Motorhome trip Toronto-Vancouver in mid-June

To break up the trip a little you may consider heading for the Bruce Peninsula and taking the ferry to Manitoulin Island. Largest fresh water Island in the world. Lots of campgrounds. At Little Current you leave the Island on the largest swing bridge in the world, at least it used to be, and drive through a very scenic example of the Canadian Shield to Espanola where you get back on to the main hwy heading west, Canada;s No 1 or as we used to call it 17 . When you get to Sault Ste Marie, go over to the locks just above St. Mary's River and with any luck you will see the locks work with a 600 foot plus great lakes freighter in it.

There really are many places to see, the ones above take little or no time off your drive and are interesting.

Thanks dkilley! Great advice. I will check Drumheller.

I was thinking what mobile apps (online and offlines) would be of help for the RV community.... Someone told me there is an app that shows you all truck stops for example... Maybe there are more... I would even post it as a different topic.

Drumheller would be top priority and is close to being along your route. The drive from Banff to Jasper would be the number one thing not to miss but you must stay in campgrounds within the national park boundaries. You can stay in most walmarts along the way. Best to ask as soon as you arrive to avoid having to move. Petro canada truck stops, and other truck stops allow overnights but they are noisy. Casinos sometimes allow overnights, but you have to check unless you see others camping. Having 2 weeks to drive out is lots. Drive slow and have fun.

Leda, you are most welcome. Bottom line is things have changed and got more and more strict in various "areas of interest" in the past few years compared to when we started back in the late 90's in RVing. More and more restrictions just as there is with everything in life, but we refuse to let it control us more than absolutely unavoidable. With that said, it's no different in the UK. when I took our youngest back in 2011 to the UK to visit her heritage, homestead and so on, couldn't believe the restrictions on parking and having to pay a fortune to pay to park for just a few minutes in places when I lived as a girl/teen and in my twenties = you just pulled up and parked. Now it's all been privatised and the locals are being ripped off royally. Took my hubby back last year as a final trip, his first time back since 18 years prior and he was horrified. Time stands still for no man as they say.

Enjoy your trip and do take the time to smell the roses, it's a trip you likely won't do very often in a lifetime! As I said before you shouldn't have a problem with lesser populated areas, but if governments can make more bucks out of built up or "in demand" areas that's where we've found it more confining in the way we want to travel. However, even when that is said and done, we've "stealth camped" a handful of times over the years when situation has dictated and without any problems whatsoever using commonsense on where we are.

Enjoy, look forward to hearing all about your trip. Some dream, others do, you are making it happen :) :) :)

FTW.

Hi FULLTIMEWANNABE! You words are music to my ears... This is what I needed to know - that people actually easily find spots to sleepover if necessary and it is safe... All your advice is priceless and I will carefully check all websites and spots you named.

As I said, with 2 small kids I do not try to avoid campgrounds on purpose. I would gladly visit them, especially if they have beautiful scenery, I am not trying to save 30$ ... But at the end - we bought a motorhome - not an RV or trailer - to be independent if we need to be... cause in Europe there is a difference between these types of vehicles. If it is a motorhome, it has a statute of a car and actually you can do whatever you want and you can do with a car - park where cars park, stop anywhere, pass through every city... (some cities in Europe do not let caravans to pass through the city center for example... and with motorhome you don't have that problem)... you are fully packed - you have a kitchen, water, toilet. You need some water from time to time... and somewhere to throw out the toilet, but that can be easily done at every gas station... so my point is here we bought a motorhome without blinking and everyone started telling us - you can't stop everywhere you want, you can't sleep anywhere but at campgrounds, so I got a little bit confused - why did we buy it if every time we need to plan and call for reservations... Again I say - we don't mind CG's, just I want to have another option if I need to. Especially with 2 kids that can brake your drive plan for the day any moment - one of them is a baby... have you tried to drive with a crying baby in the car?? If the baby needs its air, you give it to him... and then you continue. And if these breaks disturb my schedule I need to be independent from campgrounds.
So, again, thank you! I will check how our planning and trip will start and I will pm you if we have time near Calgary. It is so nice to know that going east people in Canada continue to be so awesome and helpful... We have met so many great people for a year in Canada in Toronto. We are sure we will love this country even more after this trip :))

By the way - there is not back route - our trip is one way - Toronto - Vancouver and then we will stay in Vancouver for quite a while. So these 2 weeks are only one way. I think they are enough and without too much hurry we can see some stuff on our way :)

Thanks again!

Leda, we emigrated from the UK in the early 1990's originally Calgary bound but being head hunted before landing, ended up in Oakville Ontario - 9 weeks later with 2 young children and a loaded to the rafters mini van we headed out to Calgary area where we always wanted to be and have remained for over 20+ years close to on an acreage - I have to say, we had no concept whatsoever about just how vast and wide Canada is, and we're pretty thorough in our research, and generally seen as very level headed people.

It took us just two days of heavy travelling to get out of Ontario, and Northern Ontario is quite something else driving through the first time, and with moose and bears we won't by choice travel after dark there. In a nutshell it took us 4 days/3 nights to get to Calgary just solid driving and that was in a brand new Dodge Caravan. Just saying FWIW.

