Story & Photos By: Roger Jetter
For a first time event, organizer Chris McMillian hit a home run with his “Western Canada Power Cruise” which began on July 22, 2013. He’d started planning the five-day tour across Canada way back in November, 2012, by sending a short letter to Rod & Custom announcing the tour and started gaining some momentum with a few local friends. It was to start in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and terminate at the GoodGuy’s Puyallup, Washington, event on Friday, July 27, 2013.
Not only is this an article on the whole WCPC tour, but it’s an article about driving and cruising custom cars to the tune of 4,552 total miles in two weeks and three days driving the Goodguy’s “Traditional Homebuilt” nationwide winner.
Roger Jetter and his brother, Dan, thought it would be a gas to join a bunch of Canadians on a cross-country tour, besides, they love driving and sight-seeing, especially to somewhere new. Dan’s driver is a ’54 Cadillac and they always take two cars on a long trip in case they run into any trouble. They ‘joined’ the event and would meet them in Regina, Saskatchewan, on Monday afternoon after driving two days from Denver, ColoRODo.
The Rendezvous To Trans-Canada Highway 1
The WCPC Tour started on time in Winnipeg, Manitoba, some 1,336 miles east of Puyallup and would pick up rodders along the way in each city or overnight stop. A dozen rodders started in Winnipeg and spent the first night, Monday, July 22, in Regina after a 301 mile cruise. Of course, the whole tour was planned to stay on Trans-Canada Highway One, the major highway all the way across Canada.
That night The Majestics Car Club hosted a hot dog roast for all in attendance. The rain shower early that evening certainly didn’t stop the camaraderie as the group enjoyed plenty to eat and touring the clubhouse and their project cars was an added bonus.
Each day-trip was broken down into lunch stops and overnight stays. For the trip details and road map, let’s hear it straight from Roger himself:
Tuesday – Cruise-In At Medicine Hat, Alberta
Roger Jetter: “Tuesday’s cruise was to be 284 miles. Each participant could do the mileage with friends or simply cruise by themselves depending on their desired pace.
The Tuesday evening stop was in Medicine Hat and organizer McMillian had set up a local cruise-in for the cruisers to check out the local scenery. Around 100-150 or so cars filled the lot at the local mall that evening upon our arrival. We added quite a few participants at this stop and at the next overnight stop in Golden, BC., the group literally filled every room of two motels, but we’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves now.”
Wednesday – Diverting From The Pack For Breathtaking Landscapes
“Calgary was the lunch stop for Wednesday but Dan and I missed it because we wanted to see what downtown Calgary looked like and we were really looking forward to the mountains past Calgary, especially since we live in Denver and enjoy our own Rocky Mountain views. Upon arrival, we were definitely not disappointed! This day’s cruise was 319 miles, ending in Golden, BC.
Dan and I did several side trips thru the mountains, among them Lake Louise, to see the glaciers there and the Chateau Hotel. The lake is a gorgeous shade of emerald green and so is the creek that exits the lake. There was still a lot of snow pack in the mountains surrounding Lake Louise so we stopped for a few good photos.
For those of us living in Colorado, it was hard to imagine driving mountain roads for three full days, yet that’s exactly what we did. Once past Calgary, it was mountains all the way to the coast and up and down and around curves, I don’t really recall any long straight stretches of road in those three days on TC Highway One.”
“We arrived late afternoon Wednesday in Golden, British Columbia. It’s a small town tucked into the corners of mountains and crossing the border made it the third Province that we visited and drove thru.
Several Calgary rodders had joined the tour at the lunch stop but we didn’t get to meet them all until we got to the motel. The event organizer had arranged a cruise-in at the local A&W drive-in and for us to ‘parade’ thru the downtown area and end up at the Rec Center for a little hangout and photo shoot session.”
Thursday – Jetter’s Award “Coo-oo-lest WCPC Cruiser”
“Thursday’s tour was to be 271 miles to Merritt, BC with a lunch stop at Boston’s Pizza in a town named Salmon Arm – they have really strange names for towns in Canada, don’t ask. Lake Shuswap is a huge lake, running about 115 miles in the valley, the town of Salmon Arm is the eastern ‘arm’ of the three-armed lake.
Of course, there were many sights to see along the way and we arrived in Merritt, BC, late afternoon. The cruisers again filled two full motels. At about 6, the local A&W hosted a cruise-in but we didn’t quite make that one as we were preparing for the door prize giveaway Dan and I hauled up from Denver. 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.”
Goodguys Pacific Northwest Nationals
“The Meritt to Puyallup trip was a short 276 miles. Dan and I left at 6:00 a.m. because we wanted to be at the Goodguy’s event by noon. We forgot we still had some mountain driving to do and wait at the U.S. border to cross, so needless to say, we didn’t get to the Puyallup fairgrounds until around 2:00 in the afternoon. Most of the rest of the cruisers took their time and ended up meeting at the drags in Kent Friday evening.
The GG’s event itself was great as always, and we heard there were well over 2,800 cars on the grounds. Both Dan and I entered the “You Gotta Drive ‘Em” section sponsored by GoodYear, because that’s what we did. I was lucky enough to win that pick this time around. Along with that award came four brand new GoodYear tires – which was a nice fitting prize considering we’d need them after this long of a trip!”
Wrapping It Up – Pleasant Detours And Necessary Pitstops
“Monday morning we weren’t ready to go home quite yet. From Puyallup, we toured Mt. St. Helens, visited Astoria, Oregon and the coast, stopped in Portland to see the famous B-17 Bomber restaurant and took old Highway 30 for a tour of the Columbia River Gorge. From there we crossed Oregon and Idaho and headed to West Yellowstone for their 43rd Annual Rod Run.
We stayed three days in West Yellowstone and we did a tour of the park and the “Old Faithful” geyser. On Sunday, we headed for the Beartooth Mountains and the amazing Beartooth Highway ending in Red Lodge, Montana. Monday evening, after a 500 mile blast from there, we were home, safe and sound.”
- Total mileage traveled: 4,552
- Time spent: 2 weeks, three days
- Laughs along the way: Endless
- Cadillac trouble: None. Doesn’t get any better than that!
If you’d like to read some more about this killer family road trip check out the link with the forum over on the Jalopy Journal’s HAMB.
Check out the full GALLERY below for photos from the Jetter Brother’s Power Cruise.
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