August 10 - August 18

10-August-2004
This morning we got up fairly early and drove our rental car into Banff where we took the gondola up to the top of a mountain, and then walked up there to a look-out where we could see mountains real far in every direction. Very pretty. Then drove on, took a hike of a mile or so to see a water fall which was also very pretty and the force of the water does amazing things to the rocks and shaping the canyon. Roger called the place where the truck was being fixed around noon and he said it should be done in a couple of hours, so we headed back to town (1 ½ hr. drive), where all of us but Roger stayed at the campground and he went to the transmission place. Did laundry, and everyone took showers while Rog took the rental car back and checked on the progress of the truck. It was done when he got there but there was a mix up with the other guys that were to help pay since it was on warranty, so he ended up paying the whole thing and will get the money from them later. Anyway, when he got back we ate supper, hooked up, and left the campground. Drove back to Banff where we plan to spend another day or so before heading up to Jasper Nat’l Park just north of there. Walked the streets of Banff awhile (very much a tourist town) and slept along the street there in a residential area. The truck seems to really be fixed this time. Such a relief. – posted by Jolene

We not have a Ford rebuilt transmission in, and I am happy with it. I finally feel comfortable with this one, and was very impressed with the shop this time. They treated me very fairly, and did an outstanding job of keeping on top of things and delivering what was promised. - posted by Roger

11-August-2004
Spent the day in Banff seeing it’s awesome sights. Saw a black bear along the highway, more waterfalls. The force of the water is amazing – it’s glacial water so it’s a real funny blue-green color, and very cold. Over many, many years it wears away the rocks and gouges deep canyons. They have walkways right up close to them so you can really see them. Drove into the town of Lake Louise, and then saw the lake too. Also very beautiful. Drove outside the park and found a place to sleep on a little side road at a very remote location. – posted by Jolene

Today we also drove through Kootenay and Yoho National Parks in British Columbia. We were going to go to Glacier and Mt. Revelstoke National Parks as well, but decided that is one of the things we would skip because of limited time. – posted by Roger

12-August-2004
The place we stayed at last night was a loop off the side of the road w/a propane tank & these storage places Nicole thought was a place for bombs or where drug dealers met. We found out this morning it was a spring water storage area. Nicole was very disappointed. We went through some canyons & took some short hikes to see this wild rushing water. It’s amazing how powerful those waterfalls are. There’s so much water. We took a tour bus thing made especially to go on ice to the Columbia Ice Fields. That was awesome, just standing on a big sheet of ice with little streams running down here & there that you could drink from. It tasted really good. After our tour was done we stopped somewhere else to eat lunch & take a hike up the side of a glacier. Mom & Renae didn’t come along. It was hard walking up & down the steep hill of ice without falling, but we made it with only a few slips! We saw some more falls & then went to Whistler Campground near the town of Jasper. Sadly, they didn’t have any electric spots open so we had to do without. Had pork chops on the grill, then drove around a loop. Saw even more waterfalls & water. Pretty incredible. When it started to get dark we headed back to the campground. We drove like a mile to the camp’s only showers to shower, then went to bed. –posted by Lisa

13-August-2004
First of all Travis, Dad, Nicole, and Lisa got up pretty early to go up to a lake and see stuff around there. I decided to stay back since I was so tired. When they got back, we went to a white water place where we had gotten tickets the day before. We ate lunch there and then waited for the bus to come and pick us up to go to the river. The rapids were class three and before we got on the boat we had to go over the rules. They sounded like a lot of people fall off into the river, so I was a little nervous. We had gotten a wetsuit to put on and an oar and a helmet. It was in the nineties and we had to wear the whole outfit. It was extremely hot and felt so good to get into the 36 degree water. The water was so cold because it comes from a glacier. There was this one place that you went into a really big dip and got completely soaked. It felt great, though. Our guide was friendly and really nice, too, and no one fell out. It wasn’t near as bad as I thought it might be. Anyway, when we got out and drove back I was scared because the bus driver wasn’t the greatest. He didn’t even know how to start the bus! We did make it back safely, though, and then went shopping a little in Jasper. Dad was hungry and got a sausage thing that he had found last night because Lisa, Nicole, and I wanted to go shopping. He got tired and decided he’d walk around a little and he found that. He’s constantly looking for food. When we had come into Jasper (the town) and parked so that we could shop, he said, “oo, I smell food!” We were also playing taboo and I was talking. The word was skydiving and I said that it was something that Dad always wanted to do. Instantly he answered “eat.” He’s supposedly on a diet that he made up- the easy-does-it diet. It’s not working too well. –posted by Renae

