I spent the last six days on the road. I planned it all out. I looked on the internet to see what I could see along my route. Asked a couple of girlfriends if they wanted to go with me. They declined. Next I thought well so I am not alone I can ask hubby. Then I thought a little differently. Not ask hubby and just go on my own. He said he would go with me, but then what to do with the dogs.

Then the day came and I went for it. I packed up my little bug with a light suitcase. Some water and a couple of snacks. I said goodbye to hubby and I was on my way. Driving alone on an adventure of my choice. You know ten years ago I would have never thought I would do this. Go off on my own and enjoy my own company. Tunes playing on the radio and watching the scenery going by.

The first little bit of the trip I was second guessing myself. Why the heck am I doing this. Will I have a good time or will I dread that I am alone on a road trip. Should I be doing this? Allot of scenarios went through my head. What if something where to happen? What the heck do I do. I finally stopped over thinking and got on with what I had planned to do. Drive to Edmonton, see a couple of friends and then drive home. This day and age an expensive pastime, but I was doing it.

You know ten years ago I took my first solo trip. I had never been anywhere on my own. I was taking a plane to a funvention in Reno , Nevada Didn’t know anyone there. Wasn’t traveling with anyone. I got just across the border to go to the airport in Washington state. Had a little bit of a meltdown. What the heck am I doing? I am scared shitless that I am going without support. Someone else who can second guess with me. And help to figure out things along the way. I was going alone. You know after some humming and hawing I did take that trip and never looked back. I can do this. I can go on my own. Have a great time and learn something about myself.

I was always in aw of my brother and sister. They both traveled extensively when they where younger. They went on their own or with friends. I always thought it would be great to do that, but I was such a chicken shit. Always relied on someone else to plan out things and I would follow along dutifully and hope I enjoyed myself. It always ended up being that I would be doing stuff that they wanted to do. If there was something that I wanted to do it would be short lived as I would get asked are we done doing this now. Or I would worry that they where board and want to go back to what they where doing. So I just tagged along and try to make the best of it.

So now ten years into my less chicken shit life and I go off on my own to enjoy what I want to do. So now I set off in my little bug. Down the highway I go. I am going to see friends in another province and along the way see some things I always wanted to see, but have never been able to stop there.

I have done this road trip before. It was for a funventions. The thing was I had to get there and then I had to get home just as fast. So that was a whirlwind trip up and back. This time I had the time to do things. So now all planned out and off I go.

The highway isn’t too busy. Good. I didn’t want to get into traffic jams on my way to my first stop. We had some flooding a few months back. So wondered what the highways would be like. Well I will worry about that when I get there.

The bug was filled with gas. Well how far will it get me before I have to fill up again. Will my car break down along the way. That i have no idea on. You see my bug is a 2007. That is 15 years young for a car. It is still in good shape. No rust that I can see. Has had regular maintenance on it. New tires a couple of years ago. Oil changed every so many Klms. I hadn’t had any belts or the brakes done. So hopefully won’t be a problem going through the mountains. Up and down. When it was new it would get 700 Klms to a tank of gas. Let’s hope it does pretty close to the same. Well I will see.

My first stop was in Hope. Had to see the wood carving of Rambo. I love looking at wood carvings. What they can do with a chain saw. I carve a little bit once in awhile, but I don’t get as great as these are. I wandered around Hope for a bit and found quite a few of them along the streets of Hope. Very nice

Aren’t they just grand. There was so many of them and as I walked the streets always saw another one.

Well back into the bug and on my way up through the Fraser canyon. I took highway 1, not highway 5. I was hoping for a couple of things to see along the highway . Once in awhile you gotta do what you gotta do a pee break ahead. Stopped at a rest area in one of the small towns along the way. There was a historic site there, but was still closed this time of year

Back on the road again. Went through a few tunnels and up ahead should be my next stop. Time for a long walk. The things is I seemed to have missed it. Cause the next thing I know I am passing hells gate. That is not opened either, but I wasn’t planning on stopping there. So where the heck did I miss that stop. I wanted to see Alexandrea provincial park and the old bridge that goes across the river. Guess sometime I will have to drive up that far again and see if I can find it.

