Thru the Windshield: The "Western Canada Power Cruise"

Words: Roger A. Jetter

Photos: Roger Jetter and Dan Jetter

Wow, what a trip! My brother, Dan, and I did three car events in two weeks and three days; we also saw a lot of magnificent western U.S. countryside through the windshield of our Cadillacs as we drove the Trans-Canada Highway One with a bunch of Canadian rodders. Oh, and we put 4,552 trouble-free miles on our Cadillacs—my ’55 Coupe DeVille (Lavender) and my brother’s green ‘n flamed ’54 Cadillac.

Here’s the story – last November we read a short letter about the “Western Canada Power Cruise” in Rod & Custom Magazine. The letter was signed by the organizer, Chris McMillan, and eventually I found Chris and we started e-mailing back and forth about the Cruise. My brother and I thought it would be fun to join a bunch of Canadians on a cross-country tour, and we liked driving and sight-seeing, especially to somewhere we’d never been. We registered for the event and decided to meet the tour in Regina, Saskatchewan, on July 22, two days drive from our home in Denver, Colorado.

The five-day tour across Canada would begin in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and would terminate at the GoodGuy’s Puyallup, Washington, event on Friday, July 27, 2013.

The ‘WCPC Tour’ started with about half dozen rodders some 1336 miles east of Puyallup, Washington, and ‘picked up’ rodders along the way in each city or overnight stop. The first overnight, Monday, July 22, was Regina, 301 miles from Winnipeg. Of course, the whole tour was planned to stay on Trans-Canada Highway One, the major highway all the way across Canada.

Dan and I crossed the US/Canada border at Raymond, Montana, and were astounded at how flat Saskatchewan is. I thought Kansas was flat but it’s nothing compared to Saskatchewan, and most of that province is colored with yellow Canola fields.

Monday night, The Majestics Car Club hosted a hot dog roast for us. The rain shower early that evening certainly didn’t stop the camaraderie as we enjoyed plenty to eat and drink, then toured the clubhouse and the various members’ projects.

Dan and I took several side trips after Calgary, among them to Lake Louise, the Chateau Hotel and the glaciers there. The lake is a gorgeous shade of emerald green, there was still a lot of snow pack in the mountains surrounding the lake.

For those of us living in Colorado, it’s hard to imagine driving mountain roads for three full days, yet that’s exactly what we did. From Calgary, it was mountain driving all the way to the coast – up, down and around curves, if there were long straight stretches of road in those mountains, I don’t remember them.

We arrived late afternoon Wednesday in Golden, BC, a small town tucked into the corner of Yoho National Park. Crossing the border into BC made the third Province we’d driven through. Several Calgary rodders had joined in Calgary but we didn’t get to meet them until we got to the motel in Golden. Event organizer Chris had arranged a cruise-in at the local A & W drive-in and we ‘paraded’ thru the downtown area to end up at the Rec Center for a photo shoot session.

Thursday’s “cruise” was 271 miles to Merritt, BC, with a lunch stop in Salmon Arm at Boston’s Pizza—a strange name for a town in Canada but we found out the town is on Shuswap Lake, a huge narrow valley lake over 115 miles in length. The town of Salmon Arm is the eastern ‘arm’ of the three-armed lake. The local A & W in Merritt hosted a cruise-in that night but we didn’t get to that as we were preparing for the door prize giveaway Dan had hauled up from Denver (he got better mileage with his stock 331” engine so he was elected to carry the heavier stuff). We also had a plaque to give to the “Coo-oo-lest WCPC Cruiser “on the tour and that was awarded to Rob Shuba, his wife, Brenda, and their ’53 Chevy. All totaled, 73 cruisers made the trip and several more joined in for day-long runs between stops.

