Planning 2016 Summer Trip - Montana

It's been touch-and-go for the past 9 days. We had our summer trip all outlined, some of the reservations made, and were starting to get excited about it. Then, disaster struck inside the kitchen. Our 8-year-old kitchen had a pipe develop a leak. The leak itself did about $10K worth of damage, most of it (thankfully) covered by insurance. But knowing how long it takes to order new cabinets that will actually match the ones that were not affected, we started to worry about losing our planned vacation.

To top this all, our younger daughter, who lives close by, is expecting her 2nd baby this summer. So our vacation has been carefully planned to try to be home for the birth of our 4th grandbaby, as long as the baby doesn't come too early. It was also planned to avoid certain festivals in the areas that we're planning to go to.

Now it appears that things are going to work out. Whew! So, now I can start asking questions that some of you may be able to answer.

First question: Glacier National Park is very adamant that your vehicle cannot be longer than 21', or wider than 8' (including the mirrors), to drive Going to the Sun Highway. How is that measured? I'm thinking that a standard Super Cab Ford pickup with the fold-out mirrors will be okay. The length is just over 20' (so we're pushing it), but not sure about the width. Our mirrors are permanently mounted. I just don't know if we should go to the trouble of trying to measure the width.

Second question: Does anyone have any experience with the Canada/US border crossing at Waterton Lakes NP (AB), or into Idaho from BC? Both hubby and myself have passports -- I just got my very first one -- anything else I should be thinking about? No kids or pets are traveling with us.

Third question: If you were going to Waterton Lakes for a day visit and a short hike, where would you stay for two nights? Mountain View AB? Or is there a better choice? (In the park hotel seems a bit high for our budget, frankly.)


Donna

1. No problem. You are just under 7 feet wide. You may want to fold the mirrors in.

I was going to say that I have never had a problem crossing the Canadian border anywhere along its length from Maine to Washington and then I remembered a couple of incidents, one of which resulted in my being refused entry and the other resulting in a limited visa. But the first was the result of an overzealous border guard and my own youth (fortunately I just drove to another nearby crossing and had no problems) while the other was an unfortunate bit of forgetfulness on my part during my days as a medical technologist (I carried hypodermic syringes in my glove compartment for occasional house calls). But other than those incidents (and even including them) I have always found both the Canadian border guards and their U.S. counterparts to be professional, courteous, and friendly - particularly at the smaller crossings. In short. This is not something I would lose any sleep over. Just smile and answer any questions they may have and you should be on your way in very short order.

As for where to stay for a night or two near Watertown Lakes, I'd probably be looking at one of the three mid-range motels in Cardston about 30 miles east of Watertown Park (the town). Yes that's a bit of a drive, but the prices are quite reasonable and 30 miles really isn't all that far in the scheme of things.

AZBuck

Glacier NP website says that the measurement must be with the mirrors out. If they aren't, we aren't driving legally anyway. With a camper shell, the rear-view mirror shows not-much, so we'd have to rely on the side mirrors. I'm just wondering if they just blow you through because they know trucks from experience, or if they make you drive into a painted rectangle on the ground and see if you fit, or something.

Our last trip into Canada was before 9/11, which is why I asked that question. I remember being asked how much liquor we had inside the trailer (a bottle of wine), how much food we had (we said a week's worth, but there was probably about 2 weeks of canned and paper goods), and when they boarded the trailer (where there was a big dog crate, with our dog inside it) they asked for the dog's rabies shot verification, which we had. They also asked about guns (none, we knew they were illegal) and camera gear, of which we had probably a little more than the average family. However, everything was etched with our name on it, so they had no further questions about that. (Can't help it if we were, are still are, shutterbugs.) Going back into the US, not so many questions.

Thanks for the comments about Waterton and Cardston. Definitely something to think about. I priced Mountain View and it's almost as high as the Prince of Wales hotel in the park itself.


Donna

As long as your mirrors don't stick out more than 8 inches farther than the regular factory mirrors you are fine. Click the thumbnail:

Attachment 4266

Last time I went to Glacier, they weren't checking.

Next Canadian question: does anyone have a specific app to recommend for dollar/CDN dollar conversions? I'm wondering which ones keep up with the day-to-day fluctuations of the value of the US dollar. (As of a couple of days ago, $1.00 Canadian was .77 American.)

