Leg 6 Rob and Cheryl’s NARVO

(June 3^rd to 10^th, 2016), Tofino, BC to Banff, Alberta (1025/6331 miles)

Day 50 to 51 (June 3^rd- - 4^th) Tofino to Vancouver – Good Grief, its Goats on the Roof

Day 50 - We left Tofino at 6am as we had a 10.40 am ferry to catch at Nanaimo to take us off the Island back to the mainland. We had a number of finely tuned steps to make it back to Dave and Brenda’s. As it turned out, the road was dry, the sun shining and we saw the Tofino road in a whole new light. We know that BC is the home of Eco friendliness in Canada, but we got a whole new perspective in the little town of Coombs where one of the local restaurants had a flat topped roof complete with goats grazing on the grasses and shrubs growing on it.

We made it to Nanaimo with an hour to spare – time for us to call our newly made friends from the Alaska cruise, Martin and Kathleen Gray, who had invited us for a pre ferry cup of coffee. They picked us up and took us to their beautiful home which sits atop a hill with an almost 360 degree view of oceans, islands, forest, mountains and the boats coming in and out of the harbour. They have been retired in Nanaimo, from Waterloo Ontario, for 11 years and love the life in Nanaimo – it’s not hard to see why. Mind you I’m a dedicated Ontarian – I love the view of brick boxes, as far as the eye can see and proximity to the nuclear power plant and can’t imagine wanting to retire anywhere else. Too many tree huggers and roof climbing goats in BC for my liking – give me brick and concrete any day

We managed to successfully navigate on and off the ferry, catch the connecting shuttle bus to Vancouver, then overhead train and then bus again to be picked up by Dave Killick, close to their home in Surrey. Dave and I went and collected my Beautiful Baby from Gary’s Auto and RV Service where she had been pining for us. The weather was glorious and we ended the day with a lovely BBQ with Brenda’s sister Gloria and husband Rob, who are ex Rhodesians, so we had lots to chat about.

Day 51 – We went to church with Dave and Brenda, then it was home for a quick early lunch, before we said our fond farewells. It had been great re-connecting with Brenda and Dave and they had been very gracious hosts, giving us a chance to do a flying catch up on laundry and a quick wifi fix along with ferrying us around doing our various errands. 

Around mid day we hit the road to go and collect Dave and Delia for the next leg of our RV trip. We were on the way to the Canadian Rockies and all the promise that holds. Our target stop off was the Walmart parking lot in Kamloops, about half way to Jasper. Dave and Delia had been dying to spend an overnight sleeping in a Walmart parking lot, so they could check it off of their bucket list. We had a lovely drive through some gorgeous scenery and pulled into the parking lot around 6pm, where we were dismayed to find the only Walmart that we’ve ever found that bans RV’s from parking overnight. Kamloops was experiencing a record high temperature that day, so it didn’t take much persuading to find Pine Grove RV park further up the road where we could plug in and turn on our air conditioning. We found a lovely spot nestled amongst the pine trees and settled down for the night to the raucous chug chugging of the numerous trains that ran alongside our campsite for way too much of the night. The trains were a significant component of our stay which the owner had neglected to mention when we called.

Day 52 to 56 (June 5^th to 10^th) – Jasper and Banff National Parks, Alberta – Canada’s Crowning Glory














Day 52 – We left our campsite in relaxed fashion en route to Jasper in the National Park and took a leisurely drive, stopping often to get the requisite photos. The campsite at Jasper National Park is the largest we have ever come across – covering about 700 – 800 campsites. We had noticed along the way that the concentration of RVs was going up everywhere we travelled. Well it turns out they were all en route to our Jasper campsite and they all decided to arrive at the same time as us, so we had a bit of a wait to get checked in. Our camping spot was large and on it’s own was about the size of the whole RV park we’d stayed at in Seattle where they had crammed in perhaps fifty RVs into a comparable space, one of the reasons why we love National and State/Provinical  Parks.  We were happy and settled down to have our dinner and enjoy the rest of the lovely long evening.