Anyway, I digress but trying to say I appreciate where you are coming from, and this might seem a bit mixed but I'll type as I try to recall past trips across Canada (4 so far back and forth).

So we rarely ever stay in CG's, we are avid boondockers/dry campers since the late 90's and we have stayed everywhere overnight (love casinos by choice nowadays if no crown land available), Swift Current = Walmart, Manitobah Walmart, Nipigon where hubby loves to fish for Pike & Walleye, there is a small park with kiddies play area where we've stayed a couple of times over night very comfortable. Thunder bay Walmart. In the more desolate northern parts of Ontario we've come across a handful of teeny hamlets with maybe a dozen properties which included a cafe with large gravel area to the side, that welcomed many truckers and travellers to overnight for a few hours, or a gas station with similar amenities. I also recall spending an overnight once at a visitor centre or similar somewhere west of the Ontario/Manitobah border.

FWIW, we've stayed in many small hamlets typically near water as hubby loves fishing (always look for boat launch signs/locations that have given us some awesome boon docking areas to stay).

On your travels, you really might enjoy stopping off at Lake Of The Woods, N Ontario, for a couple of days to let the children have their water fix and a break from always driving. I tend to concur with others to allow a little longer than 2 weeks = at least 3 otherwise you will be just driving and driving going in both directions and missing out a lot.

As for service, we had it all across Canada generally with both Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility a few years ago last time. However, I lost Bell service in Northern Ontario for several hours driving, where Telus was much better but again it was still spotty at times.

Seriously I wouldn't drive after dusk (wildlife!) in Northern Ontario, and we are not flappers or planners on where we are going to stop for sure overnight anywhere specific for the most part, unless high demand areas like Disney, LA, Newport, or Fla Keys in the winter when it's packed to the rafters. We have a rough idea with pacing ourselves, but allow wiggle room in case we come across somewhere we want to spend a little longer, plus breakdowns do happen as well, and after 17+ years of RVing across Canada and the USA we've yet not to have found somewhere comfortable to overnight. Very often we just pull in somewhere well lit, along side other overnighters if we are in travel mode.

Hope the above helps, but assuming you are not particularly looking for CG's or RV parks, check out Canada Crown Lands for boon docking, www.freecampsites.com www.sanidumps.com (when your tanks get full). Scan Boondockerswelcome.com in case that is something worth joining if there are enough members registered for overnight guest parking as well maybe, also take a boo at Harvest Hosts. Some of these are definitely more USA geared than Canada but that aspect is growing more each year.

Good luck, happy travels and hopefully you can squeeze a little more time to take the time to smell the roses enroute.

FTW.

PS: If you are looking to boondock 10 minutes South of Calgary City Limits you'd be welcome to stay a few nights here at ours to experience our wonderful area before heading up to Banff, Lake Louise, Columbian Icefields (we boondock there at Brewsters), Jasper. If you've got time it's worth exploring Peter Lougheed, Kananaski's Country, Canmore, Lunch at the Pie Shop In Cochrane and much more. Offers there and sincere, just pm me.

Hi Artum Snowbird! I know that in Vancouver and the area there is much to be seen this is why I have left it out of the trip, because we will be in Vancouver for quite a long time... We will have plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful BC and I guess I will write another post on this when we are settled in Vancouver and ready to go on road trips around... IF you don't mind I would even write to you directly to give me advice if you know the province that well.

Also I said we are not avoiding campgrounds at all. Just if there are no spots - we need to have an alternative and I need to know the rules for this alternative... Also if we get tired before reaching the campground which is quite possible with 2 small kids than tend to mess up the planning :)))

I need suggestions what are the must-see's from Toronto to Calgary. This is where we will travel quite fast leaving the most of the time for Calgary, Banff and Jasper and if there is something really interesting on the route Toronto - Calgary - I don't want to miss it.

OF course, there is so much to be seen in Banff and Jasper... so a must-see advice there will be of help... But I intend to spend in these parks about a week.

Also the itinerary itself is missing yet ... it would really help me if someone that has taken this trip can tell me a ready itinerary with the places they stayed and things they saw...

Seriously Leda, if you want to actually see anything at all and enjoy yourself with your children you should reconsider. Just seeing the best parts of British Columbia can take two weeks easily, maybe even three, and you will get amazing scenery, mountains, lakes, rivers, glaciers, orchards, and oceans too. Some people take a month just to enjoy Vancouver Island at a slow and leisurely pace, and that is just perfect timing too. I live here, and know quite a lot about it and it's hidden gems.

Most of Canada's campgrounds are set in spectacular scenery, and to even think you want to boondock instead of paying the price to enjoy the benefit is defeating the entire reason you want to travel to Canada for.

If you actually can, fly to Vancouver, rent your motorhome here, put 1400 miles on it instead of 4500 or more to see Canada, and enjoy this beautiful province in it's finery for the two weeks you have. So many places to see, but you must register, get set up in camp, have a meal, plan a hike for the next day in the park, have another night, then pack up and move to the next spot over a half day enjoying roadside pullouts, historic stops and scenic outlooks over the next 150 miles and repeat.

Our best travel days are on the road about 9:30, then into a new camp spot before 2, earlier if possible. Enjoy a scenic walk, then relax into dinners and family.