N/B on Hwy 95 in Bonners Ferry, ID.
We left Stoneridge a little before 9am, headed toward Golden, British Columbia in Canada. We had a little over 300 miles to travel in what was forecast to be a rainy day for most of the way. Our path of travel took us north on Hwy 41 to Newport, then east on Hwy 2 to Sandpoint, then north on Hwy 95 all the way to Golden.
There's always a certain amount of anxiety whenever crossing the border, but in all of our trips to Alaska, we've never had a major problem. We've heard horror stories, but other than rude customs folks, it's always been just a bunch of questions, and we were on our way.
We waited in a single line behind some trucks at the Kingsgate port of entry, and after about 20 minutes of slowly moving forward, we were at the customs booth. After the usual questions, I pulled forward into the Canadian parking lot, and waited for Nancy.
Nancy is about to pull forward into Canada.
Except for the overcast conditions, the drive north on Hwy 93/95 is about as good as it gets regarding
scenery. The valley is dotted with endless lakes, and high mountains on both sides. We had an unfortunate incident while driving N/B, that startled both of us, which I'll describe at the end of this post.
scenery. The valley is dotted with endless lakes, and high mountains on both sides. We had an unfortunate incident while driving N/B, that startled both of us, which I'll describe at the end of this post.
The first town of any size in Canada was Cranbrook. They even have a Harley-Davidson Dealership!
It's been a few years since we've traveled into Canada, but if you didn't know that you were in a foreign country, the towns & cities north of the border don't look much different than U.S. communities.
One of the big changes in Canada, is their use of the metric system. Everything is kilometers, meters, & liters. Fuel is priced per liter, and the diesel prices that we could see in Cranbrook were 1.319 per liter. Assuming that the exchange rate is even (which it just about is), 1.319 equals $5.00 a gallon. Regular gas was 1.419 per liter, and that equals $5.37 a gallon. Those prices are going to get higher, as we travel farther north.
We traveled the last 100 miles or so in the rain, arriving in Golden at about 4pm mountain time. We checked into the Whispering Spruce RV park, and quickly discovered that our Winegard Traveler Satellite dishes couldn't find the Dish Network satellite due to the trees. The WiFi here is almost non existent, but I've kept at it this morning, and finally had a connection long enough to get this written. The next challenge will be to get it published.
Somewhere around Fairmont Hot Springs, while passing over some pretty good bumps, we heard a loud crack. At the top left corner of the windshield, several large cracks appeared, similar to what happened several years ago. When we had that first windshield replaced, Monaco admitted there was a structural design flaw, and they reinforced the area around the windshield. This is the same problem, but after Monaco declared bankruptcy, this next windshield is going to be on our dime. Hopefully, it won't get any worse, and we can finish most of this trip before getting it replaced.
Today, we're driving through the national parks along the icefields parkway, with a destination of Hinton, Alberta. The forecast for today is more rain.
Whispering Spruce RV Park - $39.20 Cumulative - $246.43
Diesel W/of Sandpoint, ID 21.1 gals @ $3.94 = $82.96 Cumulative - $1,053.33
MPG = 12.7 (last tank was really full) Cumulative MPG = 8.2
Miles traveled - 315 Cumulative - 2.371
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