Well, it’s probably been way too long since I’ve posted anything here, so here goes the next chapter for the bus :). To be honest, though, you haven’t missed much in the way of the bus. After our trip to Boston we did take a weekend camping trip to Algonquin park to celebrate the graduation of a bunch of our friends and the arrival of summer vacation. That was a good weekend:

After that the insurance for the bus expired… well more like I refused to pay as much as they wanted so it was cancelled :(. We eventually moved the bus to a new storage location in Dunrobin where we could take it around the block every month or two to keep things moving. It sat there for over a year, and in the meantime Zara and I graduated from Carleton, packed our bags, and moved out to Vancouver for good this time. We spent the summer of 2015 settling into our new lives and new city; it was quite a long journey over those few months.

Sometime around September we decided it was time for the bus to join us in our new province. We went home for thanksgiving in October and on Tuesday morning (Oct 13), left bright and early for our trek back across the country!

As I remembered it from last time, Ontario was BIG. Zara got to experience this first hand now but the weather was good and we could make decent time. On the first day we ended up making a couple of stops for gas and one at Walmart to buy some snacks and fix a little wiring.

We ended up not making it quite as far as we’d hoped but we drove nearly 14 hours and ended up stopping in a little RV rest center in White River, ON. At this point I should probably mention that we were on a one-track to meet up with my dad, grandmother, and the Edmonton bunch of Bottriells at their place on Thursday, so time was fairly tight for this leg of the journey.

After the nights rest we thundered on through Ontario, stopping only really for gas and Timmi’s, but enjoying some beautiful views along the way.

We also lucked out on some beautiful sunsets, we didn’t capture it the first day but the second night was even better anyway.

Second night we stopped in a truck stop right of Highway 1 in Brandon, MB with all the long haulers. That’s right we made it out of Ontario in under 2 days, and yes, it was pretty grueling. I also remember it being really cold that night, but the heat of the engine under our bed from the day of driving kept us happy as we fell asleep. Just behind me taking the picture below was a Tim Horton’s so hot coffee was waiting for us when we woke up, and, really, what else can you hope for.

Manitoba when by really quickly, we did most of the province in the dark and as we set off in the morning things started to get more and more flat as we ventured deeper into the prairies.

By the time we hit Saskatchewan the ground was golden and the sky blue, just as it should be and just as I remembered it.

Heading up to Edmonton was a good choice. I didn’t know this before but northern Saskatchewan actually gets quite hilly. The North Saskachewan river which follows beside Hwy 1 has carved quite a canyon out of the soil up there.

By now it was Thursday night, and, just as we’d hoped, we were rolling into Edmonton. We parked the bus up at my Aunt and Uncle’s house, had a wonderful dip in the hot tub, and slept a deep sleep.

After all of the driving the days before, Friday was our day of rest to spend with family in Edmonton. We saw the West Edmonton mall for the first time, which was crazy, and just generally tried to spend as much time as we could relaxing. Friday night my cousins and their families came over to have a big dinner all together. We got to meet the new additions to the Bottriell family and have an amazing home-cooked meal.

Saturday morning we headed out with my father this time to do a slower-paced trek through the Rockies. On the first day we passed the most amazing blue lake full of fresh glacier runoff from the summer months of heat.

We drove through Banff and Jasper National parks, stopping at the Columbia Ice Fields to see the glacier up close and personal.

A few more minutes down the road was Athabasca Falls, we got there just as the sun was getting low in the sky but what a view. These are beautiful falls and and amazing little spot to stop and explore.

The highway then brought us into the town of Jasper, where we stopped a a classic gas station diner and had a hearty meal. Hopefully soon we’ll head back up to Jasper to see the town in the daylight and spend some time there exploring. It seems like a beautiful getaway.

That night we continue on into the town of Valemout where we stayed at our first proper RV campground open it’s last weekend before closing down for the season.

The next day we travelled deeper into the mountains and onto Whistler.

In the morning we were looking for coffee, and found a river boat tours place that advertised a cafe. After driving a small dirt road towards a river we learned that it was closed for the season, but it was a cool place to see nonetheless.

Now, getting to Whislter meant that we were going to travel highway 99, which, little did we know, was a mountain road like no other mountain road… The morning and afternoon were easy driving. We saw some great views and beautiful little towns. This photo was taken as we approached the town of Lillooet. We stopped to gawk at the tiny river hundreds of feet below the sheer edge of the road.

As we left the town of Lillooet, things really got crazy. The sun was just disappearing behind the mountains as we climbed and fell along the side of a steep mountainside. Steep grade warning signs became the norm as we then fell into a dark valley between two cliffs. My passengers at this point seemed a little more nervous than I was at the wheel but even I must admit that we were definitely at the mercy of that road. If any of you have driven that stretch of highway before you may remember what comes next. Just outside of Whistler we hit some construction, and about halfway through we saw a huge yellow sigh that read “Caution, extreme grades for 13 km”. This can be a little worrying for passengers of a huge, 30 year old piece of machinery, but we trekked on! I think 15% was the steepest we encountered, and all the while navigating some of the tightest switchbacks I’ve ever seen. Down and down we went and we made it into Whistler where we grabbed some food at the grocery store and parked up for the night in a beautiful little RV campground just outside the village.

We didn’t know it until we woke up but we had quite the view from our windows!

We had a quaint little breakfast in the village and spent a few hours hiking the trails at the base of the mountain before driving the sea to sky into Vancouver. 

We dropped the bus off at a garage in town to get inspected, if he was going to live in BC again he needed to pass the safety, but more on that in my next post. I promise it won’t be as long this time, we’re aching to get him out again! Thanks for reading!