I stayed at the Mosquito Creek campground, hoping the name was something of an irony. It was a great night! The campground was typical of national parks - assigned spots, picnic tables, etc. but there were a few additional treats available including a HUGE stash of available firewood and a hut with a wood-burning stove.

Back on the road, the scenery madness continued.

By the afternoon I'd arrived in Banff... wow. Banff National Park is the first national park in Canada, and only the third in the world. It only took me until the end of the day to decide that this is in fact the greatest place I have ever been.

I have two and a half days to make the 1,000-mile or so trek from Winnipeg to meet Lance in Cranbrook, BC. The plan is to blast across Canada on the Trans-Canada highway, giving my enough time to head north of Cranbrook aways and visit Banff and Jasper National Park. So far so good, I don't meet Lance until tomorrow evening and am only about 6 hours from Calgary.

Nothing really notable happened on the way, except for this.... I've been making fun of the name of this town since I was very young. And now, finally, I have been there. My life is complete.

A huge thanks goes to Woodhaven Toyota of Winnipeg for storing my FJ free of charge at the dealership while I was gone on my fishing trip. Secure storage of my truck and all my gear was a very important logistical concern and Myk Shane of Woodhaven came through big time for me, even moving the truck indoors at night in the service bay.

Helping me out like this was really impressive since the dealership is literally in a different country and they really stand nothing to gain by doing this for me. Myk and others at the dealership were very enthusiastic and interested in stories about the FJ and how it came to look the way it does. All in all a great experience!

After the time I had there as a random dude from 2,000 miles away, imagine how they must treat their legitimate customers!

Day four brought devastating news... a province-wide fire ban was in effect and there would be no shore lunch. NOOOO!!! Oh well, at least there would be fat steaks at the lodge for dinner.

Day three of our fishing adventure brought more crappy weather. Fishing in the morning was slow, also, which is odd since the general feeling is that the fishing improves when the weather sucks for whatever reason.

After being assured relentlessly by my dad (who controls that weather) that there would be nothing but blissful sunshine, we head out for the day into cold, strong winds. At this point I was VERY glad I'd stopped at the Cabelas in Grand Forks for rain gear... boat rides in the high waves and wind were basically like sitting and having 5 gallon buckets of water repeatedly dumped over your head.

One interesting thing about the weather up there though, is how quickly it changes. This is the scene when we stopped for lunch...

Fishing at Wollaston Lake Lodge is always a fantastic time. The location is spectacular and remote, but not without ridiculously luxurious accommodations to return to each night.

To get there you fly from Winnipeg, MB to Points North, SK on a flight basically chartered by lodge.

The start of the day in Winnipeg was VERY interesting... I'd stayed the night at a Comfort Inn near the airport thinking that would be an easy way to relax, use the internet, and be right where I needed to be in the morning. When morning came around though, there was quite the commotion in the parking lot where I'd left the FJ... turns out tons of vehicles back there had their tires slashed! For some reason that I will never fully comprehend, nearly all the cars at the hotel had been vandalized except mine. I'd have thought that expensive-looking tires, huge canvas box on the roof, and gas cans would make me a vandalism gold mine, but thankfully not that night.

Car next to mine...

Highway, highway, highway… boooooring…

Not much else to say. There was a ’scenic’ view sign off the highway pictured below. Maybe I’m just jaded after all that Utah/Yellowstone/etc. stuff…