We didn't play tourist for very long!

We got up at 6:00am yesterday morning and started driving right away. We were only about 100 kms (62 miles) from Lake Louise, and we figured we would get there before the crowds.

Wrong!

Jasper, Lake Louise, and Banff are beautiful, however...

They are not so beautiful during busy tourist season! What a circus!

We never "planned" on being in this area at all. And certainly not at this time of year. But when I checked the map to figure out our route down to Fairmont Hot Springs, coming down the Icefields Parkway was the only route that made sense. To go any other way would have added at least 250 kms (155 miles). Although, it might have been worth it!

Shattered into a thousand pieces...

The day started off fairly clear, but as we made our way to the town of McBride, it got smokier. Which is a real shame, because that area is beautiful with the mountains on either side of the Robson Valley.

We were wanting to do a hike, but there was really no point. Not good to be breathing in the smoky air, and we wouldn't get much of a view anyhow.

Another great free campsite!

Said goodbye to my Uncle Dave and Aunt Melissa, and hope to see them again somewhere in the world! They were talking about going to Newfoundland and renting an RV, so maybe they'll do that while we are there next summer. That would be fun.

We took off on the Yellowhead Highway #16, heading southeast towards Jasper National Park.

A nice day around Prince George, British Columbia

We had a really nice day yesterday. Uncle Dave and Aunt Melissa planned a three hour hike for us all, and we were going to do it in the morning, but as 10 o'clock rolled around we decided to go out for lunch first and then do the hike afterwards.

They took us out to the Northern Lights Estate Winery. We didn't go for the wine... but we had a really good meal!

Seems there is no escaping it

We were laughing the other day about how long it takes us to get anywhere. Our regular readers know that when we're traveling in the motorhome, 200 kms (124 miles) a day is a long driving day. But that's because there is too much to see along the way!

And every little town has an interesting story to tell. Yesterday was a good example.

An interesting day... a bear scare, forest fires, and helicopters

We had delicious bacon and egg breakfast with my cousin Calvin and his wife Brenda, but being a work day they were soon off to the daily grind, leaving us to depart whenever we were ready.

I decided this was a good opportunity to change Sherman's engine oil, so I got everything out and crawled underneath Sherman to drain the oil and change the filter. I was about to screw on the new filter when I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and had to do a double take!

Well, four new tires are better than none

We went back over to the Kal Tire store first thing Thursday morning to get Sherman's new tires installed. But unfortunately, the two tires we were waiting for didn't show up! When I had ordered them, we were told they would be in "Wednesday at the latest"... but it didn't happen.

So, there were four tires there. The other two they were now told would show up Monday, which is too late for us!

Out with the old, and in with the new...

We knew that Sherman's new tires wouldn't all be delivered to the tire shop until close to noon, so we headed out early to the Twin Falls Recreation area near Smithers. We had read that it was just a short hike to the falls, but we wanted to do a little more than that so we parked where the paved road ended and walked the 2 kms (1.3 miles) each way on the gravel road to the trailhead.

Well, we spent a chunk of money yesterday.

And the spending is not over yet!

It used to be, during our full time working days that when we spent a bunch of money, the attitude was "oh well, we'll make some more tomorrow!" But it's not so easy any more with our sporadic income.

Let me tell you how we spent $776 CAD ($600 USD)...

A bit of frustration, but it ended up better than expected

Yesterday's first stop was back at the visitors center in Hazelton to use their free wifi. They also have a free RV dump station there, so we took advantage of that by using Sherman's shower and dumping the grey tank and filling the fresh water tank.

Hazelton is what we would call an RVFT. What's an RVFT, you ask...?

We can't believe there are empty campsites at this beautiful place

And last night, we were the only ones there!

Like I said yesterday, Anderson Flats is a kind of an odd Provincial park. We found out a little more about it when a couple of conservation officers stopped by to warn us about the current fire ban. The area has only been a provincial park since 2007. Apparently somebody (with the last name Anderson) died and left the land to the province.

We think we'll stay here another day!

Another beautiful day. Clear blue skies and high of 28C (83F).That doesn't help the forest fire situation southeast of here, but it sure is nice for us travelers!

We had originally thought about making it to Smithers yesterday because it's not that far. But we're in no rush, and we got sidetracked to a beautiful campsite!

Totem poles near Kitwanga, British Columbia

We had a nice drive yesterday from Stewart to Kitwanga, British Columbia. And the weather was perfect. We didn't leave Stewart until almost noon. I tried cleaning the idle air control valve on the throttle body to fix Sherman's high idle problem, but as I expected it didn't change anything.

It may need a new one, or it could be something else entirely. We'll get it checked when we get to Smithers.

Sherman is getting old

Just like the rest of us!

We woke up yesterday morning and drove the short distance back across the Canadian border from Hyder, Alaska to Stewart, British Columbia. It was just starting to spit with rain as we pulled up to the border station. The Canadian guard asked a couple of questions, and scanned our passports and we were back in Canada... almost as if we never left.