Driving "across" Canada

[FlamesAddiction]

I've done the trip from BC to Ontario several times. Starting from BC, I'd probably be staying in different place than you would be, plus I usually put in really long days. (I once drove from Thunder Bay to Edmonton in 24 straight hours - only stopping for gas).

The only advice I'd give you is watch your speed between Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie (Somewhere around Wawa). There is a park that you drive through where the RCMP are relentless. Also, there is a restaurant off the highway somewhere around Blind River (simply called "Roadhouse") where I had the best hamburger of my life.

[Locke]

I've done this 'oval' before, back the Twilight of my youth!

Granted, I didnt do it in 2 weeks, but this is the advice I'll give you, make periodic stops with your buds to see some of the cool stuff along the way, because being stuck in a car that long will eventually net you all a terminal case of cabin fever until at some point someone will snap and eat Jerry in the back seat.

You'll tear one another limb from limb just for being in the same car. At some point, you may grow to hate that car, because I'll tell you something about this great nation of ours:

Its big. And I mean, its really, really, BIG.

It takes a long, long, time to drive across it, and in my experience, the worst stretch is Kenora to Thunder Bay. Take the Ferry to Owen Sound, the Ferry trip alone is worth it.

Honestly, it was a lot of fun, I did it in about 7 weeks because we stayed places and saw stuff and it was pretty cool the whole way through, the car can be uncomfortable at times, are you all in one car or two? How many of you are going?

[You Need a Thneed]

Are you hotelling it?

For Moose jaw, Temple Gardens Mineral Spa is a nice hotel (a little expensive) but you can soak in the hot tub inside or outside.

Hopkin's Restaurant has pretty good wings, in downtown Moose Jaw, really neat restaurant too, built in a converted old mansion of a house.

[HalifaxDrunk]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

funny, me and a buddy are planning a two week roadtrip to the east coast next year, since i've never been further east than Saskatchewan. gonna take two weeks off and do a big oval, dropping down to the states for the drive back

i love road trips to places i've never been, so i'm really looking forward to this trip

Let me know when your down here and we'll hook up for a beer. I can also forward you info on what to see/do around here.

[kermitology]

Why are people pooping on Winnipeg? I like that place.. in the summer.

The highway between Winnipeg and Kenora is being upgraded to two lane, so it's a bit of a boondogle at the moment, just as an FYI. At least it was in July when I was there.

Never done the hump over Lake Superior, I went South through Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan to Port Huron/Sarnia. Have fun. Road trips are awesome.

But don't be a sissy. You can get from Calgary to Winnipeg in a day.

[starseed]

Originally Posted by kermitology

Why are people pooping on Winnipeg? I like that place.. in the summer.

The highway between Winnipeg and Kenora is being upgraded to two lane, so it's a bit of a boondogle at the moment, just as an FYI. At least it was in July when I was there.

Never done the hump over Lake Superior, I went South through Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan to Port Huron/Sarnia. Have fun. Road trips are awesome.

But don't be a sissy. You can get from Calgary to Winnipeg in a day.

I did Thunderbay to just outside the Alberta border before I wussed out and had to pull over. Big mistake. When I woke up a couple hours later I went back on the road (around 3am), as I got past Medicine Hat I went through the worst thunderstorm I ever drove through.

Before that storm my car was caked in bug remains, afterwards it looked like new.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Locke

It takes a long, long, time to drive across it, and in my experience, the worst stretch is Kenora to Thunder Bay.

I contend that the worst stretch is Brandon to Medicine Hat. The road sucks and it's just field after field after field.

Originally Posted by kermitology

Why are people pooping on Winnipeg? I like that place.. in the summer.

The highway between Winnipeg and Kenora is being upgraded to two lane, so it's a bit of a boondogle at the moment, just as an FYI. At least it was in July when I was there.

Never done the hump over Lake Superior, I went South through Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan to Port Huron/Sarnia. Have fun. Road trips are awesome.

But don't be a sissy. You can get from Calgary to Winnipeg in a day.

Driving the north side of Lake Superior is gorgeous. I highly recommend it. Do it in the daytime and in the fall. Amazing.


Also, some of those big American cities are quite interesting. Just amazing how big they are and their road infrastructure, etc. Chicago and Detroit stick out in my mind. And I remember in Milwaukee there was an exit from one highway to another that I had to take that swooped right past an office building at around the sixth floor.
Some of the interchanges in those cities are like a tangled mess of spaghetti. On ramps and off ramps everywhere. Sometimes three, four or five major roads interchanging. On ramps coming in from underground into the left lane. Tunnels galore. Bridges that are way higher than anything in Calgary.
I know, I'm a driving fiend.