The Merritt to Puyallup, Washington, trip was the final cruise on Friday—276 miles—and most of the cruisers were going to the drags in Kent, Washington that night so most of them weren’t in a hurry. Dan and I left Merritt at 6 a.m. because we wanted to be at the Goodguy’s event by noon. We still had mountain driving and a wait at the U.S. border ahead of us, and that delayed us so much that we didn’t get to the Puyallup Fairgrounds until 2:00 that afternoon.

The Goodguy’s event itself was great—the fairgrounds were huge and had plenty of cruising lanes. I understand there were over 2800 cars registered. Both Dan and I entered the “You Gotta Drive ‘Em” section (sponsored by GoodYear), because that’s exactly what we did: 2084 one way miles from Denver to Puyallup! I was lucky enough to get win that pick, along the perfect prize – four brand new GoodYear tires!

Sunday evening after the event was for relaxing. However, we weren’t ready to head home for Denver just yet. We decided to tour Mt. St. Helens, visit Astoria, Oregon and the coast and stop in Portland to see the famous B-17 Bomber Restaurant. Then perhaps take old Highway 30 for a tour of the Columbia River Gorge.

At the Puyallup event, we decided to find another rod run to attend on our way home. We’d heard there was the 43rd Annual Yellowstone Rod Run in West Yellowstone so we set our sights on Wyoming and Montana. After the Columbia River Gorge tour, we crossed Oregon and Idaho and arrived in Yellowstone Thursday evening. On Friday morning we did a tour of Yellowstone Park and the “Old Faithful” geyser and spent Friday and Saturday in the town of West Yellowstone. On Sunday, we headed for the Beartooth Mountains and the amazing Beartooth Highway (elevation 10,947 feet) ending that ‘side trip’ in Red Lodge, Montana. From there we headed south and spent the night in Worland, Wyoming. On Monday morning, we stopped in Thermopolis to see the hot springs there and then drove along the Big Horn River and through Wind River Canyon. For the first time in the two week trip, the weather turned really hot and we still had about 500 miles to go to get home. That evening, about 7 p.m., we pulled into our driveway, home tired but safe and sound. Mileage traveled: 4,552. Time away from home: 2 weeks, three days. Gorgeous sights of the western United States: Fantastic. Driving thru the Canadian Rockies: Seemingly endless. Cadillac trouble: Absolutely none…and it doesn’t get any better than that!

Dan and I crossing into Canada, my ’55 Cadillac is lavender, Dan’s is a ’54.

Tim Salisbury’s ’57, from Winnipeg

Nice ’59 Imperial went with us as far as Golden, then had to head back home.

’65 Chevy at the Majestic’s feed.

Gas pumps in front of Majestic’s clubhouse

Wayne Booth drove his half-ton from Tappen, B.C., to Winnipeg to join the tour.

Some of the Majestic’s iron.

If bugs are badges, I win. Butterflies in the grill from two days of driving.

The Tuesday morning driver’s meeting.

Shot from my Caddy heading for Medicine Hat

Dan’s Caddy and others heading for Medicine Hat

Theresa (left), built this Beaumont by herself; drove it on the cruise with us for a couple of days. That’s her mother, Stacey, on the right.

A few of the cars at the Medicine Hat Mall

Clay Schweigert’s ’57 with matching trailer.

Preston and Lana Towle’s Model A

More Medicine Hat cars at the cruise-in.

Cool little trailer painted to match the Chevy half-ton, owned by Ed Sandor of Consul, Saskatchewan. They drove all the way to Puyallup with us.

Some of the WCPC cruisers at the Medicine Hat Mall.

Helmer Blech and our Cadillacs just before Roger’s Pass in BC.

Cruise-in at the Golden Rec. area.

Preston Towles’ Model A at Wayne Booth’s Canadian Hot Rods shop in Tappen, BC.

Some of the 73 WCPC cruisers at the final overnight stop in Merritt, BC.

L to R – The author of this article, Roger Jetter, Rob Shuba, winner of “The Cooo-ooo-lest WCPC Cruiser” award, event organizer Chris McMillan, and my brother, Dan, at the Merritt Motel.