That evening Cheryl and Delia went off in search of the campsite showers and returned after about an hour, having met up with a herd of elk en route and also with a tall tale that there is only one shower block for the whole campsite and it was about a 30 minute walk away. Of course I made fun of their exaggeration, and obviously weak map reading skills and made a note that I would ride my bike down there in the morning for a shower and be back before they even realised I’d gone. Next morning I set off and made the first of a number of mistakes by forgetting to take the map of the park. I’d seen the map once and of course was confident it would be clear where to find the showers. Let’s just end this story by saying that I returned from my shower after about an hour, hot sweaty and dishevelled having ridden around the campsite about three times trying to find the way back to our site.  From then on we all drove our rental car down to the showers together and took emergency supplies of water and snacks just in case. 

Day 53 – We set our sights on exploring the Maligne Valley and soon were up and at em, all bright eyed and bushy tailed. 

We have discovered that Jasper has the busiest train station and longest trains in the whole of Canada. After dodging competing trains in town we finally made it out onto the road on the other side of town and our first stop was the Maligne Canyon. We spent a couple of hours following this down by foot, stopping often to take in the awe inspiring views as the trickle at the top turned into a torrent by the bottom. At the bottom we had the choice of walking back up or hitching a ride to the top to fetch the car. Fortunately I found an Israeli couple, Jan and Eli who took pity on me when I explained to them how badly I didn’t feel like walking back up that hill. They dropped me off at our car and before long we were all back on the road.

Our next stop was to view a large cluster of cars, the surest way to find wild animals. Lo and behold we had another real live bear siting, along with a whole herd of not so rare tourists, clambering out of their cars to get closer to the bear for the really good “take it back to the family and friends” photos. Hesitantly we joined them, rationalising that we only had to run faster than the photographer closest to the bear, so we should be safe. It was exciting seeing this bear close up in his natural habitat. From his point, as long as we didn’t interrupt his pursuit of roadside dandelions, he seemed totally disinterested in us. This was the first of five good black bear sightings we had in two days and it was lovely to see these lovely lumbering animals close and in full view.

After a late picnic lunch, our final destination for the day was Maligne lake, which was truly spectacular. The combination of turquoise water along with the surrounding snow-capped mountains was very impressive. After a cup of tea and our fill of the view we hit the road for home, dinner and an early night.

Day 54 – Today’s agenda was to visit the Edith Cavell Mountain and lookout and the Athabasca Falls. The drive up the mountain was steep and windy and we were glad to be driving a 15 foot rental car not a 35 foot RV.

As usual the scenery was wonderful, but we were wrestling with intermittent clouds and sunshine, so photo stops also involved waiting for the sun to come out. Progress was leisurely.

When we arrived at the top we were greeted by spectacular views of the Angel and Cavell Glaciers both of which fell down eventually into a large multi coloured pond at the foot of the mountain. We spent a couple of hours viewing the spectacle from a number of vantage points and were rewarded a number of times with the sound of parts of the glacier breaking off and then tumbling down sheer cliff faces. The sound of the falling ice was like a jet going over, which is what we had initially thought it was. We had a picnic lunch close to the car park where a cheeky Clarke’s Nutcracker took a shine to the food in Delia’s hands and kept dive bombing her to see what he could grab. He had a large black beak, so we were inclined to take his advances seriously as he could have done some real damage if he’d chosen to.


After the Edith Cavell Mountain anything else was going to be an anticlimax. We headed for the Athabasca Falls and found it to be equally impressive in it’s own way. The Athabasca river rises from the Athabasca Glacier 100 kilometres south of where we were. It is hard to fathom that such a large river could all be coming from one slow melting glacier. We left for our campsite satisfied that we had done Jasper justice.

