1. Russ and Tom saved the day by picking up Scott’s parts from Ron Fitzpatrick (Team G503) in North Dakota and delivering them to him in Canada.
Engine parts delivered to the machine shop in Canada:
Below is a Facebook video created by Scott Schiller that about Scott’s parts. Not all of you will likely be able to view it, but I only have a FB version of the video to share:
2. Marcelo and Dario made it to Edmonton last night. They are staying at the airport Renaissance Hotel through Friday until Andreas arrives by plane at 9:30pm.
3. Merlin and Joe drove from Plentywood, Montana, to Glacier National Park yesterday. Apparently one of the places they’d planned to stay on Wednesday in Plentywood scared them, as it felt like a big emtpy lot where people go to be eaten by clowns. However, a second campsite was a nice public campground. I’m sure their stay in Glacier NP was nice last night!
4. Bill and Jim continue to pass through the flat lands of central Canada. They’re glamping tonight with the big busses and campers. He thinks Kevin might cut down one of the trees to make a fire!
5. I believe Scott and Bob were installing the engine last night. No updates at the time as they are too busy. We’ll know more today.
6. Marty said goodbye to his wife and kids and he and Don headed up to Rob’s last night. They will leave this morning.
Marty even made up this map so his kids could follow their journey:
7. Team Patterson and Operation Pineapple made their way from High River, AB, to Grand Cache by way of Banff and Jasper National Parks. (view the full eWillys post here)
At a gas station in Otokos two young signees for Patterson were excited to sign the jeep.
Leaving Otokos behind, we only got lost once (my bad) on our way to Highway 1, which took us into Banff National Park. Now, for those that don’t know, visiting the Canadian National Parks is free this year. It seems I’m not the only person to know this because their were cars and people all over! It was so crowded, that we had to skip places like the town of Banff, as my maneuverability towing Patterson is very limited.
After we split off from Highway 1 at Lake Louise and headed north toward Jasper, traffic lessened some, so that was good. But, there were few options for us to pull over. The trek through the parks just isn’t well built for rigs towing vehicles or RVs. Eventually, I was able to pull off on the side of the road at one overlook, but cars were passing by at 55 MPH.
There were certainly some beautiful views, but in the end there was too much traffic and too few turnouts.
After we exited Jasper NP, we took the spur road to Grand Cache. That road was much more peaceful. And, it even had some nice pullouts.
When we reached Grand Cache, we quickly found our hotel. Almost as quickly, a gentleman wandered up to tell me he’d never seen a two-wheel-drive Wlllys before. I was surprised he recognized that, but he explained that he’d been a mechanic for 35 years, so he knew a thing or two about vehicles. I asked him to sign Patterson:
A little later in the evening our stretch of cloudless, sunny days came to an end as a small storm blew over the town of Grand Cache:
On Thursday we have a short drive to Dawson Creek.