Day 22 (925 km) - Home again, home again, jiggity jig

And how sweet it is.

Mary Ellen's Excellent Adventure has come to an end. And what an adventure it was. 13,241.6 km on the trip odometer and 22 days (I rode all of them except one which was the Spa Day). Been there - to Tofino and dipped my motorcycle-boot clad feet in the Pacific Ocean; done that - the Canadian FJR Owners Rally where I met up with old friends and met some of my 'internet friends' (and they aren't the 3-eyed monsters or convicts I'd been warned about *wink* ) - and got the t-shirt !!

The ride from Manotick was fast and, if you don't count the 2 monsoons we rode through in Maine, uneventful. I drank LOTS of water after Thursday's fiasco and we stopped every couple of hours for a stretch. Jan bagged up some ginger cookies for us so we munched those, had a coffee at our first break just past Montreal and drank water. We opted to pass on having lunch in favour of getting home a little earlier. Speaking of Montreal, I was going to make this last post short and sweet but I HAVE to tell you about one guy we passed on a cruiser (make and model shall remain nameless). Picture an obese pregnant woman, near term (and I'm not slamming pregnant women) with her t-shirt pulled up to expose her belly. THAT's the way Buddy was cruising along. OMG! I can't tell you what else he was wearing (other than a shorty brain bucket) because I couldn't take my eyes off his belly. It was like watching a train wreck.

The monsoons...Man, we found out what kind of water a thunderstorm can produce. Once we got almost through Quebec and were closing in on the US border at Woburn, the sky was crazy. Dark clouds in one part, blue sky with a huge white cumulus cloud with sun shining through it in another part. There's a long stretch of road right after La Patrie (I think that's the place). You head down one side of the road, into a valley and up the other side. Totally dry from our side and you could see the wet pavement a couple of kilometers away up the other side. It HAD rained, but had stopped by the time we got to that stretch. Little further on, sprinkle. We stopped to add our rain layer and sure enough, within a couple of kilometers, it started to pour. But we didn't hit the first monsoon until after Sugarloaf. There was NOwhere to pull over out of it so we carried on - at a much reduced speed and I turned on my 4-flashers. I ride with my high beams on anyway on 2-lane highways. Since we were going to get soaked, we continued to put on some miles. Once out of the heaviest rain we've seen in a LONG time (and certainly not on this trip), the road was dry and we rode by people mowing their lawns. Same scenario with the second heavy rain. We could actually feel individual raindrops through our riding gear, that's how heavy it was. My gloves soaked right away but I think the rain went down into my cuff again. The temp dropped about 5 degrees but went right back up once we were out of the rain.

At Lincoln, ME, I called John to say we'd be home in a couple of hours. When I arrived, there were John and my sister, Kate, with her camera ready and she shot off a LOT of photos! clicky here if you'd like to see them. It was wonderful! Kate says I'm her new hero; she needs to set her hero-bar a little higher. Yes, I buried my face in stinky Gracy's neck and cried - it was a quick cry and involuntary. It was all too overwhelming. Our good friend, George, just happened to be walking by and John called more good friends, Suzanne & Wayne, who live minutes away. We all stood in the driveway, chatting excitedly and toasting my safe return with sparkling wine while the 'skeeters gnawed on us. Our collective exuberance spilled into the public domain when they hauled a young lad off the sidewalk to tell him of my adventure ;-)

My closing notes:

* first, I have to thank everyone who emailed me/us and posted comments on the blog. I was going to name people in order of appearance but you know who you are. It was so fun to have you along! You'll never know how much I eagerly anticipated and enjoyed reading those notes every day. Jim did, as well. Thanks to Jim for giving me the confidence and courage to make this journey by agreeing to go with me. I was on my own from Calgary to the Pacific Ocean - about 1400 km - but that was ....a good thing, and I'm very glad to have had that opportunity. And when expressing appreciation, I can't overlook the superb on-the-road hospitality doled out by Jan & Dave in Manotick (going and coming!); Mary, Tom & Ellen in Calgary; and Melanie, Peter, Emma, Lauren & wee Malcolm in Golden. I especially thank John. I have a sense that not many husbands would have gone down without at least an argument over this scheme. His support was quiet (see About Me'' in the sidebar) but I did have it. I got more chat out of him in his 3 weeks of emails than I normally get in 3 months so that alone was worth the trip :-) I also suspect I may pay for this later on - like in February when he might take 2 weeks to play golf and I'll be shovelling snow ....

* I found out what I, my bike and my gear are capable of. And I'm 100% satisfied with the results. My bike is actually capable of much more than I demand of it but I'm old and slow and I "ride my own ride". No apologies. I know what a scalloped tire feels like and how many miles I can go with a plugged tire - at least if escapefjrtist, George, is the plugger (mine got me home from BC). The need for a custom saddle has become painfully obvious. That's a winter project.

* I learned firsthand the (potentially catastrophic) effects of dehydration and extreme heat. On hwy 17 to Wawa, there's a billboard that reads, simply: Daze, Doze, Dead. Two of those applied to me on Thursday. I figure I'm able to make this final post because I'm extremely lucky or I'm living with the grace of God. Or both. In Nakusp, Barb gave me a Motorcyle Angel pin that I wear on my jacket collar; that may have made a small contribution as well. I cannot overstate how incredibly stupid I was to ride in that condition and I'm embarrassed to admit it. (I feel like an alcoholic at a meeting: "Hi, I'm Mary Ellen and I'm a dumb ass"). It was a cardinal error and I trust I've learned a valuable lesson. I still shudder to think of it.

* Jim and I rode on all kinds of roads - from super highways to 2-lane country roads, in ALL states of repair and disrepair; around mega-cities (2 of those with construction projects going on) and through the tiniest of towns and villages, and everything in between. In BC, we rode on, from a motorcyclist's perspective, what are quite possibly the most beautiful and technically demanding roads on the continent. And, over the prairies, we rode on the most boring ones. Through all weather conditions: hot and sunny, cold and wet, even snow for a few kilometers - and everything in between. We saw lots of sights - not everything I set out to see (and some I did NOT expect to see, for example, Long Beach!) but we tried, and that's what I'll remember. It was all part of the adventure. I got into a few tricky situations where I needed help and I did LOTS of u-turns in parking lots, highways and little country roads, and I never dropped the Feej ONCE. Yahoo!

* am I a changed person because of this experience? Probably not in any tangible way. I know some of you will be disappointed by this ;-). I try to not take anything for granted and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity, good health and wherewithal to have undertaken this trip.

I have a sense there's more - I've been rehearsing this since Sault Ste Marie. But, as usual, it eludes me. I cleaned up my trusty steed this afternoon. There are still spots of bug-innards residue that may come off with the next cleaning and she could use a wax job to restore her beautiful metallic finish. But, considering she was rode hard and put away wet every day for 3 weeks, she looks pretty darned good.

I have a dolce vita.

I'll have a gallery of photos posted by next weekend. Bookmark this site if you'd like to view them.

Pay up, Milt.

Over and out.

Day 21 - Manotick ON (822 km): The good, the bad & the ugly

The good: we made it to Manotick and Jan had cold beer & homemade ginger cookies waiting. The bad: it was a hot, long and painful ride. The ugly: the photo, taken post-shower and within about an hour of arriving, says it all. I was in rough shape and wonder if it wasn't heat exhaustion. Not an auspicious ending to this journey. However, I've had a good dinner (Jan & Dave took us to their favorite chinese place) and am drinking lots of water tonight. Tomorrow's a new day for the homeward push.

We got away at 0730h under partly cloudy skies and about 16 degrees. The weather forecasters were pretty adamant about there being a front of severe thunder showers stretching from Toronto through Ottawa and on to Montreal. Our objective was to reach Manotick ahead of this front. The temperature climbed to 30 degrees and, at times, was higher than that. And the 'humdidity' (as Carol calls it) was horrible. The day had, in fact, all the ingredients for a humdinger of a storm but no sign of it - in this neck of the woods anyway.

LOTS of road construction (we'd actually turn the bikes off while we waited - it was SO hot) and the LEOs were thicker than deer today! We had at least 10 sightings although numbers 2, 3 & 4 - we think - were the same guy, driving up and down the same old strip. Hey! isn't that a Beach Boys song?! ;-) Saw 2 deer, too - in a ditch minding their own business.

We're down to the wire now and am looking forward to seeing everyone. One more post - probably Saturday.

I have to hit the hay for our 900+ km tomorrow ....

Day 20 - Sault Ste Marie ON (1205 ! km): Fredericton or bust!

What a day! We did get away a few minutes after 0700h, under sunny skies and 15 degrees. We had agreed to try to get 400+ km in by lunchtime and that we did. We grabbed a coffee and gas at Ignace, which is a blip on the radar and has the most striking monument announcing itself at the edge of town (village?) - huge blocks of granite or some stone propped in different directions. The scenery leaving Kenora is beautiful - lots of lush foliage, lakes, ponds and streams. Then it turns to a rural setting, like we're used to in NB, and we saw the requisite deer running along the edge of a lawn adjacent to the road.

Entering Thunder Bay District, the landscape turns to scrubby, skinny trees that don't thrive on rock 'shield' with no topsoil to speak of. But, as Jim reminded me, they're famous in Thompson paintings! It appears that there had been a fire along part of the highway in recent years. The forest does look more normal the closer you get to T Bay. We gassed up and went to Wendy's for lunch - and then hit the road. NO ONE can do a gas fill-up, have lunch and pee any faster than we can. Jim must have been missing BC's twisty roads since right outside the city, he turned off into the Terry Fox Memorial site (feature photo) which has a twisty road up to it. We grabbed our photos, I mauled a beautiful golden retriever and we were outta there!

