First, a few photos of scenes along the way…
We woke to our first and last morning at the KOA in Canbrook. Scott did a soak in the hot tub as soon as it opened at 8AM, then we puttered around the campground until 9:30AM or so – our next stop was the Cranbrook History Centre, which was largely a train museum and opened at 10AM. We bought the most expensive experience you could purchase – two tours of two different sets of train cars, including the 7 cars of the 1929 “Trans-Canada Limited” (a classic “Jazz Era Art Deco” design), the former “millionaires express” train that crossed Canada bypassing the scenic plains but poorer sections of the Rockies.
By purchasing the two tours, we saw all the cars that are on public display. Scott was most impressed by the intricate inlaid designs on both sets of cars – on the first tour we saw a stateroom that had carried John F. Kennedy, Winston Churchill, and Princess Elizabeth (two months before she was coronated as Queen.) In what seems like an incredible crime, on the Trans-Canada limited these beautiful inlaid wood panels were painted over with institutional green, which the museum volunteers spend countless hours removing.
To illustrate the two eras, they right side of the train was restored to its 1929 beauty and the left side was left as it was “modernized” in the 60s or so.
One of the aspects of the Trans-Canada Limited that was particularly fascinating was the third water tap on every sink for “dental water”. This was a cool water source that the porters created by breaking up ice blocks and dropping then into special water tanks.
Here are some more scenes from onboard the trains.
We broke for lunch in the camper, then returned to see the exhibits. James Baker, one of the early leaders of Cranbrook was either “a visionary or an opportunist”, Apparently, “opportunist” is the worst thing you can call an early politician in Canada. Among the things he is accused of is maneuvering to have the railroad go through Cranbrook, rather than the nearby town of Fort Steele (the town which apparently had a good museum complex, but it was closed until Spring when we drove through.) Shades of Rockridge in “Blazing Saddles.”
After touring the railroad, we moved across the border into the US in Eastport, and were briefly detained for bringing fruits and vegetables into the US. We had been unnecessarily concerned about this entering Canada – even cooking all our potatoes beforehand – but the nice Canadian folks never asked. However, the US agriculture guy – who had lots of time on his hands on this little-used crossing – went through our bananas, cooked chicken, cooked potatoes, and such, and declared that the cherry tomatoes and the mandarin oranges were “prohibited” and they were confiscated. We were then on the way to Blackwell Island RV Resort on the Spokane River in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. A nice place, with incredibly bad WIFI, so we’re using Starlink again. There is an expensive looking Marina adjacent to the campsite.
After debating the many restaurant choices in Coeur d’Alene, we settled on a BBQ food truck a few minutes away, and despite the fact that they were out of several items at 6:10PM (they close at 7,) we found good stuff and brought it back to the camper.
