<– Day 5: July 25, From Earthly Mountains to the Plains of Vulcan | Day 7: July 27, The Lonely Road Home –>

Hugo & Fernando’s signature on Patteron’s hood.

Today the four of us travelled from High River on Alberta’s eastern slope to Grande Cache at the top of Jasper National Park. (See yesterday’s post here)

Our goal for the day was to traverse the length of Banff and Jasper National Parks. Because we felt the drive would be a long one, we began the day at the crack of 8am. I know that doesn’t seem early, but it sure felt early. The late nights are catching up to us.

Our first objective was to locate a mini SD card for our Go Pro. With few options open at 8am, we were forced to head north to the Walmart at Otokos. There, as I dashed inside to get a card, Fernando and Vidal drove to the gas station to get gas. Minutes later we pulled up behind them. Before I had a chance to place the gas nozzle into the filler hole, two kids and their father came over to tell me how cool the jeep was. I asked if they wanted to sign it and their faces lit up!

Once they signed, I began pumping gas. Meanwhile, Fernando and Hugo, who were in front of me, finished pumping their gas and waited for me to finish. About then, I began hearing a honking sound. Then another. Then another. I looked up from the pump and some woman was trying to get Fernando to drive away from the pump by honking her horn even though there were two other lanes open! No, she wanted the pump in front of me. Fernando tried to ignore her, but she was insistent, so he pulled out. Can you guess what she did? 

Not only did she pull into the pump facing me, but she also pulled too close to the front of our Grand Cherokee. This meant I couldn’t get out. Worse, she didn’t care. She was oblivious to the world.

So, Ann jumped out, circled around the back of Patterson, and grabbed the steering wheel so I could slowly back away from her car. That woman never looked up to see what I was doing (again, lost in her world and unapologetic). She was, dare I say it … a rude Canadian! (I know, I can hear the gasps from around the world). But, yes, the four of us witnessed that rare breed of Maple Leaf. I can now die knowing I’ve see it all!

Leaving Otokos behind, we only got lost once (my bad) on our way to Highway 1, which took us into Banff National Park. Now, for those that don’t know, visiting the parks is free this year. It seems I’m not the only person to know this because their were cars and people all over! It was so crowded, that we had to skip places like the town of Banff, as my maneuverability towing Patterson is very limited.

After we split off from Highway 1 at Lake Louise and headed north toward Jasper, traffic lessened some, so that was good. But, there were few options for us to pull over. The trek through the parks just isn’t well built for rigs towing vehicles or RVs. Eventually, I was able to pull off on the side of the road at one overlook, but cars were passing by at 55 MPH.

There were certainly some beautiful views, but in the end there was too much traffic and too few turnouts.

After we exited Jasper NP, we took the spur road to Grand Cache. That road was much more peaceful. And, it even had some nice pullouts.

When we reached Grand Cache, we quickly found our hotel. Almost as quickly, a gentleman wandered up to tell me he’d never seen a two-wheel-drive Wlllys before. I was surprised he recognized that, but he explained that he’d been a mechanic for 35 years, so he knew a thing or two about vehicles. I asked him to sign Patterson:

A little later in the evening our stretch of cloudless, sunny days came to an end as a small storm blew  over the town of Grand Cache:

On Thursday we have a short drive to Dawson Creek.

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OTHER UPDATES: 

1. Russ and Cowboy saved the day by picking up Scott’s parts from Ron Fitzpatrick (Team G503) in North Dakota and delivering them to him in Canada.

Engine parts delivered to the machine shop in Canada:

Below is a Facebook video created by Scott Schiller that about Scott’s parts. Not all of you will likely be able to view it, but I only have a FB version of the video to share:

2. Marcelo and Dario made it to Edmonton last night. They are staying at the airport Renaissance Hotel through Friday until Andreas arrives by plane at 9:30pm.

3. Merlin and Joe drove from Plentywood, Montana, to Glacier National Park yesterday. Apparently one of the places they’d planned to stay on Wednesday in Plentywood scared them, as it felt like a big emtpy lot where people go to be eaten by clowns. However, a second campsite was a nice public campground. I’m sure their stay in Glacier NP was nice last night!

4. Bill and Jim continue to pass through the flat lands of central Canada. They’re glamping tonight with the big busses and campers. He thinks Kevin might cut down one of the trees to make a fire!

5. I believe Scott and Bob were installing the engine last night. No updates at the time as they are too busy. We’ll know more today.

6. Marty said goodbye to his wife and kids and he and Don headed up to Rob Stafford’s last night. They will leave this morning.

Marty even made up this map so his kids could follow their journey:

Hopefully, we’ll here good news from Scott tomorrow!

<– Day 5: July 25, From Earthly Mountains to the Plains of Vulcan | Day 7: July 27, The Lonely Road Home –>