This time tomorrow, I will be in British Columbia! After tomorrow, the only province I will have left to visit is Newfoundland and Labrador!
I'm trying to plan out my route to Oliver. It's a 700km journey. Normally, I'd say that I could easily do that in two days, with just one overnight stop, but normally I'm not driving through several national parks with slow speed limits and let's not forget the mountains. I think it will probably take me three days to get there, but it can't take any more since I could be called to work on Monday. Could is a big word, but I wouldn't want to miss my chance.
I'd like to invite you all to visit the Parks Canada website and get information on RV camping along this route just so you'll see that I'm not exaggerating when I state that this is a ridiculously frustrating task. In order to get information on campgrounds, their amenities, and their rates, I have to visit an average of four websites!
After about an hour's worth of Googling, I finally was able to determine that my first overnight stop will probably be at Kicking Horse Pass campground in Yoho National Park. Camping there is 30$ per night. No hookups. 40$ if you need a day pass. No hookups. Let me say that again. No hookups. As if that wasn't bad enough, the campground doesn't take reservations, so if they're full, tough luck, I have to push on to Golden. This type of fleecing by the Canadian government is par for the course, unfortunately. If you're coming to Canada, I suggest sticking to provincial and private campgrounds. Visit the national parks by day only!
Because there are apparently so few places to stop overnight between Canmore and Golden, I'm not guaranteed a spot at Kicking Horse, and I won't be pushing off till noon tomorrow, I doubt I'll be detouring to Lake Louise. :-(
I have to say that this is the first night before departure since Thunder Bay that I'm just about raring to go! I've been here a full week and it's been really nice, but I've had my fill of the area for now.
Even though I'm nine kilometres from the nearest full service town and thirty kilometres from Calgary city limits, I still feel that this location was fantastic. I really enjoyed doing my daily excursions and coming home to this spot. It's not as quiet as it could be since it's right at the intersection of two busy roads, but it's peaceful and the staff is very friendly. I just wish the window in front of my computer didn't overlook the dumpsters. :-D
I'm seeing a lot of rigs in this park that are not much different from Miranda all gussied up with skirts in preparation for the winter. Oh, those brave souls! As for me, I'm headin' for the promised land. :-)
But I have to say the weather here has been incredible. It dips to close to freezing at night and goes up to about 25 during the day. Miranda turns into an oven (it was 32 in here this afternoon!). I don't know how to describe the sun out here, but it feels really close and it's unbelievably intense. Soon as it sets, though, BRR! It's meant nice days for exploring or puttering at home, but nights that are really comfortable for sleeping, so absolutely ideal RVing conditions. Pity they can't last all year. :-)
Showing posts with label stupid laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stupid laws. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
There is No Love Lost...
Between the city of Gatineau and myself. It's no secret that I have nothing to recommend about this backward money-grubbing city and that the only way I could have survived another couple of years in this area would have been by returning to Ottawa.
One of the biggest issues I have is the draconian parking enforcement. Here are two examples:
1) One day, I parked my car in front of my house at about ten to five during the week. The way parking is set up at my house is that I have to drive down a narrow laneway and then park in the backyard. To get to the car, I have to go down a flight of stairs. In the front, though, I only have two steps to go down. So, I had parked on the street in order to fill the car for some excursion or another. During the week, I'm only allowed to park one hour in front between the hours of 8 and 6PM, so I needed to be out of the spot by ten to six, then move the car for ten minutes. Well, with seven minutes left on the metre, a parking enforcement officer came by and told me that he was watching me and that if I wasn't gone in exactly seven minutes, I was going to get a ticket. He could see that I lived there and was loading boxes and that there were a ton of empty spaces on the street. He could have let me have those ten minutes. Instead, he sat there staring at his watch while I shut up the car, drove down my laneway, parked in the back, did a couple more loads up and down the stairs, and then came back to the front once 6 came. He was still there, making sure I didn't repark until it was 6:01.
2) I'm beginning to fear that I will be rushed on Saturday morning. I need to drive to North Gower, boost the coach, and hook up the car for the first time. A friend is meeting me at 9:30 to move the mattress in and I need to be out of there for noon. So, I thought that I could bring the coach up on Friday. I don't trust the neighbourhood, so I would sleep in it with my cellphone kept closeby. That would give me all of Friday night to get the coach loaded. I called the city of Gatineau to see if this was okay and made one heck of a mistake: I told the lady where I live. She informed me that I cannot park on my street, no exceptions, not even to load the coach on Saturday. She said that she knows my address and is looking foward to sending someone over on Saturday to ticket me.
I'm fairly sure this is just talk on her part to discourage me, but Saturday night onward I am sleeping in Ottawa and I will never, ever return to this city to live ever again.
One of the biggest issues I have is the draconian parking enforcement. Here are two examples:
1) One day, I parked my car in front of my house at about ten to five during the week. The way parking is set up at my house is that I have to drive down a narrow laneway and then park in the backyard. To get to the car, I have to go down a flight of stairs. In the front, though, I only have two steps to go down. So, I had parked on the street in order to fill the car for some excursion or another. During the week, I'm only allowed to park one hour in front between the hours of 8 and 6PM, so I needed to be out of the spot by ten to six, then move the car for ten minutes. Well, with seven minutes left on the metre, a parking enforcement officer came by and told me that he was watching me and that if I wasn't gone in exactly seven minutes, I was going to get a ticket. He could see that I lived there and was loading boxes and that there were a ton of empty spaces on the street. He could have let me have those ten minutes. Instead, he sat there staring at his watch while I shut up the car, drove down my laneway, parked in the back, did a couple more loads up and down the stairs, and then came back to the front once 6 came. He was still there, making sure I didn't repark until it was 6:01.
2) I'm beginning to fear that I will be rushed on Saturday morning. I need to drive to North Gower, boost the coach, and hook up the car for the first time. A friend is meeting me at 9:30 to move the mattress in and I need to be out of there for noon. So, I thought that I could bring the coach up on Friday. I don't trust the neighbourhood, so I would sleep in it with my cellphone kept closeby. That would give me all of Friday night to get the coach loaded. I called the city of Gatineau to see if this was okay and made one heck of a mistake: I told the lady where I live. She informed me that I cannot park on my street, no exceptions, not even to load the coach on Saturday. She said that she knows my address and is looking foward to sending someone over on Saturday to ticket me.
I'm fairly sure this is just talk on her part to discourage me, but Saturday night onward I am sleeping in Ottawa and I will never, ever return to this city to live ever again.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tales from the Legal Code of Quebec
Did y'all know that until April 15th of this year, it was illegal to have a GPS in your car?
I joked with my friend last night that she should have a GPS so she won't get lost when she goes to my place. She said she has one, but doesn't use it in Quebec because they're illegal here.
Turns out, she wasn't all that wrong since the law only changed very recently.
I do suspect it's a case of the law not keeping up with technology, though, because the law said that it is illegal to keep a screen of some sort where the driver can see it. An exemption needed to be made for GPS units.
Took them long enough.
I joked with my friend last night that she should have a GPS so she won't get lost when she goes to my place. She said she has one, but doesn't use it in Quebec because they're illegal here.
Turns out, she wasn't all that wrong since the law only changed very recently.
I do suspect it's a case of the law not keeping up with technology, though, because the law said that it is illegal to keep a screen of some sort where the driver can see it. An exemption needed to be made for GPS units.
Took them long enough.
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