Day 5 - Kelowna, BC to Lake Louise, AB

Today was a long, but mostly uneventful, 348 mile day on the road, absent some really spectacular scenery. Departing Kelowna we followed the Okanagan Lake for another 25 miles before turning west toward Kamloops, BC. Entering town, we programmed the GPS for the local Harley-Davidson dealer for what else, the obligatory T-shirts of course. I’m starting to love this GPS technology. We didn’t like the prices at Kamloops HD however. Thirty five dollars for a T –shirt, please!

As is our practice, we got a good recommendation for lunch from the good folks at Kamloops HD, Duffy’s Pub. We have yet to have a bad meal on our journey, thus far. Departing Kamloops in the afternoon we headed east for the first time toward Revelstoke, the Columbia River (again), Mt. Revelstoke, Glacier, and Banff National Parks, all incredibly scenic.

We have to hand it to the National Park Service of Canada. We traversed three national parks today and never came across a ranger in a Smokey Bear hat with his hand out to collect anywhere from $10 to $20 dollars from us as we have come to expect in the US.

Midway through Glacier Park the otherwise sunny skies darkened and a light rain began to fall. We sought shelter under a gas station overhang and began to don our rain gear again. However, no sooner had we prepared for the worst, the sun reappeared and we motored on unscathed. A little farther down the road we saw a black cloud overhead and the road was soaked for a few miles, but no rain. We have been so blessed with great weather, pretty much mid-seventies and clear skies.

We enjoyed seeing some wild animals today, an Elk, several deer, one way too close to the highway, two dead deer on the highway, and our first bear, a brown bear foraging for food along the adjacent railroad tracks.

Departing Glacier Park, we lost an hour on the clock due to a time zone change. We rolled into Lake Louise at 8:30 PM under still sunny skies at these northern latitudes. We checked into the Mountaineer Lodge and had a late supper at the adjacent Outpost Pub. Another good, albeit a bit expensive meal. Fifteen dollars for a hamburger?

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