Highway 17 has a sign, what seems to be every kilometer, with either a moose or a deer symbol on it and the note: 'night danger'. Leaving T Bay, we were cruising along and I saw yet another sign so here was the thought pattern: "we all know that the forest rats are out in the daytime, too (we saw 5 on Sunday, for example); case in point - the one we saw running after Kenora; and just as I thought to myself "oh, they be out and about for sure", in my peripheral vision there was a deer standing in a ditch - really, only head and shoulders visible, checking out my commander helmet! If he'd made a dash for it, it would have been ugly - just a messy collision that would end up with us both getting hurt but not necessarily dead. Here's a true story - close your eyes if you don't want to know how it ends. This was told to me by a woman at the Rally - from Calgary - who was riding pillion with her husband on an FJR and a friend was following. This scene was harder for the guy behind as he saw everything. The front bike was doing "highway speed" (ie about 120 km) when Sylvia "felt a bump". "Did we hit something?" Yup - they hit something all right. A deer crossed in front of them and her husband never saw it - just hit it and tore it in two. Back half went to the ditch; front half into the median. Grabbing a handful of brake could have been the worst thing to do since it causes the front of the bike to compress and become lower which could have scooped the deer up and over the bike. Thankf ully, in spite of all the warning signs (and we could never have said we weren't warned!) and the fact that we were still on the road after 2100h, we never saw another critter.

Jim wants me to note the number of Harleys on the road today. Which, according to him, is something you'd expect in the States (and they're in epidemic proportions there) but not so much here. I noticed a lot of bikes but didn't ID them as HDs. Most were friendly enough - for the most part, they waved back at us New Brunswickers :-) A lot of people do not return this courtesy - especially out west. We NBers wave at everyone. Except maybe the squidlys.

MY note is about all the trucks. What a blight on an otherwise beautiful landscape! There were a lot yesterday, too, across the Prairies except a lot of them there were hauling tandem loads - aargh! Talk about carbon footprint. Highway 17 is all 2-lane - curvy and hilly in spots. There are passing opportunities and they're marked (the 2-lane passing symbol and a distance noted eg., 2 km). Sometimes, there are 2 or 3 of these rigs travelling together. Fortunately, our bikes have giddy-up to spare so we have very little trouble getting around anything on the road. But cars? Another story. I was going to say I'd never drive on that highway in a car - for that reason. But there seems to be a difference in traffic 'before Wawa and after Wawa'. And the scenery after Wawa, going east, is spectacular. And that section of road also seemed to have less traffic - but I don't know what happened to it since there's no other highway to travel on. Must have been my imagination.

The temperature rose steadily today until it hovered around 27 degrees. HOT. For the first time since we left home, I got to remove my wind/rain layer. And I was too hot even at that.

As we approached the town of Terrace Bay on Lake Superior, we hit a bank of fog and the temperature plummeted to 11 ! And the fog was weirdly beautiful. Of course, we could see from a distance we were going to ride into it. We rode through a rock cut and the fog hovered over the road and we rode under it - like a canopy. We were quickly back into sunshine and the temp rose but we were still by the lake so the temp got to only 18 - 19ish. Stopped for gas, back on the road and hit construction. (There was construction this morning as well). By this time, I had my sheepskin folded so that it was 4 layers thick and, consequently, raised me ever so slightly in my seat but - combined with a full tank of gas - was enough to give me some grief when we had to stop for the construction. No harm, just a little 'pucker moment' ;-)

At Thunder Bay, the time changed to Eastern so we lost another hour today. But we made good time - travelling (don't tell mom) 25-30 kph over the speed limit of 90. (BTW, it was only 100 on the 4-lane highway in Manitoba; duh). We rode 1205 km in 13.5 hours. Our destination today had been Wawa, which is just under 1000 km from Kenora. This was going to make for a long day tomorrow (Thursday) to get to Jan & Dave's and a late arrival. As we approached Wawa, the temperature started to drop and by the time we got to the town, it was so socked in by fog we could hardly see. Apparently, it rolled in at 1400h and hung around. Coming into Wawa from the west, before you turn left up over a little knoll there's a big wooden goose sculpture soaring over the road - he's wonderful! Unfortunately, we could get the posted photo only from the back (ie, from the main street) and he blends into the foggy sky. Too much truck traffic to go back onto the road (plus we were in a hurry) in order to get a shot of him soaring over us. We rode what we figured was the length of town, checking out business and scoping out motels. Prima facie, there was nothing that matched our Comfort Inn standards so we had a quick chat and decided to press on. It was another 220 or so km to the Soo and it was 1900h. Jim figured there was another 3 hours of light but, quite frankly, it was so foggy (AND, I forgot to mention, COLD = 9 degrees! from the 22 - 25 it'd been on the highway - a change that occurred in only a few kilometers), I'd forgotten there'd be sunlight SOMEwhere. I had much trepidation about heading down the deer/moose trail at dusk and I wasn't sure my butt could take much more but poor old Wawa was so bleak looking, I had to try.

I'm so glad we did...
1. it makes for a much nicer and early-arrival-in-Manotick day for us tomorrow
2. the light was so wonderful at that time of the evening that all the colours of green, rock and lake were saturated
3. and, the scenery was nothing short of spectacular. The road's in good shape, it's interesting with hills and turns, there's dense forest, huge rock cuts (Carol, you would LOVE the rock along that road; all shades of pinks, greys, browns in different shapes and textures - I immediately thought of you, it's so beautiful) and unparalleled views of Lake Superior. For a little bit, I could almost imagine myself back in BC.

At one point, we rode up a hill and around a turn right into the sun - such that I could barely see in front of me. Over the crest of the hill, the road turned at the bottom and I actually had to slow down to stare at the sight in front of me. We had been riding in and out of fog (and temp up and down). If you look at a map, you'll see how hwy 17 hugs the lake. This view had the sun coming through clouds, the fog had settled on the lake so that IT looked like soft, thin clouds and the only way you could distinguish water beneath the fog was by the glistening swath the sun made over the water. I felt as though I was above clouds looking down and it was the effect of the fog on the water. I'm afraid I've botched this - I don't know how else to describe it. There was NO opportunity to pull over to photograph it, which is just as well since it would have been impossible to capture with our pocket jobbies. We did stop later on where there was a pull-over spot but we just couldn't get it right. Suffice to say, the rest of the ride along the lake and watching the sun start to set over the lake made my forget about my aching bum bones.

Coming into SSM, the sky was blue with white clouds in one part; pink, lilac and coral in another part (sun reflecting off clouds and fog?) and, for those of you who work with stained glass, part of the sky looked like cathedral glass - bluish and pinkish with swirls of white. My, I'm waxing poetic tonight. I was mesmerized by the sky so it was a good thing there were no deer or moose!

We're at the same Comfort Inn we were in on June 6th and tomorrow morning we'll start retracing our steps. Manotick tomorrow by around 1700h, and hopefully, Freddy Beach on Friday night. I've been asked "what's the hurry?". I feel as though I've been away for a lot longer than 3 weeks. I'm missing John & The Girls (badly) and my flowers as I look at roses, poppies, peonies, lupin, and lilac here; and I need a new pedicure - the polish is worn from the medial aspect of both great toes from the pressure in my boots!

As always, I SO enjoy your comments. I'd like to answer them individually but can't since I don't have your email addresses. We'll chat soon! Oh, and Dave - about the 'skeeters in Wawa... they're not so much big as they are numerous! We stopped to get a photo of The Goose and by the time I got back on my bike, they had swarmed the Feej. And it was only 9 freaking degrees. They're tough little suckers, too!

I still have people looking for stories when I get home. Not happening - it's all here! But I DO very much appreciate your interest ;-) (and I'm always for a Girl Partay)

Day 19 - Kenora ON (811 km):

After 9 hours of riding across the remainder of the Prairies, we agree the big news today was the dreadful wind coming at our hind quarter. And I'm voting for road construction as well.

We left Grace's at 0730h, which is her normal time to leave for the office. It was variably cloudy and 15 degrees. We rode toward what appeared to be a low-lying, very dark cloud cover but there was no precipiation for a change; the temperature dropped to 12 degrees once we were out of the sunshine. We rode like crazy toward a clear patch of sky and when the cloud cover finally cleared, we were in a tremendous rear/cross wind. We both got tossed around pretty good for a long time. Picture sustained Tantramar Marshes conditions for many miles instead of the kilometer or so of strong wind that we might have there. For the first time, it was more than a fleeting thought that I'd have rather been in a car. But then I thought: "no! I could ride pillion on a big ol' 'wing!" But Jim figures ANY mode of travel would have been miserable in that wind. Perhaps the worst thing about the wind (once I relaxed and eased up on my death grip of the handlebars) was that we both were chilly even though the temperature gradually climbed from 12 to 19. It was hard to get comfortable and I used the breakfast break to add my fleece layer.

We stopped for breakfast around 0930h at Moosomin SK. It was a neat family restaurant but GREASY! I ordered french toast with well-done sausage (which I have once or twice a year) and panfries. I ate one or two slices of french toast, 2 of the 3 little sausages and a couple of bites of the "shredded, deep-fried patty" type of affair that was the panfries. And that stayed with me all day. Yuck :( About the only exercise I'm getting these days is walking from the bike to a motel room and squatting over T Horton toilet seats. I never thought I'd see the day when I'd miss exercising !

Soon after that stop, we hit the Manitoba boundary and Central Time. Saskatchewan does not observe Daylight Savings Time so our time didn't change until MB. Time will change again tomorrow at Thunder Bay when we hit Eastern Time.

The scenery was pretty much the same as yesterday - except, perhaps, more consistently flat, if that's possible. At one point later in the day, we hit a little sharper lefthand curve in the road and I was actually caught off guard!

Brandon, MB was on our route today - just before Winnipeg. I have a soft spot for Brandon as a nursing classmate and former colleague, Jill M, lives there with her husband, who transferred here with McCains, and there weeks-old baby. By the time we got to Brandon, the temperature was sufficiently high that I was now too hot with the fleece and I had to pull over to remove it. The wind was still howling and there was a little dust storm going on. As I pulled off the highway and started to turn right onto a service road, a car cut me off - pulling alongside and then turning rightalso - across my path. I was going slowly and anticipated it so no harm done. Costume adjustment completed, we hit the road again and pulled up to an intersection on the highway. Light turned green and Jim pulled away quickly - as he does. No big noise, just a fast, efficient forward motion. After being nailed in the Volvo a couple of years ago by an elderly guy running a red light, I'm a bit of a slowpoke through intersections. I noticed the young guy in the car beside me shake his head and chuckle - presumably at Jim's getaway. We both got through the intersection and caught up with Jim, and Buddy cruised by in the outside lane. He had a sunroof open and as he got by us, up popped his hand through the sunroof in a 2-finger salute (index and pinkie). Jim waved back and I'll go with his interpretation that Buddy was bringing us greetings from the town of Brandon :-)

We totally bypassed Winnipeg by taking hwy 100 east toward Kenora. It eventually became highway 1 again. The landscape changed soon thereafter from totally flat and green to more trees and some hills. We hit a long stretch of construction (at least 15 km +) where there was active work going on and traffic was down to one lane. There had been another long stretch (kms long) somwhere before Brandon; 'zippered' asphalt - where the asphalt is removed for recycling and paving. Traffic moved along this stretch well but I did catch my front wheel a few times which tended to slow me down - momentarily. On another stretch of road, we rode on new, unpainted asphalt (I think that was today!?) and 50 km from Kenora, we hit the worst of it. There was rough gravel, zippered asphalt AND new pavement. Lots of equipment around, lots of traffic including big trucks, and no water applied to keep dust down. We both washed our faces when we checked into our Comfort Inn room (smoking - aargh; which was the only left with 2 beds but we have a sliding glass door and the bikes are parked right outside the door) and I'm sure the housekeeping staff will think we washed our bikes with the washcloths! Essentially, we sampled every stage of highway construction today - and in no small doses of any of it.

