Made it to Victoria.

The last couple of days have been a blur. Sleeping in my car, staying at campgrounds and driving throughout the day.

Things I saw in the prairies:
- a truck on fire
- a pronghorn antelope
- a lot of ducks and shorebirds
- salt flats
- grass, canola and hills.

I thought I was going to find the prairies boring. They are flat, but they are far from boring. Besides, for a driver like me the prairies are perfect. There aren't many people on the road, the road is mostly straight and mostly flat. Set it on cruise, and go. Loved the prairies.

What I was surprised about was how quickly the mountains pop up. You're driving through flat prairies, and it seems like the Alberta Prairies are by far the flattest, you hit Calgary and BAM there's the mountains! About an hour from Calgary you're in Banff.

Banff is pretty, so is Lake Louise, but it is so crowded with tourists! It was a good spot to see different license plates though. Lots of RV's and sweet camper vans. I'm developing Van envy. My Sportage camper is awesome, but it's not a sweet van. As soon as I win the lottery, my first purchase will be a pimped out, fully loaded camper van. And then I'm going to live in it full time.... down by the river.

I saw Pat in Banff, he got me free camping, but they sold my site to some tourist, so I stayed in another campsite and didn't pay... shhh. I was going to stay another day and go climbing with him, but when I woke up the next day it was raining, so Ben and I did a little hike and moved on.

Things I saw in the mountains:

- a big horned sheep (or whatever they are called)\
- a black bear
- a bald eagle
- a golden eagle
- a car on the side of the road that obviously had a large rock go through the windsheild.... I mean they have signs on the road that warn of falling rocks, but really, who can anticipate a giant rock going through your windshield!?

The mountains are certainly NOT made for a driver like me... I really had to pay attention.

As we got out of the mountains and into the Fraser Valley, things got really dry. It was what you expect the wild west to be like. Dry and hot. I just kept driving. I drove all day, at one point the car's cruise control gave out. I thought I'd completely broken her. It was really hilly, and extremely windy. For one tank of gas I only got 300 km... where I normally get 500. The engine was really reving and the car starting to smell distinctly like burning... I thought if the truck I'd seen on fire in Manitoba... so I slowed down.

When I couldn't drive any longer I stopped in Hope B.C. Finally found a small campground in town, being so relieved, I got out of the car, and closed the door, immediately realizing I'd locked the keys in there, with the car on, and the dog inside. IDIOT! I called CAA, and they came within 30 minutes and nobody really made fun of me... to my face.

Yesterday I moved on, and made it to Victoria. I'm not sure what my plans are from this point. I'm definitely taking a few days to relax, then I'll head up the coast to Tofino, and maybe a little further up the Island. After that, who knows, the engine light is back on, and the car needs an oil change. I'm thinking about heading up to the Yukon, maybe see Mark in Whistler on my way, if I'm in the Yukon, take a quick hop over to the Northwest territories and back down into northern Alberta, Jasper, see the Ice Fields, back into Banff and head back through the Prairies. I would like to see the Alberta Badlands.