“Cross-Country Canada 🇨🇦 ~Official Start from Polson, Montana USA 🇺🇸 Alaska Bound!! ~Days 1 and 2: May 24th and 25th, 2023”

• May 26, 2023
• By Pen
• 0 Comment

From Polson, Montana to British Columbia and Alberta, Canada

Days 1 and 2 ~May 24th and 25th, 2023

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Day 1:  ~May 24, 2023

Starting Mileage on The Whale: 55,555

Today, we departed Polson, Montana and made our way, North, to Kalispel.

It was necessary to park at the local Walmart and unhook Jonah from The Whale, to then drive her over to the Automotive place there, again, for follow-up service: new seatbelts and headlight knob/switch; …parts were on order, since last week, and we confirmed they were received. Hopefully, we will only be delayed by a few hours… 

Well, that didn’t go as hoped, but we do have brand new seatbelts, installed, so we SCORE, there! Unfortunately, the brand new headlight switch was a lemon, and did not work. The automotive place is returning the bad switch, for a replacement. Of course that replacement switch will get sent to Oregon, to await our return from Alaska in the fall. Good thing, we are driving to “The Land of the Midnight Sun.” It will be light 24/7 in Alaska for just about our entire stay, there. No headlights needed.

After three hours at the car doctor, we got underway, to get back to The Whale and get going to Canafa, BUT, within a block away, I discovered the windshield wipers weren’t working!! WHAT? We turned around and went back to the automotive place. The wipers have always worked, so the shop guy got into it, and somehow fixed them. Perhaps when the bad headlight switch went in, it caused this? Did not get a very straight answer. Apparently, we now know our starter will eventually need replacing, but it’s not urgent, and the rewiring job they did is temporary, so the wipers work, off of the ignition.

After Kalispel, we made our way to the border crossing at Roosville, just past Eureka, Montana.  It was a pretty drive, just as we expected. Whitefish, Montana is especially beautiful!

We got a later start, leaving Kalispel, than had planned, but luckily our border-crossing took only about 15 minutes.

The border agent had us “pull over and wait for an inspection.” We sat for 10 minutes, before the agent came out and handed us back our passports and told us to have a good trip… okay, no inspection, after all.
No complaints, here!

I’m pretty sure we had to sit and stew, because we are California residents, after all, and have California plates.
We haven’t lived in our house for seven years, since we started traveling full-time, but who would know that. Ha!
I say this, in jest, mostly, because some loser dude (in Polson) told me I should get rid of my plates (on Jonah) because “everybody hates it!”  I politely told him that I doubt very much HE represented “everybody,” but gee, thanks for the sound advice.

Obviously, nobody gets to just choose which license plate they want to have, as there are rules to abide by and our domicile is California, because we own property there, even though we live like gypsies.
Oh, this upside down world we live in right now.
Anyway, I digress….in the end, the border agent just questioned us about if we had any weapons and/or ammo-NO. How long were we staying in Canada, (2 weeks) and have we been in Canada, before? YES. When? First time for me, when I was 20 years old. For Daryl, in his 20’s.

There are many crossings from Montana, but our direction would be towards Calgary, in Alberta, as we are planning a stop to visit Banff and Jasper National Parks, so our closest crossing happened to be, Roosville.

The vaccine mandate in Canada was finally dropped, last October, clearing our way for entry this year, yet as we approached the border, our “lady in the maps” kept repeating: “Covid 19 checkpoint ahead and certain paperwork was required.” It was all just talk, and clearly an outdated message.

We had planned to do this trip in 2022, but put it off to this year. We are so happy to get the green light with  a “no vaX requirements” in place. Yay!

There is no paperwork or forms to fill out, to cross into Canada, at this time. What we did need, in our case, were our valid Passports and be open to inspection/search, if required.

I also requested (in advance) the required insurance cards, from our vehicle insurance company, in the USA, which provides proof of insurance to the Canadian authorities, when driving in Canada; should they ever request to see them.
This did not go smooth 

The VW Bug policy was forgotten, completely, and the Motorhome policy card was sent to Chelsie, in North Carolina, instead of in Montana where we were staying.
Big fail on their part

Yes, explicit instructions for a specific address were given, in writing, by me, but somebody used our default mailing address on file, instead, which is my daughters home.

Both Farmers and Foremost tried again, with overnight deliveries. Those cards arrived at the campground the afternoon of the morning we left on the 24th. I had told our insurance people, we would need to receive those cards, no later than the 23rd.
Third Times a Charm?

Yes, sending again, our proof of policy cards to our first of only two campground stays we will be at in Canada, which is a short window of only a few nights….we shall see what happens. I mean, we are already in Canada, after all!
What I did manage to get were photocopies of the cards. I figure it’s better than showing nothing, but still not what’s required.

