:18th Jan 2006: A muddy trip from Calgary to Vancouver through the Rocky Mountain. We took off around 9:40 Vancouver Time from Calgary. Since I didn't quite wake up yet, Trista decided to drive the first 300 KM. It was sunny in Banff National Park. I took most of my photos through the moving car window. Mountains and trees were covered by snow. It's incredibly gorgeous along the highway. The road was actually covered by salt and it made our trip easier than we expected. (at least at this point) We arrived Golden (300 km west of Calgary) at noon and finished our lunch in a local pub. I took the shift after lunch, driving the 2nd 300 km. The part of highway no.1 in BC was more difficult to drive. Although there wasn't any snow or ice on the road but the mud was everywhere. This photo shows exactly what I could see at that time. I couldn't see anything through the rear view mirror neither. And the car was almost running out of the windshield liquid. When we stopped at a gas station, the volov S70 became the dirtest car ever in its history. Trista refilled a big bottle of windshield liquid. When we got on the road again, we made fun infront of the camera. :) Arrived Kamloop (300 km west of Golden) around 5pm. Trista took over the wheel, driving all the way through the coquihalla highway. Way beyond our imagination, this 200 KM highway was the most difficult drive we had had for the whole day. There were no lights at all with snow/ice on the road surface. 6:30pm, 140KM alway from Kamloop, we stopped at the toll station. There were only 50 KM left to Hope but the road condition was getting worse and worse. Along with the icing surface, heavy fog appeared right after we passed the toll station. It took us almost an hour to drive this 50km. Thank God that there was a nice Toyota pickup infront of us. Trista could follow it instead of driving alone in the total darkness. We had a short rest in Hope and I drove the last 180 km. Compare to the coquihalla highway, this part of road was really a piece of cake. 130 km/hr, home at 9pm. We are tired now, well exhaustic I should say. However the trip is amazing and unforgettable. At least once in your life time, you have to drive through the Rocky in winter time to see the difference and to feel the unbelievably overwhelmed beauty. p.s for your information, if you decide to drive through the mountain at this time of year, please go get a 4-wheel-drive car. or you sure your driving skill is no worse than Trista and I. But still, be careful!! copyright @ Yinan Max Wang / Trista Jia Chen