Days 1-3, through BC and Alberta...

Days 1 to 3
(sorry for the delay-- I typed this up, but then the computer crashed and all was lost-- one more shot for this novice blogger)
Day 1 (April 27): 1,300 km down
So we kicked it off early, waking up at 5:30am, ready for a big day on the road. First thing, I go to start the car and the ignition is locked (a bad omen?)-- called BCAA with our newly minted card, they come and make me look like a fool, and then we're off. Perhaps the hardest part of navigating the country was finding Theresa in Surrey-- wow, 154th street, that was a feat.

The road trip had officially began, and the three of us made some key pacts, most important of which was, if anyone was approached with an offer for Calgary flames playoff tix at $50, you take it. Through Hope (Adham gasped at the first gas tank at $80... yep, takes a bit more than his 'lil auto) , along the Coquihala (the locals convinced us the #3 really wasn't worth the extra time), and through to Kelowna.

Now, at this point, I'd been raving for hours about the Malibu go-carts in Kelowna-- really they aren't go-carts, but supercharged indy cars-- and damn, they were amazing, just as good as the first time around. Although I couldn't convince Adham, Theresa bravely hopped on (she'd never go-carted, nor really driven), and took her lap time from a driving-miss-daisy 2 minutes down to an impressive 66 seconds, from hitting every curb, to taking curbs at 70+mph.

Me? Yeah, I'm pretty much an Indy cart driver-- I've quit SFU officially and am taking up the sport. I hit 49 seconds, just short of the 45 course record-- hands were blistered and shaking with adrenaline, and no, Adham and Theresa weren't letting me drive that tippy Trooper for a while after.

So we kept driving onto Vernon-- oh, and did I mention that beyond Vancouver (raining) the weather was amazing-- yep, Vernon was sunny and oh so nice. So, after a brief Canadiana sojourn to Tim Hortons (seems Adham has a curious obsession with multigrain toasted bagels with butter)-- one theme is we're hitting at least one Tim Hortons per province (really, where would our country be without the fine establishment)-- we swung by the Vernon beach, and wow, it was amazing. Lots of good looking swimsuits cruising the beach-- but, as Adham would later point out, no one swimming. But hey, that didn't stop us (me)-- sure, the water was ridiculously cold (ah right, it's April), but I went in 4 times while Theresa relaxed and read, and the romatic poet Adham waxed scribes to his lady.

So, by that point, we'd done lots of stopping and not much driving. We pushed on, committed to getting to Banff that night (ha, yeah right). Stopped in Revelstoke for a bakery that Theresa had raved about, but came away with only beer (seems that it was closed by 8:30p, though Adham suggested a rock-- a prospect we seriously considered-- good bread is hard to find). With the sun setting we drove on along the Trans Canada (stopping at Rogers Pass for some beautiful mountain night photography), which, as I would discover, really has no lines whatsoever, making avoiding oncoming semis a fine test of concentration.

We arrived in Golden around 11p, bought some firewood, and searched hopelessly for a place to camp-- seems no one camps in April. And the closed camp site with crosses on the lawn was a bit too much for Theresa, so we had to improvise. While Adham suggested local parking lots, I stubbornly pushed on in search of the perfect camping spot-- I said, 'give me 10 minutes'-- and so, we drove on, over a creepy one-way bridge (Theresa: "Something out of Dante's Peak"), partway up Kicking Horse Mountain, and onto a 'private road' (really, what does that mean anyway?), continuing on for, well, 30 minutes or so. Adham went from being excited to frustrated, to angry... but I had a hunch. In the end, we turned around, went back over that bridge, and spotted that perfect camping site. Music was blaring, the bonfire was blazing-- we weren't bold enough to join this group on the rocks, so we set up a few hundred metres away, and started to build our own fire... until we discovered our lack of a bottle opener to accompany our fine brazilian beer. Adham approached the locals-- mellowed by marijuana-- and before we knew it, we were sharing marshmellows (wow, they were excited by those), beer, and smokies, talking about life, skiing, and Theresa's "demographics".

