I promised you guys a winter Ford Explorer adventure and here it is! A great guest post from Dan and Lorraine and all of their adventures!
Ford hooked us up with a sharp looking 2016 Explorer for our trip to BC. I have to admit, when we started out, we weren’t sure if this SUV would be able to handle what we were pretty sure we were going to encounter.
The third row seating tucked away nicely to make room for our luggage and snacks and drinks for the road with plenty of room left. The second row seating has lots of leg room, or room for more storage. The all leather package was nice with the heated/cooled seats and heated steering wheel.
The trip started out fairly normal. No snow or bad roads for the Friday and the Saturday of travel on Hwy #16. We were in Edmonton when we looked at the weather report. Calling for snow in the mountains, so we cut our visit short to try to put as much highway behind us as we could. We arrived in Valemount, BC with a light rain falling. We woke up to the Explorer covered in wet, heavy snow. Welcome to the mountains! This is where the heated seats started to get their workout!
We headed out early as we wanted to get on the road before too much traffic. It turns out that this little SUV is not just pretty to look at! The automatic 4×4 was kept busy as we twisted and turned and went up and down on highway #5. It handled so nice with the heavy snow and ice. The automatic wipers were convenient as well. No having to take hands off the wheel to clean the windows from the spray of the other traffic.
We ran out of the snow and back into rain as we got closer to Surrey and as we got into Surrey it turned to sunshine. We visited with some family in the afternoon and met with some friends for supper that evening. Finding our way around Surrey was so simple with the big screen GPS, which can be controlled by voice or by using the screen to enter our destination. Was no problem finding addresses. It pulled up gas stations, restaurants and hotels fast! Parking was easy, front view and rear view cameras! Side mirrors that fold in when vehicle is shut down make for a less worrisome parking experience that other vehicles will damage them.
Our stay in Surrey was great. Made our way into Delta in the morning to visit with more people and by lunch we were on our way to Enderby, BC to do some more visiting! Our trip took an unexpected turn as we came up to Hope, BC. There was an accident on the Coquihalla Hwy and we could either wait or take the #1 Hwy, also known as the “Canyon”. We elected to take the Canyon as there was no estimated time for the highway to re-open. We ran into rain as we were leaving and, of course…..as we travelled, into more of the wet, white stuff!
Our visit in Enderby, BC and the next day in Vernon, BC was fairly uneventful. As we were getting prepared to leave Vernon, BC we were told of an accident on the #1 highway between Revelstoke, BC and Golden, BC. It had happened fairly early in the morning, so we were confident that the highway would be reopened by the time we arrived in Revelstoke, BC, especially as we still had room in the SUV for two boxes of fruit from a fruit stand in Salmon Arm, BC that we figured we would stop in as we had some extra time.
Wrong answer! All traffic was held back in Revelstoke, BC. We went and had a bite to eat and then sat in the Explorer to wait it out. By 6 PM the highway control said the highway should be opened soon….We went to wait it out at the exit, but nothing was moving. We then decided to get a hotel as we were tired of waiting and it being dark and the snow was still falling. Have we mentioned the massaging seats? Nice, nice nice! When you have to sit for extended periods of time, or just for those tense moments this was a back and butt saver!
The next morning we started out bright and early and with the sun shining! First time we had seen the sun in a while! While the highway wasn’t great, it was relatively quiet and we buckled down to make up for lost time! The Explorer got right down to the job at hand and before we knew it, we were passing semi trucks and getting closer to home! The “blind spot” indicator in the heated mirrors were convenient as they let us know when it was safe to come back into the travel lane. As the day progressed, the highway traffic got heavier, but that Ford was very easy to manoeuvre around whatever got in our way! The road conditions continued to improve and we made it to Calgary, AB in what seemed liked record time! Even had a chance to check out a large sporting goods store for a little while!!
Refreshed from our shopping, we jumped back into the Explorer and headed to Regina, SK. Temperatures were starting to drop the further east we were getting and winds were picking up. With the automatic temperature control in the Explorer, we never noticed until we had to get out in Regina! This was to be our last night on the road.
Left Regina, SK with good highway again and kept hearing weather reports about Manitoba and the storm. We ran into strong winds upon leaving Regina, SK. With the exceptional handling of the SUV, the strong winds were a minor detail, it kept to the road and we were very surprised when we got out of the vehicle in Brandon, MB to realize just how strong the winds were! We ran into blowing snow and ice covered highways the closer we got to Portage la Prairie, MB. The Explorer got us safely back home travelling a highway that was shut down just minutes after we had left Portage la Prairie, MB.
We highly recommend this vehicle to all drivers! Whether you are an experienced driver or just starting to drive, this vehicle has class, comfort and handling for a whole range of driving experience!
Along with all the comforts and extras that were packed into this SUV, it was the fuel milage that really surprised us. It averaged 9.7 litres/ 100 kms. This was amazing to us. With the snow, cold temperatures and changing travel conditions it did not let us down! Made excellent time without having to stop at every gas station for fuel!
We wish to give Ford a heartfelt THANK YOU for letting us take this exceptional SUV for our trip.
Dan and Lorraine 🙂
WOW. That sounds like a totally epic road trip. One for the memory books for sure. Lucky you had such a great vehicle to make it a bit easier!