Buying diesel in Canada

[Cyclist]

Originally Posted by McDave

Thanks for the responses so far. We're going to Banff, Lake Louise, and parts of the Canadian Rockies. I'll have my B of A debit card, which requires an access code, so maybe that will work better than a Visa charge card.

If you use a Bank of America debit card, try to find a Scotiabank to withdraw money. I believe there is an agreement between the banks so there is no transaction fee. We have a Scotiabank card and use Bank of America in the U.S.

[reelfastgreg]

Originally Posted by Cyclist

If you use a Bank of America debit card, try to find a Scotiabank to withdraw money. I believe there is an agreement between the banks so there is no transaction fee. We have a Scotiabank card and use Bank of America in the U.S.

that agreement went away several years ago. best to have a VISA that does not charge a foreign transaction fee and also has a security chip as many places in Canada require said chip to accept your card.

[reelfastgreg]

the engine manufacturers specify what grade of fuel you should be using. while some people think that going to a higher rated fuel will help out, its usually just flushing your money down the toilet as your engine is not benefiting in the least.

[tjdonahoe]

The higher rated fuel has an extra additive to maybe burn cleaner...

[McDave]

This is our last night in Canada. We toured The area around Lake Louise and Banff, and Jasper Park as far north as Jasper. Although we faced the worst Canada has to offer: smoke the first two days, reasonably clear a day or so, followed by more or less continual rain, it stopped raining every day just long enough for me to get a pretty good hint of what Canada has to offer. Lake Louise is certainly the most beautiful lake I've ever seen, if not in the whole world. The scenery between Lake Louise and Jasper is the most spectacular I've ever seen, if not in the whole world. Look forward to seeing it again when the weather is like the post cards!

Right now, we're sitting in our AS in the rain in Nelson. Would love for it to stop raining long enough to tour downtown tomorrow morning, as this is exactly the type of town I love to visit. It did stop raining long enough when we first got here earlier today to take the dog for a walk along the river. Actually, every day has been clear for a while; just long enough for us to hike the main thing we wanted to see.

Canadians have all been friendly and helpful. Very relaxed, and not at all straight laced like I thought they might be.

BTW, diesel was always available without stretching my 26 gal tank, and buying it was no problem.

[reelfastgreg]

we canceled our plans to make this trip this year. fires and smoke were the reasons but i didn't think so much about the rain. hey, this is the PNW and it rains!

sorry you didn't get to do a walkabout in Nelson. that old railroad town is full of interesting places to sniff out. one year we were there when the BC antique auto club rolled into town. this groups rules state that to attend their annual rally, you have to drive your vehicle, no trailering allowed. if i remember correctly, the age cutoff for your vehicle was about 1935 or so. some beautiful vehicles showed up that year and many i had never heard of.

did you get a chance to cross the finger lakes on any of the free ferries?? another unique thing about that area.

[McDave]

It stopped raining long enough this morning for us to walk through Nelson for a couple of hours. We were planning to take turns staying with the dog on the sidewalk while the other went inside the stores. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the number of "dogs welcome" signs on stores, so all three of us were able to go inside most of the places we wanted to visit. We ended up at a coffee house with outside seating, and we were delighted with our bakery items and coffee. I would love to spend more time there.

We stayed at the RV campground in the middle of town. My wife is the navigator and usually she is flawless. But this time, we became convinced there really was no campground in the middle of Nelson. It was just too crowded, and where would a campground fit there? Garmin was hopeless; Lucille wanted us to drive up a dead-end street with the trailer. We couldn't find it, and finally I found a place to pull over and sent my wife out on a reconnaissance mission. She went into a tanning salon, and must have gotten into quite a conversation, because about a half hour later she came back and told me that, yes, there was a campground, but it was almost impossible to find, like Brigadoon. When we finally found it, it had a beautiful view of the river, and was within walking distance of everywhere we wanted to go.

On the way to Nelson, we rode a ferry over a finger lake. Sorry to be so vague, but I'm not the navigator. We just missed the previous ferry, which meant we were first in line for the next ferry. We hiked around, made coffee in the AS, and passed a most enjoyable hour waiting. We were sitting in my truck, looking over the bow, and my wife said, "we're moving!" I looked to the side and sure enough, the water was moving by. This was perhaps the most amazing thing to me. I had absolutely no sense of movement, from departure to docking.

[reelfastgreg]

glad you got to ride one of the free ferries. if i remember, there are 3 of them. the hwy comes down to the water, and bamm, a free ferry takes you across to rejoin the hwy on the other side. one of those bodies of water is actually the headwaters of the Columbia river. before Bonneville dam was put in, the hogs, aka 100# spring Chinook, were all the way up that far. but irrigating the desert was more important than fish so there you have it, another run of fish extirpated!

[Cyclist]

Originally Posted by gpt

that agreement went away several years ago. best to have a VISA that does not charge a foreign transaction fee and also has a security chip as many places in Canada require said chip to accept your card.

Interesting. The agreement between the two banks is in place in the U.S. as we have withdrawn money from our Scotiabank account via the Bank of America for the past two winters without an Interac fee being charged.

[reelfastgreg]

didn't work the last time we were in Victoria, bummer, as it was really convenient.

[McDave]

B of A evidently still thinks the agreement is in effect, because when I reported to them that I would be using their Visa and debit card in Canada, they recommended that I use the Scotia ATM since there would be no fees.