Just before Winnipeg, there was a huge lot at the side of the highway with neatly stacked "somethings" which I soon figured out were hay bales. The stacks were spread quite a way along but they got progressively more messy and smaller. And clearly, the hay was very deteriorated and not fit for consumption. I did a quick Google search but can't find info about it. Jim thinks it may be leftovers from an urgent call for hay a year or so (or more) ago due to animals starving because of flooding - or some other disaster. Interesting.

So... between wind, construction and a respectable 811 km covered, I'm just about done in. My ischial tuberosities were protesting loudly today, too. I was pleased that yesterday was relatively 'pain' free. It's not pain per se; I don't know how to describe it. Very uncomfortable. About 70 km from Kenora, I pulled Jim over and I had a stretch and a bottle of water. Both of which revived me sufficiently to get to Kenora. We had to ride back 'downtown' for dinner after we checked in and I was so tired, Jim offered to take me on his bike. But it's character building for to soldier on so I rode my own ;-). Plus, we topped up our gas while we were out so we'll be ready to roll as soon as we get on the bikes in the morning. A note about dinner. This place (Plaza?) serves up greek food, has been in town for 38 years and has all these Recommended Where to Eat in Canada for many years. How far wrong could we go ? I was hungry for souvlaki and they even have that lemon soup (refer to Halcyon Spa post) on the menu. Big disappointment from the soup (tangy but not lemony and hardly any other flavour as well) to salad (bottled dressing, I think?) and the souvlaki - not nearly as flavourable as Dimitris and overcooked. I can't wait to tuck into a Dimitris chicken souvlaki!

Tomorrow, we're planning on an EARLY start - 0700h. We'll lose another hour at Thunder Bay and we're going to try to get to Wawa - about 1000km. I suspect there may be internet issues for the next day or so, therefore don't be alarmed if there's no post tomorrow night.

I see we have a new Follower! Hello to Lucie & Jeff in Calgary :-)

I'm sure there's more. I compose such a great post on the road but sitting here in the motel room, my brain goes to mush.

If we continue to have good weather and my butt can take it, we'll be home in time for a Running of the Hounds on Saturday and/or a bicycle ride on Sunday morning (ie Friday night). But that requires 3 very heavy days. We'll see.

ps: Jan - I didn't get back to you about dinner. Yes, lobster and Angus would be grand but to be honest about it, I've been eating beef since we hit South Dakota. I'm surprised I haven't developed gout! I'm thinking roast chicken/turkey - with gravy and dressing. No need for dessert. However.... those ginger cookies you packed up for us were very yummy ;-)

pps: Mary & Tom - I'm sorry to have missed you on the return trip. Until you're better thanked, it was my pleasure to meet you both AND the beautiful and accomplished Ellen.

Day 18 - Regina SK (657 km): Who says it's boring to ride .....

... across Saskatchebush?! We left Lethbridge at 0800h in POURing rain and 12 degrees. It rained for about 25 km and we were able to stay ahead of it for the rest of the day. It was partially cloudy for much of the way and windy, and the temperature creeped to 19 degrees. When we arrived in Regina and settled at a Timmy's to call Grace, it was sunny and about 24 degrees. And the forecast for tomorrow along our route looks good - so rather than make tracks for another couple of hours tonight, we're bunking in with Grace tonight ! And that's all I'm going to say about weather.

Tire update: The front tire is cupping and it makes for an annoying, but not unsafe, ride. It feels hard and 'pebbly' so between that and the wind tossing me around a little bit today, I felt as though I was riding one of Freddy Flintstone's bikes. I'm running Bridgestone Battleax 021s, which is the stock tire that MacLeans sells for that bike - and the guys on the FJR Forum (a few of whom I met this weekend), generally hate that tire. For the reason cited above. The front inevitably wears before the rear and cupping is a problem. I've learned my lesson as well. The rear tire - you know, the one with the sticky-string plug... I mentioned this morning that I had to check the air pressure before we left to make sure it's not leaking air. Jim kindly grabbed his pressure gauge and went out. The next thing I heard was: "You're not going to want to hear this." Let me put it this way: I've been saying all along I'll have to work some extra shifts to pay for this trip. As it turns, I may be able to cover the cost from selling the scrap metal my rear tire is picking up along the way. Lodged sideways in the wall of the tire, so that you could actually see the outline of it, was a honking big finishing nail - kind of similar to the first one except this one had a flat head on it - squished, of course. We debated running the bike to a service centre or Crappy Tire before removing said nail so that a repair could be made if required. But from the way it was lodged, Jim figured it wasn't going to leak. I had a bottle of water in my trunk so Jim added a little EconoLodge shampoo to make it soapy and he used that to check for a leak. None apparent, so away we went.

Nothing much to report about the ride. There was barely a turn in the road until we hit Medicine Hat. And where there WERE bends, the road was sufficiently well graded that all you had to do is maintain a heading parallel to the white line and you didn't need to so much as lift a butt cheek to shift weight and make the turn. Just let the road do the work! We stopped for a Tim's and gas, and were out of there in about half an hour.

After Medicine Hat, which actually has hills, the landscape changed to rolling hills and escarpments - all the better for Indians, in the day, to herd buffalo over a cliff. From the rolling hills... FLAT! incredibly flat.

Now for the fun or 'how I amused myself riding the Prairies': I experimented with highway-speed photography (some of the sky shots are actually quite lovely); I reminisced about the Rally and the new friends I made; I let the bugs accumlate on my helmet shield and then spent time picking them off; I thought of getting home this weekend and burying my face in Gracy's neck fur; we chased bison (well, actually, we didn't chase them; we stopped to take a photo & they took one look at my Commander helmet and ran for the hills - the whole herd! except for one big guy who figured he could take the both of us and was ambling off only as we pulled away. It was at that stop that I decided to put my camera on a lanyard and start taking photos on the road).

What I can't decide was the most fun was: riding along on the highway as a big, long train chugged by or..... Jim chugging to a stop on the side of the road when he ran out of gas. When we stopped for lunch at Micky D's in Swift Current, Jim tossed out the question/ suggestion: "Should we top up our gas here? or do we keep on going; it'll have to be less than 100 km" I was all over that and pointed out that (after my bottle of water with lunch) I'd need to be making a washroom inspection by that time. It was a very quick negotiation and we were back on our bikes in a flash. About 100 km later, Jim's pointing at his gas tank (recall our low-tech communications system) and I nod. Next indication that the situation is getting serious is: we're doing the speed limit - or less - in order to preserve gas. Clearly, Jim's low-fuel warning light is on. When he starts doing The Weave (wobbling the back back and forth), I knew he was sloshing gas around. Uh-oh.... We're doing about 80 km by this time and then we're.... riding on the shoulder of the road:-( I know it's just a matter of time.... And then, we're done. Dead on the side of the road just shy of Caronport, SK. We confirm our cell phones are picking up signals, I confirm the time and mileage, and away I go in search of gas. My own tank is low but I'm not on my reserve yet so I know I'm good for at least a 100 km. The (un)trustworthy Zumo is indicating another 28 km for a gas station. As it turned out, there was a Husky station, with one grade of gas, only 4 km up the road. I race in, state my case, leave $20 for a security deposit on a jerry can and a guy there "going my way" offers to carry the jerry can 4 km up the road. Long story short, 30 minutes later, we're both gassed up (my own reserve warning came on in the meantime), I have my $20 back and we're on our way. New rule (we make them up as we go - and we don't have too many): when we're even slowed down in the vicinity of a gas station, we're topping up ;-) As a postscript to this: Jim didn't carelessly run out of gas. He knew exactly how much he had and how far he could run. It was a matter of it being an incredibly long distance between gas stations and lack of signage indicating that.

By the way, Jim saw a REAL cowboy today; I missed him. He was actually herding horses, apparently. I did see herds of cattle, horses, llamas all lined up nose-to-tail in a little paddock, and sheep. And we saw a coyote scramble across the road in front of us. (we didn't see any 'forest rat' signs until we got INTO Medicine Hat). Plus, there were gophers that skittered away as we approached. Thankfully, they DID get away. I always think of how happily content the big critters must be - wandering around wide open pastures with all that fresh grass. And then there are the poor, dear creatures in those horrible feed lots. And that's all I'll say about that.

We had a great dinner tonight with Grace at La Bodega, which is within spitting distance of her apartment. We started with cocktails; Grace had the tenderloin and Jim & I had buffalo, medium rare - all cooked to perfection. We had a nice bottle of wine, and Grace & I finished with special coffees - sugared rims and whipped cream :-)

And the beat goes on....

KSAO&E Quiz:

1. For what are the Tunnels of Moose Jaw famous? Very interesting !

Day 17 - Lethbridge AB (638 km): Zooommm!

