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Aren’t grandkids great?

Writer's picture: Ruth McbrideRuth Mcbride

Why didn’t we have them first? LOL!!


Owen and Grandpa!


Well as you can see we made it to Cranbrook, B.C.! 5 days to get from Fort Erie, to Cranbrook or 3,796 km which is about 759 km/day! That sure is a lot of driving in a short time. In fact we are both happy for a rest here in Cranbrook for 3 nights. Last night we both were suffering from motion sickness where we felt like we were still moving, when we were sitting or standing still. It’s a weird feeling which is kind of hard to explain. If you’ve been on a boat for a long period of time, its the way you felt when you got off the boat onto dry land. Still swaying, despite, not being on the boat!





We left the Walmart parking lot in North Lethbridge at 9:05am this morning and headed to the Co-op gas station in Pincher Creek, Alberta to fill up on Diesel, gasoline (for Jerry) and Propane. A good one stop shop for all of our fuel needs before we crossed into B.C. where we know the price of fuel is more expensive.


Co-op gas station in Pincher Creek.


After leaving Lethbridge, Alberta last year, Pincher Creek (which is only 101 km from Lethbridge), is where we spent a night last fall in the Walmart parking lot because the weather was too bad for us to cross over the mountains and make our way to Cranbrook, B.C. Such an odd name for a town! The town actually received its name in 1868 when a group of prospectors lost a pincer in the small creek at this location. These pincers would have been used as a device for trimming the feet of their horses.





In 1874 the North-West mounted Police came to southern Alberta and one of them discovered the rusting tools in the creek, and they named the area ‘Pincher Creek’. Strong Chinook winds often blow off the mountains and into Pincher Creek which can be extremely windy. Today there was almost no wind, which was a nice change from last year when we came through here. When BOONDOCKING at Walmart, we couldn’t even put our bedroom slides out on Newman overnight, because we were worried we would lose our slide toppers in the wind!



Outside of Pincher Creek heading for the Rocky mountains in the distance. There are a ton of wind turbines in this area because of the Chinook winds.



Oh, oh! Those snow tire signs have started! You know you’re heading into trouble when you see these signs!



The Crowsnest Pass is the first mountain pass on our journey. Crowsnest Pass is a ‘piece of cake’ compared to any of the other mountain passes we will have to do before we get to Tsawwasen to catch the ferry to the Island. It is nice to see the mountains again! I remember when we left here in April we looked at the mountains and said “It will be awhile before we see mountains again!” And here we are 6 months later back in the same mountains! We never imagined we would be back here this soon!



The one tunnel we had to go through today in the mountains.


Heading into Fernie, B.C. You can see there is already snow on the mountain tops! No wonder Fernie is such a big ski area! We didn’t stop to say hi to ‘Jim, from Fernie’ our neighbour from last winter in Fanny Bay, as Jim and his wife Danielle have already left Fernie for the winter, biding their time in Burnaby, B.C., before they cross the border in. November to winter in California this year.



And you can see we made it to Fort Steele Resort & R.V. Park! We arrived at Fort Steele around 1:35pm this afternoon. A nice short driving day for us! Gas is a little bit more expensive here than in Alberta, where gas is $1.429.


We were excited to go and visit Owen and of course his mom Christal too. But first we had to pick up a new toy for Owen.



A big noisy truck to keep Owen occupied!



We weren’t sure how Owen would react to us since he wouldn’t remember us from April or last October. It took a few minutes, but once we got down on the ground and played with him, he was very happy to have us around!



Owen dancing with Nana.


Grandpa and Owen having a good visit.

Don’t jiggle him too much Grandpa!



Enjoying his bath!

Time for bed now!


We were happy to visit with Owen and Christal and then we headed back to Fort Steele for the night. That’s the nice thing about being grandparents; you can leave when you’re tired! We are very happy that we can spend some more time with Owen, Jonathan and Christal on our way to the Island.


The temperature here at Fort Steele, is going down to 1C this evening. We sure are glad we have a heated water hose so we don’t have to worry about our water line freezing! It is raining now, but it is supposed to be a nice 13C sunny day tomorrow for our visit to the pumpkin patch with Owen in Skookumchuck, B.C.




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1 Comment


tonyb8111
Oct 21, 2021

Wow what an uneventful trip compared to last year from a readers perspective. But it seems that the trip was more enjoyable for you and Richard. Glad you guys made it safe and sound.

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