Hell ya, couple hammers there Dewayne!! Thanks for sharin. Always scope out that herd on the west side of crows nest pass at that big coal mine on my way to Alberta.
Judman; Thanks for the reply and you are most welcome on the photos.
That herd in Crownest and Sparwood... yah, I am familiar with that herd.....
For reasons that aren't clear to me whatsoever, my late father used to like to drive all night when he'd travel from BC back to where my brother was on the family farm in eastern Saskatchewan. Didn't matter what time of year either Jud, could be the dead of winter and after supper it'd be, "Well let's go Mom," and if I was along to drive, like I often did as Dad had a heart condition, it was also, "You want first shift Dwayne?"
It was AFTER supper Jud, about time for Dad's after supper nap, so naturally I'd always take first shift. Dad still liked to ask, maybe it was a ritual he enjoyed as he never seemed to tire of it...
So about by Lethbridge the snow has slowed down enough and Dad is maybe awake enough and I am dead beat as it's 3:00AM or thereabout so Dad takes over.
While I feel like I've just drifted off, it's nearly 2 hours to Crowsnest Pass and I hear Mom say, "Don't hit that elk!" and then "Don't hit those two elk over there!", to which Dad replies both times - I swear Jud - "What elk mother?"...
Well......
I look out the window and so help me there's a cow close enough that she can lick the road salt off of the rig!!!
Since I'm wide awake now, I rather forcefully suggest I'd better negotiate the icy mountain roads and play dodge the road elk with their camperized Toyota van. Oh, I didn't mention that's what we were piloting that trip...
For years at our house that trip was the subject of many debates between Mom and Dad where they'd disagree on how many elk were on the road and how close we'd come to Dad hitting one.
It's a guess on my part Jud and admittedly I was sleeping through the initial part of the herd, but if we didn't see at least 100 elk ON THE ROAD and in the town of Sparwood then I'm misremembering that night.
We stopped in Fernie, I gassed up the van and grabbed a couple big Coca Colas and kept it between the lines until we were nearly home. I want to say I made it to Grandforks and Dad drove the rest of the way home.
Thanks for the memories and the chuckle this afternoon Jud. Christmas was actually often the time "the great elk herd debate" would take place.