I'm sorry to report there'll likely be a dearth of photos as we speed our way across Canada this week! The Boss is back and he leads a demanding tour ;-)

Our day started at 0755h - after I checked my rear tire pressure and was satisfied that if there's a leak, it's a very slow one. I was told to be ready for 0800h but the guys were sitting in the parking lot - with their bikes running! - before that. I ran around hugging and saying my good-byes, saddled up and away we went. It was 13 degrees and sunny / cloudy. We went down 31a route - the same one I rode yesterday with the flat tire. Gassed up and had breakfast in Kaslo, and proceeded to the Lake Kootenay ferry to go to Creston and Cranbrook. We made it to the ferry at something like 1044h for the 1040 ferry ! Next ferry was 1130h. That was OK though. The sun was shining and it was around 20 degrees. And we'd just come off a great ride to get there. I knew Jim would love that road - and he DID!! He'll likely be talking about it for days / months (years?!) to come. I'm sure that if Hwy 6 is DH2, one of the routes today HAS to be DH! Beautiful scenery, very little traffic, pavement in great shape and lots of twisties - big and small. Jim and Chris rode exuberantly! My technique is improving but I just need to see gravel, be reminded of forest rats by the preponderance of signage, or starting hugging the centerline on left-handed turns and my mojo is disrupted. I had several opportunities today "to ride my own ride" ie, I didn't push myself in order to keep up with the guys. They would get a couple of kilometers ahead and slow to wait for me - or else, they'd get jammed up behind a slow-moving vehicle and I'd catch up to THEM ;-) We DID see 4 or 5 dear on the road to Kaslo and Dave (friend of Chris'. Jim's friend, Chris, and Dave rode over to Nakusp from Calgary for a little overnight jaunt) says he saw a bear cub - but he had no witnesses ;-)

We made it to Cranbrook around 1530h where we topped off our gas, had a coffee and bite to eat, and dropped Julia & her gear off. Jim's son, Jim, is working in Cranbrook for the summer so Pat went there from Calgary. It made a good rendezvous point and afforded Julia to have, undoubtedly, they best ride of her young life - from Calgary to Nakusp and down to Cranbrook. It'll likely be some time before she matches it. The skies to the east were looking ominous so the guys took this opportunity to don their rain gear and I tucked my nonWP tankbag into my trunk. That managed to hold the rain at bay until after Fernie.

Leaving Cranbrook, I glanced down at the Zumo and noted the time change to Mountain Time. Apparently, it changed in Creston. We're losing another hour tomorrow in Sasketchewan so we'll have to get an early start - somewhat dependent on weather and temperature.

Approaching Fernie, the scenery was spectacular again. Actually, approaching Cranbrook, the mountains around Fernie are apparent - expanse of forest-covered mountains backed by grey, rock mountains with streaks of snow running from the peaks. Once through Cranbrook, the landscape adjacent to the highway is rolling pasture with stands of trees in the pastureland and trees along the highway - with the snowcapped massive rock in the background. And cattle grazing in the fields. It made me want to sit quietly and contemplate it rather than whizz by on a motorcycle. And photo would have been nice. Sigh...

I can't remember if this was pre-rain or in between rain, but I lead the charge over a mountain pass after Fernie and that's where the 'bighorn sheep signs' were posted - along WITH the deer signs - a double whammy! And I could just picture them climbing, one by one, over the concrete wall along our side of the highway and stepping into my path. I'm afraid I didn't set the galloping pace that Jim would have.

Just before Sparwood, it rained and it was rainng as we crossed into Alberta. On and off, light rain - pouring rain. We stopped again for gas and I did a washroom inspection. I'd been cold (the temp dropped to 11 degrees) and when I put my jacket back on, I figured I had my scarf snugged up and my collar fastened securely, ie, my neck wasn't going to get cold air rushing around it again. Wrong. Can't seem to get EVERYthing working all together !

Rain, rain, rain until we got to within 50 or 75 kilometers of Lethbridge and it was 18 degrees by the time we arrived (the sun had broken through as well).

As we left the beautiful mountains and some of the best MC riding on the continent behind, and got into the wide open spaces of Alberta, it occurred to me that Alberta has its unique beauty as well. Please remind of this on Wednesday .... Somewhere along the highway - with the landscape broken by a huge windfarm with windmills lined up like sentinels all along a ridge of land quite far off the highway - my pulse quickened slightly when I spotted my first cowboys! There were 3 or 4 of them on horses - facing in different directions; and there were a few cattle - very close to the road. As I got closer, I realized it was life-size cutouts painted black! LOL :-) There was no billboard to indicate they were for advertising purposes. I don't know what the purpose of this display is. Jim got snookered, too! It was raining and there was a bit of traffic on the road so that explains my little faux pas. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I also have to tell you about Frank Slide. As we rode into this tiny little AB community that you barely slow down for, there's a liquor store called "Frank Slide Liquor". Just beyond that was something else called "Frank Slide..." and I wondered "what's Frank Slide's claim to fame?". It was raining and the light was poor. As soon as I articulated that thought, I found myself surrounded by rock! Boulders - humungous ones, big ones, little ones. I mentioned it to Jim and he told me the story . I've provided the link - I encourage you to take a look.

We found out on the tv news that this has been the driest spring in years around here. Clearly, it had rained heavily right along the BC / Alberta boundary as a parking lot at a rest stop had a lot of water lying on it. Jim figures he and I could get jobs out here as Rainmakers. We could just ride our motorcycles back and forth across the prairies and there'd be rain every day .....

More 'connecting to the internet' problems tonight. This is getting old. After the racket in Rapid City (I wrote my post in notepad and published in the lobby which had internet but the rooms did not after a cable was cut by a guy working on something), I no longer stop with" do you have internet access?" . I follow up with : "Does it work?". In Merritt on Wedneasday night, Barb and I shared a room at the end of the motel (Best Western) where the connection was weak and we kept losing it.... but I think I've already told you this. Same routine tonight: "Do you have wireless?" Yes. "Does it work?". Yes. Well guess what. This EconoLodge's wirelss has one bar of signal strenght and it's booted me out a couple of times. I'm beat and won't be going to the lobby to publish so I hope it works.

As usual, I'm sure there's more but can't think of it. Except maybe a tire update. The rear seems to be holding up well. I'll make a final "change it or don't" decision in Winnipeg before we head into northern Ontario, which is our proposed route now - unless we find a shorter way via the US. Also, whatever we do will be somewhat weather dependent. My back tire is plugged ( as you know) and the front tire is 'cupping'. It didn't feel right yesterday and now I know why.

Tomorrow's desination is an easy ride to Regina to visit Grace, Jim's eldest. She's an engineer with Stan Tec and is on a 4-week assignment out here. It would be nice if we could get together for dinner. Grace rides a sport bike, too and she's thinking that I've earned (or perhaps I'm still earning) my 'street creds' with this ride ;-)

Ciao, ciao for now

Day 16 - Nakusp (207 km): How many guys does it take to ....

... to help a Damsel in Distress? Thankfully, I had several come to my aid.

After the 0830h Vintage Riders Breakfast at the Leland Hotel restaurant on the waterfront, three of us struck out for a 200-km round trip ride. When we gassed up, France pointed out that my rear tire looked soft. Stupidly, I - who am a bit of a compulsive tire checker when I'm home - didn't think much about it nor did I
check the pressure. In the meantime, I wondered why the bike wasn't responding as it should and did missing a ride yesterday make me forget (?!) what it should feel like? Duh :-( I was pushing way too hard through the turns and I felt as though I was running on square tires. We reached our destination (Kaslo), had a nice lunch and I forgot about it. Until....we were riding again. Fast forward, we arrived back at Nakusp around 1545 and I had planned to pick up some oil (remember I was going to change my oil today ?) and give my bike a quick wash. And I wanted to get this done before the Bike Group Photo scheduled for 1700h. As soon as I parked my bike, I had 2 people tell me my tire looked really soft. That's when I decided I'd better check it but wanted to wait an hour or two for the tire air to cool. I washed the bike and moved it over in front of my room to free up the 'wash space' for someone else. Along comes a third person who says, "Mary Ellen, your bike tire looks really soft. Would you like me to put your bike on the centrestand and we'll look to see if it's punctured?". LONG story short, 'yes' it was punctured - by a nail about an inch and a half long. Steve, who put it on the centrestand, says "Let me get George - he's a Master Plugger". Before long, I have someone checking the front tire - lots of air there. And there are at least 3 people at the back tire. A pair of pliers magically appeared to pluck out said nail; George got out a 'sticky string' from his kit, reamed out the hole and inserted the cemented string; both Barb and Jay had portable compressors but we ended up using Jay's to inflate the tire. And within 10 minutes, Bob's your uncle - the tire's reinflated and the general consensus among the LD riders is that it should get me home. It was a clean hole, the nail was in the centre of the tire and in at an angle - and it's the rear tire. All factors in my favour. I made on conscious decision to not carry a plug kit and compressor. But I may rethink that. And here I was blaming the front tire. At least now I know what a flat bike tire feels like. BTW, our hotel has a beer and wine shop off the lobby so I was able to express my appreciation to George aka "EscapeArtistFJR" with a 6-pack of cold Canadian.

Now, for the ride. Beautiful day, sunny and not too hot (ie not over 21 degrees),no traffic and great scenery. I rode with France and Doris M today. Doris took us to Sandon where we spent over an hour learning a smidgeon of the very interesting history of this decimated and long-deserted town. We went from there to Kaslo where we met up with 3 other FJRs from the Rally (Jay, Jeff & Lucie, and Jeff & Bridget). We all had lunch together and headed back to Nakusp. We rode as a group until we ran up on 4 cruisers who were pretty slow. There are few good passing opportunities and no passing lanes on that highway (31a). Jeff, Doris and Jay got by; other Jeff, France and I did not - until the cruisers pulled over just before New Denver and let us pass. The others had stopped in New Denver to wait for us and on we went. A deer crossed the road in front of the cruisers and stood on the side hill less than 20 feet from the road, watching the rest of us go by.

Back at the ranch....you have the Saga of the Tire. I did not get the oil changed but, as with the tire business, there are different opinions on the acuity of the need for this. One guy changes his filter with every oil change (I brought a filter with me); another changes the filter every other oil change (per Yamaha recommendation); yet another feels that since I've been running highway miles as opposed to stop & go riding around town, then I may be fine until I get home. At any rate, an oil change is easy to do at any garage.

