Great Truck Camper Trip

The Great 2008 Truck Camper Trip
Soaking our butts off in the far north

PART ONE - upgrades and preparation

We've owned the Lance Camper for over 14 years and spent many hot weekends at the lake wishing we had A/C
So I decided to install an air conditioner. Of course then the first thing we do is take a trip to Canada and never turned it on once.
In fact, we never even used the A/C in the truck the whole trip!

Out with the old - in with the new
We used this reliable old F250 for the past 19 years but it was getting pretty tired so it was time to upgrade.
I found a '97 F350 dually with a 7.3 Powerstroke diesel that would be much better suited for the trip we were about to take

Another gadget I always wanted - On Board Load Controller for the AirLifts
This I used a lot and proved to be well worth the expense

Because the old truck was tired we hadn't used the camper for a couple of years so the first thing I had to do was
install a new battery and of course I hooked it up backwards (even though it tells you right there on the door how to do it)
So I blew the power supply resistor. After some research I decided it would be better to just upgrade to a modern unit
and ditch the old Magnatek.

Another thing I always wanted was a generator but the Lance was plumbed for a propane genset and I didn't want that
because it's a pain in the butt getting propane bottles filled so I bought a gas fueled generator and found a new
Onan fuel tank on eBay. While scratching my head wondering where to mount it I found this space just forward
of the generator compartment.

It was a conspicuously 'near perfect' fit

All I needed to do now was figure out how to put gas in it

The tank is about 8 gallons - enough to run the generator at full load for nearly 20 hours - works great
Just gotta remember not to put diesel in that tank!

You'd almost think that a 'pro' had done it!

PART TWO - The Trip

DAY ONE

We pulled out of the driveway about 4:30 am and the sun was coming up about the time we got
off I-80 and onto I-505 heading north

It's a slog up the central valley on I-5 (one we've done countless times) but soon we are north of
Redding and Lake Shasta. So far the rig is performing flawlessly

It took me a while to warm up to the diesel but on the open road it's totally in it's element
I'm very happy I made that decision

A quick stop at Dunsmuir for fuel. We didn't need it but there is no self serve in Oregon and there's
a bit of a trick to getting a diesel 'topped off' and I wanted to get a preliminary calculation on what
kind of fuel mileage we were getting. On this leg we got 14.57 which is pretty darn good with
4,000 pounds of payload on the back. Of course it was mostly flat as a board.

Gassed up again just east of Portland before finding a camp site so we'd be full the next morning.
It's kind of a pain filling up with a debit card these days because most pumps shut you down a $75.00
So with gas a five bucks a gallon you have to run the card through twice

First campsite was Oxbow Regional Park just south of Troutdale Oregon
Kind of a hard place to find but we eventually made it

DAY TWO

Woke up to the pitter patter of rain and made our way back up to I-84 eastbound through the Columbia River Gorge

Stopped for breakfast at The Dalles - no rain east of the mountains

In fact it's a totally different land out here - with plenty of wind (luckily at our backs)

Exited I-84 onto Hwy 97, crossing the Columbia and headed for Yakima Washington

Got passed by about half a dozen Austin Healys going up the hill

Must have been a ralley

Stopped in Yakima to pick up some groceries
heading east up I-90 the scenery begins to get more interesting.

We wanted to make a stop in Roslyn Washington which was Cicely Alaska in the TV series Northern Exposure

It's now a regular tourist stop

Cashing in on it's fleeting moment of fame

Just up the road is Eagle Lake where they have a nice campground with full hookups
It's close to I-90 and the trains run through on the other side of the lake about every half hour
but the traffic was steady enough that it just sounded like a rushing river and it was very convenient
for our purposes at the time - just passing through
At this point we are done with interstate highways until our return home

The lake was really nice around sunset

We decided to have a big fire after dinner

Our motto - No Log Left Behind

DAY THREE

Back on US 97 north again headed up towards Orondo, Okanagan, Omak, Oroville and Osyoos

That there's gotta be one of them

We stopped at Daroga State Park to make lunch
Nobody here at noon on a Monday - had the whole place to ourselves

Still headed north for the border

We are now officially in Canada

With the exchange rate virtually one for one now and gas prices nearly identical you wouldn't know
if you hadn't seen the sign back there