Delia had been threatening to actually ride one of the four bikes that we have lugged around N. America for the last 8 weeks, but had never actually got around to it. Realising our time together was limited we gave her a nudge and the next thing she was off zooming around the campsite, with Dave in hot pursuit. She had not ridden a bike for about 30 years, so she felt quite pleased with herself. “Been there done that” – check. Another bucket list item eats the dust.

Day 55 (June 9^th) – This was our day for driving to Banff via the Icefields Parkway, which is claimed in some of the literature to be “the most beautiful drive in North America”. Our first objective was to get to the Columbia Icefield which is the birthing place of rivers which head to the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific Oceans.

When we got there we went to the Visitors Centre to get oriented including another excellent National Parks Board movie which gave us some much needed background. The Visitors Centre had some astounding views of the Athabasca Glacier amongst others. 

After a quick cup of coffee we headed outside to face the cold and do a shortish walk up to the foot of the glacier, when we had togged up in all of our winter gear. Once there we had a really good feel for its sheer size, and how hostile the environment is on it. People walk on the glacier and occasionally some fall down the massive crevasses, some of which are hidden by snow bridges. Even if they can be pulled out, hypothermia will often have killed them. We decided not to do the walk on the glacier, which other groups were doing and were satisfied to add to the collection of Inutshuks which others had left behind to indicate they had braved the view of the glacier like us intrepid travellers.

From there, as we continued south, we passed through some glorious scenery, culminating in the view over Peyto Lake. 

The colour of the lake is so stunningly surreal that it is hard to capture it’s beauty in words. We could hardly bring ourselves to leave when time was up but move on we must – onward and upward to Banff.

We arrived in Banff and were amazed at how much busier and more developed it is than it’s closest cousin in Jasper. The streets were alive with tourists, buses and cars. We got checked into our National Parks campsite by around 6pm and sat outside and enjoyed another long evening with a lovely dinner which Cher had somehow managed to keep squirreled away in our freezer all the way from home for 8 weeks.

Day 56 (June 10^th) – this is to be our last day together as tomorrow we start heading for home and Dave and Delia take their own route via Calgary and Saskatoon and New England. Dave and Delia took us for breakfast at Toulouloo’s where we all pigged out on waffles, eggs benedict etc and have taken all day to recover our appetites.

Unfortunately the weather was awful and we had no option, but to take a “rain day”. Cher and I did some laundry in town while Dave and Delia checked out Banff’s best bargains. We then went for some window shopping at the Banff Springs Hotel and checked out how the other half live. We are now back in the RV, with Dave and Delia beginning to pack up their suitcases and none of us are looking forward to the prospect of saying goodbye tomorrow. It has been a fun time to spend together and we have built some great additional shared memories onto our 35 year friendship.

So tomorrow it will be back to Cheryl and I for the 3000 mile journey home. We still have lots to see, but our time is short now, so we will be moving on at quite a clip to get through it all. One more Leg left of our NARVO…join us for the rest of the trip as we make our way home over the next couple of weeks. 

Leg 5 – Rob and Cheryl’s Gigantic NARVO ( May 23^rd to June 2nd, 2016)

Vancouver to Alaska, The Far Islands and Back

Day 39 to Day 41 (May 23^rd to 25^th) – Vancouver Pause

They let us back into Canada without too much unpleasantness, although our particular Canadian Customs guy had obviously done his basic training with the US Special Forces as he displayed an atypical Canadian scowl throughout the interview, although I could have sworn, as we drove off, that he cracked a smile. You can’t keep those Canadians down man – eventually their basic pleasantness just comes shining through. 

We found our way to Brenda and Dave Killick’s house by the most tortuous route ever conceived by GPS. As we introduced Dave and Delia to them, we realised that we have known Brenda since our early married days in Durban, South Africa, and that our friendship with her predated that of Dave and Delia’s by about five years. It’s actually quite scary how the years have glided by – I guess they do when one is having fun. Dave’s cousin, Helen picked them up for a couple of days, while we had the evening to catch up with Dave and Brenda.