At the appointed time of 1700h, we all lined up at the town wharf - or most of us did. Some were still out riding, some just didn't show up. From there, back to the Kuskanax for preprandial cocktails. I mixed up some Long Island Ice Teas for my girlie friends - complete with fresh lime - and introduced Ann Marie to her new favorite drink ;-)

The Rally's closing dinner was held at the Legion hall about a block away. There would have been about 100 people at this: good food and company - all loving their rides which are predominantly FJRs but there's the odd token Honda ST1300, BMW or some type of sport bike. A live auction was held with proceeds of $1100 going to the local food bank. Doris Maron was the guest speaker and she presented a slideshow of just a taste of her around-the-world solo ride on a 750 cc Honda Magna between August 2001 and June 2004. There were lots of door prizes. I won a certificate for a Destinations Highway book. I believe I may have my choice of British Columbia, Northern California or Washington, which are the only DH guides available. I'll be shipping my bike for another West Coast ride!

Jim and Julia - along with Chris and Dave - arrived this afternoon at just about the same time I did. We're heading east tomorrow (Sunday) at around 0800h - depending on the weather. We should be home by the weekend - Sunday latest ?

My gosh, I feel as though I've been away for a month. Margot sent me lots of photos today: my gardens, the window boxes, John and Gracy - which was surprisingly emotional for me. I can't wait to come back here with John. And we'll see Jasper National Park and the icefields together. Apparently, Jasper is even more spectacular than what I've already seen - which is beyond my imagination.

Must get packed! Showers forecast for the morning but it's hard to say what'll happen. If you stand on the street and look around 360 degrees, you'll see a smorgasbord of weather around the mountains. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.....

8,178.2 km on the Trip Odo and counting.....

Day 15 - Nakusp BC: I'm turning into a ....

...a mermaid. Even sitting in the hot springs pools at Halcyon Resort, the raindrops were falling on my head. Hey! Isn't there a song about that?!! Nonetheless, it was glorious :-)

For the first time in 2 weeks and 7,970 km, there was no bum on the bike for me today !

Up at 8ish. Barb, Tom, Pam & I went for a leisurely breakfast at a funky little cafe up the street and then wandered in and out of the few stores that are on the main street of Nakusp. In a 'previously-loved by-someone-else' shop, Barb picked up a a ball cap that says: "Tequila makes my clothes fall off" ;-). And in another shop, she bought a motorcycle angel pin for me that I promptly pinned to my jacket - and am hoping like the dickens that I don't knock it off and lose it.

We hadn't made advance reservations for services at the Halcyon Hot Springs Resort 30 km from here because Barb was unable to get sufficient commitment from the women rally participants and we wanted to play it by ear - combination of how we were going to feel and what was the weather going to be. As it turned out, there were 4 spots available for 6 of us. France wanted only the hot springs pool, Diane had a manicure (although we thought her fingernails looked pretty darned good), Ann Marie and Lucie had massage and I chose a manicure for my tired and sore fingers. Sylvia, the wife of one of the Rally organizers, graciously and generously chauffered us to the Resort since Ann Marie, Lucie and Diane don't ride and France and I don't take passengers. Sylvia lives within 200km of here so she declined a a spa service as well. (I'll see Lynda when I get home for my own massage therapy and Catherine for a desperately needed facial. I should have started this the day I left but I finally picked up a tube of Penaten cream in Tofino - the diaper rash stuff that's sold in the baby section of a store. My skin gets SO dry from the air rushing through my helmet shield - this makes a good barrier cream. And 'yes', it's the clear formula.)

It was a bit of racket to get started at the Spa, between deciding who was going to have what service, negotiating rates, getting the spa specials/ packages worked out and paying for all the little extras (towel and locker). I guess we weren't paying enough for the services to have a towel and locker provided. The hot springs have different pricing: $16 for a full day and $11 for a dip but somehow we were going to pay $8. THEN, the receptionist got wind of our plan to have lunch and there was an offer whereby we could pay $20 and get a chit for the dining room which amounted to a $15 credit toward lunch and a $5 hot springs dip. The locker was a loonie every time it was opened. It was a pretty complicated scheme but we had a grand afternoon and I think everyone was pleased.

We started with a really yummy lunch: I had an appetizer-size serving of Avgolemono that was delicious. (Janet, we'll have to round up a recipe for this) And a small salad of arugula with grilled mushrooms, red pepper & asparagus, with toasted pumpkin seeds and 3 large, perfectly seared scallops - beautifully presented with a balsamic-reduction drizzle. Wash it all down with a glass of nice BC wine (I wasn't crazy about it on first swallow but it got better after sitting for a few minutes) and I was good to go - into the hot springs pool! There are 4 pools there: a small plunge pool (55 degrees), 2 hot ones of 100 and 105 degrees and a regular swimming pool. It was 'coolish' - at least it was cool going out into the air from a warm locker room and right out of a shower. I made tracks for the hottest pool and languished in it, with eyes closed and a big smile on my face - even when it started to rain. There was a light steam coming off the pool that I tried, unsuccessfully, to get with my camera. I had about 40 minutes in the pool before my appointment. I tried to do a complete plunge in the cold pool but couldn't manage much of one ;-)

Whatever the effect that hot pool had on me, twice I felt the esthetician pull my arm back toward her onto the table - when it slipped off the table while I slipped into neverland!

Once back in Nakusp, I trotted across the street to the grocery store for Pepsi (I've had only 2 bottles since I left home), bananas and fresh cherries. Oh yeah, and a big bag of Kettle chips - that I fully intend to share with the gang before dinner on Saturday. The Breakfast gang, plus Penny who had just arrived (and whom I had met last year at CFR), returned to the Three Lions Pub a few doors up the street. We ate there last night as well. My dinner last night ? Stuffed minature yorkshire puddings! 12 of them - they were like crispy cream puffs filled with lean roast beef and served with a little dish of gravy for dipping and a garnish of horseradish. We'd never seen anything like it. Yummy! Tonight was a steak sandwich and salad. I SO need exercise when I get home. I don't think I've gained weight but I'm getting soft! ok - softER.

There was a 'meet & greet' tonight to welcome people to the Rally and to gather people in one room to encourage introductions - as opposed to wandering about the parking lot which is standard Rally fare. It's interesting to put faces to all the Forum names I've been reading for almost a year (ExSki-bum; SockMonkey, Pegscraper, FastJoyRide, BearlyFlying, and so on.) And many recognize MEM as being the 'one from the East'. I'm probably among the first to disappear into my room, introvert that I am. I was in last evening by 2115h and it was probably close to that tonight.

I haven't mentioned smells in a few days. Yesterday, it was roses around Kelowna which reminded me, yet again, that my own Therese Bugnet roses are in full bloom right now. I know my sis is really busy with work these days but I'm hoping she'll snap a few photos for me. AND, I hope that SOMEone reading this will take a look for red lily beetles. I forgot about those little damners :-( . There are asiatics in every bed and I'm pretty sure that John isn't checking or picking. Today's smell was the sulphur of the hot springs !

Tomorrow's plan: Vintage Riders Breakfast at 0830 (qualifier is age 50 so I guess I'm in like Flynn), and a ride with France (who is a civil engineer living/working in Vancouver) and Doris Maron. Quick little trip south. Perhaps Barb and will go with us - and,maybe, Tom & Pam. In the afternoon, France is going to show me how to change the oil in my bike! Should be a great day :-) By the way, Sylvia pointed out a good little way to identify routes to ride. Going on north-south routes will generally give you freeway-style roads, straight and in great shape. Going east-west will give you the secondary roads that are twisty and winding as they go up, around and down the mountain ranges that run north to south. Makes perfect sense!

Stay tuned ....

Day 14 - Nakusp BC Interior (381 km)

Kind of an eventful day. Started out with breakfast at 0950 at the Coldwater Hotel Restaurant in Merritt. I invariably order pancakes or french toast in a restaurant since I know restaurant cooks won't pick the goobs out of eggs. 3 HUGE pancakes (I ate one) and table syrup. It doesn't come anywhere near Tom's waffles with real maple syrup and Mary's BIG lattes! I'm looking forward to their combined breakfast effort when we stop there on our way home this weekend. However.... Monday is a workday so I may be out of luck. Another CFR - FJR rider from Vancouver met us at the Coldwater just as we were leaving at 1050h. It was sunny / cloudy and 16 degrees as we headed out Hwys 5a and 19 to Kelowna. The temperature dropped to 11 or 12 as crossed a mountain range but was in the high 20s as we did the 'stop & start' dance at every intersection in Kelowna. We had stopped for a nice long break at the Timmy's in Westbank which is just before Kelowna. Very beautiful along Lake Okanagan but I was surprised that it doesn't look like an area conducive to growing anything. Luckily, grapes don't want overly fertile soil. We rode by at least one vineyard.

The leg of the journey after Westbank was 2.5 hours on Highway 6 from Lumby to the Needles-Fauquier ferry that crosses Lower Arrow Lake. This highway is coded 'DH2' by Desination Highways BC which means it's deemed to be 2nd from the top on a list of 85 southern BC roads rated by motorcycling enthusiasts. From the ferry ride, it was about 55 km to Nakusp.

Much of the scenery today, including that along Highway 6, reminded me of NB. Actually, probably moreso than any other ride I've done on this trip. The pastureland, the forests, the condtion of the roads (although, in fairness, this road is in much better shape than ours) - we could have been riding the old road to Saint John through Gagetown or on the Kingston Peninsula - or any number of NB back roads. Except for the vastness of the pastures and forests, and that mountain-thing British Columbia has going on ;-). Highway 6 (or DH2) has the Monashee Mountain range and there's no NB road that can lay claim to crossing a mountain range! And there's the road signage prevalent on BC highways: something to the effect of "high mountains area: unexpected weather extremes" ; "brake check" for "vehicles over 5500kg (or 22,000 kg) licensed gross vehicle weight"; "runaway lane - 1000m"; "chain-up area" and so on. The one thing we have in common are the 'forest rat' signs - which is the diagram of a leaping deer. I saw a forest rat yesterday on the Coq but didn't see any today - although there must have been 2 dozen or more signs. Barb and Pam saw a big guy quite far down a bank off the side of the road but I missed him. Guys who came into Nakusp before us this afternoon apparently scared them all off since they had seen 7 or 8 of them - on the road. We were moving along at a pretty good clip but Barb & Tom waited for me a couple of times as I fell behind - not anxious to potentially avail myself of BC's healthcare system because of a mishap with a deer.

