Tuesday, July 6: Back on the Road

I was slow to start Tuesday morning, not up until 7:30 and then taking time to exercise, shower, and eat breakfast before helping to attach the storage pod to the roof rack and load the Jeep. Then I couldn't find my camera. Thorough searches of the house and the bags in the Jeep were fruitless. Finally, I looked on the roof -- yup, there it was. Good thing I waited.

Lyle helped me get the trailer back on the hitch, and Mom and I were finally on the road. Our main objective for the day was a tour of the Japanese garden in Lethbridge, advertised as the most authentic in North America. As we headed south on Highway 2, we started seeing signs for Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. I once read a short newspaper story about this UNESCO heritage site, and have wanted to see it ever since. As we got closer, though, we realized that it would be a 32km detour from our already extended route. We decided not to delay ourselves further.

After some challenges with the GPS device, we found our way to the Nikko Yuko Garden in Lethbridge. Our walk began with a tour of a large teahouse. A very sweet young tour guide showed us through the rooms, talked to us about the architecture and learning to tie her kimono, and told us that she loved the way the untreated wooden beams aged. Then we wandered into and through the garden. It was very typical of an Alberta park: flat, lots of grass, a few trees. The main feature was a waterway with two short wooden walking bridges and some areas of flat rocks along the sides. To the side was an enormous beautiful brass bell with a log striker (which I struck, of course). We left feeling disappointed. The Japanese garden we had seen in Seattle a couple weeks before was much more complex and beautiful

After my experience in Lake Louise, I was reluctant to go through another day of the trip feeling dissatisfied. Even though it would now be a much longer detour, I decided to back track to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. We arrived as the visitor's centre was closing, but there were still trails to hike beneath the bluffs. Mom took a break while I explored. I felt so happy to be somewhere wild -- prairie grasses, wild flowers, gophers, hawks, a Western tanager. The bluffs over which the buffalo were driven were so distinctive compared to the surrounding prairie. My soul felt soothed.

That evening we ate dinner at a Thai restaurant in Medicine Hat. The Thai couple running it had moved there from Winnipeg a couple years before, wanting their children to grow up in a smaller, friendlier community. The husband gave us tips about driving from Winnipeg to Toronto. We set up camp late at Cavan Lake, nearing the Saskatchewan border.


Copyright © 2010 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.

Pit Stop in Alberta

I am so lucky to have such a supportive family! The first thing I did after pulling into my folks' in Calgary was HAVE A SHOWER. I didn't even take anything out of the Jeep first. After a short rest, we piled into Mom and Lyle's truck and drove up to Red Deer through a rainstorm to see my Grandma (92), Auntie Pat, Uncle André, cousin Jan and her husband Ron. It was particularly sweet to spend time with Grandma.

On Monday, Lyle and Dave got to work on my Jeep, replacing the steering box, the power steering pump (whoops, a casualty of the other repair), and checking everything else over. Dave gave me a roof rack storage pod that he had lying around. I got to sleep in a real bed and had three showers in two days. And I got a visit with my seven-year-old neice, Makayla.

Tuesday morning, I was recharged and ready for the next leg of the journey. My Mom was ready to join me! It's going to be so rich to travel for a week together.

In case you wondered, "Stay on the Ride" is the name of a Patty Griffin song.

You can now see more road trip photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/thorsell.lm

More later...

Copyright © 2010 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.

Saturday, July 3: Day Two

I love waking up in the middle of nowhere. After freshening up, the Jeep and I got back on the road. Wilf Carter on the iPod sang the praises of the Calgary Stampede. He makes me feel so happy.

The first stop of the day was at the Swan Lake Recreation Centre to visit my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jim. They had just sold their house, and I was visiting them on their first full day living in their RV. Like me, they've been paring down their belongings. I was impressed to see how neatly they had fit everything they needed plus a few treasures and mementos into such a compact space.

Their RV is an amazing vehicle. For example, the cabinetry is Amish-built, all solid wood with some lovely decorative carvings. Electrical awnings, a sophisticated HVAC system, four armchairs and a couch -- they look like they will be very comfortable in their residential mobility.

After a tour of the RV and a great lunch, I got on the road again. My goal was to get to Lake Louise, Alberta as early in the day as possible, but this section of the trip was probably the most challenging of the drive: curvy and mountainous. I had to take it easy going uphill so as not to overtax the engine, and easy on the downhills, gearing down and staying within the range of the brakes. I came to appreciate having the trailer in my rear view mirror. I could drive down the highway relaxed, as if I was the only vehicle on the road, oblivious to the two-mile line of traffic building behind me.

At the top of Rogers Pass, I stopped to get gas (just in time) and to celebrate the Jeep's odometer rolling over to 300,000 km.

I finally reached Lake Louise at 7:00 p.m. Throughout my childhood, my family made annual pilgrimages through this area and across B.C. to visit my grandparents on Vancouver Island. Having been through so many times I thought that it should be familiar, but we had never done more than stop once to briefly look at the lake and then drive on. Really, it was all new to me.

I hiked up to a lookout point, against the flow of other tourists making their way back down. Except for a family of whiskeyjacks, I had the lookout to myself. It was beautiful. I stopped for a while to savour the view, and for the first time on my trip felt lonely. I hiked down and walked the promenade to the other side of the lake. There was a hike to Lake Agnes and a teahouse that I would have liked to have visited, but it was getting too late. The teahouse wouldn't open until 10:00 the next morning, and by then I needed to be on my way to Calgary. Why didn't I have more time?

The dining rooms at the Fairmont Chateau on the end of the lake had all closed when I returned, so I had a bowl of soup in the saloon downstairs, peering through the tables of families and couples at a peak-a-boo view of the lake. My short visit to Lake Louise left me wanting much more.

Copyright © 2010 Lynn Thorsell, All rights reserved.