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

The Badlands and the Hoodoos While it was my intention to take things a little easier today I still ended up riding about 80 km’s including climbing 2 steep hills out of the valley. That being said most of my stuff was at camp so my load was light. I started the day heading east along the Hoodoo Trail to check out the Hoodoos which were quite cool. I would have thought the Hoodoos would have covered a much greater area, but whatever. They are a very unique formation; it makes it almost difficult to still realize that you are in Canada as these formations look like they are right out of the Grand Canyon or perhaps Mars. Because my goal to see the Hoodoos was accomplished in such quick time I decided to head back ... read more

The City Of Calgary Hamilton could learn a lot from a city like Calgary. I have spent the last two days wandering some of the streets of the down town area and I would have to say this is a nice city for those who enjoy cities. Typically I do not fall in that category but I sure am happy about being stuck here instead of Hamilton. I have spent the last two days researching and purchasing a bike for the next leg of my journey. I typically wouldn’t recommend this kind of purchase in such short of time, but I feel I have made good use of time and I feel a sense of success. I spent two days with a local bike shop and they have hooked me to my satisfaction. I think I ... read more

Don’t Try This At Home Kids / A Change In Plans Imagine 2:00 am in the morning in a strange city. (Insert scary music now.) The streets are deserted. But are they? Are you being watched? You are trying to hide in the shadows to escape detection. But can you know for sure that no one is watching? You slip into a small clump of forest in an industrial area along some train tracks. Did anyone see you slip in? Do homeless people live here? Do dangerous people come here to drink and party? Who is in the shadows? And what was that noise? These are all the many thoughts that raced through my mind as I tried to set up my tent. Talk about a head trip! I am racing to try to get this ... read more

Ok, perhaps a little dramatic for being dropped off by (uncle) Red John at the 401/Hwy 6 (Guelph). But I had to start with something on my first day. Today was my first day as a hitchhiker. As I got closer and closer to the 401/Hwy 6 I really had to come to grips with the travel plans that I just told all the people in my world about. I was about to get dropped off with no turning back. I must be nuts. I did a bit of walking, a fair bit of standing, at least it felt like a lot of standing. Everyone who picked me up felt I was making good time. It was a hot day and I will forever remember carrying 100lbs of backpack up the hill in Durham in the ... read more