I got lots of doggy fixes today: a little shepherd (or shepherd mix) who lives at the Best Western in Merritt, a golden retriever at the Timmy's drive-through, a shitzue riding in a carrier behind a woman on a Harley in Fauquier where we had lunch, a dachshund here at the Kuskanax Lodge. Naturally, the goldie was the friendliest and most anxious to be mucked with :-). I'm missing my Girls!!

I feel as though I've been away for a month instead of only 2 weeks. I have my little reminders of home: a photo of John & me on J's sailboattaken in the clear plastic map pocket of my tankbag, Janet's Tilley socks (which I just washed out), a beautiful "wishing you the best" card from Candace in my tankbag, my cosmetics samples from Catherine A, and my orange cosmetics travel bag from Grace AR - it's working out perfectly! And, of course, there are the blog comments and odd e-mail that I eagerly anticipate everyday. I replied to a comment yesterday indicating that because I'm 'blogging', I won't be boring people with stories when I get home. It was pointed out to me that I was being silly and of course I'll still be able to bore people when I get home ;-) Jude - by the way, the CFR t-shirts are uber cool. If you'd like, I'll check to see if there are extras; I could bring one back for you.

Jim is flying back out to Calgary tomorrow mornng (Friday) with wife, Pat, and newly graduated (as of tonight!) daughter, Julia. Pat will visit with her brother in Edmonton and Julia will ride to Nakusp with Jim. At least, that's the last plan I heard.

Slow news day. Tomorrow's agenda TBD.

Day 13 - Merritt BC (526 km) : It's getting harder and harder....

.... to diss the HD Doods 'cause I'm making so many HD friends ;-) This photo is of a vest patch belonging to one of the guys we met at the ferry this afternoon. He has 140,000+ km on his Electra Glide (I got names today; his friend has an EG Ultra) that I sat on - at his invitation ;-)

I left Tofino at 0750h today in a light rain or a heavy drizzle. Whatever it was, it kept my helmet shield coated. And the pavement wet. I seemed to make better time over that road today - perhaps because I was a bit familiar with it. The rain stopped at Sutton Pass Summit. In retrospect, that's probably where it started to rain yesterday. Perhaps that's the dividing line for climate changes on the Island.


I didn't say much about the scenery yesterday. It was, as usual, very beautiful - as D & B can attest having been there in the last few weeks. One of the striking features of the foliage along the side of the road and growing out of crannies in the rock face is what reminds of me of the goatsbeard that grows in my garden at home. I saw it along the road after I left Golden, as well. It's very beautiful with its green foliage and big cream-coloured plumes. the road going into Port Alberni is unique, too. I tried to think of how I would describe it and all I could come up with is: imagine walking in a forest- huge trees all around with a footpath winding through them. That's what the highway is like for a short stretch. I know a section (or pehaps the whole thing) is called MacMillan Cat/hedral Grove and it's magical.

I met up this morning with Barb (from Campbell River) and Tom & Pam from Huron, ON. It's great to be riding with a gang! We boarded the 1230h ferry and had a great time chatting with our Harley friends and a guy riding a Valkyrie. The V guy was running his stereo as we waited in line (showing off?!) and, as he found out later from the Harley guys, his lights were on as well. When it came time to board, his battery was all but dead so his bike wouldn't start! You should have seen this skinny-ass guy running with that big, honking bike toward the ferry ramp to push-start it! LOL! And THEN, 2+ hours later when we mount up to ride off, whose bike won't start? He kindly moved it out of the way so we could get by him and, we suppose, he would have waited for all the cars to disembark so he could get jump-started again :-)

Our route today was to take us to Merritt via Hope where we would make the decision of proceeding to Merritt up the TCH through the Fraser Canyon (remember Larry saying how this would have been the preferred route over the Coquihalla?) or up the Coquihalla - aargh. Tom, Pam and I thought it would be fun for Barb to take us over the Lion's Gate Bridge and ride through Stanley Park. And it was - until we got back over the bridge and got caught in North Vancouver commuter traffic - at 1530h! Good heavens ! It was HOT and 'stop & go' for what seemed like kilometers. We finally got up to highway speed and a couple of times, the traffic plugged up again - for no apparent reason?! If I had to face that everyday, I'd take my car to the top of a big hill, put it in gear and then throw myself in front of it.

We sped toward Hope, all the while eyeing the ominous black coulds in the Coquihalla mountains. It was around 1730h when we got to Hope - time to get gas, eat, put on more clothes for the mountains ride and make the route decision. We decided that since the Fraser Canyon route would have take us upward of another couple of hours, we'd take the Coquihalla to Merritt. We had just missed a big rainfall and the pavement was still wet for a short distance. The temperature dropped to 11 degrees just after the snowshed, but the sun broke through at Coquihalla Summit and it was 18 degrees by the time we got to Merritt in the Nicola Valley. We just got checked into the Best Western and got our bikes unloaded when it started to rain here. What's new?

I'm sure there's more to tell but this has been an extra effort tonight. We have only one green bar on our wireless connection in our room at the opposite end of the building from the lobby where the signal strength is excellent. Barb and I kept getting booted out so I finally picked up the wee 'puter (this after several calls to the desk and a rebooting of the router) to the lobby to finish the post. I saved it after every sentence - or so I thought. I finished, closed the computer and came back to the room - all set to head to bed. Barb checked the post and there it was .... NOT! Only half of it was there ! :-( So this is a last stab at it and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Am I annoyed? er....yup. We did manage to obtain a 10% reduction in our room rate - for our pain and suffering.

It's been great to meet Barb, finally, after months of emailing. And to see Tom & Pam again.

Onward and upward!

Day 12 - Tofino BC (331 km): I'm a firm believer that...

...good food, liquor and convivial company make even motorcycling in the rain a good thing! The good food and liquor having been provided by shelter restaurant in Tofino and the company provided by my server, Nathalie, and her colleague, Sam. I'll come back to this.

OK - the rackets I got into today....

I left Abbotsford at 0805 - a little overcast but looking promising and about 16 degrees. Completely oppositie of yesterday, I was keen to get on the road and slurped down a couple of mouthfuls of coffee and a few spoonfuls of raisin bran (I took an orange in my tankbag). Speaking of which - if I may digress- I'll be glad to get home to eat my Cheerios out of a real dish. Last week, in Buffalo WY, I was carrying my usual lazy man's load to the table - including my styrofoam dish of cereal - and the stupid dish broke at the edge because of the way I was holding it and I ended up slopping milk and cereal all over the floor!

The bike was full of gas so I was all ready to "get on and give 'er" to the ferry. Lots of traffic and a few turn-offs and towns / cities to drive through, but there was plenty of signage "Ferries: Victoria and Nanaimo" and I had lots of time, so I wasn't having any difficulty. Until....cruising along and not paying attention, I just drifted onto an exit ramp following another vehicle! Oh crap! I thought: "I'll turn around at one of those little dirt cross roads that run between the highways, that the LEO's and emergency vehicles use". And then I see an exit - but I don't see an opposing on-ramp on the other side of the highway. At the same time, I see one of those U-jobbies just before the exit - but I've already signalled, slowed and started to pull off onto the exit. I get slowed down and pointed back at the highway before I get too far up the exit ramp but, darn, the traffic's coming too fast in both lanes for me to do a little "run the wrong way across the highway" to the U-ey. On I go up the highway looking for another U-ey or exit. I'm on the outside, fast lane and by this time I'm a few km out of my way. I still have lots of time for the 1030h ferry if I can recover this situation in reasonable time. Sure enough - there's a U-ey but I'm going too fast to get stopped in time and get by it by about ...I dunno...20 or 30 feet? So, there I am, on the left side of the highway with about a foot of pavement between the yellow line and and the dirt shoulder. And traffic WHIZZING by me. I 'duck walk' that pig back - against the traffic - to the U-ey. Trying to stay out of the driving lane AND trying to keep my left foot on the pavement so I don't let it lean too far to the left and, potentially, lose the bike to a tipover. I make it back, do my U-turn and take off . I SHOULD recognize the exit I came off but I don't. On I go to the next exit and find a gas station. "How do I get back on The Road to the ferries?". I get directions from the store attendant (who is an ESL - 'english second language' and, at the risk of being charged a racist, I don't seem to have an ear for that english) and I follow what she's told me , but it doesn't seem right to me. I really do have a good sense of direction (except in hotels, where I turn the opposite way about 75% of the time I leave the room) - ask John. Next stop, a plant nursery with open gates and a few vehicles in the yard - it's clearly a private residence with an on-site business. I park, climb off and wander around "hello? hello?". A little east indian woman comes out to the house, not knowing I'm there, and I apologize for the intrusion but "how do I get on The Road to the ferries". She tells me, I do it (and I'm chuckling as I write this; it might be the liquor at dinner ....) and it STILL doesn't look right! LOL! I'm back on the highway and it looks like the same highway (northern route) I'd turned onto in the first place since the exit I took to make yet a 3rd (!) ASK was the same one, I'm sure, that I'd started onto in the very first place. I know I'm not far from the ferries since the last sign I'd seen indicated something like 20+ km. And I still had time - but c'mon, I was running out of it. And I haven't see a "Ferries" sign in ages. I was running around in circles, like a fart in a mitten. A customer at the gas station gives me directions and admires my bike. At about the same time, a guy in a car has heard this exchange, rolls up and tells me I can go the way that Buddy told me - it'll get me there - but he's going that way (not to the ferries but in that direction) and I can follow him if I'd like. I can't really hear everything he's saying because of my ear plugs (which have been working well lately, but that's another story). Off I go (are you keeping track of the number of panicky starts and stops here which carry exponential risk for a tipover?!), and as I turn onto the ramp where Buddy has directed me, I notice the OTHER ramp has The "Ferries" Sign!! He's put me onto a truck route that runs parallel to the main highway with a 50km speed limit and law-abiding citizens driving on it - along with big, freaking trucks! Geez Louise. I pass what vehicles I can and then I figure there HAS to be a way for people in this little community to get to the ferries. Sure enough, I soon come to an intersection that indicates "Ferries - 10 km" . It's all good and I get to the Terminal in great time - about 45 minutes prior to departure. With a wink, the ticket agent directs
me "to the head of Lane 30" (all right!) and it's there that I make my new Harley friends. Bruce - this one's for you :-)

Already in line, at the head of Lane 30, are 2 Harleys: one of those big dresser/tourers and one cruiser-style. I apologize - I should have gotten the models but I would have had to write it down. They all look the same to me ;-). Larry was on the cruiser (he left his tourer at home today) - he lives on the lower mainland and used meetings in Nanaimo as a great excuse for a ride. He also has a Maple Leaf 45 sailboat, which he and his wife would like to sail to Europe. I told him about my taking jabs at the HD doods and he took it all in good stride :-)
After all, I WAS wearing HD gloves (there was forecast of scattered showers).