Drove by Lynden. The side of the highway is all fenced off. You use to be able to drive along the highway and see the two rivers come together. They have fence up along the road and now the view is gone. it is pretty though. I guess they didn’t want drivers gaucking at the burnt out town. Well the rest of the drive up along the Fraser river was pretty. Too bad no places to stop to take a picture.

The land started to go from lush green to more of a desert type of land. Drove into cashe creek making a right to stay on highway 1. Beautiful landscape to drive along heading towards Kamloops.

I head into Kamloops. The weather is starting to change from nice sunny day to a little bit of drizzle every now and then. Not bad enough to dampen the trip. The traffic is picking up as I drive on along the expressway through the outskirts of town. Highway 5 joins in with highway 1. Down, down , down I go to where my turnoff is for highway 5. I start up highway 5 heading towards Jasper. It is a very nice drive until I hit into construction. The pipeline is being built along the highway. So you just get up to speed and then you slow down again to go through a construction zone. Well am I going to make it to my first hotel at a decent hour. On and on I go. Slow down and then back to speed. Slow down and back to speed. Stop a couple of times to stretch a bit.

I finally get to my hotel for the night. Time to gas up I am at a quarter to an eighth of a tank. My first day went 650 Klms on a tank of gas. Well not too bad for an older bug. Check into my hotel and then get a little something to eat at the restaurant at the hotel. Nice place but with less workers wanting to work the person was doing allot of running around. I am happy to be off the road for the night. I am off to sleep in no time.

Day two on the road. Next morning I am up early in the morning. Grab myself a couple of snacks from the connivence store and am on the road again. Today is a beautiful day. Sun is shining. Weather is starting to warm up. Hmm might have had to put on my shorts. I make it up to highway 16. Turn heading east. Still enjoying myself. Making my way east through Jasper national park. Wow the scenery is great. Not a cloud in the sky. I can see the snow on the top.. I pull into mount Robson. Time for a pee break and a stretch of my legs.

Isn’t it just grand. I took the same picture 7 years ago. This one I took one this trip. A little less wrinkles but the same glorious picture. I traveled on after my stop. Drove through Jasper, but it was kinda busy so didn’t stop.

Back on the highway. The mountains slowly turn into foothills. The lush green on both sides of the highway as I travel on. Towns come and go. I travel on. As I get closer to Edmonton the traffic picks up. I find my way to the hotel I will be staying for the next three nights. Ooops missed it the first time. Had to go around the block a couple of times before I got it right. Laughing at myself for this. Well no one else to laugh at me.

After I get myself settled into my hotel room I decide it is time to take a walk and get out the kinks from sitting all day in the bug. I make my way down the street. As I am walking I see a few places I can eat. I walk on. Make a turn to the right and head down another street. I have my tracker on so I can see how far I walk. I have a destination in mind. Now as to whether I will make it there is another idea. It should only be a couple of large blocks to get there. Well I did make it. It was 3 Klms to get to west Edmonton mall. I make my way into the mall and wander for a little bit. I find a place to eat and sit for a bit. Watch the people wandering around. All taking pictures of different things in there. It is interesting in there, but I am not much of a mall person. I stay for a little bit and then head back to the hotel. As I head back to the hotel I stop at a place to pick up something to eat for later. I spend the rest of the evening in the hotel resting up for the next day.

I have something to eat and head for bed. Hmm I am up early again. What the heck is with that. The sun is shining into the window. Such a beautiful site. Now rain in my forecast. I call my friend to see if she is okay with a visit. She is very ill and sometimes a visit would not be in the cards. I was planning on being there at 1 in the afternoon but she had a few appointments coming in. So I said I would be there in half an hour. When I got there her daughter wasn’t expecting me.. thought I was coming the next day. So a little mixup between telling my friend and her daughter. well we had a nice visit for a couple of hours. Before I left I was given five boxes of material. Now where the heck do I put those in my little bug. Got them all in and was on my way to my next stop.

