Trip - Day 7 - Saturday, April 24, 2010

If you've ever tried to pry two bricks apart from their mortar, you will have some idea of the degree of difficulty I encountered whilst trying to open my eyes the morning of my departure from Canmore. Apparently many world record attempts were made on my part in regard to alcohol, and waking with a surprising lack of medals or rewards, I deduced it was all for naught.

But, I was told it was a hell of a time.

A quick goodbye to Jaclyn, a stop at Tim Hortons with Noel, a hug and a handshake, and I was off to Edmonton to meet up with Brad. Some months earlier, I had posted an open letter to my friends begging, pleading that one or more of them meet me somewhere on my vacation. Brad, a friend and band mate, accepted the mission and we decided on Edmonton as a meeting place, neither of us having actually been there. I had been to the airport and a nearby hotel on my way North, but we enjoyed the idea of a city that had never seen either of us trying to handle our powers combined.

Weather, time, and energy were a few factors that dictated my rerouting of course to Edmonton. Having planned to actually drive away from my destination and swoop under Calgary, then up to YEG on the backroads to the East of the highway, disappointment was rampant when the weather stated heavy snow at times for both my initial and backup routes. The backup plan was a more direct track halfway back through the Jasper Highway, across to Rocky Mountain House and through to Red Deer, then a quick skip to Edmonton. Feeling the effects of the night before, the time and weather running short on my side, I chose to negate my intended route and get there faster.

Mild delays popped up with the construction leaving Canmore, and having driven straight through the highway coming in, I decided to use the imposed relaxed pace as an excuse to see a few of those famed places you always hear about.

Banff was a mere 20 minutes from Canmore and I thought I'd have a look from Norkay on the East side of the valley. I had always gotten the impression that Banff was like Lake Louise, which I would see later in the day. I thought it was a resort, not a resort town. From the switchbacks on Norkay I saw that there was a sizable little town below me, and having been mistaken my entire life as to what Banff was I needed to investigate further. Back across the highway, I drove into town and quickly got lost. I think I was busy being unimpressed by the difference in what I expected and what I ended up with. I do believe it is a place I would need more than 25 minutes in to make an informed judgement, and I mean no ill intent, but it just didn't do it for me.

Back on the road another half hour, the snow and construction were in force. I followed a transport truck for the entire span between Banff and Lake Louise, and was happy to pull off to see this famed hotel. I parked and made the walk up to the lake itself, sitting on a bench and looking for the first time at a view I've seen a thousand times in pictures, commercials, and otherwise. A thick haze had settled in with the snow and covered the top quarter of the surrounding mountains, a stiff breeze accompanying an already grey viewing. I headed inside to have a brief walk through the Chateau Lake Louise.

Entering into the lobby, a nouveau regal hue swept across every edge of the place. It was definitely impressive, but again, due to the lore and previous accounts I had been subjected to, I had expected more. I toured the small cafeteria and shops, looking for a trinket to mark the occasion, finding nothing but a few pictures to take myself. I walked back to the truck and made my way to a restaurant near the highway for breakfast.

A truly unremarkable experience, lacking taste and moments worth mention, the meal did nothing for my appetite. I picked up some snacks for the road and made for Edmonton, sights set on Rocky Mountain House, halfway into the 6 hours I had remaining on the road. I started out of the mountains proper at Saskatchewan River Crossing, route 11 turning East through a wondrous drive of peaks, lakes, foothills, and a road surely intended for a motorcycle.

At any point in this trip where I had been driving for over 2 hours, the music would fade, the windows would go up and I would find myself unintentionally driving in silence. What part of my transom took over my immediate environment in those moments is a mystery to me, but the folds awoken in that phase were unmistakable. A blank stare through the windshield, my thoughts would drift in from each approaching turn. Again, the pains of the empty passenger seat made me ache for Carter, and one last time for a long time, Wendy.