The other HD people were a couple, Kathy & Ted, riding 2-up. From Mazatland, Mexico! Retired Canuckistanis who left Mexico on May 22nd and meandered up to Canada to vist friends and relatives, and to pick up a new-to-them '07 model and return to Mexico by July 15th. I enjoyed chatting with all of them. BTW, when I told Larry about my windy ride through the Nicola Valley on the Coquihalla, he groaned and said there was no way I should have come down the Coquihalla - that the Fraser Valley route was far preferable to ride. Live and learn.

I stopped for gas just outside Nanaimo. My VISA worked fine today, by the way. I paid $1.07 for it on the Island. I think it was $1.09 in Golden yesterday. It's a far cry from the average $2.69/gallon we were paying in the States. I'm getting about the same mileage I get at home, ie, around 20 km / liter.

Larry gave me some Zumo pointers. He has a very 'economical' Garmin model (he said it was the very cheapest he could buy) so he's familiar with the Garmin gps devices. The Zumo worked perfecttly to Tofino - but the road signs were very good as well. The road to Tofino is TWISTY but a little rough in spots. Jim would have loved it. Me....I was reminded of the time I skied the chair line at Crabbe Mountain a few years. It wasn't pretty but I did it ;-) I know the theory of riding-the-twisties but I suffer from a lack of confidence in both my bike and myself. Plus, I wasn't crazy about the wet pavement, the cracks in it and the gravel in the middle of the lanes. Although I met a number of cars travelling east, there were none following me so that pressure was off. I arrived at Pacific Rim National Park in the rain. I'm feeling like the Charlie Brown character "Pig-Pen" who walks around in a cloud of dirt and dust. Except my cloud is full of rain! I'm told "it's been beautiful" in Tofino the last few weeks. Go figure.

Before I got to Tofino, I pulled into the Long Beach area of the Park. I had considered taking off my boots and walking barefoot in the Pacific - and I would have had it been a decent day. But it wasn't - so I didn't. I took a few photos (got a great one of a surfer on the beach - or I think it's great but I can't really see too much on this wee 'puter). And I wandered up the beach to ask 2 guys to take a photo of me. A girl travelling alone's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. That particular area has strong riptides and there was a sign posted with instructions on how to get OUT of a riptide. On the highway, just before I turned off into the beach, there was a sign indicating I was entering a tsunami zone. I'm sure that's what it said. And a bit up the road, it seems to me, there was a sign indicating an Evacuation Route. At the ticket booth in the parking lot (where I did attempt to do the legal thing and buy a park pass but didn't get a ticket so I don't know if I actually paid or not), there are instructions for what to do if you feel the earth shake!

Back to the 'rackets' business. The second racket occurred in Tofino. When I got to Tofino, I thought I'd drive up the main drag to check things out. I hadn't committed to a motel (it was a toss-up and my CFR friends, Tom and Pam, had stayed at the Schooner a few days ago) so I find my two toss-up s and keep goin. Down a steep little side street I go - very slowly. I can go right or left at the bottom. I choose 'left' and, too late, I see that 'left' is taking me into a very rough-looking gravel / dirt/ grass enclosed parking area that has two travel trailers in it. OMG! It was a dead-end (I know you're asking how in the hell-o I didn't notice that before I turned, but I didn't). I can make pretty good u-turns on pavement but on this uneven gravel?! I stopped, took stock and, in first gear, tried to work/walk my way around a turn. A 3-point turn wasn't going to cut it since even in gear I could barely go over the rough terrain and a couple (few?) times I thought I was going to lose the bike. I chewed up some big rocks and got turned - miraculously, and got out of there. I'm not giving up on the Feej!

The proprietor at the Schooner Motel recommended the restaurant shelter. I wandered in and out of a few stores and got directions to the restaurant, which is just up the street. Great atmosphere, clearly a popular spot and friendly staff. Definitely a must-return-to when I come back here with John and we're staying at the Wickanannish Inn :-). I sat down and as I perused the menu and considered drinks , it occurred to me that "here I am in Tofino on the Pacific Rim - next stop, Japan. On my motorcycle. And no one to celebrate with ! " So, Nathalie and I celebrated. I ordered the drinks and she brought them :-) . Since no one was here with me and it was the best dinner of the trip (the home-cooked dinners at the Lockharts' and the Russells' notwithstanding), I'm going to tell you about in detail. I started with a smoked salmon tasting platter minus the caper-shallot cream cheese (cold smoked sliced, pepper candied, and maple smoked with 'pickled red onion, olive oil crustini and neighbours cucumber dill salad) and a 'tatanini' (2 oz x-rated fusion liqueur, absolut citron, limoncello, blueberry & cranberry juice). My main course was: 'shelter yellow thai curry' (gallo mussels, manila clams, wild salmon, local shrimp, banana leaf-steamed basmati and wild rice- beautifully presented on the opened banana leaf) accompanied by a pink! (sparkling rose wine) - for toasting myself ;-). I also had a glass of red wine, although I believe the recommended pairing was a reisling (I like what I like). It was a BC wine, made in Oliver (Okanagan) at the Misconduct (great name!?) Winery. The wine I had was an '07 blend called the "Big Take" (69% Merlot, 24% Cab Sauv and 7% Cab Franc). So, that was my celebration and a very pleasant one it was.

All in all, today was another great day.

Earliest start yet is planned for tomorrow - 0800h to meet Tom, Pam and Barb at Port Alberni to make tracks to the ferry and the mainland. Jude - no time for breakfast at Ucluelet.

This room is great. There's no phone but there IS a thermostat in the bathroom. The room is cool but I'm heating the bathroom now :-)

It seems to me these posts are starting to take on a Seinfeld-esque air. A whole lot of chatter about nothing. I hope I'm not boring you. I hear that a few of you eagerly anticipate the morning post with your coffee - especially when things are slow at the office ;-)

KSAO&E quiz:

1. the Pacific Rim is backed by what mountain range?
2. how are motorcycles handled on the ferries that run between mainland BC and the islands? (check BC Ferries website)

Day 11 - Abbotsford BC (665 km): Into every good trip....

... you know what's coming here.... a little rain must fall!

I had a great sleep (or as good as my sleep ever is) and from 0600h to the time I got up (around 0800?), the only thing I heard was Malcolm chattering ;-). Melanie started me off with a coffee, followed by my day's quota of fruit and veggies served in a tall glass: freshly squeezed carrot, apple, pear, cantelope, beet & beet greens (which Emma declined to have in hers) and strawberries. Yummy! And a homemade granola bar. Melanie's a good cook :-)

By the time I got on the road this morning, in a light rain and after Pete escorted me to a gas station at the entrance to the highway (thanks Pete!), it was 0950h. I picked up an hour when I crossed into Pacific Time just before Glacier National Park and landed in Abbotsford at around 1830. Got a room and then went to a nearby gas station where my credit card wouldn't work at the outside prepay. Although I had called VISA and apprised them of my schedule and itinerary, and asked them to not do anything funky to my card, it appears they may have just caught up to me. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

As soon as I pulled onto the highway at Golden, I caught up to 6 "Big-Dresser Doods" and rode 'sweep' (rear) with them until we got to the snow sheds at Rogers Pass when I stopped to take photos and lost them. Crossing Glacier National Park with its snowsheds was easy - thankfully. They're not as bad as they, apparently, used to be. They're lit so not dark like they used to be. Dry, clean and 16 degrees on the Pass. All good ! Stopped for coffee, water and washroom inspection at Revelstoke and continued on my way. My close call today was at the Revelstoke Timmy's when I stepped off the sidewalk into the path of a slow-moving vehicle in the drive-through lane ;-)

It was a great ride through the Pass and Revelstoke Park - 2 or 3 more snow sheds after the first set. Right after Revelstoke, I entered the Okanagan Shuswap Forest District. I rode around a corner and the view made me catch my breath. A treed mountain wall on the left side, a pond smooth as glass on the right at road level and across the pond a railway tunnel. Actually 2 tunnels carved out of the rock and as I rode along this very short stretch of road, a train came out of the first (rear) tunnel. I pulled over as quickly as I could and grabbed my camera. One of the shots is posted. Suffice to say, the scenery for the next little while - especially where the Shuswap lakes system could be viewed, was spectacular. The area known as Three Valley Gap is also very beautiful.

It was about 16 degrees when I left and by the time I got to Salmon Arm, where the TCH goes through the town so the riding was slow, it was REALLY hot - high 20's. I stopped in Sorrento for lunch and gas, and took that opportunity to shed my long-sleeved shirt (with the 100-wearing shirt underneath), opened the vents in my jacket and changed from WP gloves to hot-weather ones.

Toward Kamloops, the scenery became more farmland along the highway but further away from the highway, it was evident that this area is more arid. The hills look sandy with very sparse vegetation. Rode through a heavy sun shower for a couple of minutes and I had to pay careful attention to traffic for a few kilometers to make sure I stayed on course for Highway 5 south = Coquihalla Highway. Once I hit Hwy 5, the traffic all but disappeared. I'll digress here for a moment to talk about traffic. For the most part, we've seen very little traffic - especially in Wyoming and Montana. The highways are in great shape and we often had them pretty much to ourselves (you know what I mean). That was until we hit Alberta where the traffic picked up noticeably. June's great because the "kids-are-out-of-school-let's-hit-the-road" crowd hasn't started yet. And the weather conditions when we were at the 'tourist traps' in the US tended to discourage the looky-loos. I can only imagine what the traffic would be like in high tourist season. The traffic during the Alberta and BC legs has been spotty. For the most part, the Coquihalla traffic was sparse and really got heavy only near the Chilliwack exit.

