Travel Stats: Whitehorse – Petit-Rocher

Here are some travel statistics for my trip across Canada from Whitehorse, YT, to Petit-Rocher, NB.

Travel Dates: June 2, 2007 to June 22, 2007
Total Kilometers: 8,353
Total Miles:  5,191
Liters Fuel: 2,245
Gallons Fuel: 495
Cost of Fuel: $2,631
Avg. Cost/liter: $1.177
Max. Cost/liter: $1.329 (at Toad River, BC)
Min. Cost/liter: $1.019 (at Gunn, AB)
Avg. Cost/gal.: $5.315
Max. Cost/gal.: $6.028
Min. Cost/gal.: $4.622
Avg. mpg: 10.49
Max. mpg: 12.63 (to Salmon Arm, BC)
Min. mpg: 5.90 (to Dryden, ON)
Avg. kpg: 16.88
Max. kpg: 20.32
Min. kpg:  9.49
Avg. km/liter: 3.72
Max. km/liter: 4.48
Min. km/liter: 2.09
Avg. Cost/km: $0.31
Max. Cost/km: $0.57
Min. Cost/km: $0.25
Avg. Cost/Mile: $0.51
Max. Cost/Mile: $0.91
Min. Cost/Mile: $0.40
Avg. RV Campground Fees per day: $30.17
Total Campground Fees:  $482.75
Best RV Campground: River Valley RV Park, Langham, Saskatchewan
     http://www.rivervalleyrvpark.com

Thunder Bay ON To Petit-Rocher NB

I’m actually in Petit-Rocher, New Brunswick at this time but I have not been able to access the internet to update my blog for awhile. So this post is rather long and will bring me *almost* up to date with postings. It is also slow going at this time as I am temporarily using dialup access to the internet.

Wednesday June 20:
This morning I departed Thunder Bay KOA Campground on Highway 11; a much nicer highway than the death trap Highway 17 was, from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay. Highway 11 had little traffic, little construction, very few hills and the road was generally pretty good. I averaged 11.9 mpg.

Below are some pictures of the nice KOA campground in Thunder Bay, where I spent 3 days. The $37.68 per day is at the high end of most campgrounds but I guess you get what you pay for. The first picture is of the office, the 2nd is the pool and the third is the Mini Golf Course. A nice addition to the campground was large strategically placed mosquito traps that I was told work pretty good . . . and I didn’t see any mosquitoes.

After Thunder Bay, serviced campgrounds were practically non existent, or very well hidden, and I ended up spending the night in the Wal-mart parking lot in Kapuskasing. I always thought that Wal-Mart should not allow RV parking on their lots in order to support commercial campgrounds but after a long day of driving and no commercial RV campground readily available, and because it was getting dark, I was really *grateful* for the opportunity to stop driving and to get some well needed rest. And Wal-Mart got my business. A word to commercial RV campgrounds . . . “make yourself *very* visible from the highways, with large, simple, well visible, signs and some indication of what services are available”. Too many land owners provide little more than a parking space in a field with nothing more than a sign that says “CAMPING”.

Thursday June 21:
Back on Highway 11 to North Bay the road was still not bad . . . until after North Bay where the Trans Canada changed to highway 17 to go to Ottawa. Terrible! It was rough, narrow and had many hills. Canada should be ashamed of this highway being called the Trans Canada Highway. The Alaska Highway, and *all* Yukon Highways are much better.

I spent the night at a KOA Campground at Renfrew (near Ottawa). It was nothing to rave about.

Friday June 22:
I fed Cisco, but not myself. I was going to stop for breakfast someplace along the way. I didn’t; and I didn’t stop for lunch either. Traffic was heavy and all restaurants were well off the highway. I continued with my plan to drive to Quebec City and spend the night at an RV campground there. That meant driving through Montreal and Quebec City so I carefully picked a route to bypass downtown Montreal, and a route to the KOA campground South of Quebec. As I approached Montreal it was rush hour . . . not only was it rush hour, but it was rush hour on a Friday, before a long weekend! On the multi lane highway, I stuck to the right hand lane because I wanted to be ready to take an easy exit to the right. That meant that I had to continually confront motorists coming from the many on-ramps.  I guessed that this was easier for me than to try to later change lanes in bumper to bumper traffic in every lane. My choice of sticking to the right lane was *WRONG*! The exit-ramp was on the *left* lane and then went to the right, as shown on my map, but *underneath* the highway I was on. Too late . . . I was forced to continue at an almost *walking* speed with no hope of turning back and no plan for going forward. I didn’t know where I would end up. I didn’t have a co-pilot and it was impossible to look at a map. I followed the signs . . . through the *middle* of downtown Montreal for almost 2 hours! If my rig wasn’t 50 feet long and I was only driving a single vehicle I might have joined the fight with all the other white knuckled *CRAZY* drivers. But aggressive driving was the *last* thing on my mind. Avoiding an accident was the *first* thing on my mind, and I knew I would *eventually* get out of Montreal.