So I put on my gps to head out to the Ukrainian village east of Edmonton. The silly thing was the gps took me all around the north side of Edmonton. At that time my gas tank went bing. Oh, oh I need gas. There are no gas stations on this bypass around Edmonton. I finally get back on highway 16. Oh boy a gas station. I pull into the first one I see. On my way again and find the Ukrainian museum. I pull up to the gate and she says that today is a free day to go in. Well that is a pleasant surprise.

I started wandering around and thought I was done after a bit. Then I found another path and then another path. This place went on forever. More buildings. Children everywhere, but they didn’t disrupt my walk around too much. I came across one church that I really loved

This is the inside of it. Beautiful paintings in there. You know they still have services in these churches even though they are in a museum. Interesting. After a couple of hours walking around I headed out to my next destination. To elk national park

That is where I saw the Buffalo. I drove all through the park. Took a couple of walks on some trails. By this time it was time to head back to the hotel for the night. Get something to eat. So I put back on my gps to get to the hotel. That dang gps. Instead of taking me straight to the hotel along highway 16 I ended up going the south route around Edmonton. Every single freeway to get back to the hotel. Boy did that take a long time to get back where I wanted to be. Well I finally made it back to the hotel. Where I took a few long breathes. Grabbed myself something to eat and then enjoyed a night just watching tv and relaxing.

The next day I was up and on the move again. This time to visit with a couple of red hat sisters. We had lunch and chatted for about three hours. We finally parted ways and I headed down to the zoo in Edmonton. Some of the animals where not out. So it was a quiet walk and not seeing too much. I left the zoo and went to the park across the way. I followed one of the trails and made my way to the foot bridge. These trails go all along the Saskatchewan river. Miles and miles of trails. Beautiful and peaceful to walk along.

Another good day in Edmonton. I have a long drive ahead of me tomorrow so early to bed. Next morning. Up way too early and on the road. I head down to Rocky Mountain house along the back roads. From Rocky Mountain house I headed for Saskatchewan crossing where I got gas. headed down highway 93 stopping in a few places to look at the scenery.

I came back to highway 1 were I turned west heading home. Made a stop at the spiral tunnels. Then went through kicking horse pass and then onto the enchanted forest. Last stop was the log barn on highway 97 c. Down through vernon and onto Kelowna where I had my hotel for the night.

Had a good sleep after a long drive down from Edmonton. My last morning I went over to kangaroo creek farm. A petting zoo in Kelowna. Someplace I wanted to go since I heard about it. I was planning on going to Australia to see kangaroos and koala but that didn’t happen. So going here was the next best thing. I got to pet a kangaroo and to see a baby kangaroo that I could pet.

Well back on the road to make my last part of my trek home. Went along Okanagan lake until 3a came into view. I then followed up, up and more up until I came to highway 3. Last highway home. Well I think that might have been a wrong decision. I could have taken the Coquahalla home, but I didn’t want to dodge traffic. So I took 3 home. Well that road had so many bumps and grinds. If you were not watching yourself you could take a tire out. Then the river was really flowing and knocking at the side of the road. Then there was the elevation up and the elevation down. So did I make the right choice. Well I was wondering as I made my way home.

Finally back on highway 1 and the traffic is terrible. I come to a standstill for a while. Construction. Finally back moving. Come on I would like to get home sometime today. I go over to highway 7 and am on my way to the last few miles home. But you know do not need to be on my way straight home. Someone had called me and said that I should bring home food. Great another stop before I get home.

You know he didn’t starve while I was away, but he makes it sound like it. So I bring him home food. I unpack my car and relax for the night. I had 2700 more Klms on my bug now. I filled up $600 with of gas and hotels for the night come to about $600. So would it have been better to fly? I think the cost would have been just as much. Hotels, flying and a car rental, but I would not have seen as much scenery as I had saw over the last few days.

Well that is my adventure. I enjoyed my few days away. I am growing in my old age. I love it. I am being my own person and loving it. I never thought I would do things like this on my own. But I want to grow so I push in order to grow. It is the only way I will feel comfortable in my own skin. I can not just sit back and watch the world go by. I have to live in it and enjoy it. To do the things I wanted to do. Not just sit back and say I shoulda and can not do it now. So on I go with more adventures. I am in the planning stage of another. Not sure when it will be, but it is in planning.

So until my next adventure. Talk to you later.