The airport at Penticton

Heading north out of Penticton for Okanagan Lake Provincial Park

Nice campground on the lake shore

You would not believe how clean the bathrooms and showers were

another nice sunset

DAY FOUR

On CAN 97 now along Okanagan Lake towards Kelowna - beautiful country up here

Lots of towns too and some of them pretty big

I think this is Shuswap Lake as we near Sicamous

At Sicamous we hit CAN 1 - the Trans Canada Highway which takes us to Revelstoke

The Canadian Rockies are that way

I remember seeing this picture countless times on the Drive BC webcam site as I planned the trip

Now we're really getting into it. The truck is performing awesomely but I learn real quick that there's no point in putting too
much effort into trying to pass the Canadian truckers - in the long run you ain't gonna keep up with them on this highway

Despite the overcast the vistas are stunning

Entering Glacier National Park Canada
Yes, the dual language signs (on EVERYTHING) do get to be a bit bizzarre

I think this is Golden
Correction: I was informed it's actually Field

Entering the campground at Lake Louise

Lake Louise is just up the road from the village

The quintessential travelouge photo of the happy couple taken by a friendly fellow tourist

It wasn't long ago that folks were ice skating here

We brought the umbrella for shade but it works in the rain too

DAY FIVE

Lake Louise campground is okay but it's surrounded by a 7,000 volt electric fence so felt kinda weird
Today we are headed for Banff to do some shopping and laundry

Castle Mountain was hiding today

This is a wildlife crossing - or, as they'd call it in Idaho, a 'Game' crossing

Entering Banff - wife still can't pronounce it

The Garmin Nuvi lead us right to the coin op laundry hidden in the basement of the mall next to the food court

Saw some clear skys today

Banff Fairmount Hotel - about $1200 USD per night with no view
(actually I'm not sure what it is but it's not cheap)

Headed for Two Jack Lake to find a campsite for the night

The clouds are almost as dramatic as the landscape

Campsite at Two Jack

Wasn't quite level but there is no shortage of logs at Canadian campgrounds so these and some airbag augmentation
got us perfectly square - I love that On Board Load Controller!!

I give Two Jack high marks - there's a nice trail around the lake too and fishing as well

DAY SIX

Out of Two Jack camground there is a Lakes loop drive that is really nice and this was a spectacular morning for it

Couldn't be happier with the way the rig has performed

So don't miss the Minnewanka Loop drive if you get up here

Headed north again for Jasper but first we will stop at Lake Louise and drive up to Lake Morraine

Castle mountain showing a bit more of itself today

Headed up to 'More Rain' Lake

I don't think the pictures can quite relay it but this stuff is still very spectacular even with the enshrouding mist and cloud
After all, you can see thousands of photos of it on a crystal clear day

But only one with my grinning mug in it - This is on top of the rock pile

A rock, on top of the rock pile

First fuel purchase in Canada at Lake Louise, not as bad as I expected - about $5.48 a gallon
It was $5.20 in California when we left and this was the highest I saw in Canada. Average was about $5.30

Okay, Lake Morraine checked off and we are headed up the Icefield Parkway for Jasper

Like the brochure says - weather can change rapidly...

This poor guy

Just trying to chow down some bugs in peace and do you think he could get it?

Truck Camper Cruisin' at it's best

Weeping Wall

Beautiful country but just watch out for the occasional unexploded ordinance please

Climbing up now nearing the Icefield Center

Where you can ride one of these honkin' things up onto the glacier

This is how they went in the old days - talk about bus conversions!

along with 120 Ukrainian and Chinese bus tour folks - get in line!
So I pass on that 'experience'

Besides, I've already been on a glacier

Continuing north towards Jasper

weather again

Break on through to the other side (Doors)

We camped at Whistlers. At Canadian campgrounds you pay for a fire permit (if you want to have a fire)
and that gives you free access to this smorgasbord of firewood

There's absolutely no need to fight over firewood up here - take whatever you want. fill yer belly