Monday May 24^th  (Day 40) Victoria Day - This was a catch up day to get some laundry done, catch up on much neglected emails and do the finishing touches on the previous blog entry. It was great to just put our feet up as it were and catch up with Dave and Brenda’s news too. 

Tuesday May 25^th (Day 41 Lavish  Her with the Love she Deserves. Our Beautiful Baby was in need of a bit of TLC at the Service Shop, requiring visits to two different locations so my day was planned to be sitting around waiting rooms, anxiously awaiting any unforeseen ailments. As it turned out I was the only customer at the first place where the service guy quickly informed me that he had found extra work that needed doing, of course, but he couldn’t do it that day, so we made a plan to leave it with him while we did the cruise. Then I had to go to another RV place to resolve a most puzzling electrical issue. When I explained the issue, the guy said “I think I know what your problem is” pushed one re-set button, which I had looked for but couldn’t find, and bingo we were good to go. I was grateful that our pocket book escaped serious damage on that one.

Wednesday May 26^th (Day 42) Alaska Ahoy – With the RV in the beauty shop being manicured and polished for ten days, Brenda was able to take us to their local train station at a relaxed pace for the journey into Vancouver proper to meet up with our cruise. Fortuitously as we arrived so did Dave and Delia, so we travelled through the lengthy boarding process together and checked into our side by side cabins. We had got so used to sleeping a few feet away from each other in the RV that having side by side cabins just felt kind of “right”.

We departed mid-afternoon on a beautiful sunny day and enjoyed watching, from the back pool deck the receding Vancouver skyline giving way to a narrowing channel of mountains and islands on either side of us. This has become the default outlook on this Inside Passage cruise as we have been treated to endless mile after mile of beauty beyond description.  The afternoon and evening were spent getting oriented to the ship, its people and it’s program.

Day 43 to 48 - Thursday May 27^th to Wednesday June 1^st – Top of the World and More. The cruise has had numerous highlights, but I will describe only three:

We have enjoyed being with Dave and Delia as they have been actively checking off Bucket List items along the way. The one unfulfilled item, which was hanging over Delia, was to do Karaoke before she checks out of this life. So on the second night of the cruise, we gave her the requisite nudge and she bravely stepped up and did a stirring rendition of “Top of the World”, which it is only dawning on me now, was quite suited to our geographic location. The crowd did a good job of belting out the chorus and we were delighted to witness Delia checking off one of her more daunting BL items. For my part, I am pleased to report that singing Karaoke has never made it onto my list.

The highlight of our cruise for us has been our visit to Glacier Bay, where we were in one of the most pristine parts of our planet, accessible to the public. Rangers from the Glacier Bay National Park boarded our ship early in the day and provided a running commentary of what we were seeing throughout the day. We spent about an hour directly in front of a wall of glacier, whilst the passengers were spellbound as we listened to the glacier, creak, groan and crack as it inches its way forward into self-oblivion. Alas, we never did get to see the big cahuna of a full on calving of a large ice floe, but we did see numerous chunks breaking off and falling majestically into the icy waters. We saw mountain goats scaling the peaks, bald headed eagles, sea lions, and whales galore. This was a day in which one could glimpse the beauty, crispness and variety of God’s Creation in all of its pristine grandeur.

The evening entertainment was all good, but one of the features of the cruise was to take in the various entertainment lounges in the evenings. One of our favorites was a husband and wife piano and violin duo playing in the Adaggio lounge. Man did they manage to plunk and bow their way into our heartstrings. Probably my favorite was singing 100 Beatles songs in the Piano lounge with Paul McD. This guy combined, wit, musical talent and a knack for knowing his crowd to provide a real crowd pleasing experience. He managed to make the Beatles sound better than they did themselves and every night we popped in to hear him play. Each evening the crowd listening in just got bigger. Nostalgia is a crowd winner every time.

