It's the journey stupid

Well, we rolled into Nelson at around 8 o'clock after a long day on the road. It started off nicely enough, stopping to see some of the sights along the Icefields Parkway south as far as Lake Louise. Most of these involved lakes of varying colours, the best being Peyto Lake that was an intense green colour, apparently from all the dissolved glacial till (silty debris) dissolved in it. It was a steep hike up to the viewing platform though, and Graham was really not sure it was worth the effort! We also saw a few deer and a lonely big horned sheep on the side of the road. After a brief stop in Lake Louise, we headed out on Highway 1 - the trans-Canada in these parts - big mistake. It was only about 10km west of Lake Louise that we hit the roadworks that delayed us so much. The only bright side was that we got to see O'Hara Lake in Yoho National Park, before we hit traffic.

It appeared that roadworks on the trans-Canada were not going to end at Golden, so in order to have any chance of making it to Nelson by nightfall, we went to plan B and headed South (way south) to Cranbrook. I mentioned previously how much I liked the highways of Saskatchewan and Alberta, but I can't say the same for BC. While the speed limit on some highways is a decent 100 km/h, there aren't enough passing lanes to be able to consistently travel at that speed. Especially after being in a very long line of traffic due to roadworks. Where passing lanes do exist, many of them are incredibly short - like 500m. If you are wondering, that's about enough to pass a car, if you are sitting on their tail and floor the gas as soon as you hit the lane. It seems like a strange system to have in a region with lots of hills and bends in the road. Perhaps it is due to British Columbian's laid back attitude, something to do with the journey being more fulfilling than the destination, so let's spend more time getting there!

Nelson is quite a bit bigger than I imagined, it even has city status. The little we saw of it tonight was very pleasant, and we will be sure to explore it more tomorrow.

Quote of the Day: "........and then he goes and wrecks a classic" Graham on Cake's version of Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive"

Trip Facts:

Driven today: 822 km
Driven in total: 5112 km
Run today: 0 km
Run Total: 60.5 km
Number of TH Stops: 13 (starting to get withdrawal)
Number of speeding tickets: 1
Ipod progress: 231 songs Last: The Ceasars "Jerk it out."
Song of the Day: "For what it's worth" Buffalo Springfield