[Finny61]

I've made the trip a couple of times, going east I'd recommend Moose Jaw, then Thunder Bay. Leave early from Thunder Bay because it's a long haul to TO and the rest of Southern Ontario.

Brandon is my preference if you have to stop in Manitoba.

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I contend that the worst stretch is Brandon to Medicine Hat. The road sucks and it's just field after field after field.

A few weeks ago I drove from Winnipeg to Calgary in one day and while I can attest that it is a bit of a boring drive the road quality is improving as they are resurfacing a good chunk of it between Brandon and Regina.

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

funny, me and a buddy are planning a two week roadtrip to the east coast next year, since i've never been further east than Saskatchewan. gonna take two weeks off and do a big oval, dropping down to the states for the drive back

i love road trips to places i've never been, so i'm really looking forward to this trip

Wow, sounds like a heck of a trip. A lot of driving packed into those two weeks.

We're planning on doing a "US" oval -- over to Seattle, down to Portland, down the coast of California to San Diego, and then back up through Vegas, Utah, and Montana. Lots of places to stop along the way, so we're doing it four weeks.

[10W30]

I would reccomend a few east coast changes. Maybe instead of backtracking from Halifax all the way back to Woodstock NB and then south on I95, to drive from Halifax to Digby or Yarmouth and Take the ferry to either St. John (from Digby) or to Maine from Yarmouth.. I think the Yarmouth ferries are a bit more expensive though. At the very least I would reccomend to head to St. John after you leave Moncton instead of backtracking though Fredricton to Woodstock and the I95.
If you go to St. John, the US border is about an hour further south with a "shortcut" road (the Airline) to Bangor where you can rejoin the I95.

You may want to route through PEI too, wouldn't add to much more time/cost to your trip and would have the "been there" factor covered.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Locke

I've done this 'oval' before, back the Twilight of my youth!

Granted, I didnt do it in 2 weeks, but this is the advice I'll give you, make periodic stops with your buds to see some of the cool stuff along the way, because being stuck in a car that long will eventually net you all a terminal case of cabin fever until at some point someone will snap and eat Jerry in the back seat.

You'll tear one another limb from limb just for being in the same car. At some point, you may grow to hate that car, because I'll tell you something about this great nation of ours:

Its big. And I mean, its really, really, BIG.

It takes a long, long, time to drive across it, and in my experience, the worst stretch is Kenora to Thunder Bay. Take the Ferry to Owen Sound, the Ferry trip alone is worth it.

Honestly, it was a lot of fun, I did it in about 7 weeks because we stayed places and saw stuff and it was pretty cool the whole way through, the car can be uncomfortable at times, are you all in one car or two? How many of you are going?

just me and one friend are going in my car. we're not planning any of this out other than the route i posted, we'll figure out where to stay and what to see along the way. the only things i want to make sure to check out are the big landmarks (CN Tower, Empire State Building, Sears Tower, etc) and i'd like to check out a ball game in either Fenway Park or Wrigley Field

i think 2 weeks should be good since Google lists the trip as 10,000 km at 4 days 16 hours of straight driving. factoring sleep in, i think we should be able to have roughly a week of driving then another 5-6 days to sightsee and whatnot. i might end up just booking off a few extra days though just in case, so we won't feel rushed to get back to Calgary on time

it also helps that my friend is from Ontario and knows the area quite well and will have some friend/family hookups that we can stay at. and HD i'll definitely have to get in contact with you when we're there, it'll probably be at the end of August next year. would be nice to have a beer with some eastern Flames fans

[Redliner]

How fast do you want to get there? Last time I drove to Montreal we did it in 4 days on the way out. Day 1 was Calgary-Brandon, day 2 was Brandon-Dryden, day 3 was Dryden-Sault Ste-Marie, and day 4 from the Soo to Montreal. This was running 10-12 hour days in the car, and keeping an average speed around 110. We could have done it faster but the clutch went out on our car just outside of Winnipeg and we had to pay a mechanic triple time to stay late on New Years Eve and fix it. Ouch.

We did much better on the way back. We left Montreal at 8 pm on a Friday night and got back to Calgary at 2 pm on Sunday afternoon. We stopped twice to sleep in the car for about 3 hours - once just outside of Sudbury and then again near Portage la Prairie. Other than that, we just drove like hell. I have never wanted to get out of a vehicle so badly in my life, and I don't recommend this approach to anyone.

I agree with the posters complaining about the stretch of driving through northern Ontario. Once you leave Kenora, it all blurs together until you hit Sault Ste-Marie. Seriously, it's like one of those old Spiderman comics - you feel like you're just driving past the same 5 buildings over and over again.