Planning a trip in Canada (Trans-Canada-Highway)?

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carson

carson

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This is from reliable (second-hand - Family) information:

Just a bit of caution when travelling from BC to Ontario or the other way. About the only reliable fast route is the Trans-Canada-Highway 1.

My caution is from the Alberta Border to the Ontario border. (Saskatchewan and Manitoba). There are great stretches of the route between larger cities that used to have a lot of small farm towns along the way.
  Most of them have now been displaced by HUGE ranches/Farms. This means that Gasoline and Diesel fuel are very scarce in those stretches. It was also reported that the roadbed leaves a bit to be desired in quality. So plan ahead with this in mind. Would'nt want to see anyone run out of fuel with nothing in sight as far as the eye can see. (The horizon- it's flat country there).
  Fill the tank every chance you get.

From Western Ontario towards the East, I cannot comment.

This is one man's opinion, perhaps we can get some comments from the local RV community there.I am not trying to discourage anyone from travelling, it's big, beautiful, serene countryside.

carson FL

 
Depending on how far north you want to travel, Highway 16 from Edmonton to Winnipeg is also a major well-serviced route.  Through Ontario, highways 11 or 17 are well serviced.  Once you get into southern Ontario, you won't be able to tell it apart from south of the border (other than the KpH signs anyway  :)

Your best bet is to buy a road atlas of the area and follow the more major roads if you have limited range.  The dangers you mention of finding yourself miles from nowhere stuck on 'E' is only likely on the smaller secondary roads.  One can always ask locally with regard to services on the roads.  Tractors use diesel too.  Some of the nicest traveling in the country is on the backroads.  Even secondary highways in Alberta are well paved.  I cannot comment on Saskatchewan or Manitoba as I haven't been out that way in years.

Canada is not quite the wilderness that some imagine it to be.  We have to work hard to find a quiet place to go camping just outside of the Calgary area.  :(

Frank.
 
Hi, FrankB,

Just want to clarify that did not include Alberta or BC in my post. It's the Sask. and Manitoba stretches that pose a bit of a problem. My family member had to beg for some "PURPLE" gas from a farmer in order to keep on going. (Purple gas is illegal for use in private vehicles).
Most large farmers/ranchers have their own fuel depots on their properties now.

In any case, thanks for your post. I have travelled Alta and BC and the prairies many times, but thats a good number of years ago. Lived in Vancouver for 20 years.

carson FL
 
carson said:
Hi, FrankB,

Just want to clarify that did not include Alberta or BC in my post. It's the Sask. and Manitoba stretches that pose a bit of a problem. My family member had to beg for some "PURPLE" gas from a farmer in order to keep on going.

carson FL
Click to expand...

We drove from Winnepeg to Edmonton without any problems or  difficulty getting fuel.

One place when getting fuel was tight and my toad was hanging out in street. I saw the policeman knocking on my wife's window and talking to her. I yelled up I am almost finished!

But I found out he was tying to induce us into staying a few days as they were having a local festival and celebratiion and had a place for us to park at his house.

But we thanked him and after having a hard time getting away from him, we always regret we did not stay over and take up his offer! (Guess we all have such regrets in out travels)

The countryside is beautiful and we had several laughs with some displays the farmers put up on their frames to entertain us. One was a little toy house sitting on an old stove and sign said 'Home on the Range!'

Bob

 
I live in Saskatchewan and I will try to shed some light on your questions.
Although there are long stretches between cities, every town along the way is easily accessed from the highway and almost all have gas and many will have diesel.  The distance between cities is as follows:
Medicine Hat, Alberta to Swift Current, Saskatchewan-1.5 hours
Swift Current to Regina, Saskatchewan-2.5 hours
Regina to Brandon, Manitoba-4 hours
Brandon to Winnipeg-2 hours.
Unless you are getting really bad mileage you will be fine.
Many of the small towns in between are closed after 8:00 PM, but the cities I mentioned have 24 gas and diesel.
The trans canada highway is the best way to go.  It's not perfect, but in no way will do any kind of damage to your unit.
Hope this helps.
 
My wife & I have travelled this great country from west to east. There was no place that we had trouble finding fuel, this includes Saskatchewan & Manitoba. In Ontario we were on the the northern route where there is a 220 kilometer stretch of road with no services. There was fuel at both ends of that & if you can not go that far, you can not afford to be RV'ing. From Ontario east there is no problem finding fuel.
 
My husband and I traveled all over Canada from Ontario to BC east to west, even through Manit & Sask last Fall and did not have any trouble finding fuel anywhere.  We were on TransCan major highways.  The roads were good; but mostly 2 lane.  It was a great way to see Canada. 

Not sure why your family member had trouble; perhaps poor planning?  :-\

Marsha~
 
Marsha,
    My SIL (Sister in Law) never plans until it's too late. She is the adventurous sort, I call it flaky,(snicker).

However, I've traveled the same route several times myself some years ago without difficulties, because I do plan. But things have definitely changed in the last 20 years, I am sure. A lot of us Americans expect to see large gas stations at interchanges, well, there are no large interchanges in the prairies. My point was to not pass the last gas station on half a tank unless you are approaching a larger city or town.

Road quality? Ask my SIL.
carson FL

 
We have traveled all over Sask and Manitoba on the back roads and have never saw a town that had beernreplaced by farm land.
Perhaps if you are traveling 24/7 you may find problems late at night finding fuel, but not during normal hours. In fact we are in Alberta
now and have been through some really small places, but they all have fuel.

Dave
 
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