It's a wrap.

Distance traveled: 451.4
Cumulative (total) distance: 3218
Maximum speed: 137 kph
Average speed: 99 kph
Temperature range: 14.4 - 28.2

We were up early and fresher, so were on the road in less than an hour. We were a little stunned at the amount of traffic at 8:20 a.m., particularly heading west but then remembered that west bound travelers were likely to have an hour on us given we were only a short distance west of the time change.

Jasper was a zoo and when we went into the Bearspaw Cafe, it was also a zoo. However, we did get something to eat and managed a place to sit in there.  As good as it is, it is no Brambles. Or Blackbird. However, in all fairness, we didn't order what they do best, which would be cinnamon buns or cake.

We were home in pretty good time, all things considered. However, 500 metres from home, we saw a Telus fibre optic cable truck going the opposite direction and since this is something I have been coveting (this update it coming to you via the "hotspot" setting on my cell phone) I immediately wanted to turn around but Nan said "don't chase it". (editor's note: this happened once before, on theUtah trip six years ago. I didn't repeat the error today.) However, I knew that she wanted to get home so I told her I was going to drop her at the gate and then see if I could find the truck. No luck (again). Plus, I missed out on the big greeting from the dogs because by the time I got to the house, about ten minutes after Nan, we were chopped liver and the celebrating was over.

Rock climbing east of Jasper.

That's pretty much a wrap. Thanks for keeping us company on the trip. Nan told me she had fun camping from the motorcycle, which I pretty much expected, so we are game on for camping on the eclipse trip. The fact that we didn't have to deal with any rain on this trip is probably a contributing factor as that has a tendency to take a lot of the fun out of camping.

Thanks to Nan's sister Betty for  once again hosting us at their summer retreat. Thanks to Tim for capturing us on his video chase drone and uploading it to YouTube and thanks to Windy and Len for riding all the way to Tofino from Vancouver to spend a too-short amount of time together. And thanks to my brother Dan for preparing a nice meal for us and driving three hours in order to serve it. Also, for the numerous tips of guidance on where to eat and also, for helping us monitor the safe passage routes through the fire zone. And of course, thanks to Nan for being my favvourite partner in crime and chief photographer. We always have lots of fun together on these trips and hopefully, as long as we are able, there will be many more. There are always hijnks and as badly as I want to put them all in the blog, some stories are better left untold. But on more than one occasion, including on this trip, I have heard from other travelers how lucky I am to have such an adventurous wife.

Howi
July 15, 2017
Avalon Acreage