way to the Capital of Regina (Waitress last night said Saskatoon is way better than Regina, because the University is in Saskatoon ) it took me two hours to find a place to stop for a cup of coffee. Before you leave town out here, make sure you have a full tank of gas.

Last night I walked around Saskatoon a little. The riverfront area was really nice, people were strolling along a river walk and across a bridge, there was music and the weather was really pleasant. Later in an english pub there seemed to be a vibrant social scene with lots of young friendly people. A little concerning was there seemed to be some down and out Native American people around the town, I guess Canada has not figured it out any better than we have.  It made me especially sad, reflecting on the proud people that organized Buffalo hunts in the 1800's.  The Pope was just in Alberta apologizing for the treatment of the indigenous people's children in church run schools.

In Regina, I had to get a car wash because my car was covered in bugs, and even after the wash, my grill looks like I took out my share of Canadian bugs. The other thing I appreciate about what Eisenhower did with the US Interstate system, is there are rest area's everywhere. Here, they are far and few in between, even today from Regina to Winnipeg on Trans Canada Highway 1 in 4 hours I think I saw two rest areas. On the plus side traffic was non existent, the weather was mid 70's and the sky was clear, road trip weather.

Podcast: Business Wars - Haagen-Dazs vs Ben & Jerry's - I learned a lot that I didn't know about Ben&Jerry's.

Book on Tape: Finished the Jack Reacher book - good road trip book because at the end he always decides he needs to hit the road again

Song of the Day: I Hate Winnipeg Gareth Maccabbin ( I don't hate Winnipeg - but the title is too good  not to select as the song of the day)

 Day 3: Edmonton to Saskatoon:

Much easier drive today, only 5 hours, well needed after yesterday's 15 hour day.  Before I left Edmonton, I took a drive through the city center.  Nothing special, but I was surprised that the city center is built on hills. Given the flatness of the surrounding prairie, I expected a flat downtown.

Stop of the day was the Ukrainian Heritage Center, just east of downtown Edmonton. The center depicts life of the Ukrainian immigrants that settled in Canada from 1890 to 1930. I learned that Ukrainians' fled  because certain classes of people had no opportunity. They came to Canada, the US and Brazil. The largest concentration of Ukrainian's outside of Ukraine is in Alberta.  The immigrants came by boat to Montreal and then by train headed west. They got off wherever, many left to earn money before continuing west.  They were given free land in Alberta and were encouraged to settle here. After World War 1 it got a lot tougher to leave Ukraine, especially if you were of military age.  Canada also made it more difficult by requiring a relative sponsor the immigrant before they would admit.  The center featured homes and stores, set up as it was during the time of settlement. Each open building, had someone playing the part of a Ukrainian immigrant, and would tell the story. Nice museum and I felt compelled to stop with what the Ukrainian's are going through today.

A note on the Canadian roads. The trans Canadian highways are not the same as the US interstates. They are two lanes in each direction and generally in good shape, but they often don't have over and under passes.  Many times the exits are just turn offs with crossings at grade level . You have to be aware of the crossings and occasionally a stop light. Speed limit seems to top out at 110 Kilometers or 68 mph, so not bad, just a little different.

Book: Still Jack Reacher novel, will be done tomorrow.

Podcast: Smartless - I keep coming back to this Podcast because I started listening on my 48 states trip and have listened to every episode.  I will say that I appreciate the feature in my car with Apple Air Play, that lets me fast forward through the commercials.  You can tell how popular a podcast is, by the number of commercials.

Song of the Day: Which Side are you on  Natalie Merchant (The song came on, just after I left the Ukrainian Center, song is about unions,) but the title was appropriate as the world needs to decide which side it's on in the conflict.

Beer of the Day: Black Bridge Brewery IPA

 Day 2: Billings to Edmonton: Left Billings at 6am, knew I had a long day ahead, so I pointed the car north early. My drive was due North – there was a faster route proposed by my GPS, but I wanted to go through Havre Montana on my way to Canada. Last year I drove back from Colorado to Boston, via Glacier National Park in Western Montana. Havre was my stop for the night after Glacier National Park, and I really liked the little railroad town. Also, the border crossing I had selected was just outside of Havre and I had put that border crossing in my Arrive Canada App 72 hours ahead of time, as required. I didn’t want to start changing my border crossing location, fearing that it would cause a problem when I crossed.