That's why we've had that Hitch-Haul strapped on the ladder

Wildlife - or as they'd call it in Idaho, game

DAY SEVEN

I fiddled with the refrigerator before we left - cleaned all the terminals and connections on the circuit board and it started to work perfect
I tested it for several days switching from AC to DC and GAS but the day we left it just suddenly refused to work on GAS
The ignitor wouldn't spark. I'd fiddle with the connections and it would work for awhile but then quit again.
Fortunately we were mostly on the go so I could run it on DC most of the time plus it wasn't hot up here so leaving it off
at night wasn't much of a problem. It was virtually the only glitch in the whole trip so I guess I shouldn't complain

Whistlers is a decent campground with plenty of sites

Jasper is, like Banff, basically a tourist town

We found another coin operated laundry and an internet cafe

Weather had definitely gone south on us anyway

So I gave the day to the wife and hauled her shopping wares around for her
am I a great husband or what...

DAY EIGHT

Another night at Whistlers - different site though

I'd say that about 90% of the campers at Banff/Jasper are foriegners in rental RV's
So you can imagine how comical or sometimes horrifying the dump station can be
I watched a guy, who obviously had not read the manual, stuff about six feet of his drain hose down inside
the receptical then pull it out with his bare hands. Egads!!

Todays agenda has us headed for Maligne Lake where we are supposed to take the boat tour to Spirit Island
Well, could we have picked a worse day?

The views were still stunning though and, not having realized I missed the turnoff for Maligne Canyon

Must have gotten a quarter of the way to Hinton before I figured it out but on the way back spotted this little airfield

Only three airplanes

and a place to register them

Finally found the turn off

and headed up to Maligne Lake

Obviously it snowed up here last night

It was actually pretty cool with the new green and new snow together

On the way you pass Medicine Lake

The snow was quickly turning into slushy frozen Margarita consistency

Hey bro - Colin Range

At Maligne Lake

I've had a mural on the office wall for years of Spirit Island. I had no idea where it was
I actually always thought it was in Montana somewhere but when planning this trip I came upon a website for the boat
tours and said Wow! I gotta do that!!!
So this how it was supposed to look when I got there

Well, when I fianlly got here, not only was the weather bad

But I also saw the same crowds of Ukranian and Chinese tour bus passengers and realized that sharing my Spirit Island
experience with sixty or eighty of them wasn't exactly what I had envisioned. So maybe it's for the best

Spirit Island still lays out there in my dreams - unspoiled

We made lunch in the slushy parking lot. The cafeteria and gift shop were crowded with busloads of starving tourists who had prepaid
boat tour tickets and were going full fare, despite the weather

The day was still young though so we hit Athabasca Falls on the way back

Back in Jasper. The classic Lance behind a new fangled Bigfoot

DAY NINE

Time to start heading back south. I pondered our route. I initially had planned to take Hwy 16 out the northwest end and
then Hwy 5 down to Kamloops but decided at the last minute to take the Icefield Parkway southbound
and go down through the Kootnays to Idaho

It was a nice early mornig drive south out of Jasper with a combo of mist and blue sky
with the spectacular mountains showing themselves when they chose to

Maybe I'm posting too many pictures, they are hard to toss out. This is like the directors cut of a movie

Castle Mountain again - this time fully exposed

Headed down through the Kootnays

Lots of dead trees in the northern end of Kootnay National Park

I mean LOTS

I believe this had something to do with a Mountain Pine Beetle infestation
One of the reasons you aren't allowed to transport firewood in many parts of Canada

all dead trees

all of them - dead

The south half of the Kootnays is still like a garden though

Still, there are pockets of spreading devastation although some of this may be from fire
Ironically I was reading that it was fire supression policies that actually caused this to happen
The Mountain Pine Beetle has been around for millenia. Eventually the ecology will rebalance itself

Out of the Kootnays, through Radium Hot Springs and down past Windermere and Columbia Lakes
This is stunningly beautiful country along here - fairy tale stuff

an RV resort with lots for sale

Another squall

Pretty darn good one this time

We made it across the border and picked up some groceries at Sand Point Idaho. Then we found a camp site at Round Lake State Park

I was standing at the back of the camper and had just opened a beer. I looked up and there was a giant friggin' Moose
right there. He looked at me and trotted off. I grabbed the camera out of my pocket and turned it on and this is what I got
The Blair Witch Moose....

DAY TEN