Finally I was in the clear and travelling toward Quebec City on the proper highway (surprise!). And I had a plan for getting to the KOA Campground south of Quebec City. I turned off at the proper exit, filled up with gas at a convenient gas station, then looked forward to another stop for the night.  I couldn’t find the campground!  I blamed the long construction detour and decided to *leave* Quebec City. I continued driving. I was tired. It was getting late . . . then I saw a sign on which I was able to decipher (the sign was in French) that at the next exit ramp, to Riviere Du Loup, McDonalds was coming up, along with a Wal-Mart store. I guessed correctly that the McDonalds was *in* the Wal-Mart store. Great! I could have supper and stay at Wal-Mart for the night. That was the second time Wal-Mart was an oasis in the wilderness for me. Yea Wal-Mart! It was 8:30 PM. I easily found Wal-Mart and parked for the night. Wal-Mart closed at 9 PM so I had enough time to get supper . . . WRONG! McDonalds closed sometime *before* 9 PM. No supper! I opened a can of soup and heated that up for supper . . . with soda crackers. I had a restful sleep.

In the morning I was starving. That’s okay, McDonalds is close by . . . no problem. Oh yeah? The girl didn’t speak a word of English! I could *not* get across to her that I wanted an Egg McMuffin, a BLT Bagel, and a Large Coffee . . . black. I was hungry, so I persevered and about five minutes later, with the help of another customer, who spoke very *little* English, I was able to get my order placed.

About signs in Quebec . . . *all* signs are in French *only*. That wasn’t so bad, but *only* French signs in highway construction zones? I didn’t have a clue as to what some of the construction signs said! And the detour signs! Does nobody in Quebec realize that could be *dangerous*? On some signs I think I was also expected to decipher *French* acronyms!

Saturday, June 23:
I arrived at Petit-Rocher, New Brunswick, in mid-afternoon. Below are the views outside from my combined bedroom/studio and nearby.

Above is the front of Sheila’s house.

The large upstairs window is in my combined bedroom/studio that overlooks Chaleur Bay.

A Day of Rest

The detour that I had to take around a portion of the TC Highway yesterday and thought was another road wash out apparently was another accident beween a truck and travel trailer that ended in the death of one person. This news was passed on to me by a campground patron this morning. I did however hear a bit of this story on a morning newscast on the radio. Like I said yesterday . . . the TC is a *very* dangerous highway around here.

Today was a day of rest and planning and paying bills. I also decided to stay put in Thunder Bay for another day. I will leave on Wednesday morning.

After talking to some people here today I decided to change my plans and take Highway 11 around Lake Superior instead of Highway 17. Apparently it does not have the many steep long hills that 17 has. On one leg coming into Thunder Bay I only got 6 mpg. That’s worse than through Rogers Pass, or the Banff Jasper Highway in the Rockies. Highway 17, has much nicer scenery, but I have to pay attention to my driving and safety precludes gawking at the scenery around Lake Superior.

Dangerous Highways

When I departed Winnipeg this morning, it was raining. It rained all day. It’s still raining . . . hard!

I was wrong when I thought the Trans Canada Highway would be better than the Yellowhead Route. The TC is just as bad and has many more vehicles travelling on it. Of course Alberta again is the exception. Alberta has outstanding highways.