'Round 1am, we decided to settle into the Trooper to sleep-- Theresa and I each took reclined front seats, Adham sprawled (hmm, maybe squeezed) across the back. Some might dispute this, but I'd say it was Adham who suggested that we open the window partway for some air (it was still warm after all). After feigning consciousness for a few hours (Adham had forgotten a pillow, I didn't bring one-- it was hardly comfortable), Theresa and Adham persuaded me to start the car and turn on the heat (yep, we were roughin' it)-- apparently it was really, really, really cold (ok, it was).

Day 2 (April 28): 300 km down (1600 overall)
I triumphantly awoke declaring how fine a sleep I'd had (exaggerated) in contrast with Theresa/Adham's hell . They were groggy, and complained about the lack of floss, hairbrushes, and showers. But wow, our camping spot was amazing-- panoramic views on the rockies, and only a few feet from the Kicking Horse River. After some morning kinesthetics (no yoga-- I would have drawn the line), skipping rocks, and breakfast of cucumbers and carrots, we dropped by the local Overwaitea for the morning beautification in the public sink, then took off on the #1, passing construction, incoming rocks, cow elk and goats along the way. Driving through the spectular Kicking Horse valley, it was hard not to notice the creative swathes that the mountain pine beetles had carved into the landscape. A quick background, basically because of our warming climate (rebels like us who drive SUVs across the country are surely to blame), mountain pine beetles can survive the winter and have thus been able to greatly expand their range in BC. Beetles attack pine trees by laying eggs under the bark. When the eggs hatch, the larvae mine the phloem area beneath the bark and eventually cut off the tree’s supply of nutrients. Yep, it sucks. And it's costing the BC lumber industry billions.

We drove on, through a cute village named Field (gophers galore) which tries to pass itself off as a border town-- really, it's a little way before Alberta-- and arrived in Lake Louise, which curiously was frozen (didn't stop me from filtering some water to drink-- so cold, and pretty good). Adham hung out in a cafe while Theresa and I strolled through the local interpretive centre (whoa, the rockies would be 10km higher if not for erosion), and asked about all the flags at half mast (seems that April 28 is the national day of remembrance for people killed on the job-- weird how you notice things as tourists). But really, wow, the rockies are pretty incredible-- I'm not sure if anything else in Canada can compare, although I'm holding out for Newfoundland.

Once we got to Banff, an hour after Lake Louise, we picked up some amazing focaccia bread, combined it with brie and cucumbers, and had just about the best lunch ever, following it up with some COWs ice cream (where Adham was tempted by a 'Desperate Moocows' t-shirt-- seems that he only brought one change of clothes). From there, we hiked (yep, I was pretty impressed by Theresa and Adham) through the Banff 'Cave and Basin National Historic Site', past hotsprings, and onto an amazing bluff.

We cruised out of the rockies, past the foothills, and into Calgary late that afternoon, listening to an eclectic mix of Kn'aan and Madonna. Once we got past the sprawling suburbs of Calgary and into the downtown core (whoa, they've got some crazy rotating lanes during rush hour-- one minute cars come towards you in one lane, the next you're driving up it), we strolled about, catching the weird and wonderful sites of Calgary-- from foreigners trying to catch a Canada goose in the park, to actors doing 'Zelda' on a dry riverbed. I bought a 'Flames car flag, and we became Calgarians-- people even asked us for directions ("sorry, we're posers"). A couple observations about Calgary-- the downtown core is business centred with little residential (leave that for the 'burbs), it's pretty metropolitan, and has a great vibe, if not the strong nightlife to accompany it (except after hockey games).

We dropped by Theresa's Aunt Shelly's place-- who, I should note, is one helluva host-- warm showers, nice beds, good food, beautiful place and more-- plus she took us out to Joey Tomatoes downtown-- plus she's one of the more dynamic people I've met (hands in everything-- was in the travelling circus, owned a restaurant, now in the oil/energy sector, but interested in pursuing windpower).