We're going to try to avoid buying diesel on the Canadian side, if we can help it. We'll probably try to drive from East Glacier Park, MT, into Waterton, through Canada, and into the US and fuel up at Bonners Ferry. I did notice, however, that Gas Buddy does have Canadian fuel prices listed.


Donna

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DonnaR57

.... does anyone have a specific app to recommend for dollar/CDN dollar conversions?

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For me, there is nothing worse than checking the conversion daily. It makes for a more relaxing holiday if you just pay what you have to, and forget what it would have cost if.........

Lifey

Just browse to xe.com with your phone, it will load a mobile optimized site.

Hi, Donna:

I agree that there's no sense being preoccupied with the exchange rate, since the only rate that matters is the rate being offered at the bank where you change your dollars into loonies. That close to the border, you'll do fine. Deeper into the interior, the rate tends to be less favorable. And you should definitely avoid buying fuel in Canada--the price difference is painful.

I crossed the border between Waterton and Glacier last year when I returned to the US after driving to Alaska. On the US side, the border was almost like a drive through window. We handed over our passports, answered three or four basic questions, then the guy said "welcome back" and waved us through. We never even got out of the car. I entered Canada six weeks or so earlier at Sumas (Abbotsford) east of Vancouver, which is a much larger crossing. At that one, I was selected for some extra attention, which involved parking my Jeep and walking into a building, where they asked me quite a few questions and checked my name in their database. Seems that if you've ever had a felony conviction, or a DUI, the Canadians won't let you into their country! Fortunately, I've never had such problems, so they smiled and gave me back my passport, bade me welcome, and sent me on my way. Nobody so much as peeked inside my vehicle at any of the border crossings on that journey, and everyone was extremely polite (especially on the Alaskan border--some really great folks up there).

Cardston is a good bet for lodging. I personally stayed in Lethbridge, which is even further, but that was only because we had friends there (and it was free). Going to the Sun Road was closed much of last summer because of the smoke from the fires. I was lucky enough to arrive on the first day it was officially re-opened, so I at least got to drive it. Sadly, it was still so smoky that you could barely see the mountains. And nobody was measuring vehicles. Just be careful when you're passing--the point to the regulation isn't so much about the width of your truck. It's about the lack of width of the road!

Rick

If you're interested, here's a link to a gallery of my pictures from Waterton Lakes. Once it loads, each frame will advance automatically--or you can use the left and right arrows to move faster or back up:

http://www.rcquinn.com/?bw_pt_galler...-national-park

And here are some pics from Glacier NP, most taken off Many Glacier Road (which was not plagued by smoke). The gallery starts with some pictures of horses, a herd that was grazing alongside the road when we drove into Montana:

http://www.rcquinn.com/?bw_pt_galler...l-park-montana

I would agree with others, there's not much point worrying about the daily exchange rate. It really shouldn't change all that much while on the road.

When I was in Canada for a couple weeks last year, I rarely used cash. Plastic is taken pretty much everywhere - and having a card with a chip will be nice - although you'll confuse clerks because it will make you sign instead of using a pin, because the American banking system insists on staying a step beyond the rest of the world. If you have a good card where you don't get slammed with a foreign transaction fee (Capital One is a good one, BoA told me there was no fee, but actually charged me 3%, Discover has no fee, but also gives a lousy exchange rate) it's generally the closest you'll get to the "market" conversion rate.

For changing cash, we only did it twice, and actually we got our best exchange rate of the trip at a tiny bank, in a tiny town, at the northern most point of our trip. It was actually quite a bit better than from the major bank we stopped at while exchanging money in southern Ontario.

BTW - when are you planning to make this trip? I'm also thinking of heading to Montana/Alberta this summer, probably in August.

Credit cards make things easy, for sure, but if your bank charges international transaction fees (as did my credit union) they can add up after a bit. Personally, I used my card for things like gas and hotels and cash for smaller purchases (like donuts and coffee at Tim Horton's). So near the border, most businesses take US dollars as payment, but the rate won't be to your advantage.

One last bit of advice: if you use a Smart Phone, or a tablet with a data service, make sure your service provider includes Canada. If it does not? Turn off "roaming data" in your settings, or put the device into "airplane mode". Otherwise, you may get a rude surprise on your next statement (even if you don't make or receive any calls or text messages).

