Day 33. Friday. Another fabulous day of riding. There are'nt a lot of options when it comes to roads in this area so I retraced my path to Golden, BC but this time I stayed on highway 1 and went to Glacier National Park. I stopped at several road side attractions that I skipped yesterday. There is a spot called the Spiral Tunnels where in the 1920's they dug and blasted two spiral tunnels in the mountains for the railroad because it was too steep for the trains to climb out of the valley. Pretty ingenious. The road to Golden is a nice one. Several kilometers of it are literally cut into the rock and there are huge screens draped over the rock surface to catch any falling debris. There are also several avalanche areas where ... read more

Day 31. 11,102Km. Happy 142nd Birthday. As soon as I left the West side of Calgary I could see the mountains. I've been waiting a month for this. I like mountains. Did I mention that already? The closer I got the more excited I felt. I must have been it the mountains in the States before but it's been a long time. Being a holiday I did'nt think it was a good idea to move on but I often taken the road less traveled. Sometimes literally on this trip. I was headed for Banff by 11.00 but chose to drive right on past to Lake Louise. When traffic ground to a halt and then crawled for several miles I was second guessing my decision. Was this holiday traffic? An accident? Turned out to be a few ... read more

Day 26. 10,793Km After tossing and turning for a while I got up at 03:30 and had the shower I skipped earlier. Not too much action in the bathrooms at that hour. I was cool overnight. The furnace has not come on for several nights but it did last night. In fact I could hear others during the night as well. I was up by 09.00 and on the road about 10.30. The plan was to meet my friends from Kitchener who were coming to Calgary to visit her cousin. Just as I was getting to the campsite they called and said they had arrived so after I parked the trailer I went to the house they were at. The forecast was for thundershowers so I took the truck. Of course it never did rain so ... read more

Day 27. 10,451Km I did'nt feel like getting up today. It was drizzling all morning. I still had not decided if I was staying another day in Lloydminster or moving on. The rain did'nt help keep me there, that's for sure. I did'nt have internet either. I checked the weather for Edmonton on my phone. Hmmm, Sun. And it's only 250Km away. But it's what some might call a long weekend. Should I risk it? I check the Alberta campground catalog I got at the info centre and see a descent selection in the area. OK, I'm leaving. It was 13:30 by the time I pulled out. No big deal since I'm only going 250Km. I pull into the park I selected from the book around 16:00 and inquire at the office if they can accommodate ... read more

Day 25. 9688Km. Half way to Christmas. Somewhere along the way the street lights went horizontal again. I stayed off the Trans Canada Highway again today. No particular reason. I went North to Canora, across to Watson, up to Melford and across to Prince Albert. It was actually flatter in lower Manitoba around Winnipeg than anything I've seen since. Many towns and some country intersections have the stereotypical grain elevators we have all seen in pictures. Some have town names on them, others the farm. The rail line runs along the road or more likely the other way around and in some places the empty bulk cars are there waiting. What else would the rail companies do with them this time of year. I got settled early today so I had time to relax a bit ... read more