Cranbrook KOA  – Canada!

This was our day to cross the border, restock groceries, and do laundry. We were both nervous about the border crossing, but the worry was unnecessary. That part was super easy. We used the ArriveCAN app to upload passport and vaccination card photos ahead of time, and it gave us each a QR code to show the border agent. She didn’t even need to see that. We just handed her our passports and she pulled up all our information. She asked whether we had any weapons and she asked about where we were staying, and for how long. Then she wished us a happy vacation and we were on our way. Not a problem at all.

One thing I had not thought to do ahead of time was learn how to change the car’s dashboard readings to kilometers. Richard figured it out fast, but it is a huge and sudden shift to see all posted speed limits in metric and have no idea how those numbers translate. It’s a shame the US only ever feebly batted at the metric system.

We were riding high for a while, going somewhat under the posted maximum of 100 kph, until it started raining. We were traveling a main highway that had only one lane in each direction and many miles of no passing. Big trucks were coming up right on my tail and I did not like that at all. I eventually found a place to pull out, but yikes. That triggered big nerves in both of us. We were delighted to arrive in Cranbrook and got a break in the rain long enough to unhitch.

We then started the big laundry event. I specifically planned three KOA reservations for this trip, strategically spaced at times I thought we might be wanting fresh towels. I was right on this one and we were happy, fresher smelling campers by the end of three loads.

We then moved onto shopping and restocking back in town. Our normal Walmart dependability joy was a bust, as that particular store didn’t carry many of the items on our list. We then tried Safeway and got a few things ticked off, but not all. Some things are brand preference items that we will have to find substitutes for, but one item we rely on is frozen pan dinners for quick meals on travel days. Not sure what we will do to substitute those. On the plus side, we found salmon, so that Blue Apron recipe is on!

The next morning, we were ready to roll again. This KOA has quite the scenic background and served our needs well. We even used the electric hookups and again everything worked properly. We head into the Canadian Rockies with full batteries and clean underwear, which is always nice on long journeys. We hope to get a break from towing in rain, because that is no fun at all.

Total miles from Priest Lake: 98.8, 18.1 mpg, 2 hours 32 min. Site 103 on the outskirts. Full hookups, though the sewer inlet was one of those raised ones, so we skipped it. Pretty good cell for both and fast WIFI that we were able to hit from the site.