Masters of RVing Adventures

We left Diamond Valley and Calgary behind as we drove through Banff National Park. Last night and for the next several days we are camping at David Thompson Resort (“resort” is a matter of interpretation, but more on the campground later). We are almost straddling the line between Banff and Jasper National Parks, near the Columbia Ice Fields, which we plan to tour tomorrow (7/17). In my opinion, the Canadian Rockies are more majestic than the US Rocky Mountains. We can drive for miles (oops, kilometers) and never tire of the beautiful views.

The ‘Resort’

Perhaps I should begin with a few photos, but I think I’ll intersperse them in the dialogue. Let’s start with arrival. I’ve previously mentioned the chaos that occurs when six Big Rigs roll into these campgrounds. We provide quite an entertaining show for the other campers, with comments like “These are the biggest campers we’ve ever seen!” “Everything is big in America!” “How do you drive these big things?” “I’m not sure you are going to get in your site,” and so goes the conversations. To say the least, we are the talk of the campground upon arrival. We are meeting so many interesting and friendly Canadians! [My Canadian friend, Iole, has repeatedly told me her country is full of friendly folks!]

Anyway, back to arrival… The two teenagers behind the check-in counter do not speak English very well, so trying to get them to understand our rig sizes in feet/meters is our first challenge. We’ve discovered thus far that Canadian campgrounds hold a spot to account for the number of sites they have. They do not assign the specific campsite upon making a reservation. We are the third in our group for them to attempt to find us a camp spot. The two before us are put on the last row of the campground with 30-Amp power and water (no sewer). We are learning water and electric is called a 2-way reservation. A 3-way reservation is water, electric and sewer. However, it really doesn’t matter what you think you’ve reserved, you get whatever they give you upon arrival.

Anyway, back to arrival… they tell us we are too large to fit in a site like we reserved (a 3-way). All they have left will only fit a 20′ camper. “OK – what do you have we can fit in?” I attempt to ask, using hand signals to help communicate. “Can we go in the same row as our other friends?” Nope those are all booked, including sites for the remainder of our party (somehow). Are we sure we are 41′ long, because they have a 40 foot site available. Somehow, I get her to understand we are going to walk the site to see what we are dealing with, because it is this site or nothing, she resolutely declares.

Mark and I burst out laughing at seeing the site. It will easily fit Jack and Cheeto! Oh, but wait, there is just one minor detail she forgot to share. As we inspect the site, we learn we only have 15-Amp electric service. Now, that would normally not be a problem for us, as we have a generator. But this ‘Resort’ does not allow you to operate your generator. (Actually, the entire campground is powered solely by a large generator. From previous occurrences, they are terrified that campers running their individual generators not set up properly with transfer switches will cause a resort-wide blackout.)

Anyway, back to arrival… we are now snuggly in our 15-Amp site, with our voltage wildly fluctuating between 99 and 144 volts. Mark requests maintenance to come take a look at the power pole. Another teenager arrives on a golf cart, carrying a hair dryer. She plugs in the hair dryer, turns it on, and tells Mark it works fine. Mark shows her on our voltage meter how the volts are dropping and tries to explain it doesn’t matter for a hairdryer, it matters for the electronics in the rig. That was way over her head. She shrugs, says it appears to be working except for when others might be running their air conditioners, and drives off.

For those less electrically inclined, this means any voltage less than 105 or greater than 131, can cause damage to our rig. So, since we still have most of our trip to go, we are being extra cautious and living off our batteries! (Mark would love to go in much more detail, but in the most basic form, we have to recharge the batteries each night. And no AC, no using the stove, no abundance of lights, and no multi-use of appliances!)

Fun times camping this week at the David Thompson Resort!

Hey, but the views are incredible!

Views to the left, front, and right of our campsite.