May 18, 2015, Lake Louise to Chilliwack, BC

May 18, 2015.  It is 430 miles from Lake Louise to Chilliwack, BC.  We are just over 100 miles from Nanaimo, BC, on Vancouver Island.  We will be there tomorrow night.  Our plan is to spend about a week on the island, then move south, eventually into northern California.

Today was another long day of driving in mountainous terrain for nine hours. Annie wasn't happy.  Her tolerance for all-day drives is waning.  To be honest, so is mine.  The curves and elevation changes were enough.  But, we also encountered about two hours of heavy rain.  Topping it off, there was unexpected congestion on the road.  Evidently, today is Victoria Day, a national holiday in Canada.  All those who fled the city of Vancouver for the mountains returned home today.  As we approached Chilliwack, traffic came to a standstill.  It took us thirty minutes to cover the last five miles to the campground.

The first picture is from our campsite at Lake Louise.  You'll have to guess the second picture.  Other pictures were taken on the drive or after arriving at Cottonwood RV Country Club in Chilliwack.  The final picture shows a goose high in the top of a dead tree.  We guessed that she is nesting there.  A local wag pondered what the first step of the goslings would be like.  Steep, I suppose.

Today is Levi's birthday.  We called using FaceTime this morning.  It was apparently hard to tell which of us had been out of bed the longest.  I thought Levi had pillow hair.  Mikki thought we looked like we had just awakened. Mikki was right.

So, after seven days of driving, we will reach our destination tomorrow.  I recall that on our return from Alaska in 2011, we covered the distance from Bellingham, WA, to Kansas City in three days.

But, we were younger then.