Most hotels and restaurants offer free wi-fi, so that's what you use instead.

Rick

Yes, International Transaction fees can add up, which is why I would recommend finding a card that doesn't charge them, however, even in cases where they do charge, the fee is typically 2 or 3%. That 2-3% off of the official exchange rate is still often a better rate than what you can get from a cash transaction at a bank or currency exchange.

Very good point about the Data/Roaming. I actually signed up for T-Mobile for one month during my last trip. They allow free roaming into Canada and Mexico, and thus their service north of the border was actually better than it was in the US!

In fact, turn off your data roaming before you even get to the border - I've been hit with data roaming charges on I-8 and I-10 near the Mexican border. The phone locked onto a Mexican tower for a while. It was only a couple of bucks, but it's the principle that galled me.

AT&T offers what they call a Passport Plan, 30 days for $30. It gives you unlimited texting and dollar a minute phone calls, plus limited data (it's really designed for emergencies, not daily use). T-Mobile is a terrific option. The guy who traveled to Mexico with me last fall had their service and it was great, even in the most remote locations. Actually, they contract with local providers in Mexico, and the cell phone infrastructure down there is amazingly good. (There's a reason why Carlos Slim is one of the richest men in the world). I suspect it's the same in Canada--though when you get very far outside the populated areas (like up in the Yukon), there's often no signal at all (so, you don't want to break down). I'd like to think that other phone companies will follow suit with Canada/Mexico plans, if only to stay competitive? But perhaps not. We're all cash cows to those guys.

Rick

We should be home by mid-July, Michael. Thanks for the hints about phone service and foreign transaction fees. I don't recall getting hit by the latter 16 years ago, and we're still at the same bank, so will have to find out for sure. I do remember using mostly plastic and keeping cash only for little things. I had a cell phone ... one ... 16 years ago, but I think I kept it turned off for most of the trip except when in the US (including Alaska).

GLC, I tried to make a call when I was around the Glamis sand dunes near Yuma one time (which is just a short distance from the Mexican border) and got a recording saying that I was going to be charged a foreign roaming fee. I've never been charged extra for "just passing through" that area, but ever since that experience, I haven't picked up my phone to make a call until I was in Yuma or El Centro, where I knew I was on a USA cellular tower.

So I guess I'll be making a call to our cell service provider, and to our bank. Thanks for the heads up!


Donna

Donna, with a smartphone your apps are all doing background stuff, so if you don't turn the data roaming off you WILL be hit with a data roaming charge just passing through.

At the time when I got a recorded message telling me I was going to be billed international for that call, I had a dumb phone. But my bill has been the same every month for the last 2 years. So no data roaming charges to our knowledge! We've been pretty diligent about turning off the GPS locator except when it's needed, so perhaps that's been our saving grace.

Checked with my phone service provider online. $2/day per phone line for a travel passport plan to Canada, which would equate to $4/day for the two of us, for 3 days, makes $12. That keeps us on the same data, text and talk plan as we have here at home. No extra data, but we don't usually use data while on the road except when connected to wi-fi.
Cheap enough. Hubby said we'll do that, because on a long trip, one of us has a phone on at all times. (I have aging parents, and you all may remember when we lost his mom while on our trip 5 years ago.)


Donna

Just have to share my excitement! With the kitchen renovation going better than we had hoped, we went ahead and made a new purchase. We are now owners of TWO digital SLR cameras.

We had been sharing the Canon Rebel T3i that we bought about four years ago. Sometimes one would take our old Sony video camera and the other would take the DSLR. For this trip, though, each of us carrying a still camera will be the order of the day.

Shopping around, but still confirmed Canon camera fans, we ended up with the Rebel T6i. CostCo had a really nice kit: camera body, TWO lenses (we can share that 55-250 zoom), case, 2 batteries, charger, and a 32GB card, for $900. We checked other stores, including the local military exchange, but this was the best deal.

They had another deal on the Rebel T5, but not the T5i. We wanted that swivel screen, and the extra lens clinched the deal for us.

