WEDNESDAY AUGUST 6

On our way to Jasper, Alberta, we were following a truck a little too closely (as usual) , and were rewarded with a shower of gravel.

Result: one broken windshield. In less time than it takes to say it, we had installed an emergency makrolon windshield that Christian had had the good sense to bring with him. We stopped a the first glass shop that we found.

Once he got over his initial surprise at seeing our 2CV, the owner custom-cut a fabulous tinted, triplex windshield, better than the original!

After settling up the bill for the repair (100 French Francs!), we couldn't part company until we had shared a cup of coffee, and taken a souvenir photo of the owner and his wife with our 2CV.  There are sure to be stories told for a long time in Canadian cottages about that weird car for which you can cut a windshield from a piece of window glass!

Jasper is the beginning of the Rockies. We camp at «Marmot Meadow» which lives up to its name, since the next day we are delighted to  have marmots coming to eat out of our hands.  Marmots are charming animals, but we are a little less comfortable when the ranger tells us that it is common for there to be bears wandering around the campsite at night. It is strongly recommended, once night comes, to lock up all the food, dirty dishes, soap and toothpaste in steel lockers, located at the entrance to the camp.

We learn too that bears have a very good sense of smell, and that it is recommended not to wash too much with scented soap, and not to wear perfume. There's another reason that Davy Crocket didn't shower every day!  We also had noticed some strange rugby posts around the campsite.  Now we learn their purpose:  They are used at night with ropes to hang up foodstuffs likely to attract bears! We are told that this is the bears' home, that they were here long before people, and that they are protected. Nonetheless, if a bear is found going through the garbage, it is put to sleep, tagged, and transported several hundred kilometers by helicopter, where it is released in the woods. If it is found again at a garbage site, it will be killed, because a bear that gets used to finding food so easily becomes dangerous.

We are (almost) so used to the mosquitos, that we start to feel sorry for the bears... especially when they cross the road nonchalantly in front of the hood of our 2CV.

Careful : Bear Crossing !

The crossing of the Rockies (more than 800 km) allows us to discover the most beautiful sights in Canada: magnificent glaciers, and lakes that change colour with every hour of the day.

We pay a quick visit to Takakklaw Falls («marvellous» in the local Indian language), higher than the Eiffel Tower (384 metres).

We take a moment at «Rogers Pass» to remember the hardy pioneers who connected the eastern and western sections of the TransCanada highway here in 1962. A pretty tough job when you realize that, on average 9 metres of snow fall here every year!

We leave the Rockies, and within a hundred kilometers, we go from a mountain climate to a semi-desert: the Okanagan Valley, where a huge variety of fruit, including peaches, grapes, and apricots grow.

Peoples' behaviour is different too, and we start to think we have landed in the south of Spain.