Hey!
So while in Banff, I chatted with my
mom and dad, as I do every few days, and my dad was going on about watching Ice
Road Trucker, and how much my mom LOVES the show. I hope you can sense
the sarcasm there. Anyways, Mark and I decided after talking to my folks
to see what this show is all about. So we found it on tv and watched
'Porkchop' chain up his tires as he drove through some pretty sketchy, wintery
areas. After 30 minutes or so we had both had our I.R.T fix (forever)
and we were soooo excited to get on the road in the am.
So as I mentioned we opted for Route
option #2, to drive through, up and over the mountains and down through BC,
rather than battle the snowy Calgary and area roads. Was this the right
option.....wellllll let me just tell you.
We got on the Trans Canada Highway to
begin our journey from Banff to a little highway (more like sideroad) that we'd
be on for the better part of the day. So after leaving Storm Mountain
Lodge a few days before I have to say at the time of leaving I was very happy
that we wouldn't have to journey back to these 'long and winding roads.' FML. We were headed right on
back to the exact same area and even deeper/higher into the
mountains......crap.
I, the semi-paranoid driver that I am,
had to take the wheel and have Mark in my sidecar, passenger seat rather. (but wouldn't that be cute). To Hwy 93S
we arrived, a snow covered, icy mess that the little Tercel would have to
battle up, and slide down. We reach the bottom of a mountain saying
"PROCEED WITH TIRE CHAINS FROM HERE ON...(or snow tires)." What
had we gotten ourselves into.
So up we went....slowly and surely...I
have to say the decent was worse. 18-wheelers passing us in the snow
covered center portion of the road going 80km, as I truck along at a 30km pace.
I have to say, there were a few tears
shed, a few side glances to my partner in a small rage we had decided on this
route, on this day, and a few moments that I thought we just might have to take
the "Runaway Lane." (something that I had never heard of before, but
saw every few km's in case trucks couldn't control/brake as they went down the
steep inclines).
THANKFULLY, we made it to non-snow/ice
covered road and we were in the clear for good....I thought.
To de-stress we went to Radium Hot
Springs and had a wee soak. Really calming, but too much relaxing for a
bit of a hyper soul (Mark I mean of course). So back to the road we went.
A few hours later, and many mountains later we reached FERNIE. I'm
going to let Mark take over here to detail the next few days...but I'll come on
back with a little follow up to the 'in the good for clear comment' afterwards.
Mark here. I've finally
wrestled away control of this blog from Megan. Yes, I was the intrepid moral
support needed for such a journey. Regarding our journey, I'm reminded of
the old camp song ‘Going on a Lion Hunt,’ the song goes like this: "Can't
over it, can't go around it, can't go under it... Gotta go THROUGH it!"
That was our experience of Ice Roads! No choice, but to just drive ‘em.
In Fernie, my dear ole
friend Ryan Holbein graciously put us up for the night. Our time with him had
been shortened from 2 nights to merely 1 due to our finalizing our travel plans
to Malaysia, which cut our whole travel time short, but more on that later. We
decided to make the most of our time with Ryan in Fernie.
We met him in a coffee
shop where they had a 'take a book, leave a book' display. Well, one of us took
a book, but didn't leave one, to leave one ‘later’ this person said. Ryan
offered to take us up to a restaurant at the top of a mountain, to which Megan
replied that she was done with mountains!
The three of us went to
a pub and then to a hot tub at his apartment, where we had a grand ole time
talking over a great many topics and experienced life through conversation.
Ryan had to wake up early for work, so we bid him adieu until some unknown time
in the future. Maybe his wedding in June? Maybe in Malaysia? We'll see... We
slipped into our sleeping bags and got comfy on his guestroom floor for the
night. We were saddened that we didn't get to hang out with Abi, Ryan's better
half, since she was back in Ottawa. Those two go well together, like Peas and
Carrots, Jello and Whip Cream, Ice Roads and Truckers.
Ryan and I are like
‘ships passing in the night’. While I was in Korea, he lived in Ottawa. When I
moved back to Ottawa, he went to Australia. When he moved back to Ottawa, I
moved to Winnipeg. You get the picture. Like magnets. Now, after a long time
living in Australia, Ryan is beginning to set up shop in Ottawa, I’m leaving
for Malaysia. Ah, so is life I guess. Maybe that’s the secret of our
friendship: no time to get sick of each other?
I think in the future we do need to coordinate our sense of adventure
better. (Apologies to Ryan that there is no photo of him here -- he does exist I swear -- but Megan had asked if we wanted a photo together to which we replied that we already had lots of photos together -- probably the beer talking :S )
7 hours later, we were
in Salmon Arm. I drove, as Megan may describe, like a maniac, but that may be a
matter of perspective. Maybe I feel right at home with those Ice Road Truckers…
who knows? Me and Pork Chop and the boys could share a few stories. Well, we
arrived safe and sound in Salmon Arm, meeting my Uncle Tim and Aunt Nadia.
They’ve got a nice place, up in the foothills that overlook the city. Tim’s
retired from the Air Force and one of his main hobbies is to fly his Ultralight
(that’s an airplane). Megan and I got to sit in it, but due to weather and a
short stay, we weren’t able to go up. They were gracious hosts, making us
delicious steak and providing us with exercise by hiking through the nearby
park. We watched Survivor and some other shows together before we hit the hay.
(The time change has slowly messed up our internal clocks!)
It was great to see Tim
and Nadia since they travel out Ontario once every five years, but the time
still felt too short, too rushed. I hope our hosts enjoyed our company!
Presently, I see Megan
creeping towards me with a look in her eyes that says she wants to regain
control of this blog… no…! give me that…! Haha! That tickles! No! Okay… you can
have it…
So, yes a great trip to both Fernie
and Salmon Arm, and much thanks to our kind hosts. So let me briefly
mention the journey to Whistler.
So we set off with no problem at all,
driving on the good ol' Trans Canada. We again came to 2 options.
#1 to take the MEGA-highway to
Vancouver and then go up to Whistler from there.
OR...
#2 to take a few somewhat smaller
highways to get to Whistler faster.
Guess which option we took. I'm
sure that wasn't too tricky eh?
OPTION #2.
Let's just say that 90km should
technically take me well under an hour, but this 90km took several.
We wound up and down the beautiful
mountains of BC....enjoying every moment of it (teeth cringing/eye rolling).
I was brought back to my distant memories of Ice Road Trucker as I drove
with no guard rail along a sheer rock cliff, 'Avalanche Zone's' just about
every 5km's, WARNING signs, STEEP GRADE signs, all the while Mark sat
comfortably in his side car reading away.
Another mountain driving day in the
books for this driver...hopefully this chapter is done, and you won't have to
read any more I.R.T posts....we'll see :)
So a lesson learned....
1. Take option 1
2. Never take the little yellow road
on the map, perhaps not even the red one, go for the bright blue, extra wide
MEGA highway.
Cheers all!
