3. Coast to Coast

After eliminating the rattle in Sioux Falls, we took Dolly over the Powder River Pass summit- all 9,666ft of it. She made it, but it was really slow going up, Dolly needed more power. Not something we were going to achieve immediately.

Cody had a real wild-west feel to it and the big show in town was the nightly Rodeo. We’d no idea what to expect but we absolutely had to go. It began with a lengthy prayer (about what they believe, how proud they are of their way of life and how they weren’t going to entertain any other ideologies – like those held by the Californian’s). We then had a standing ovation for the US military personnel followed by the National Anthem. Once that was all out of the way the rodeo kicked off. There was barrel racing, bucking horses and bulls and then all the kids were encouraged to come up to chase calves round the arena to pull ribbons from their tales! We both agreed that between Health & Safety and animal rights there’s no way on earth it would ever catch on in the UK.

Anyhow, back to Wyoming… after Cody we headed for Yellowstone National Park which was definitely one of our big ticket items. We got through the main gates to the park but by the time we arrived at the campsite had received a text message to say that all the entrances had been closed. We were really surprised when reception at the campsite said that we were still fine to check in…. Mind you within an hour and a half we got a knock at the door and a nice lady told us “we had to evacuate the park” We’d known there’d been some pretty heavy rainfall it was only later that we realised the devastation it had caused to homes, roads and bridges in the area.

We needed a “Plan B”

Considering the Grand Tetons were just down the road Geraldine proposed we go there. When Dan found out that their name means “large breasts” in French he was immediately onboard. We loved it there. Geraldine got lots of fishing in on the Jackson River, we saw pelicans and bald eagles and even our first moose. Surprise surprise we also stumbled across a brewery while we were in the area. Towards the end of the evening we heard some Scottish accents at the other end of the patio which turned out to be new friends Donald and Margaret. Within minutes Geraldine and Margaret had worked out that they had lived in exactly the same farmhouse in a tiny village outside Glasgow 10 years apart. ( that friends is the very, very, very abridged version of the story 藍)

On we travelled up through the expansive prairies of Montana with their huge brightly coloured butterflies, road side stalls selling all things huckleberry and their huge skies. As with a lot of the midwest and the west of Canada for that matter, this was very much gold rush country and so one afternoon we took a trip up the side of a mountain, on one of those roads that only a unimog should attempt, to explore a preserved gold rush mining village from the late 1800s. The road was interesting to say the least. You realise how easy we have life when you see the conditions that these prospectors endured. Speaking of easy lives, we were delighted to find that there was a much tamer route out and so we took that back down.

It was one morning when we were parked up in that same area that we spied a man sitting peacefully by the banks of the Blackfoot river, looking through a telescope. Geraldine’s curiosity got the better of her and so she went to investigate. It turned out that he had his telescope trained on a peregrine falcon nest occupied by a mum and her four chicks. It transpired that this delightful gentleman, Jay Summers was a master falconer and following a career working in Yellowstone with Grizzlies was responsible for the successful repopulation of peregrine falcons in Montana. He invited us to his home where we got to see his peregrine and his gyr (Alaskan) falcons up close. It was awesome and something that will stay with us both. If you’re interested in learning a little more about this why not click on this link https://www.montanaperegrine.org/montana-falcons/

One of the places Dan had eyed up when we were still at home and dreaming of the life that we are now living was Glacier National Park and in particular the “Going-to-the-Sun-Road”. The scenery here was absolutely spectacular and the lakes and rivers were that magical blue, green glacial melt water.

We were disappointed to discover that the Going-to-the-Sun-Road was still closed due to snow (in June!), but then heard that you could hire electric bikes to ride up most of the way. When we pitched up to rent a couple all they had left was one electric and one normal bike ……. so we took turns towing one another up the hill. It was a stunning ride and so much fun, much more memorable an experience than had we simply driven up in Dolly ( no offence Dolly). We also finally saw our first grizzly bears while we were there – a mother casually crossing the road with her three cubs in tow. We couldn’t believe it. Little were we to know then how many more bears we would see on our travels.

It was almost Canada Day (which celebrates the establishment of modern day Canada and is held on the 1st July- yes that’s how far behind we are with this update ). This year was the 155th anniversary and so we decided to head north to see how they celebrate it in Alberta. It took all of 2 minutes to clear border control – no doubt because Geraldine was sporting her “Irish border crossing” top. Reactivating our Canadian SIM cards took a heck of a lot longer! Be warned fellow travellers.

