AFAME - Please help me plan my cross Canada tour!

[Ashley Fame]

I've been planning this since last summer, and I think now is the time to make it come to fruition.

The plan is to leave Vancouver Monday May. 1st at 2:00 am. Hopefully arrive in Banff, my first destination just in time for breakfast and an early 11:00 am check in at the hotel.

TENTATIVELY, here are the cities I plan to visit:
May 1 Banff
May 2-3 Calgary
May 4-5 Edmonton
May 6 Saskatoon
May 7-8 Regina
May 9-11 Winnipeg
May 12 Thunder Bay
May 13 Sault Ste. Marie
May 14 Sudbury
May 15-16 Ottawa
May 17 Montreal
May 18 Quebec
May 19 Montreal
May 20-22 Toronto
May 23 London/Windsor

On the way back:
May 24-26 Toronto again
May 27 Sudbury
May 28 Thunder Bay
May 29-31 Winnipeg
June 1 Regina
June 2 Saskatoon
June 3-4 Calgary
June 5 Edmonton
June 6 Jasper
June 7 Prince George
June 8-9 Whistler
June 10 back home to Vancouver

Of course, I will be staying in certain cities 2-3 days and others only 1 day. Major cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal will all get extended stays as mentioned above.

I want to limit driving to about 4 hours on any given day, with a MAXIMUM of 8 hours driving which is why cities like Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and Sudbury were mentioned (I wouldn't want to drive from Winnipeg STRAIGHT to Ottawa). I don't see them listed on any review sites, but hopefully pooning exists in those cities and somebody will read about this tour and book me .

I do not want to go further East than Quebec (I originally wanted to do a 4 week trip but it is almost 6 weeks as currently planned!). Any advice on my choice of cities would be greatly appreciated... especially on the smaller "in between cities" like Prince George, Whistler, Banff, Jasper, etc. (ie. are they worth my while or should I just drive right on by?).

Sincerely,

Ashley Fame

 

[westwoody]

You might want to allow a bit more time for the Van-Banff segment especially if driving at night. Maybe stop over in Kamloops or Kelowna. I can't see much chance of making money in Banff, that's a very closed community. Canmore is right next door-just outside the park-you might have some luck there and it's cheaper to stay there too.
In '04 a couple of us rode from Winnipeg to Ottawa with only a stop at Batchawana Bay (nice motel across the road from the beach, very rustic) both ways. There's nice scenery but I can't see you making much money. T Bay is a dump( it's occasionally mentioned in the Winnipeg forum) ,Sudbury might be okay, Kenora, Dryden, the Sault, North Bay and Pembroke are all too small. There's a lot of empty space with nobody around. It's a nice drive though, I hope you enjoy it.

 

[rictor71]

hello

Well....it's too bad your not going any further east then Montreal..it's only 10 hours to Halifax.It's got a beautiful waterfront, and there is some great scenary in between(used to live there)..Jasper is a really great place.....beautiful mountain scenary...I like it much better then Banff....to me , banff was over hyped and over crowded.I live in edmonton now...see the mall, see the river valley, and then see how fast you can get out of town .

 

[wolverine]

A whacky idea: do this trip in an RV - you have transport and an incall location all in one!

 

[BYSON]

A whacky idea: do this trip in an RV - you have transport and an incall location all in one!

what a hell of a idea i have a class 1 professinal licence i could do the driving check this site out http://www.travelandrvcanada.com/28ft.htm

 

[visiting]

Good luck with the trip, I have done the drive a few times.... It is great when you have time.

Free Tips!
1. When driving in smaller area's don't wait until the gas tank is empty to gas up!!!, after 8pm outside major area's finding gas is a challenge. (SK, MB mostly, but also Northern Ontario)

2. Winnipeg to Toronto is 24 hours of driving, and mostly 1 lane roads (70%), of which is up and down hills, with lots of trucks, OOO and Moose. 90Km limits.


3. Not sure an RV is the best for your metro area stops due to parking, and well "house rockin"...., but I would be willing to pay for stickers on the side of the RV to write something like "Ashley Fame Tour 2006"

4. Post Pictures of your trip. Please !


P.S. (at speed limits!!!)
London -- Windsor (2hr drive)
London-Toronto (2hr drive)
Toronto-Ottawa (5hr drive)
Toronto-Montreal (6hr drive)
Montreal-Ottawa (2hr drive)
Montreal-Quebec (2:30hr drive)

*if you want to save some driving you may want to go from Sudbury to Toronto, and then Toronto to Ottawa. (Sudbury to Toronto 2 Lane Highway) Lots of traffic on week-ends going out on Saturday and in to TO on Sunday nights!!!

 

[westwoody]

When driving in smaller area's don't wait until the gas tank is empty to gas up!!!

Especially going over the top of Lake Superior, between T. Bay and SSM! There's only a few tiny towns and the pumps aren't necessarily on 24/7.

90Km limits

Huh..speed limits? We went about 140 for over an hour in several places. There's some very nice roads with very little traffic.

an RV is the best

Get a bumper sticker that says "If the van's a-rockin', don't come knockin'!"

 

[visiting]

90 Km limit, I agree with the 140, but there are some OPP out there!!!, I got 2 tickets on my last cross Canada trip, (left Halifax) and the first was just outside Kenora, the 2nd, was at the limits of Winnipeg.

I was going down a hill, at 140ish at around 11pm, I noticed another car coming the other direction also was going down a steep hill, I had not seen any police for a while, so I figured, what the hell, and did not slow down, and you guessed it, that was an OPP, who came to see me, gave me a ticket. When he gave me the ticket, he told me... "I don't really mind that you speed, heck go as fast as you want, but what I do mind is that I get the call at 3am, to come clean-up your mess when you hit a moose!" (I slowed down in the mountains...anyway)

Outside Winnipeg it was the RCMP, and I got a ticket for doing 112, that is 12 over the limit...


Bon Voyage!

 

[Gentleman First]

In the praries and i include manitoba in that we made the best time.

once east of cowtown not a thing to slow you down

Sask and man were on cruise control at about 180 km/hr....LOL

not much to see...and corners are a joke.

after driving in BC those are NOT corners, and no reason to slow down.

Had my pals car and we just rocked.

Buy a good radar detector ( I recommend the Escort brand...model 8500 X50 )

and just go like crazy across sask and man....heck alta to once east of cowtown.

cruise control is your friend out there.
your leg will go numb with no movement otherwise.

if you want to know more PM me.

 

[Ashley Fame]

I...
Buy a good radar detector ( I recommend the Escort brand...model 8500 X50 )

and just go like crazy across sask and man....heck alta to once east of cowtown.

cruise control is your friend out there.
your leg will go numb with no movement otherwise.

if you want to know more PM me.

nice radar name brand! too funny.

Thanks for the tips GF et al!

 

[CEG]

Last i heard radar detectors were illegal in Manitoba (even possession, unless in trunk of your car) they used to be in Ontario too, but I believe that law may have been modified.

 

[Ashley Fame]

Please see my new thread!

Thanks for all the help and feedback. This thread will now be closed... please post in the new "official" thread below:

https://perb.cc/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=43374