Sunday, June 17, 2007
COCHRANE, AB — It’s been a full and busy day. We woke up in Golden, BC and I did our second and final load of laundry and gave Val a quick haircut. We set up outside, so Val could gaze at the Rockies while I buzzed away, plugged into the trailer’s exterior power source. Easiest haircut ever — no sweeping up! In the midst of the job, Josh called to wish his Dad a Happy Father’s Day, so I trimmed around the other ear and then got him to switch ears with the cell phone.
With our Streets and Trips program we located the little Anglican church in town so I could attend the service. I was amused that two weeks in a row I attended a St. Paul’s church, though there were hundreds of miles between them!
Soon we were hitched up and heading east again toward Calgary. I’ll let Val describe the journey through Kicking Horse Pass, as he was the one at the wheel for this equipment-challenging phase:
Well, I've got to tell you about today and our trip from Golden to Cochrane. More specifically, that haul up the Kicking Horse Pass. I wouldn't have missed it, but let me tell you, I was thinking mighty hard about the bolts holding the hitch to the truck frame, those four little pull pins, and that tiny king pin! The diesel just hummed along merrily, probably saying to itself: "Well, finally, that dude has given me a challenge!". On the way up, we saw the remnants of a tractor trailer which had burned down to its frame. There were some mighty sheer cliffs on my right that seemed to fall straight down to the centre of the earth - and no curb! We also saw the unbelieveably high concrete supports for the new piece of highway. The whole trip was spectacular. It is true that there are no words to adequately describe some things, they just need to be experienced.
At one point along this precarious route, we slowed to an abrupt stop as two mountain goats trotted across the highway in front of us, unhurried but purposeful, hopped over the concrete edging and headed down the mountain on the other side. They were no more than eight feet in front of us. It was fortunate that there wasn’t much traffic at that point, as later on even on a Sunday afternoon the highway was well populated with vehicles, both private and commercial.
We pulled over for a quick lunch just at the entrance sign for Yoho National Park, and continued on through to Banff and on to Canmore (with a thought for the late Mike? From Canmore? of Royal Canadian Air Farce fame). By this time some inclement weather was setting in, and the last of the snow-capped mountains were shrouded in wisps of cloud. Then, with the Rockies at our backs, we passed through the Stony Indian Reserve and arrived at our destination, a small community just 15 minutes from Calgary. The Bow RiversEdge Campground is the nicest one we’ve stayed at so far, with neat, gravel pads for the trailer and each site edged with a little hedge and a patch of grass. The owner has been managing parks like this for 16 years, and it’s clear he knows how to please his clients. We’ll stay here for four nights (our longest stopover yet) so we can visit our friends Dave Fox (best man at our wedding almost 35 years ago) and Len Babin, a retired RCMP member.
COCHRANE, AB — It’s been a full and busy day. We woke up in Golden, BC and I did our second and final load of laundry and gave Val a quick haircut. We set up outside, so Val could gaze at the Rockies while I buzzed away, plugged into the trailer’s exterior power source. Easiest haircut ever — no sweeping up! In the midst of the job, Josh called to wish his Dad a Happy Father’s Day, so I trimmed around the other ear and then got him to switch ears with the cell phone.
With our Streets and Trips program we located the little Anglican church in town so I could attend the service. I was amused that two weeks in a row I attended a St. Paul’s church, though there were hundreds of miles between them!
Soon we were hitched up and heading east again toward Calgary. I’ll let Val describe the journey through Kicking Horse Pass, as he was the one at the wheel for this equipment-challenging phase:
Well, I've got to tell you about today and our trip from Golden to Cochrane. More specifically, that haul up the Kicking Horse Pass. I wouldn't have missed it, but let me tell you, I was thinking mighty hard about the bolts holding the hitch to the truck frame, those four little pull pins, and that tiny king pin! The diesel just hummed along merrily, probably saying to itself: "Well, finally, that dude has given me a challenge!". On the way up, we saw the remnants of a tractor trailer which had burned down to its frame. There were some mighty sheer cliffs on my right that seemed to fall straight down to the centre of the earth - and no curb! We also saw the unbelieveably high concrete supports for the new piece of highway. The whole trip was spectacular. It is true that there are no words to adequately describe some things, they just need to be experienced.
At one point along this precarious route, we slowed to an abrupt stop as two mountain goats trotted across the highway in front of us, unhurried but purposeful, hopped over the concrete edging and headed down the mountain on the other side. They were no more than eight feet in front of us. It was fortunate that there wasn’t much traffic at that point, as later on even on a Sunday afternoon the highway was well populated with vehicles, both private and commercial.
We pulled over for a quick lunch just at the entrance sign for Yoho National Park, and continued on through to Banff and on to Canmore (with a thought for the late Mike? From Canmore? of Royal Canadian Air Farce fame). By this time some inclement weather was setting in, and the last of the snow-capped mountains were shrouded in wisps of cloud. Then, with the Rockies at our backs, we passed through the Stony Indian Reserve and arrived at our destination, a small community just 15 minutes from Calgary. The Bow RiversEdge Campground is the nicest one we’ve stayed at so far, with neat, gravel pads for the trailer and each site edged with a little hedge and a patch of grass. The owner has been managing parks like this for 16 years, and it’s clear he knows how to please his clients. We’ll stay here for four nights (our longest stopover yet) so we can visit our friends Dave Fox (best man at our wedding almost 35 years ago) and Len Babin, a retired RCMP member.
No comments:
Post a Comment