What was really noticeable today was the transport trucks. The highway was lousy with them. And I noticed today because I was getting tossed around so badly by the wind. Right after Kamloops, the terrain made me think I was back in Wyoming! Remember the hills peppered with sagebrush or tumbleweed and very little else? There were also signs posted indicating "high mountain conditions: unexpected weather changes". First weather change was another torrential rain for a couple of minutes. And during it, the temperature dropped from around 22 or 24 to 15! The sun was still out - I was directly under a rain cloud. I thought I'd seen a couple of lightening streaks and kept looking but it's hard to watch the road AND the sky. Another interesting note about the Coquihalla highway is the 'runaway lanes'. If they're on other mountain highways, I hadn't noticed them. There are quite a few of them on Hwy 5 - long dirt driveways that go up the side of the mountain.

At one point, a gust of wind caught me and I thought "this is the one good thing about the weight of this bike for me; it keeps me on the road and not buffeted around by the wind". A few minutes later, I noticed the first sign indicating "strong cross wind". Great. I should note that I didn't have any sense that I was in "high mountains". I eventually found out how high I was. The 4-lane highway seemed to snake around the top of a mountain and it WAS gusty. I never follow transport trucks since they cause too much of a wake. And it takes very little throttle for me to blow past them. That was a white-knuckle ride for many kilometers. AND I've been having a lot of trouble with .... pain in the butt ....kind of. I couldn't identify it except to say it felt as though it was in my adductor muscles. Jim kept commenting about my feet being off the pegs a lot. I have to stretch them - frequently - after I've ridden about 100 km. It doesn't seem to be a muscle thing since I should have developed "muscle memory" by now. My back, for example hasn't bothered me in days whereas this 'butt' thing is getting worse. Add that to the 'strong cross wind' situation and I was getting pretty tired. I stopped south of Merritt, walked a little, finished off a bottle of water and had some trail mix (that I've been carrying in my tankbag since I left Fredericton), and hauled my sheepskin out of the trunk (Dave - it hasn't gotten wet yet so I can't describe what that feels like!). That DID help a bit. In the meantime, I'd figured out - I think - that the problem may be in my "sit bones" (ischial tuberosities) as a result of cutting foam off the seat so that I can reach the ground better :-( I'm not giving up the Feej - not yet anyway! And I'm not planning any more trips like THIS so it probably won't be a problem .... once I get home.

The last leg of the Coquihalla (200-300 km north of Vancouver) was one of those breathtaking experiences - like speeding through a steep, downhill parkway. That's when I found out high I actually was. Is it possible the mountains down here are even higher than in Yoho Park ?? I would have loved to poke along and really gawk around but that's not feasible even at low speeds so I might as well keep up with traffic. It was all I could do, as I descended, to put my head back - very quickly -at almost at 90 degrees to see the top of a mountain. And the trees are right at the side of the highway. I'm sure it's like nothing you'd see back east - ANYwhere.

It's 2300h and if I have any hope of getting to Tofino at a reasonable time tomorrow (1 hour & 40 minutes crossing), I have to get some sleep. I'm tired! And when I'm tired (as I was last evening), I forget to do the quiz questions. I'm wondering if anyone is reading / answering them anyway?

As a postscript, I'm getting some nice comments (I don't always reply but I DO always appreciate them!) from people who show up as Anonymous (which is fine) but also don't sign a name or initials and I don't know who you are :-(

Over and out from the Best Western in Abbotsford, BC.

KSAO&E quiz:

1. Mount 7 is located in which mountain range?
2. Revelstoke is best known for what seasonal activity?
3. One of the very picturesque areas I rode through is Districk of Sicamous whose logo is "Gateway to the Shuswap" What is this district known as? hint: it's the "---Capital of Canada". Sounds like fun to me!

Day 10 - Golden BC (334 km): Size DOES matter ...

... for mountains, at least.

After the worry and, literally, headache of last night, I was amazingly calm this morning. As it turned out, Tom was going flying after he dropped Jim off at the airport so he offered to escort me to the TCH via Hwy 22 south and around Calgary. We both topped up our gas tanks and I checked my tire pressure (I added a bit; I lose 5 pounds for every 3 I put in). Another sunny day in paradise and about 22 degrees at around 1030h when we finally hit the road. Tom pulled me over just before the turn-off to give me more tips about negotiating my route. At the 65-km mark, with big parting waves, Tom went east to Calgary and I, swallowing the lump in my throat, headed west into the mountains.

First stop - Banff, at around noon. As I was riding toward the mountains and making a gradual decline into Banff, I thought 'wow, these mountains are huge and beautiful'. And then, I turned a sweeping curve and faced a humungous wall of rock. I actually went weak in the knees. The crazy part about it is that the scenery got even more spectacular in BC, riding through Yoho National Park.

I took the second exit into Banff and ran into construction at the hospital entrance. I got into the residential area rather than riding onto Banff Avenue and finally had to stop and ask someone for directions to Bear Street where Lynne's shops are located. Once I found Bear Street, I had to test one parking spot along the sidewalk (wouldn't work because the slope to the curb kept me from putting my sidestand down) and settled on one further up the street. I met Lynne's beautiful and talented daughter, Southorn, at their store (Mountain Magic Sportswear) where I bought one of Southorn's Lilly Lab t-shirts featuring a painting of Lynne's on it (talk about a mother-daughter team!). I then went to Lynne's house and she, Charlotte (the stick-loving yellow lab) and I went for a walk along the Bow River. Bowl of soup for lunch and shopping for a book for the Russell Girls, and I was on the road again by 1500h.

Next stop - a little jog into Lake Louise. Just as soon as I stopped by the Welcome to .... sign, a car pulled up behind me. The driver offered to take a photo of me so, naturally, I reciprocated :-) Up a twisty mountain road for a few kilometers and driving the wrong way for a full loop of the very full parking lot, I finally pulled into an empty spot that appeared to be very level - unlike some of the spots that clearly had a bit of a grade (and I mean a WEE bit). Too late, I realized I should have backed into the spot and knew I was going to struggle to get out - unless the car in front of me moved by the time I got back! Once I grabbed my photo (unfortunately, not very good quality and the place was crawling with people) and checked out the washroom, on the way back to the bike I noticed people getting into the vehicle in the adjacent lot. I put a little pep in my step when it occurred to me that I might need Buddy's help, that is, a little push backward. It is what it is; I can't even be all that embarrassed about it anymore. I'm blaming it on having the trunk. I definitely noticed the difference in weight riding to Longview without it yesterday. At any rate, the car adjacent left (after we made some small talk about the trip since he'd noticed my plate) and the space in front of him was already vacant so I did a little diagonal jog across the spaces and continued on my way !

Into BC and Yoho National Park. The word Yoho is the Cree word expressing awe. I've heard about the Canadian mountains. I've been told you see them at a distance and then all of a sudden you're in them. And that they're more magnificent than the ranges that run down through the US. And that what I called 'mountains' in the horizon at Judith Gap where I took the windfarm photos are foothills in comparison to what I'd be seeing. But I had NO appreciation for any of this until I saw them for myself. (same thing with Grand Canyon. You know the dimensions: 15-29 km wide and over 1.6 km deep but you can't appreciate it until you see it). I kept thinking about how I'd describe my impressions and all I have are cliches. I was dumbstuck, overwhelmed and actually intimidated. For the first time, I had a twinge of almost preferring to be in a car - I felt so miniscule and vulnerable on the bike. As I rode through Yoho National Park, I so very much wished that John was with me to experience this at the same time. We'll come back.

So many places for photographs but not convenient to stop. Water from the mountains rushes like spring freshets and is the most amazing shade of green blue. Smells today were evergreen and, at Kicking Horse Rest Area, the bed of sweet clover where I parked my bike.

The first potentially-bad-outcome occurrence of the trip happened today coming into Golden. I was on the 'canyon road' - steep grades and some tight turns, "obey all signs" deal - and beating down a 4-lane section with a transport truck quite a way behind me but we were on dowhill grade. Just before this, I had been on another 4-lane section of the road - I was on the mountain side, the road is divided by a concrete median and there's a low concrete wall with a railing on the opposite, canyon side - and it's steep. In my peripheral vision, I catch sight of something that makes me think there's a statue on the road (?!). Uh-uh. It's 3 bighorn sheep straddling the lanes of the highway and a 4th is climbing over the railing! Dumbies! They had climbed up the canyon. Back to my close call ... on my downhill run, I saw 3 more, a big and 2 littles, but they were on the side of the road - MY side of the road. I instintively hit the brake and seconds later, the transport truck whooshed by me on the left. I don't need to go into detail about what if there was a car in the other lane and he couldn't move into it, blah, blah.

I arrived in Golden at 1730h and 30+ degrees of heat, and rode in circles a couple of times until I relented and called Peter & Melanie. Good thing it's Sunday and the streets were just about deserted. I arrived just in time for a tall, cold G&T before a fabulous dinner. Peter & Melanie are gracious and generous hosts, and their 3 children are beautiful, polite and happy (well, at least the girls are polite - we don't know about 7-month old Malcolm yet!). After dinner, Peter offered to take me to Mount 7 - a mountain peak in the Rockies where the perpetual snow makes a figure 7 seen from miles away, and where people hang glide, paraglide and do extreme moutain-bike racing (Peter doesn't race but he does don armour and run the race trail; it's almost a verical drop where they take off and although I took a photo, my camera just doesn't capture the steepness of the grade). Off we go in Pete's work F350 pickup that I had to CLIMB into (and then forgot how high the cab is and, consequently, FELL out of it both times we stopped) with a couple of 'dust cutters' (brewed in our own Saint John, NB!) up over a steep, winding and, at times, very narrow loging road. On our way out with Peter clutching the Moosehead, Melanie had offered up a "Can you say Redneck?" ;-) Part way up, there's a mama black bear who's inhabited that one small area for years. Pete told me about her and her 2 tiny cubs, and suggested I turn my camera on - just in case we saw them. No dice. As we approach the top of the mountain, we DO, however, spot a paraglider through the trees - he's just taken off ! We park and make a short climb to the overlook and 6 people arrived to do tandem jumps! We hung around and watched that process, then made our way back down the mountain. On this leg, we didspot Mama B on the side of the road :-) The 2 cubs skittered away but she sat and was looking across the road. As we sat and watched, a 3rd (!) little guy scampered across. Very CUTE!

All in all, a red-letter day.

It's late, the whole Russell family is in bed and I'm tired, too. Ellen, I'm VERY conscious of my punctuation tonight. I hope it's up to snuff ;-)