I am now sitting in the KOA Campground in Thunder Bay, Ontario after a day of near misses with giant  trucks. It’s unavoidable; the trucks are bigger than they used to be and the highways are just as narrow and in worse condition. Between Kenora and Thunder Bay, on the TC Highway, I encountered one road washout that reduced the highway to one lane and another washout that required about a five mile detour to get around. There was also one accident where a large truck rear ended another one and ended up in the ditch; and another accident where a travel trailer similar to mine looked like it was side swiped by a large truck. About one foot of the trailer along its entire length, from top to bottom, was lying all over the highway. I would not be surprised if this has become a common occurance on the TC. On *many* occasions I experienced trucks passing me, in both directions, at highway speeds, with only about one foot (no exageration) between us. The narrow highway in its present very poor condition and annually increasing truck traffic, on continually deteriorating roads, is bound to cause more and more mishaps.

Below are pictures of the Flying J Travel Plaza near Winnipeg. I spent the night in their parking lot after being unable to readily find a suitable camping site. I highly recommend this facility. The food was excellent, the service was great, the facilities were ample and the space was not cramped. The prices are reasonable and discounts are given to seniors.

The Longest Day

Today I travelled from near Saskatoon to Winnipeg in one hop; a total of over 1,100 kilometers. I finally stopped at the Flying J Travel Plaza in Winnipeg. I never ate all day and the restaurant at the flying J had an excellent buffet for $21.85 including tip. I give them a 8 out of 10. *Very* good!

I didn’t see any signs for a campground near Winnipeg so I am grabbing some sleep in the Flying J parking lot. I’ll leave after I get some sleep but I will *not* travel this far again . . . at least not tomorrow.

It’s morning! Great breakfast at the Flying J! I give it a 9 out of 10. There is not very much that I can say should be improved there. However, I can say that the Yellowhead highway is a highway to stay away from. With the exception of the part of the highway in Alberta, the rest is rough, narrow and has very little services along its route. What services I found were certainly *not* made for a 50 foot long rig. My advice . . . stay off of the Yellowhead highway! Now that I am in Winnipeg I will stay on the Trans Canada Highway the rest of the way to New Brunswick. It’s better to put up with all of the many trucks on the TC than it is to drive the Yellowhead.

Finally . . . Sunshine!

On the way from Jasper, heading towards Edmonton, I stopped to visit with Jan and Ray Wotton at Alberta Beach, Alberta. I parked the trailer, actually *Ray* expertly parked the trailer in their very narrow driveway, and I spent Thursday night there. I had a wonderful time with Jan and Ray and morning came *too* soon. For supper, I emptied my freezer with some kind of meat that was given to me in Whitehorse, the origin of which is still unknown, and Ray barbecued it. It was delicious. We all wondered what it was. The rum chasers, of which I think we had one too many closed the evening and morning came much too soon. Jan prepared coffee and waffles for breakfast and soon I was on my way again.

I stopped at a *very* nice campground near Saskatoon in Langham Saskatchewan, called River Valley RV Park. There was a Subway outlet in the adjacent Shell Station, where I bought supper. Now that I have the mountains behind me, travel today in Alberta and Saskatchewan averaged 11.0 mpg. Distance travelled today was 738 km (459 miles). It was great having no rain and temperatures above 20 degrees C.

Nice Day . . . For A *Duck*

I bravely departed Salmon Arm on Monday and faced the rainy weather and threat of mud slides through Rogers Pass. I was invincible. There was only one delay of about 15 minutes in the area where a mud slide clean up was in progress and minor delays through construction areas . . . but I made it to Banff in good shape and spirits. I wasn’t swept to my death by a mud slide, but *heavy* rain was encountered in Banff.

The Banff main street is being reworked and is all dug up . . . all of it! This is definitely *not* good for business. I did the main street shuffle and one main street corner was heavily populated with firemen on duty. Apparently the loud hissing sound I heard was a gas line leak and people were kept about one block away from it by the fire department. I survived the threat of being blown up by a fireball of exploding gas and returned to the campground and made supper in the trailer.

A National  Parks fee of $53.40 was paid to allow me to stop in Canada’s National Parks for a period of 3 days. The campground fee at Tunnel Mountain is $29.70 per day for a site with power only. However there *are* hot showers and clean washrooms available. Gasoline at Lake Louise was $1.169/L.

