Blogs from Canmore, Alberta, Canada, North America
Boyhood Dreams And Being Back For A Year
Published: April 22nd 2012North America » Canada » Alberta » Canmore
April 5th 2012
I don't remember how the collection of books arrived into the family home I grew up in. I was 7,8, maybe 9 years of age when the box of books was taken from the box and put onto the bookshelf. I have dozens of cousins varying in age, so boxes often arrived and boxes often exited. Hand me down clothes, toys, bicycles, books, shoes, skates and even cross country skies have entered and exited my early life. Back to the books. The books were a set of children's versions of classic novels. Their colourful covers, large print, small size and use of illustrations made them both eye catching, easy to transport and the modified classics proved to be an interesting read. I was an avid reader then. I read on the school bus, on my recess ... read more
July 7th 2011
Welcome to Canada. Sunday morning and we depart our temporary home in Great Falls and, after refueling, proceed north. Going through the city on the Sabbath is very pleasant and we stop at Flying J for US priced fuel, as does another rig which hitched up our toweds together at the Fam Camp. As usual we have problems with the Flying J computers in using our fueler advantage card for our discounts. An active duty Army serviceman strikes up a conversation, asking which service we retired from and noted that he's heading to Alaska in his final change of duty station move. From his comments he's one of our nation's fine personnel approaching his 20+ year retirement after 18 years of active duty and another 5 Guard years. While he's moving from North Carolina he noted ... read more
July 5th 2011
Tuesday July 5, 2011 The Rockies, a Shower and Beers I got my start at a reasonable time. The hills have not been too bad but I always seem to be riding into the wind. I think I only rode 50 km’s today. I rode from Ghost Lake to Canmore. For the last 10 km’s I rode (from Exshaw to Canmore) I have had the Rockies on either side of me. The riding has been good so far. No big climbs; that being said I have been so busy looking at the mountains and scenery maybe I don’t even notice the climbs. The mountains are awesome; it seems it has been years since I have seen the Rockies; Oh yeah it has been years. All I can say is that I hope everyone likes pictures! So ... read more
Every Kilometer is a Fight / A Second Riding Accomplishment
Published: July 6th 2011North America » Canada » Alberta » Canmore
July 4th 2011
Sunday July 3, 2011 Every Kilometer is a Fight I got an early start this morning. I don’t want to be anyone’s surprise. I am on by bike by 8:30 and as I round the front corner of the church I see that someone has already arrived and a second person is pulling in the parking lot. I am waiting for the first town to stop and eat something. With no gas in the tank (food in the stomach) it is slow going. 10 km’s riding gets me into Cremona. I stop for a quick breakfast at their little public park and am off. Water Valley is another 10 km’s. With Water Valley came back all the trees. No more Bad Lands. Leaving Water Valley it is all gravel roads. In my first 10 minutes of ... read more
July 2nd 2011
Friday July 1, 2011 A Hard Day I only rode 65 km’s today but it was demanding. I had to ride out of the valley twice today with my full load. Once to get up to Horsethief Canyon Viewpoint then back into the valley to take the Bleriot Ferry across Red Deer River and then back out of the valley again to be on my way. My first climb out of the canyon was tough, didn’t think I could go all the way up, but I did and it pretty much killed me. Problem now is that I am on the North Dinosaur Trail and now I have to go back into the valley, take the ferry across and then another climb to get out of the valley to hook up with the South Dinosaur Trail ... read more
June 14th 2011
I am not a morning person. I could be--I enjoy early mornings but I'm not very good at going to bed early enough to drag myself out early the next morning. This makes it hard for me to be ready to start a geology field trip at 7am (especially since I toss and turn the night before because I'm worried about sleeping through my alarm). Somehow though, I made it to the meeting point on time. I had a Thermos of coffee to enjoy as the bus left Calgary on the way to the mountains. Our first stop was somewhere I'd been before, on two previous field trips, and , to look at Mount Yamnuska and talk about the McConnell Thrust that cuts through it. The weather was spectacular, and even at 9am (which was about ... read more
January 11th 2011
Well it's been a while since I wrote anything here so I thought I'd better slap some random thoughts up for the world to see. Firstly, the Inuvik and Prudhoe Bay trip proved to be worthwhile as I managed ultimately to raise about $5000 for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Huge thanks to all who donated. Many apologies to those who were unable to track me on this journey too. The good news is that I now own a SPOT tracker and have tried it out on a couple opf smaller road trips. It works really well ...in fact my brother Andy is going to get one for his trip to Mongolia this year! Ah yes.....Mongolia. If I had the money I would join him this year but sadly this will not be the case. So..........we ... read more
August 25th 2010
Ok…so some of you thought I hadn’t made it home due to the fact that I didn’t really post it on the blog! I did make it home after a wonderful sunny ride through from Nakusp B.C. across the Rogers pass and up to Lake Louise. I got home around 7:30 in the evening after leaving Nakusp at 2pm…..that’s right I was riding sensibly that’s why it took me 51/2 hours to get home (plus a ferry ride and a bit of a wait too). I stepped straight back into work on Monday the 16th to a myriad of emails. Tuesday was my daughter’s 10th birthday, Dom (the fellow I travelled with to Nakusp) and his lovely wife Tracey swung by on Wednesday evening so that I could fit a few things to his bike (check ... read more
July 26th 2010
July 2010 - we rented an 8' camper trailer and headed west - destination, Calgary to celebrate Pat's 30th birthday and see as much as we could on the way there and back. In 4 weeks we covered 10 000km, saw lots of the US and Canada, experienced many highs and a few lows. We'll let the photos speak for themselves. Highs? ... Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park. Taking a small bus instead of driving it.... a spectacular ride but a white knuckle drive for sure! Camping on Racehorse Creek with Pat and Claire - fishing and admiring the pristine Rocky Mountains. The Calgary Stampede & rafting down the Bow River with Kim, James, Lukie, Pat & Claire - great hosts Don & Peggy, Cara & Aunt Marg. Yellowstone Park - with its ... read more
July 7th 2010
Well they say Time is a thief and i guess they're right. It seems like I have so much to do in only a few days! At present the bike is being serviced down in Calgary at ANDERWERKS BMW. Dave Anderson is applying his magic to the GS and also putting up with my numerous calls to him........sorry Dave I guess I must be getting nervous! ANDERWERKS are also fitting my bridgestone tires so that I have fresh rubber for the trip to Dawson (where I'll spoon on the knobbly TKC80's at the campground prior to starting the Dempster and Dalton Highways). I have also purchased 2X2ltr fuel containers for the bike thus adding about 80kms to the range if needed. The reason for this was a small "nightmare" I had a few days ago after ... read more
