Why did you do this trip?
Dave: A long time ago a wanted to some day ride a motorcycle across Canada. Just to see the land, the people and just do it for the sake of riding this very large country. A couple years ago I realized my dream of riding the motorcycle was probably not going to happen, I just could not physically do it. After a brief pause, I thought I would do this trip in a pickup truck instead, the seats are comfortable and I would be able to endure the long hours of driving. Seeing the country I was born in, and lived in all my life was on my “bucket list”.
Did you manage to see all of Canada?
Dave: Wow, Canada is really big! I feel I just scratched the surface of what Canada has to offer, I really just saw a lot of road and one or two major things in each city we decided to stop at. This was the ultimate road trip, that needed to be completed in 28 days or less. We traveled over 17,000KM in 28 days (that is an average of over 607km per day), it was a LOT of driving.
Tell me a few highlights?
Dave: There were many great things on this trip. I love to drive, so even just the driving was fun for the most part. The Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller Alberta, Old Quebec City, The Parliament Buildings, and Peggy’s Cove were a few of my favorite things.
What were a few less favorable moments?
Dave: Top of this list, was leaving my family at home. I thought about taking them with me, but at this time, they would not have been able to endure the long days. My wife is amazing for understanding my desire to do this, and allowing me the freedom to follow through on my dream. The drivers in Quebec, especially in or around Montreal are aggressive, I wonder how they don’t get into accidents every day. That was hard to deal with.
How do you plan for a trip like this?
Dave: We did very little planning, quite a bit of prepping. Let me explain. We made sure we had the correct equipment to be successful. A well tuned truck, good digital camera, GPS and a few other electronics. Camping equipment was checked, food and drinks for the first few days, and a few good guide books. We just covered the basics. The rest we just did and planned as we went. We hardly ever knew where we were going stay each night in advance. We learned very quickly that we needed some sort of idea where were going to stay each night by about 7pm. Either pull into a campsite or phone ahead for a reservation for the site or a motel. Aside from that, we sometimes looked up where were going to be and made plans to see the sights based on where were. This didn’t work out all the time, we did drive around town past midnight, with each motel we tried booked solid for the night. It did work most of the time though, you just had to keep cool and stay positive.
Would you do this again?
Dave: I think the only way I would attemt this trip again would be to take my family with me, in an RV or good camper and have at least three months. 28 days was just way too short to really see the country. The trip was fun and well worth the investment just way too short.