Hi there!!
I some how convinced my boyfriend to go on not one but TWO UE road trips with me. This weekend we will be hitting all of highway 1 and 5 all the way up to Kelowna and next weekend we will be doing highway 3 all the way passed the border and then going into the states. In the spirit of UER (without giving anything away) does anyone have any tips or ideas or things I should be looking out for?
I have never been on such an extensive UE exploration before and I don't want to miss out on things I could have done or done better!!
THANK YOU EXPLORERS!!!!

So correct me if I'm wrong, you're looking for explores from: Vancouver - Kelowna and then Hope - Hwy 3 - Fort Macleod and down through Cardston, sort of thing?

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Maybe NickNolte and I can hook up with you somewhere - we're always in Calgary if you wanna swing by, we might have a cool spot to show you.

Also been thinking about going to Med Hat, this could be a good reason. Would love to meet some other peeps from elsewhere in Canada/NA.

If you like beer, be sure to stop by Kettle River Brewery in Kelowna!

As for abandonments in the area, I honestly have explored very little since I moved here, locally. I've been more into backpacking in the alpine, whenever I do manage to get any free time. But I have hit the "valley of the ghosts" area a few times - but that's too far out of your way.

Do your location research and route planning weeks before you leave. http://www.bigdoer.com/ is actually a pretty good resource for finding locations for a road trip across BC and AB. They usually don't list the specific location of their finds but they go into enough detail that you can figure out the rest yourself or even spot it from satellite view. When you do leave, have the passenger (or you if you're not driving) keep an eye on the surroundings, looking down side streets and logging roads, and watching through the trees instead of staring down into their phone. When they do eventually spot something interesting they can tell you or open Google Maps, find your location, and take a screenshot so you can check it out on the way back.