Grande Prairie, Alberta to Grande Cache, Alberta
Miles Driven Today:
119 miles
Total Miles of Trip:  
2,388 miles
Hours on the Road:  
5:15 hours
Started At:  
10:30 am
Stopped for the Day:  
3:45 pm
    We finally saw a moose today!  I was beginning to fear that we were going to be the only people to drive through Alaska and all of Western Canada without seeing a single moose.  No antlers but, hey, it's a moose!

    We had another short day today, only a little over 100 miles to Grande Cache, AB, so we went by Safeway to stock up on things for lunch
Driving it Home
Montana Majestic Mountain T Tour
On The Road Again
Yellowstone then Home
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Runs great...
  ....Drive it home.
Runs great...
      ....Drive it home.
Day 30 - Friday, July 23, 2010
Getting to Anchorage
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July 24.pdf
   Contact Us      About Ben & Nancy
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on the road and started out.  Our backseat is so filled that, even with  the cover, we look like Oakies going west.  I swear, all we need are three kids and a chicken.

    After the traffic of Grande Prairie, it was good to be back on a road mostly inhabited by tourists and truckers.  In this part of the country, there are multiple roads to choose from and business traffic would take a more direct route than we did.  Highway 40, between Grande Prairie and Grande Cache, has one hill after another, often with grades of 7% or above.  The views from the mountains were of tree-filled valleys and, in the distance, snow-covered peaks.  Some of the valleys held rivers but most were simply a staging ground for the next hill.  And other than campgrounds and provincial parks, there was very little commercial and almost no residential.

    After driving nearly 90 miles, we stopped at Sheep Creek Provincial Park in search of "facilities" and a place to have lunch. A couple named Vince and Cheryl came over to check out the car and during the conversation, they mentioned being from Grande Cache.  I asked them if they knew Vic Patterson, a Model T man we were planning to visit.  It turned out that Vince and our friend Vic had worked together for years.   So here we were, in the woods by a pretty river, and we meet people who know the one person we know in 500 miles!

    Grande Cache is  a lovely little town at the top of a mountain.  After crossing a wood-decked bridge over the Smoky River, you climb up an 8% grade for nearly 4 miles into town. When we leave tomorrow, we will go back down the mountain on the other side.  Next weekend, they will host their annual "Death Race" where 1,500 people will come from all over the world to run a course through this and three other nearby mountain peaks.  The course is 125 kilometers and must be run in 24 hours or less.  And people think WE are crazy!

    We met Vic Patterson when we came though here in 2001.  He had emailed us when he saw we were coming his way and arranged a lunch for us with several local officials.  We still have the mountain goat town mascot they gave us.  Vic and his brother had built a Model T Ton Truck, almost entirely on their own, through information they got off the web and the MTFCA Forum.  They still have the only Model T in several hundred miles.  We were so impressed at the time and were glad to get better acquainted with him and his wife Dot again tonight.  He is working on a 1920 Canadian Touring car now, again doing his research on the internet.  He has just  retired so we're hoping to see him on a tour someday.

    It's been a great day to be driving a Model T.  Tomorrow, we start several days in Jasper and Banff National Parks, some of the most beautiful places on earth.  Are we lucky or what?
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Highway 40 from Grande Prairie to Grande Cache, Alberta
Our first moose!  Was she saying, “Oh, my first Model T?”  I do
If you look carefully, you can see the road going up, down, up
Our picnic lunch at Sheep Creek Provincial Park.
The road into Grande Cache rises steeply from the  wood-decked
Vic Patterson of Grande Cache checks out our Touring after dinn
Ben laughing while thinking up potential  captions for the moos
“Hey!  What you want! Haven’t you ever seen a moose before? Dar