I will drive to St. John's and back in my new Subaru Outback. Originally, I was going in my trusty 2019 Subaru Ascent that we had driven up to Vancouver Island in from Texas. But on March 24th, 2026, I was stopped at red traffic lights not far from home when a woman ploughed into the back of my vehicle hard enough to write it off. I was not injured at all…. Thank you, Subaru!
I have hotels booked for just two stops, St. John's and Calgary on the way back. Other than that, I am taking my daughter's excellent advice to ""just find somewhere on Priceline when you get there dad". But if I find myself without a hotel I will just sleep in the car on a blow up mattress. I am also fully equipped to cook and eat on the go as well.
I will have my Garmin InReach satellite device with me so I can summon help in case of an emergency, though I can also do that from the Outback as well. It's the Garmin device tracking that you can see on the Track page.
On most days I will drive <400 miles, though on a couple it will be just over 500 miles. That may seem a lot for one day but those legs are on straight flat roads across the Prairies.
The route is basically over the Rockies, across the Prairies, through the lakes to the East of Winnipeg, Thunder Bay on Lake Superior. This is a special place for me as it's where Terry Fox sadly had to end his cross Canada run The Marathon of Hope on the 1st of September 1980. He had started in St. John's NL and was heading for Victoria BC. He lived in Coquitlam BC just 21 miles from where I live now. I learned of Terry's incredible journey while I was in Toronto in 1981 and he was the inspiration for me to do this journey.
I will stop off at Sault St. Marie because a bunch of my ancestors are buried there, and Toronto to remind me of a summer of gigantic beers and a softball league. Next Ottawa because I have never been there, then Montreal & Quebec to practice my French. Fredericton NB is where a bunch of my wife's relatives hailed from and Prine Edward Island because I have never been. I wasn't originally going to Halifax NS, but I couldn't get space on any ferry to Newfoundland for my vehicle and there's zero public transport from the ferry terminal, so I am having to fly to St. John's from Halifax.
Finally, while I am in St. John's Priceline have promised me an Avis rental car which I need because while I am in St. John's I will be popping over to France. Yes… France, that's not a typo and the ferry won't take too long. That's because there are two small islands off the West coast of Newfoundland, St. Pierre and Miquelon, and they are French territory.
On the way back I will be meeting friends from Toledo OH in Calgary AB and calling in on some other friends not far from there, again for dinner.
I'm thinking of leaving the Trans Canada Highway 1 at Medicine Hat AB to take Highway 3 to Hope BC. This will be much slower but through some beautiful country. Here's the proposed schedule, but just like those airlines, I reserve the right to change anything into anything else without any notice, rhyme or reason if I feel like it!
