After two nights in Fort Nelson for some R&R (rest and recovery), we drove close to 400 mile to Grande Prairie, Alberta, the biggest city between Edmonton and Anchorage. The Fort Nelson Hotel was very nice, with a sliding glass door opening onto an atrium (called the Tiki Room!!); with a pool and lots of faux plants. We did some heavy duty laying around, then got up today and had breakfast on the sidewalk outside the hotel restaurant. We were parked right in front of the hotel and yesterday, someone sitting at one of these tables 
called out to me as I was getting something out of the van. "Did you notice that you have a really low tire?" It was almost down to the rim, but drivable, so I slowly made my way across the street to a gas station and aired it up. Being Sunday, there was no tire repair place open. When we got up this morning, the tire was still inflated to 35 psi, so I decided to wait to put a tube in it. My experience with radial tires is that a slow leak in the side wall will only leak if the hole is on the bottom of the tire, so if you watch the position of the valve stem, you can park so it won't leak. Let's see if I'm really smart or really stupid. So far, so good. By the way, don't know if you can see the bugs on the front of the van, but it's pretty impressive. We stopped for 
lunch at Swan Lake Provincial Park, about 4 km off the road. Needed a potty break and a bite to eat. Things around here are looking pretty mid-western. I don't remember this from our last trip. It's prairie land, with rolling fields, lots more deciduous trees, and wide open vistas. The lake had a fish ladder leading to a small stream and a sign regarding Walleye fishing. Who knew they had Walleye up here. We saw fenced fields with elk, caribou, bufallo, and lots of horses. The closer we got to Grande Prairie, the more farm land we saw... huge fields newly tilled with grain elevators in every little hamlet and even a cattle feed-lot with some rather dejected looking cows standing in their own crap. This is 
definitely the American west. We arrived in Grande Prairie around 6pm. (We're now in Mountain Time) and found a room at the Grande Prairie Inn, a brand new hotel advertising grand opening introductory rates. Sat in the bar with the laptop trying to figure out where to stay tomorrow. We wanted to go to Lake Louise near Banff, a beautiful drive through the mountains. The drive is long with no accomodations between here and there, and the lodgings in Lake Louise and Banff are very expensive, so we may take an alternative route and head east toward Edmonton where there are more alternatives. We'll see how we feel in the morning. Annie has crashed and is in bed and I'm not far behind. We'll let you know where we are tomorrow when we find out ourselves.
called out to me as I was getting something out of the van. "Did you notice that you have a really low tire?" It was almost down to the rim, but drivable, so I slowly made my way across the street to a gas station and aired it up. Being Sunday, there was no tire repair place open. When we got up this morning, the tire was still inflated to 35 psi, so I decided to wait to put a tube in it. My experience with radial tires is that a slow leak in the side wall will only leak if the hole is on the bottom of the tire, so if you watch the position of the valve stem, you can park so it won't leak. Let's see if I'm really smart or really stupid. So far, so good. By the way, don't know if you can see the bugs on the front of the van, but it's pretty impressive. We stopped for 
lunch at Swan Lake Provincial Park, about 4 km off the road. Needed a potty break and a bite to eat. Things around here are looking pretty mid-western. I don't remember this from our last trip. It's prairie land, with rolling fields, lots more deciduous trees, and wide open vistas. The lake had a fish ladder leading to a small stream and a sign regarding Walleye fishing. Who knew they had Walleye up here. We saw fenced fields with elk, caribou, bufallo, and lots of horses. The closer we got to Grande Prairie, the more farm land we saw... huge fields newly tilled with grain elevators in every little hamlet and even a cattle feed-lot with some rather dejected looking cows standing in their own crap. This is 
definitely the American west. We arrived in Grande Prairie around 6pm. (We're now in Mountain Time) and found a room at the Grande Prairie Inn, a brand new hotel advertising grand opening introductory rates. Sat in the bar with the laptop trying to figure out where to stay tomorrow. We wanted to go to Lake Louise near Banff, a beautiful drive through the mountains. The drive is long with no accomodations between here and there, and the lodgings in Lake Louise and Banff are very expensive, so we may take an alternative route and head east toward Edmonton where there are more alternatives. We'll see how we feel in the morning. Annie has crashed and is in bed and I'm not far behind. We'll let you know where we are tomorrow when we find out ourselves.
3 comments:
We are following your journey. We took the laptop over to Bud's, so he could read your posts, too. Try not to miss Lake Louise if you can. I remember the highway between Jasper and Banff as being quite wonderful. Accomodations in Banff are expensive, but I know I slept cheap in Jasper and around Lake Louise (maybe I was camping in the car?--can't remember it was 20 years ago). Talk to you soon. --Bill & Marsha
There is a youth hostel in either Banff or Jasper that is pretty cheap. http://www.hihostels.ca/alberta/651/hi-jasper_rates___facilities.hostel
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