Other than that, I can now say I have “done” Alaska. Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan – these are names that now roll of the tongue with familiarity, along with having improved my history of the area significantly. We have also been royally entertained, wined and dined, right down to have our morning tea delivered to us in bed every morning. Our waistlines, along with our photos, are firm evidence that we have been cruising for a week. All I can say is, “when’s the next one”?

Day 48 to 49 (June 1^st to June 2nd) – Tofino or Bust?

After the cruise, Dave and Delia were visiting with friends and family in Vancouver for a few more days, so we had a bit of time to do a more exploring and had decided to visit Tofino, which is on the west coast of Vancouver Island, right alongside the Pacific Rim National Park. There is only one road in and out, which travels through miles and miles of undeveloped forest, so it has the feeling of being pretty remote. We had met a couple, Martin and Kathleen Grey on board our cruise who lived in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. They had advised us to rent a car in Nanaimo and save the ferry fare instead of renting in Vancouver as we had decided. When we saw the line-up of cars waiting to board the ferry in Vancouver we were very pleased for the travel tip.

We were a bit dismayed to note that for the two and half days of our visit to Tofino, rain and grey skies were predicted throughout. We had found the weather forecast to be wrong often enough on other occasions that we decided to press on with our plans and caught the bus from Vancouver to the ferry terminal for the grand sum of $5.50 versus a $48 taxi fare which was our alternative. We picked up our sub compact car, a slight adjustment from driving my Beautiful Baby, in Nanaimo and set off as the rain began.

The drive to Tofino would have been beautiful if we’d been able to see much of it in between sweeps of the wiper blades. Nevertheless we made it safely to Tofino in time to ask the enthusiastic young guy at the Visitor Information office what there is to do in Tofino, when it’s raining. He did a good job of maintaining his enthusiasm, but faded fast as it wasn’t a long list. We left, for our hotel, armed with maps and brochures to keep us going for weeks and set off to begin our tour of the area. We were delighted to find that our hotel room looks directly onto the beach. On a clear day we might have been tempted to sit on our lovely verandah.

 Bottom line, the weather has been a bit of dampener to say the least. Tofino, and its nearby neighbor, Ucluelett (You-clue-let) are very quaint little touristy towns, and there are beaches and forest trails in the area which would be great to visit if/when the sun shines. Prices of just about everything, except gas seem to reflect its remoteness and the fact that choices are limited. We found that people walk on the beach even if it’s raining and intriguingly there seems to be a fashion trend in gum boots in town. Clearly the locals dress for dampness, at least as a possibility. We even saw a young mum taking her baby in the stroller on the beach today, in the rain. There seems to be a theme developing here.

Today (Day 49, June 2nd) we took a drive to Ucluelett and had a lovely walk around the cliffs and bays at the end of the peninsula, as the sun threatened to come out from time to time. We met an older guy, with a jaunty little pony tail. He pointed out a bald eagle on the skyline and proceeded to give us some local knowledge. He showed us his favorite spot for watching the winter storms. It turns out that Tofino/Ucluelett have a nice little thing going for people who love to come and watch the storms lash the coast while they sip on something genteel from the comfort of their hotel rooms. Someone in Tofino/Uke… have done a good job of seeing the silver lining in those storm clouds.  

We have actually thoroughly enjoyed taking it easy, reading our books, watching TV and finding a bit of time to plan the next three weeks of our trip in a bit more detail. So all things considered, we can now say “Tofino?? Been there, done that”. And I' m glad to say that the sun did eventually come out in time for us to have a lovely walk on our beautiful beach. Thank you Lord. 

 Tomorrow we are taking the long road, rental car, ferry, bus, train and bus, back to Dave and Brenda Killick’s for a final overnight with them. We also have to collect our Beautiful Baby from her spa. We’ll go to church with Dave and Brenda the next morning before hitting the road again with Dave and Delia in the afternoon. The open road beckons and next stop is the Canadian Rockies.