The border crossing was smooth, the officer didn’t even look at my Arrive Canada App, just took my passport and asked me a few questions and I was free to continue. I suppose the questions on the App and my downloaded vaccination card was all tied to my passport. Right before I crossed the border, I lost cell service. I figured the loss of cell service was related to the remoteness of the location. I headed to the next big town – Medicine Hat – where I figured it would kick in again.  When I got to Medicine Hat, still no coverage, but I used WIFI at a McDonalds to plug in directions to my next stop Fort Macleod.

 

My tourist stop of the day was Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump outside of Fort Macleod. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it did not disappoint. The center told the story of the plains Indians in the area and showed how they used the territory to heard the buffalo into a stampede, off a cliff. The tribe then could harvest all the Buffalo they needed for the coming winter.  The center was well done, with incredible views of the plains, a good short movie and exhibits.

 

With my GPS issues, my selection of border crossings and my desire to make it to Edmonton, it was a long day, I didn’t pull into the hotel until 9 pm. Turns out I fixed my GPS issue by turning the phone off and on. Even with the long day, the drive did not disappoint, beautiful vista’s, good roads and no traffic, except for construction in Edmonton, so a good day on the road.

Book of the Day: Still Lee Child's Reacher

Beer of the Day: Summit Seeker - Banded Peak Brewing

Song of the Day: I've used this before, but Badlands by Bruce Springsteen. It came on as I was driving through the Montana Badlands.

 New Trip: Denver to Boston Via Canada. July 2022.

Travels with Nate continues. The plan this time: drive to Colorado and spend two weeks in the Mountains outside Denver, drop my wife, Michele, off at the airport in Denver and head home via Canada.  When I come up with these plans, people usually don't ask my why anymore, they have come to know that I like to travel great distances by car in order to see new landscapes and new things.

The plan originally was to drive to Alaska first, and then head across Canada, but after mapping out the number of days and miles that would require, I scaled back the trip to its current form. Alaska remains my only state yet to visit .

This trip will be a little different than my previous Blog's - in that I have many more miles to cover most days and will only have a chance to make one or two interesting stops each day. Yeah I know, I could have stretched the trip out for a few more days - but I already set the parameters and I have planned visits with friends in Eastern Canada, and stuff back in Boston that I have committed to doing - so I only have 7 days to make this trip.

Day 1: Denver to Billings Montana:

After dropping off Michele at the Airport in Denver, I headed north towards Wyoming. I25 North turns into high plains, not much to look at, but beautiful in its own way. I drove to Casper, where I left the interstate and headed West towards Billings Montana.  The further West I got, the better the scenery. The roads were good, but tricky because the speed limit will go from 70 to 30 in the blink of an eye. I reflected on my brother in law, who just got a ticket in Wyoming, when the speed limit went from 60 to 30. I guess I was vigilant, or just lucky, no tickets today. West from Casper, I drive through Thermopolis and Cody. Especially after Cody the road got pretty. The road was good and not very busy, except for a couple of long road work stretches, where I had to stop and wait for the work car to guide us through the one way stretch, it was a good drive.

The only stop I had planned today was in Red Lodge Montana. The road from Red Lodge: "The Beartooth Scenic Byway", called America's most beautiful highway, by Charles Kuralt was highlighted in my guide book. Charles Kuralt was one of my inspirations for my travels. I always enjoyed his segments on on CBS news "On the Road With Charles Kuralt". Sadly there was not enough time in the day to do the whole scenic byway, but I did stop in Red Lodge.  The road to Red Lodge comes up to the eastern entrance of Yellowstone National Park, so it gets beautiful, and a welcome change from the High Planes of Wyoming. I had heard of the Ski Area, Red Lodge, but didn't put in together, that it was here in this town until I saw the signs.  I had also not connected this town with the recent floods north of Yellowstone, but there was ample evidence of the river over flowing it's banks just outside of town and signs that the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone was still closed because of the floods.

Book on Tape: Jack Reacher Killing Floor Lee Child - Good book because the Jack Reacher character is all about travelling the US.

Podcast: Rough Translation - Alone@Work, about Women Truckers

Song of the Day: Traveller  Chris Stapleton, my new go to first day on the road song

Beer of the Day: Hopzone by Bozeman Brewing.