The remission I found myself in at times was only natural; the acid flashback style hangovers of old love mixed with the parental tides of emotion in missing my dog. I wished my plans for a "no plans" vacation merited bringing Carter, but it would be too difficult and compromising for both of us. Missing Wendy would never truly come to an end, but this final traipse through that whole mess felt final. I would hear from her again, we would exchange pleasantries, but I had to let it go. I had to accept the finality of it all, and I put it to sleep along a beautiful pass lined by a lake and motionless woodlands. It was a fitting place that mirrored the beauty in the release, the stunning awe of the love we had, yet it could not hold a candle to her image. It was seldom that something ever could, and I would attest that nothing ever will.

It hurt to say that goodbye, and I did not look back to regard where I left my heart on that deserted road. I would pick it up someday if needed.

Along one expanse near the Douglas Fir Natural Area I stopped to snap some pictures and have a stretch, then passed through cozy little spots like Nordegg and Alexo, again spying plots of land where I could waste away my years. Near the next hamlet of Hoburg, I again paused, consulting my maps and notes to pick up a dirt road I had read about on a local forum. I would shadow route 11 for a bit then hop back on, electing to see beyond the treeline. With what can only be my luck, the road was single track and impossible to turn around on, so therefore it was only fitting that the snow would pile down and make for zero visibility.

My reliable truck is only rear-wheel, 2 wheel drive, and I had feared getting stuck. Somehow, that concern was never met, but I ended up a few times well out of control on a slope, or meeting up with another truck driven by someone all to comfortable with the conditions. Honestly, white-knuckled and wide-eyed, I truly believed I might die on that road. Half an hour in and having covered no ground, I made for the highway, stopping at a small cove to let the weather pass.

I got back on the highway, making for and passing by Red Deer. Now, had I done any proper digging, I would have enjoyed the immense pleasure of seeing a former roommate from college, my dear friend Loretta. I should have married that girl I think, she was absolutely one of my favorite people ever, and to this day still is. Being none the wiser that she was even in the same province I carried on the Edmonton being somewhat threatened by the weather and transport trucks with no regard for the conditions. I am never shaken by the road, but this day was playing havoc on my nerves.

Coming in to Edmonton from the south west, traffic started to get more confined. One would expect the speed to settle with such cramped quarters, but one cannot do such a thing himself because it would be a greater impairment to the flow of vehicles. I was not impressed with the caution-to-the-wind approach of the other motorists so I kept to the cruising lane. At the point I began to see the city itself and relax with the notion of this all being over in a few minutes, it almost came to the point of being all over for good.

Doing the speed limit in the right hand lane, in a flash I had a car beside me in the shoulder. I held steady, the car passing me then cutting in front of the car ahead, that driver not even having had the chance to register the fact the passing car was there. The driver ahead of me reacted by cutting into the middle of three lanes going North in to the city's South side. Next to me was a transport that was cut off by the swerving of the car ahead of me, sending the truck in to a full break stand and slide into my lane. The biggest threat to me was the trailer which was now steaming toward my truck, surely bound to clean me right out and shovel me over all in one swipe. Though a cost effective end, I figured I would try to alter the situation in my favor. I punched the gas and made for the shoulder myself, narrowly being missed by the front end of the truck itself, and speeding forward and back into the lane. The truck, I saw in my rearview, came out of the slide fine, a experienced driver no doubt, crawling back to speed on the shoulder before joining traffic. At the first stop light I encountered I ended up next to the offending vehicle, a young girl at the wheel. I honked, she stupidly rolled her window down, and I let her have it, ending with a suggestion as to the removal of her head from her backside.

All of the road rage I've ever truly felt was over with at that point, and several seconds later I was at the Holiday Inn getting to my room to meet Brad. I had barely got the key in the door when I heard the familiar sounds of beer bottles opening and Brad's tittering chuckles.

We sipped and dined, catching up and sharing stories of our respective trips thus far, Brad having flown out from home in New Brunswick. With his jet leg and my weariness from the trip, we relaxed for a portion of the evening and then began another assault on the body.

A week in Edmonton awaited, our livers already cringing.