I knew saying “eat” first would get them going – it worked! The white-water rafting was OK, but not as exciting as I was expecting. It was pretty lame compared to the only other time I did white-water rafting - down the Zambezi River right below Victoria Falls. That was a much more exciting ride! That time our raft made it through without being flipped over, but that was not the case with some of the other rafts in our group. I still remember seeing the faces as their raft was standing on edge and coming over the top. They also had some pretty scared expressions when they bobbed up one by one. After we finished rafting we drove to a hot springs pool in the northeast corner of Jasper National Park and soaked for a few hours. It is the hottest springs in Canada, and the water is cooled to 104 degrees F in one large pool and about 100 in a second one. Then there is also a cold plunge pool that is 60 degrees. It was exhilarating to jump from the hot pool into the cold one. We stayed there until 10:30PM when it closed, took showers and then drove outside the park again and found a place to sleep in the town of Hinton, AB along a service road in front of a McDonalds. It was a very long day and we crashed. – posted by Roger

14-August-2004
This morning we all got woken up very early, which was so hard cuz it was after midnight the night before. But I think we’re all ready to get home now, since we’re pretty much done with our touring/sightseeing stuff so we’re ready to move!! We drove a couple hours and got to Edmonton, Alberta around 9:30. Of course, being in Edmonton, we had to check out the mall, which is the 2nd biggest in the world. In has 21 theatres, a water park, an amusement park, an ice hockey rink, a diving show place, mini golf, and about a billion restaurants and stores. It’s crazy. A little bigger than Park City! We spent a little more time there than anticipated. We watched the diving show, ate lunch in the food court, and thought we were out of Edmonton for good, but at the last minute decided to look up some old friends of my parents (Garrett & Karla Vermeer) from Africa who lived close by. We looked their address up in a phone book and saw we were very close to their house. They were quite surprised to see us and took a few seconds to recognize us. From here on out it’s probably basically driving right through. Grumpy, very tired people and close proximities usually don’t match. Should be a fun, family bonding experience. –posted by Nicole

15-August-2004
Woke up fairly early & drove awhile to find a church. Since we didn’t get to very many different churches this summer like we said we would, dad wants to squeeze in all he can at the end. We went to the town of Foam Lake to look for one, but apparently they didn’t have daylight savings time in Saskatchewan, so we were an hour ahead. We kept driving until we got to Springside where we went to a Baptist church. It was pretty big. The sermon seemed too much like a big presentation, he even had a powerpoint thing behind him during the whole sermon, but he was a good speaker. Ate the usual lunch in our camper in a Wal-Mart parking lot & drove. And drove. We stopped at Eric & Kathy Fast’s house in Winnipeg, some more African friends. We brought our supper to their house & ate it on their porch. They provided the dessert, which was really good, we showered, & left around 10:30. We ended up staying a bit longer than planned, but it was fun. Found a 24-hr truck stop soon after midnight for the night. Dad would not stop talking while we were driving & people were trying to sleep. He just talked & talked & wouldn’t shut his mouth. Must be excited about getting home, he usually doesn’t talk this much. –posted by Lisa

Actually I’m not excited about getting home at all – rather sad about it. I just wanted to say a lot because I realized I only had limited time to impart all the wisdom I had planned to do this summer and time was running out!!! Anyway it was a fun time at the Fast’s. We were not planning on stopping in at all, but decided to call them as we came into Winnipeg, MB and they insisted we stop by. Since we already had our dinner in the oven and they had already eaten, they “made” us come by and eat at their place since then we would have more time to visit. It was a fun time catching up – but we sure blew more time than we planned on the way back. Two unplanned stops at friends houses – but a good time catching up, and an unplanned long shower for a bonus. – posted by Roger


16-August-2004
This morning we got to a Tim Horton’s, which is a little like Dunkin Donuts. They have really good donuts and ate breakfast there. That was all we did practically all day besides drive and eat. We did stop at Kekebeka Falls near Thunder Bay, though. It was pretty cool. This evening at eleven or twelve at night when we were driving we noticed a funny noise- another problem. The rear of the truck overheated and oil leaked out. We drove a couple of miles to a big town that was near the border of Michigan and slept. –posted by Renae

