We barely landed at the airport from Iceland and Todd was already making deals ….. he loves FB marketplace, auctions and anything else that gets him “a deal”! We hopped in the car at airport parking and went to go check out a potential new tow car to replace Trixie the Tracker. Not that Trixie isn’t good….she just isn’t comfortable for drives longer than 30 mins and her A/C is finnicky and she’s loud and the radio/stereo doesn’t work and I think you get the picture! Finding a new tow vehicle has been a challenge….because you can’t flat tow all vehicles, only certain vehicles and we are picky apparently. The day before we left for Iceland, Todd found out about this 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel from his friend Max…. He contacted the owner and said can you hold it for 2 weeks until we get back? So fast forward to airplane landing, we drove directly from the airport parking to see this vehicle. Lets just say when we pulled up, I immediately thought lets just pay the guy and “START THE CAR”! It was a no brainer that we needed this tow vehicle. Also, probably the nicest car Todd will ever own in his life! Welcome to the family Jane the Jeep!
It was still very fall like when we arrived back home and the weather was surprisingly decent. So less than a week later, we loaded Ruby up and headed to the mountains. Tunnel Mountain was our choice destination….its close enough but far enough removed from Banff town center, that it has the best of both worlds. And for the first time we didn’t bring a tow car, just our bikes. There are so many great things about RV’ing at Tunnel Mountain II campground:
- It’s open year around
- It’s reasonably priced for a National Park
- Very big rig friendly
- 50-amp power
- Unlimited firewood
- Most of the spots are very flat, so levelling is not an issue
- Great scenery
- mountain animals like deer and Elk
Campfire, with wood that I split!
Our new favourite thing about this campground, is that you can ride your bike down to Banff town center, tour around, stop and see sites, eat, have bevvies and then catch the Roam bus back to the campsite for $2/person! Every Roam bus has a bike rack on the front, so very convenient to get back up the hill to the campground. We spent 4 nights, 3 days here biking, walking, hiking, eating, snacking, campfiring and all the things we love. Tunnel-mtn.html
It was a short week back at the homestead land leading up to Canadian Thanksgiving. When I wasn’t driving to the hospital in Calgary to see my good friend recover from the “Great incident of 2025”, we were prepping for winter at the family land (splitting wood, clearing leaves, fixing heaters). Our Thanksgiving long weekend plans changed a few times before they were finalized and this is how it went:
- There was a small group of us at the family land on the Friday night (Todd’s mum, his oldest son and fiancé)
- Followed by a slightly bigger group for turkey on Saturday night (Todd’s mum, sisters and a boyfriend)
- Then on Sunday morning we took Ruby and headed slightly north to Rocky Mountain House, AB with our soon to be in-laws, at their annual family celebration, which they held at their company headquarters ( Helaventures.com/ ) a short 20 km west of RMH. (Here we had both Todd’s boys in attendance, along with the in-laws side)
It was a good thing we have VERY good winter tires on Ruby, since Mother Nature shed her first snowfall upon us that morning. It was just shy of a 2-hour drive to get there, the snow was getting deeper and Ruby looked a little worse for wear. We had a fantastic time meeting the extended family, eating all the food, celebrating all things we are thankful for and learning the best card game Smear! Thanksgiving.html
As October rolls on, we will be heading up to Cold Lake, AB to help Todd’s oldest and his fiancé pack-up their house and life, and prepare for their new life in Terrace, BC in November! We look forward to taking Ruby up there next summer. ( Terrace, BC )