Trying to Get into Canada

We packed up our campsite and said our goodbyes to Glacier National Park. Because the Going to the Sun road wasn’t completely open, our drive time to get to the Canadian border was doubled. But, it was a beautiful drive, and we turned on the tunes and enjoyed the views and kept our eyes peeled for mountain goats and other wildlife. We didn’t end up seeing any wildlife, but we did pull over to look down at Two Medicine Lake surrounded by towering mountains.

Though beautiful and completely worth the drive, it sure wasn’t a smooth ride. It was a steep road that twisted, turned, and narrowed with many potholes and ruts that kept us bouncing along a bit nervously. Our tail end bottomed out quite a few times and it was all we could do to cringe and bear it. But, we made it through and we were proud of how well our Wander Wagon had held up.

A few hours later, we made it to the Canadian border. We were crossing at Waterton Lakes National Park, the Canadian side to Glacier National Park. As this was our first border crossing in the van, we were a bit anxious. We had both of our passports ready and Paris’s rabies certificate and vaccinations records. We pulled up and the border patrol officer immediately told us to turn off our “stinky contraption”. The smell of the gas the Wander Wagon was emitting was too much for his nostrils. We had hoped we could keep it running, since she sometimes had trouble starting up again, so we crossed our fingers we wouldn’t have any issues.

The border patrol had a funny sense of humor, or at least we think it was a sense of humor. He asked us a few questions and when our answers were too short he said we better keep talking to convince him to let us into his country. We immediately starting blabbing non cohesively and eventually he chuckled and sent us on our way with one last joke about the whiskey we had in the van not being enough to even get warm. Whew! We were officially in Canada!

Waterton Lakes National Park was absolutely breathtaking! Big blue lakes were surrounded by mountains and the Prince of Wales Hotel with it’s beautiful architecture was picturesque on the hillside overlooking it all. We enjoyed lunch at a little cafe, where we ordered pizza and our first Canadian beers. It was delicious.

After lunch, we made plans to stay at the campground/ RV Park down the road that offered free showers. We were on our way there when the van suddenly died again. We couldn’t believe it. We had just had her fixed and now she wouldn’t start again! Plus, now we were in Canada and who knew where the nearest tow company or repair shop was.

But, we stayed calm and Corbin was able to figure out the problem. Since she died in the same way she had before, he knew it had to be an issue with the fuel pump again. So, he followed the wires and found one of the grounds for the pump was disconnected. Reconnecting it, the van started right up again! It was crazy to know that one tiny little plug could completely power down the van. Grateful the Wander Wagon was up and running again, we continued on our way to the campground where a real shower was calling our names. It had been an adventurous first day in Canada, and we still had some exciting plans for the rest of the afternoon.