Some links I’ve used, and will continue to use, as we venture, are:

Free Camping. I like this link for Canada, which can help find free boondock camping, if we have a signal. It’s just a guideline, as things change all the time.

Freecampsites.net

https://freecampsites.net

Distance Between Cities

https://www.distance-cities.com/

For when we can get a cell signal, these links are very important, and to have, at the ready ⬇️

QUICK LINKS TO ROAD REPORTS and ADVISORIES!

British Columbia:
https://drivebc.ca/

Alberta:
https://511.alberta.ca/

Yukon:
https://511yukon.ca/

Alaska:
https://511.alaska.gov/

In many cases, once we turn our maps on, when we do have a signal, as long as we don’t turn it off, maps will continue to work, even in dead zones, and on airplane mode to save on data usage.
That being said, it is not wise to rely, completely, on electronic mapping. I will also be using an Atlas to ensure we keep on track.

The other resource I got, is a hard copy of the famous “Milepost Book,” which will be most helpful for us, after we depart. Mile “0” in Dawson Creek, where we begin the official AlCan Highway.

“The Milepost is an extensive guide book covering Alaska, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and British Columbia. It was first published in 1949 as a guide about traveling along the Alaska Highway, often locally referred to as “The ALCAN.”

My Milepost book is an older version, but as I said, we planned this trip for 2022, so I already got the book. I will do the best I can with this version. …..but I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself. We have many miles to cover, before we make it to the AlCan Highway.

I did as many preloaded maps to have handy on my phone, too, as I thought some might be vital to our travels, due to fires and flooding, but at some point, one must trust in a much bigger power to find our way, on an epic adventure like this one, as we will travel in dead zones a great deal of our time in Canada.

More links to assist, on this trip, whilst in Canada:

Metric Conversions for Canada ⬇️

Kilometers to Miles

https://www.google.com/search?q=kilometers+to+miles&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

A nifty trick is to multiply the speed in kilometers, by six. Example: 80 kilometers … 80 x 6 equals 48 mph  (if you drop zeros) 

Liters to Gallons:

https://www.metric-conversions.org/volume-conversion.htm

Meters to Feet
In our case, driving unfamiliar routes, we have to always be mindful of our height restrictions. We have to clear 13’ 1’ We must clear, no less than 4+ meters.

https://www.unitconverters.net/length/meters-to-feet.htm

USA dollar to Canadian money conversion:

https://coinmill.com/CAD_USD.html

After the crossing, at Roosville, just north of Eureka, Montana, we entered British Columbia, Canada, and pointed The Whale towards Cochrane, in Alberta, Canada.
We traveled from 93 North, to Hwy 3.

The drive from the border was so pretty. We drove through a wildlife corridor for much of the time. We didn’t get to see much wildlife, because we got such a late start in the day, from Kalispel, but we kept an eye out, just the same.

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Nestled near the mountains of western Canada, resides this behemoth earth mover!

This was the last town we went through, called Sparwood, before we parked for the night.
Sparwood, by the way, claims to have the “Biggest Truck in the World…” well 25 years ago, it was the biggest, anyway.
The 1974 Terex Titan was the world’s largest truck for 25 years, a huge machine built to haul raw material around open-pit mines. Visitors now stop by the roadside attraction, taking pictures in the wheel wells or gawking straight up.
Sparwood is also the most easterly town in B.C. and one of the highest elevated in Canada.

After going through Sparwood, we began to look for a boondocking stop for the night. The one we had in mind, now, has a “no overnight parking” sign around it. We continued on, and decided on another spot, with no such sign. It was going on 4:30PM; 9.5 hours since we started out, and we were pooped!
The spot we chose, used to be the heart of two coal mining communities: Michel and Natal, with an interesting story. ⬇️

⬇️ Prior to the coal mining boom, this area was home to the Ktunaxa people, for hundreds of generations.

I made homemade egg bread and mixed up tuna fish and boiled eggs for sandwiches, the night before, to keep the meals simple for that night and the next.

We parked for the night, and enjoyed watching for wildlife, as we were in Elk Valley, very near the same corridor for wildlife, such as Deer, Elk, and Big Horned Sheep.
We did spot a lone Elk, on the nearby side of the mountain.

Sometime, soon after we went to bed, the rain started. It rained cats and dogs all night long!
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Day 2:  ~May 25, 2023

Over the night, we had developed quite a bit of flooding around us, from the steady downpour. Nothing serious, but I had to put on my boots and wade through the “poodles,” in the still, pouring down rain, to get to Jonah, to unlock her and put her in “toad mode.”
This requires her to be in neutral, the key in the ignition; slightly turned to on, which keeps the steering wheel from locking, during towing, and ensuring the brake is off.
Now, we were ready to hit the road, again!

