By the Numbers: Trans-Canada Road Trip

Canada Narrative
by Eva Holland Dec 9, 2009

All Photos Eva Holland

Eva Holland crunches the numbers on a cross-Canada drive from Eastern Ontario to the capital city of the Yukon Territory.



 Starting Point: Ottawa, Ontario



Finish Line: Whitehorse, Yukon



Days on the road: 12



Days spent actually driving: 9.5



Kilometers driven: 7866



Time zones visited: 4



Provinces and territories passed through: 6



Dollars spent on gas: $960.98



Highest gas price paid: $1.19 per litre



Lowest gas price paid: $0.84 per litre



Cups of coffee/tea consumed: 24



PB & J sandwiches made and eaten roadside: 4



Power Bars choked down while driving in lieu of a lunch stop: 3



Fast food meals eaten (including Veggie Delite subs and Tim Horton’s bagels): 6



Fast food meals eaten (not including Veggie Delite subs and Tim Horton’s bagels): 1



Cups of Mr. Noodles prepared in gas station microwaves and consumed while idling in the station parking lot: 1



Strangers at gas stations who spotted my Ontario plates and told me I was “a long way from home”: 3



Days in which that sort of exchange was my most substantial conversation with another human being: 4



Gas station restrooms visited: 17



Gas station restrooms with sketchy malfunctioning locks that resulted in a trucker walking in on me: 1



Establishments dubiously named “The Beaver Motel” spotted en route: 2


Motel rooms rented (not at The Beaver Motel): 4



Dorm beds crashed in: 2



Friends and relations imposed on for couches, hide-a-beds and spare rooms en route: 3



Outrageously marked-up pay-per-view movies purchased in motel rooms: 1



Number of minutes spent waiting in line to see “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” in a mining town in northern British Columbia: 30



Number of times I was served by an Australian on a WHV at a coffee shop/restaurant/hostel in the Rockies: 5



Wildlife spotted roadside: 1 buck deer, 10+ elk, 4 coyotes, 2 bighorn sheep, 1 grizzly bear, 1 bald eagle, 5 moose, 1 fox, 60+ bison



Giant roadside “world’s largest” sculptures visited: 3



Number of times I topped up my wiper fluid: 4



Number of times I cleaned caked-on mud off my headlight covers: 3



Number of times I forgot to clean my headlight covers and drove blind through the darkness for an hour, following the tail lights of the car ahead of me and hoping for the best: 1



Days I spent dreaming about my next trans-Canada trip: Days 1 through 9



Days I spent vowing never to do another trans-Canada trip, and questioning why I ever wanted to do the first one: Days 10, 11



Days I spent dreaming about my next trans-Canada trip all over again: Day 12

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Who doesn’t like a good road trip? If the open road is calling you check out 6 Rules of the American Roadtrip & The Great Matador Roadtrip: Vancouver to San Francisco

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