Day One. Bearly Even Started!

So we set off from Banff about 2ish.  With high spirits and the Sun on our side.  200 meters down the road we ran out of petrol....... So went got a jerry can and gave the motor a wee drink.  Got her to the petrol station and filled her right up.  Sorted out the tires as well.  She is ready to roll!  Then we met Lauren and Daryl there who added some more doodles to the van.  Lovely stuff.

 A random on the street who was admiring my van.

 Shameless advertising for Adam Bowcutt.  But a cool little doodle. 

Jhi bless her sorted me out a treat with something to keep a smile on my face for the journey as far as the boarder. 

Then we set off for good!  Fernie was about 4 inches on the map.  So we had a fair way to go.   Google told us it would be about 5 hours.

Kilometers Traveled Today : 1
Kilometers Traveled Total : 1
Funds: 80 Canadian bucks
Petrol: Full tank

We quickly got out of Banff and onto new exciting roads.  The views were nothing short of spectacular!  Long straight roads with bright blue rivers glistening in the sun on 1 side and then the other side towering mountains with beautifully green trees and even greener tips where the spring shoots had begun to sprout.  And then snow still dusting the peaks.  The sky was gorgeous as well covered in wispy clouds blocking the sun creating shadow that fell in interesting patches on the mountains giving the trees even more shades of green.

Then we came to a fantastically long and straight road which stretched as far as the eye could see!  It was amazing!  The road disappeared in to the horizon.  Quite a sigh to see.  It was such a stunning drive  the views were some of the best I have ever seen.  Breathtaking!

The next encounter was one that really made my day!  Nay week! Nay season.  We were just pooling along the whole way really chilling and chatting and then we went past a huge illuminated sign that flashed "SLOW BEARS ON ROAD"  We laughed and carried on but sure enough 200 meters on I had to stop dead and let a beautiful black bear cross the road.  It came right by us!  There was no one else around so we just stopped there for a bit and watched him.  He was gorgeous and not very big.  So so stoked to have seen a bear.  So beautiful and so exciting.

 Check out this little video of the little critter. 

Eventually we moved on and left him to his munching.  So that had us well excited!  I powered on with the driving.  It was all so beautiful I didn't really feel like I was driving.  There was nothing to look at but the views.  The entire journey had 4 actual turns from start to finish!  The rest of the time I was cruising. 

We arrived in Fernie about 7ish.  Instantly I loved the place.  It has a great vibe about it and it really feels like a local town you know?  No tourists a nice place to settle indeed.  Charlie and me went for a walk around and he showed me where he lived all season and stuff like that.  It has an awesome skate park and just loads of stuff to do.  It seems like a great community to be involved with.  Unfortunately the hostel that Charlie was planning to stay at was closed for some reason so after a walk around and finding no cheap places to crash he took up the offer of my van for the night.  And treated us to some take out pizza while we had a good solid bake and watched some movies.  A cozy little sleep in the van but perfectly comfortable!

Kilometers Traveled Today: 360
Kilometers Traveled Total: 360
Funds: 80 Canadian Bucks
Petrol: Little Over Half Tank

What will tomorrow bring?