12. Agony loves to drive, especially on almost empty, well-maintained, modern highways through breath-taking scenery. One of her favourites is the David Thompson Highway.
Where is the David Thompson?
From Quiz Have Guild, Will Travel - Guilders Favourites
Answer:
Western Canada
I hope the name was a clue - David Thompson was a map-maker, surveyor and fur trader in northwestern North America in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He mapped nearly four million square kilometers of wilderness in his years with the Hudson Bay Company and North West Company.
The David Thompson Highway runs from central Alberta into the Rocky Mountains. My favourite portion is the 180 kilometers from the town of Rocky Mountain House to the intersection with the Icefields Parkway, which is the highway from Banff to Jasper that runs through the heart of the Rockies. I don't really understand why this wonderful stretch of road is so underused when other highways into the mountains are crammed with cars and RVs all summer, except that it might be because it doesn't lead to a town, just dead-ends at the Parkway.
A few years ago we were driving down the highway about fifty kilometers east of the Banff Park gate when we saw a few cars stopped on the shoulder. This is a good indication of wildlife near the road, so we slowed. A mother black bear and her two cubs were maybe thirty feet off, eating berries and playing in the open scrub nearby. We sat there for nearly half an hour, and no more than a dozen more cars came along in that time, all of which also drifted to a stop and stayed to watch the cubs play. Alas, eventually some bozo came screeching along, slammed to a stop and leapt out of the car, camera in hand. With one cough from the mother, all three bears instantly disappeared.