Donna

My kitchen is *finally* finished. We had a pinhole leak that caused us to lose two banks of cabinets, one upper and one lower. Insurance helped out a lot, but not completely since their solution was to dry out the old cabinets and then reinstall them on new drywall, or replace the boxes and reuse the facing of the old one. Of course their solution was to replace our real wood cabinets with some built of particle board. Um....no. We went ahead and put out the money to replace our cabinets completely. Thank goodness, we had purchased top-of-the-line Home Depot Thomasville, they still had the same style and the same finish, and upon arrival 4 wks 2 days later, we discovered that the finish was an exact match to the ones purchased 9 years ago. Whew!!!!!!! We also hired our favorite contractor, the one who has done most of the work on this house for the past 9 years, and knows it inside and out, to do the rehab. Best decision on our part.

What do you all do when you leave your home for a long vacation? In the past, we've walked away just leaving a light or two on timers, shutting down the icemaker on the fridge. Once bitten by a $10K repair (that could have been a LOT worse had we not been home), we're looking to be more careful. Shutting down the water to the house completely is not a possibility, at least not for this year. The sprinkler system for the back yard is tied to the house water, not separate like the front yard. (This is something we may remedy, down the line.) Not sure what else we can do. Anyone have ideas?


Donna

If you are lucky enough to have family live nearby, or a trusted friend, we usually leave a key so they can drop in to check on things and empty the mail box etc. Our neighbour also has said family members phone number in case of any emergency, or if they hear things going on in our property.

Time is coming closer to our departure -- so excited! Taking a "shake down" cruise of sorts - my younger daughter, grandson and I are in the Valley of the Sun for the weekend. We're visiting my folks and picking up a few things that are going to go to my brother's (He is now in KS, no longer in NJ). I've already added a couple of things to my packing list.

Going back to the banking discussion -- most of Canada (and the modern European countries) are far ahead of the US, I've discovered, in that they use chip readers for plastic. I was happy to discover that a bit early, so that we could annoy our banking institutions to get us some chipped cards to replace the non-chipped cards before we leave.


Donna

Even with the chip cards, Canada is still far ahead of the US when in comes to banking, because Canada and Europe use Chip and PIN, while the US is still doing Chip and Sign.

When you use your chip card in Canada, you'll probably get some puzzled clerks when the machine prints out a slip for you to sign - if you're visiting places that don't see a lot of US tourist. For that same reason, you may still have difficulty using even a chip card in places like pay-at-the-pump gas.

It's also worth noting that your "old fashioned" swipe cards will still work in Canada, even though the vast majority of purchases are made via chip.

Our trip plans don't call for us to go very deep into the interior of Canada. AAMOF, we think we'll get by without buying any fuel in Canada at all, as long as we fuel up before we leave the US and then fuel up when we return a few days later. The only things I anticipate spending money on, in Canada, is lodging and food.

I ran into Chip and Pin in several places in recent days (one of our cards is a chipped card already). So hopefully the US is "catching up".


Donna

You've seen chip and pin in the US? I've never seen that anywhere here - most cards aren't set up to allow it. Even my debit card, which has a pin, automatically runs itself as a credit with a signature when I use the chip reader.

I ran into chip-and-PIN again just yesterday. Walmart!

Bank charges 3% fee for each transaction in Canada. Not too bad!

Phone allows me to turn off roaming when near any border -- I used it when we ran over to Tempe again on Friday (and returned on Saturday with more stuff for my brother; I feel like a moving company!). I can turn off data roaming, voice roaming, whatever.


Donna

What we're finding with the debit/credit chipped cards:

Many places in the US still not set up for chipped cards. They have the hardware, but not the software.

Those that do, in the US, vary on whether it's chip-and-sign, or chip-and-pin.

Canadian side: chips common. That, too, varies. Some card readers realize that this is a US card and we have been required, in more than one place, to enter our pin AND sign the slip.

Border crossing: for us, this was not difficult. We approached with smiles, cheery greetings, just like we do when we go through CBP (Customs & Border Patrol) checkpoints in the southwestern US. We were asked by the Canadians to present our passports, and please shut down our diesel engine since it was loud. :-) He asked about firearms, weapons, guns, "NO." Asked us where we were headed, "Waterton and points west, reentering the US in Idaho in a couple of days". He told us to have a great trip, and sent us on. Easy.

I had amassed two lists, "just in case". One was of the electronics/cameras that we had with us, and the other was of the medications with us. Neither was asked for. We had read on another website, this may be asked for, so I put it together.


Donna