Tuesday I departed Banff and set up camp at the Whistler Campground in Jasper. There was no site left with any services so I dry camped on Tuesday and purchased a site with power for Wednesday. I used all my “lumber” that I carry with me to level the trailer front to back so I didn’t have any left for leveling side to side. I left the trailer slightly leaning to the right. Cost for the two nights (at Whistler) was $55.45. Mileage between Banff and Jasper on the Icefields Parkway was 10.5 mpg. It was a frustrating drive with so many tourists travelling at *very* slow speeds. Some would even stop in the *middle* of the road to gawk at animals.

Today was Cisco’s birthday (11 years old today). Happy Birthday Cisco! I think I’ll have a beer to celebrate, and Cisco can have extra treats.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007:
Minus 4 degrees this morning. I ran out of propane during the night and it was *cold* in the trailer. My second propane tank was full but it was almost morning so I just remained in the fetal position and got out of bed a couple of hours later.

Breakfast at Smitty’s Family Restaurant was a flop. To begin with the coffee was *very* weak. I ordered a tomato, onion and cheese omelette with a side order of bacon.

“Oh you can’t do that . . . it’s not on the menu”, my waitress said.

“OK give me the special omelette and leave out the green pepper and ham . . . that will be a tomato, onion and cheese omelette”. I said.

She grunted and quickly left for the kitchen. If only she could refill my coffee cup that quickly. Eventually I was served my omellete and never saw the coffee again. Nor the waitress. The onions were green. I don’t don’t mean that they were “green onions” but what should have been white or yellow onions, were *green* onions. The knife and fork were sticky, probably pancake syrup. I picked up another knife and fork from the place setting across from me . . . they were also sticky. I ate with a sticky knife and fork. When I finished I went to the front to pay. I had to wait for about 5 minutes for my bill. Surprise . . . $18.85.

Two thumbs *down*, and on a point range of 1 to 10 Smitty’s receives a 1.

Rain May Delay Salmon Arm Departure

It has been raining since 2 days before I departed  Chetwynd and it’s still raining! The weather forecast is for rain to continue for the next 5 days . . . all the way to Banff! I hesitate to travel thru the Revelstoke area until there is some assurance of no more mud slides occurring there. My time yesterday was quietly spent in Salmon Arm at the KOA Campground and more enjoyable time was spent visiting with the Eikmans. Shown below are a couple of pictures of their home and a picture of my campsite at the Salmon Arm KOA Campground.

Rain, Road Washouts, And More Rain

On Wednesday Garry (now Knights of Columbus Distrct Deputy) and I, travelled to the regular monthly Knights of Columbus Council meeting in Dawson Creek. I enjoyed meeting the members of the Dawson Creek Council there.

On Thursday, after 3 enjoyable days in Chetwynd I departed, in the rain, and headed towards Salmon Arm, BC. There had been some heavy rains in the area and I was delayed on the highway between Chetwynd and Prince George while the washed out highway was repaired to the point where one lane was available to let traffic go through. I continued to travel late into the night  and  covered about 850 kilometers before stopping for the night at a viewpoint on the highway near Kamloops BC. I was tired and it was dark when I stopped. The site that greeted me in the morning (Kamloops Lake) is shown below. Shortly after that I arrived in Salmon Arm BC and registered as a guest at the KOA Campground. Fees for a full service site there is $39.20 per day.

After setting up the travel trailer I accidentally had a shower in the womens washroom. I didn’t realize it until I was leaving, then looked back, and saw the sign on the door. Needless to say I was *very* glad that nobody came in while I was there.  I either would have screamed and scared all the children and horses or I would have been as quiet as a church mouse. For sure I would not have been singing in the shower.

An enjoyable Friday afternoon and evening was spent with Tom and Nellie Eikmans at their beautiful Salmon Arm home.

Chetwynd BC

Garry and Annie Kaulbach gave me a tour of Chetwynd yesterday. I think Chetwynd is very close to, if not already, the most noteworthy community for excellent outdoor wood carving installations. Close behind that are wonderful murals on many of the town buildings. Beautiful! This coming weekend there is another annual chain saw wood carving competition to be attended by excellent established and emerging chain saw wood carvers. Chetwynd will purchase many of the resulting carvings from the competition to add to the town’s growing outdoor collection. Pictures of a few of the carvings and murals are shown below. I think Chetwynd could easily call itself the chain saw wood carving capital of Canada.