It did continued to rain for several hours of our morning drive, towards Alberta. Unfortunately, not great for wildlife viewing, either.

We continued on Hwy 3, then North on 22, towards Alberta.

⬆️ ⬇️ These are glacial moraines. When the glaciers are moving, debris rolls off the nose and the sides leaving an unconsolidated pile of rocks and boulders.
This is a classic example of an end or terminal moraine.

We will look for more of this in our near future, when we drive the Icefield Parkway, to see the Athabasca Glacier, where the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise sits. 

THIS was so interesting to drive through, on highway 22 North, on our way towards Calgary. It was a short distance, overall-all, but it looked like a major bomb had exploded, creating piles of massive rock, seemingly out of nowhere, but it was made, completely by nature. It’s where the glaciers had begun shifting, and by doing so, pushed the layers of ground around, until the movement stopped.
After the glacier melted, the disarray from that activity remains, untouched.

The back story; The ice age was only a blip on the geological timeline so let’s backup a few billion years for a second. Alberta’s oldest surface landscape is a tiny patch of land in the northeast part of the province, dating back to the Precambrian era, or maybe 4.6 billion years. The small outcrop of the Canadian Shield doesn’t stop, it’s just tucked under layers and layers of more modern eras of deposition and erosion. 

Fast-forward to supposed hundreds of millions of years, when landscapes come and go, species evolve from specks in ponds, to dinosaurs roaming lush forests. Then boom; 66.5 million years ago they disappeared!
The land from the west starts to ripple into mountains and then 2.5 million years ago, the earth got chilly and massive sheets of ice coated most of Canada. Four major ice ages occurred in what is now the midwest of the U.S. and western Canada with the last Wisconsin glaciation retreating roughly 16,000 years ago.
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Since we arrived in BC Canada, we have had zero wifi. We had hoped our T-Mobile Gateway Router would keep working, as   T-Mobile said it would, when we bought it.
NO SUCH LUCK.

We already knew our USA Verizon SIM cards would not work outside the USA.

The plan was always to make it to Cochrane, Alberts, where we would set-up camp, then unhook Jonah and head in to town to get Canadian SIM Cards with data plans, and of course hit-up an ATM for some Canadian currency, just in case we need some.
It’s very standard practice for us, when we cross into another country, to hit up an ATM for cash and get SIM cards. It will be like old times; having visited a total of 92 countries so far. Canada will be no different, even if it’s not as foreign of a land.

There will be those times when a credit card will not be accepted, or a non-working credit card machine will pop up, if power goes down. We just want to be prepared.
Not wanting to leave Canada (in September) with any Canadian monies, of course, we plan to use whatever we have left, filling our tank with fuel.

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We made it to Cochrane, Alberta!
….And then we finally arrived at Bows RiversEdge campground, in Cochrane, Alberta, where we will enjoy a full-hookup site for three nights.

It was also a pleasant surprise to check in at the camp office and be given the Canadian proof of insurance card, we so desperately need! Farmers sent this to us from the USA. Third time WAS a charm!!
This means we at least have the VW card.
One card down, and one to go!

….Just found out this afternoon that Foremost failed for the third time. I got the tracking number for delivery and the card for the Motorhome will deliver on Monday.We leave Sunday morning.

Why can’t Foremost get it together? 

During this stay, we will grocery shop to replenish whst went low, prior to crossing the boarder, from the USA.
Groceries will only be what we can eat up in the next; almost two weeks, since we will cross another border; back into the USA; in Alaska, because some food items on the restriction list, can be confiscated. i.e. Eggs, Fruit, Chicken, Lamb. Also states, original wrapping only. In other words, buying bulk meats and wrapping them, separately, yourself, may cause them to be confiscated.

If you are bringing pets, heads-up. There are specific guidelines for carrying a health certificate for them, but we do not have pets, so unable to address this, any further. Here are the link for the Canadian Gov Website, and USA Customs, should you want to know.

https://travel.gc.ca/returning/customs/what-you-can-bring-home-to-canada

Crossing the border back in to Alaska from Canada, here is another link for guidelines:

https://www.dhs.gov/cross-us-borders

The other main reason for stopping in Cochrane, is to be near an hours drive of Banff National Park, where we will spend a day, visiting.
I purchased a pass, via online, over a month ago, from the National Park, so we are good to go, when we get there, as I was able to print our pass. (they must be printed out)

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