Day 3 (April 29): 0km down (1600 overall)
So, it was so nice at T's Aunt Shelly's that we decided to stick around for a day, get the tires rotated on the Trooper, explore Calgary and meet some Calgarians. Plus, it was Saturday-- hockey night in Canada-- and the Flames were playing game five in their series with Anaheim. We had our sights set on a bar on the Red Mile-- 17th Ave-- made famous two years ago during the Flames' run to the finals-- basically it's a long stretch from the saddledome arena that police close down to traffic after big games (and that, at least two years ago, was made famous by women's propensity to go ala girls gone wild). We staked out Melrose on the Red Mile (en route, some guys yelled 'Go Vancouver' at us, not sure what gave it away)-- the place to be for a game-- at 3:30p it was busy already, for an 8p game. While Theresa and Adham played cards there, I took off to explore around Calgary, ride the C-Train, talk to random people, and more.

Just riding the C-Train (a light-rail system ala skytrain/subway), I got a sense of the diversity of Calgary-- it ain't just cowboys (and only during Stampede in July do they emerge), but people of all backgrounds-- it could've really been any skytrain in Vancouver.

Talking to random people was interesting as always. Having strolled the worst part of Calgary the night before, it was obvious that there was nothing that could match the destitute downtown eastside of Vancouver (perhaps in large part due to a major, donor-funded, Calgary shelter that has been a tremendous success). Still, human tragedy was alive on the streets-- a native with a broken foot going in circles in a wheelchair in the middle of traffic, dumpster divers behind Canadian Blood Services, people asking for money throughout (though fewer and far kinder that those in Vancouver).

And did I mention the obsession with hockey? It was amazing-- I thought Vancouver was a true hockey town, but it's got nothing on Calgary. Everyone was wearing a flames jersey (lots of Gelinas jerseys too-- no longer a Flame, but my favourite). Anyway, I too can get hockey crazy, especially during playoffs, so, I set out to get into the Saddledome for game 5 that night. Bottom line, I did it (ask me how sometime), and got to take in an incredible game (3-2 win, Calgary) and ate a gourmet duck meal, all for free (though charitably I bought a drink and flames shirt)-- the most mindblowing hockey atmosphere ever! Once the 3rd period wound down, the floods left the saddledome, and I took off for the Red Mile, hooting, hollaring, and high-fiving as I went, where I ran into Theresa, a ridiculously goofy (read drunk) Adham, Shelly and a few other friends. And the night took off from there...

Day 4 preview (April 30): ????
We're off again. Theresa and Adham don't seemed too pumped about the prairies, so we'll likely drive through (which is fine with me-- I'll be working on a farm in Manitoba for a few weeks in July), swing by Winnipeg, and continue onto Ontario (hopefully by early next week).

But whatever happens, we're watching Flames playoff games. We're diehard fans now.

Once Adham downloads the recent series of photos, I'll have more of Calgary and beyond too, to go with the upcoming adventures.

Until then...

The intinerary, you ask?

The intinerary, you ask?

Well, today's Dday-- the crew, Theresa, Adham, and I, are taking off on our cross Canada road trip. Where we'll end up, no one knows...

Except that we have to be in Trois Rivieres by May 7 for the start of the five week french immersion program that Theresa and I are doing.

After that program wraps up in mid-June, I'll be headed out to the east coast, then somewhere up north, then down to my cousin's farm in Manitoba for a few weeks, before getting back to BC in early August.

I'll keep this updated with stories from across Canada, updates along the way, and more. Think of it not so much as a 'blog' but a reflection of Canada-- cause we have one big, diverse country that I'm about to try to discover. Along the way, I may end up working on farms, lobster boats, interviewing politicians and Inuit, and more...

1 part journalism, 2 parts adventure.