17-August
Some of us got to sleep in this morning while Roger figured out where to get oil, and what to do to fix the rear end of the truck. (it was one a.m. when we stopped to sleep) To make a long story short, it was 4 pm before we left Canada and crossed into Michigan – we were hoping to do that first thing this morning. We had decided yesterday we’d go to Mackinac Island – take the ferry & the bikes and spend a couple hours on the island. But with the truck problems, and the fact that it was rainy anyway, that didn’t happen. Now we will have to drive through most of the night to make our deadline of getting home tomorrow evening. We want to stop at the land in western PA on the way home yet. There was a report from someone Roger knows that someone cut down trees on our land that Roger wants to check out. Hopefully that won’t take very long. I think we’re all ready to get home at this point – the faster the better! -posted by Jolene

I’m not really ready to get home, but I am tired of our maintenance problems. It is hard to believe. At the beginning when we were taking the axles off the trailer I was wishing it would have been something simple like a flat tire or something. Now with all the transmission problems etc. I am wishing I would only have to deal with broken springs on the trailer again. I thought it was bad before, but it only got worse each time. Last night when we started hearing the hum I thought it was probably the road or a tire, but thought I’d better check if any wheel bearings were hot etc. It seemed to be coming from the rear of the truck, so I wanted to check the rear end as well. When I did check I found it was very hot and cooked and had very little oil in. The front shaft seal was seeping a bit when the transmission was changed, so I had them put a new seal in while the drive shaft was removed, and I did check that several times, but thought the little oil on the pumpkin was residual oil. I was going to check the level later, but decided it was fine, and when we checked into this last problem it seemed the oil was seeping from the plate over the rear. I kept wiping it there but thought even though it was rusty it sure wouldn’t be leaking there, but was leaking at the seam and being pushed up the back by the airflow. Luckily I had about ¾ of a liter of gear oil with me and we dumped that into the rear and drove about 35 miles an hour into Sault Ste. Marie and parked in a Wal-Mart parking lot next to a truck stop until morning. I wanted to get oil today and fill the rear, but decided since it had been hot etc. I will remove the rear axle cover and drain the oil before I add new oil. That way I could also check for other damage. I found oil in town and bought supplies to repair it (silicone for the gasket etc.) and then drove back to a lot next to the Ford dealer just in case I needed something more or another opinion if I found something amiss inside. It was pouring down rain all morning and Travis and I tired to set up tarps the best we could and went tearing into the rear. We pulled off the cover and drained all the oil and when I cleaned up the parts and held it to the light – sure enough I saw sunlight. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! A 2000 truck that has the rear axle rusted through already! I am thinking about no longer being a Ford pickup man! I went to the Ford dealer and they do not have a cover, and could not get one in until tomorrow – so I patched it up. Yep we are going home with a glued rear end. I cleaned it up good and filed it and went to a store and bought JB weld and patched it up and put it back together. We then went to a grocery store with a Deli and ate lunch while we waited for the glue to cure. Travis and I were soaked and cleaned up and put dry clothes on. While we were working a man came by and gave us each a cup of coffee he bought at Tim Horton’s. He saw us working and said we looked wet and cold and decided to buy us coffee. The world is full of nice people – better to remember those than the few that are not so nice. After the glue was cured we took off and had another family vote – back through Canada or through Michigan. Since it was rainy we didn’t want to go to Mackinaw Island so we could go through Ontario and cross at Niagara Falls. However if the hum did not go away with the rear full of oil Canada was not going to be an option –then Michigan it was. Since I was on most of the roads we traveled this summer before in my life (except for the road from Winnipeg to Sault Ste. Marie), I would have liked to go through the rest of Ontario (part of which I had not driven before) – but when we left the hum was not gone (I wasn’t surprised) and we decided we better go through the USA not knowing if a bearing in the rear end was going to come apart or not. We drove about 50 miles and pulled into a rest area near the Mackinaw Bridge and felt the rear and it felt really hot I thought, although I never checked how hot it normally got. It was not leaking however, which was good news. As we were parked there another Ford F350 pulled in and I decided to see how hot his rear was. One must be careful how to ask permission to feel how hot another’s rear is – but we got the point across. Anyway his felt close to the same temperature, so that was more good news. As I am writing this we are driving down through Michigan hoping the hum is not a bearing that will not make it back, but it is not getting worse so we will continue. The farther we get the better it feels – it is not a loud hum, but it is something that was not there before. So for now we are dry, warm, and happy – the only problem is I get jumpy anytime I hear a noise. – posted by Roger