We fished our way up to Calgary where we met one of Lindsey’s University of Alberta room mates, Gabby and her family. They made us so welcome and as well as giving of us lots of top tips about Calgary and the surrounding area, they had kindly let us use their address to receive a few essential deliveries, no – not tea bags or dark chocolate hob nobs, but a long awaited blind for the roof hatch and a pair of traction boards following our experience in The Badlands. Gabby’s folks also invited us to join them to the opening night of the Calgary Stampede. Just 20 mins before we were due to meet them, everyone’s phone issued an emergency alert giving an imminent tornado warning and advising everyone to take immediate cover. It was just the opportunity Geraldine needed to head for the nearest Irish pub…say no more

Stampede (Yahoo)was lots of fun, it really is a huge event drawing thousands of people to Calgary for a two week long Rodeo with lots of side shows and music events. This year it was opened by Kevin Costner with a 3 hour parade through the city. There were lots of highlights from Stampede (Yahoo) not least Dan getting to experience simulated period pain- it was priceless. I never thought of my husband as a wimp up until that moment.

As if Calgary couldn’t get any better then Lindsey arrived (Yahoo) and so we got to squeeze in some more fun times with her before she headed back to Scotland after her year in North America.

With wet eyes we headed on up the road in the direction of Banff & Jasper National Parks where we travelled along the “Icefield Parkway”. Of all the roads we’ve travelled to date, it has to be the most stunning with spectacular scenery around every turn. One stop we made was at the Athabaska Glacier – which we were able to just walk to from the highway. It was an experience of a lifetime never to be forgotten. We’ve put together a wee video of just some of the sights we saw and amazing experiences we had.

Our next destination was to Valemount, BC to meet Francis. Dan had been put in touch with Francis by ACPrice ( include link) as he’s a fellow Unimog owner & enthusiast. The similarities between the two of them was uncanny it really was just like meeting another one of Dan’s brothers. Francis and his wife Michele were just fab, as was there fab daughter and her family. We just had a great stay. It’s hair to say that Dolly had a great time too being treated to an oil replacement, a power upgrade (shipped over from the UK) and Dan and Francis even fitted a new roof fan (in the absence of AC). When Geraldine wasn’t catching fish ( including her first over 50cm!) she & Michele enjoyed bee keeping and gardening time together. Happy days.

Pimped up Dolly was ready for more adventures so we packed up and headed further into BC.

We had a few days of going up (and worse still coming down) some mammoth mountains with majorly steep gradients and no side barriers. Then came play time for Dan as he negotiated flooded forestry roads and helped winch some people out of a ditch.

Although the fishing wasn’t quite what it had been in some of other places Mother nature continued to provide for us with a delicious mix of thimbleberries, brambles ( blackberries) and saskatoons. Geraldine wasted no time in whipping these up into a variety of jams – we even had Saskatoon pancakes.

When we were out walking in Pemberton one morning we met a fab couple who amongst other things are into medieval battle re-enactment, in fact, they’re so into it that they’re even building their very own castle, complete with battlements, hidden corridors and their own medieval art work….It’s awesome and so much fun! They reintroduced the idea of getting up to Alaska, suggesting that instead of taking the time and fuel to travel up in Dolly that we cruise up – a concept that had never crossed our minds. We thought we were still too young for a cruise but the pull of Alaska followed by the lure or last minute deals was too much to resist…. more on this later! Off we headed to Whistler!

Whistler appeared to us to be a town of two halves- the wealthy, second home & flashy hotel jet set and the young seasonal staff keeping the bars, coffee shops & ski lifts running. Although we didn’t fit into either half, we loved Whistler & ended up staying there for 4 days. The highlight was taking the cable cars(gondola)to the top of Blackcomb and Whistler mountains. The gondola between these two peaks is the world’s longest single span gondola and was 1400 feet above the valley below. Dan was in engineering heaven -the views weren’t too shabby either.

In Vancouver, we met up with Dan’s work colleague and his wife who were in town too and had kindly brought across a few rubber seals for Dolly. It was lovely to catch up with them before they headed off on their own travels.

We then stopped off to see Sharon & Dan – they had totally spoiled Linds last Year when she spent her first Christmas away from home with them. Geraldine baked what appeared in the truck to be a large chocolate brownie cake but as soon as we took it into Sharon’s large kitchen – it looked more like a postage stamp…. They invited us to tour “brewer’s row” with them a couple of days later, so – true to form, we sampled some more of the great Canadian beers and Geraldine unexpectedly got the opportunity to practice her Spanish at the Taco food truck at one of the breweries! In Vancouver city we visited some of the big tourist destinations including the totempoles in Stanley Park & the food markets of Granville Island and Geraldine even took in some culture at Bard on the Beach.

While at Whistler, we found a last minute deal on a cruise to Alaska. Once we’d worked out that it would cost us the same amount in diesel to drive there in Dolly – we booked. Seven nights on a cruise ship from Vancouver to Seward with stops in Juneau, Icy Point Strait, Skagway and The Hubbard Glacier.