July 19

The dead president's dinner was fun.  However, I drove up without my leather jacket.  Thought it would be too showy.  This was error.  I paid by freezing on the 1 1/2 hour drive back to Moscow as it got down to 54.

And speaking of temps, I left early this morning for the 325 miles or so back home because I did not want to deal with the heat more than I had to.  Still, I experienced a 49 degree temperature swing.  At that I escaped the absolute worst.  It was 99 when I got home, rising later to 106.

And speaking of getting home . . . .  Pat was following my progress, NSA-like, using the GPS in my phone.  She was waiting for me as I came down the drive, and took these.  Note the garbage cans that were there when I left are now gone.  I do not know if this is significant.

Over 9000 miles total.  Thanks very much to all who took me in and, in some cases, healed me up.  It was even more wonderful too see people again and catch up than it was to see all the things I saw.

Kat and Kyle came over for dinner.  I got some belated Father's Day books to as we had our steak dinner with Kat garden salad and Kat garden zucchini stuffed with tomato, sausage and other goodness.  Time flew and it was after 10 before we knew it.  So I kicked them out.

A reflection or two.  First, the time when I could ride 800 and 900 mile days as a matter of routine are the stuff of myth for me now.  I know I did it; I have no idea how.  Second, if the folks I ran into on this trip - and I am speaking of strangers now - are representative of the U.S. and Canada, then we are in pretty decent shape.  I didn't run into a single actual jerk during the whole trip, but I did meet a good many nice, helpful people.  Third, how is it that I am blessed with so many good friends?  It is an astonishment and a mystery for which I am very grateful.  And lastly . . . 

Mark Twain said that the two most important days in a man's life are the day he's born and the day he figures out why.  If there is a single answer to the second question, I don't know it and I've been pondering this for better than 50 years.  I have partial answers.  One of them is my love for my wife and daughter.  Still, a sceptic might say that love is just a feature of evolutionary biology designed to maximize the chances of passing one's genetic material to the next generation.  After all, if you love someone, you take better care of them.  Love almost surely is an evolutionary advantage, but it is also almost surely more.  Consider the bond between a young child and a puppy.  That is love, pure and unconditional, but it is difficult to see what evolutionary advantage interspecies love confers.  I think love is an answer, and I do not believe it is reducible to mere biology.

I have another partial answer.  When I was in Ontario, heading west, I stopped for breakfast just after another rider, heading east.  By the time I got off the bike and got inside, he was already seated.  A tall, lean man wearing leather chaps and jacket.  I sat at an adjoining table and ordered.  We didn't speak, but simply nodded to one another when he got up to leave.  On the back of his jacket were the words,

                                     IT'S NOT THE DESTINATION, IT'S THE RIDE

Have a good ride, my friends.  You get only one.

                                                                  FIN

                                                                

July 18

Slept late.  Dale was making breakfast when I got up.  Life is still pretty fine.

Did a final repack because tomorrow I head for home.  Before that, however, I have dinner to attend in Coeur d' Alene, so I will head north this afternoon.  Every year, in conjunction with the annual bar meeting, the past commissioners of the Idaho bar get together for dinner.  There are five commissioners, elected for three year terms, and the presidency of the bar rotates among them.  No one really wants to be president because the only thing the president does that the other commissioners do not do is write a monthly column for the bar magazine.  Anyway, the dinner is the Past President's Dinner.  All the past presidents call it the Dead President's Dinner.  I planned to attend from the very beginning of this trip because it is always a very good time.  We tend to be an irreverent bunch.  Strongly tend.

At a friend's suggestion, Dale and walked downtown to Wheatberries where I had the recommended pecan pastry.  The sugar in that thing will sure tide me over until dinner.

Now I just have to clean up, change into my formal jeans and wrinkled blue work shirt, and hit the road.  Then come back to Moscow for the night.

An early start tomorrow, I think.  I estimate 320 miles, Moscow to home.

July 17

Left Nelson about 7:30 so as to get to the border early.  It's only about 40 miles away, but  I didn't know how busy it might be and wanted to allow myself some time.  The crossing I picked is not on a major route, but it is on a fun to drive one.  Partly cloudy, temps in the 60s, curvy two lane road, and a border crossing where only one car was in front of me and it was about to move on.  My check took only a few minutes, and through I went.  Picked up a Washington scenic highway and headed off to Spokane, looking for a place to grab breakfast.

There were a few places I refused to stop.  One said, "Restaurant - Grub and More."  What's that mean?  Grubs and slugs?  A few miles down the road was a sign that said "Rest & Rant."  I don't know what was on offer, food or mental health services.  As I kept looking, I saw a turkey family cross the road single file, dad, six or seven chicks, and mom.  Very cute.  Kept looking for a restaurant because the handful of nuts and berries from the night before was a rapidly fading shadow of a memory.  Passed through several small towns that couldn't support a restaurant and some that could but did't seem to meet my high standards.  For example, a low probability of food poisoning.  Drew closer to Spokane.  Here were restaurants, but on the other side of the widening road.  Picky.

Saw more turkeys.

Got into Spokane, but did not want to park the bike in busy lots or on the street.  Drove down to Pullman, but as I was headed for friends in Moscow, didn't stop there.  Finally made to Deb and Dale's house, which I'd not seen before.  Dale and I went into town where I had an omelet.  22 hours after my last meal, if you don't count the nuts and berries.  Surprisingly, I was hungry, but not too hungry.

Deb and Pat go back many years when Deb was an attorney for Micron and Pat handled employment law cases for the company.  Deb and Dale are both very outdoorsy people, hiking and camping and boating and skiing.  They each left their respective jobs, Dale was with HP, and moved to McCall where they built a beautiful big house on the river south of town.  It's on the market now because Deb took a position with the U of I, hence their house in Moscow.  By the way, they have a cute little place in Boise on the market, too.  Contact me for details.

Dale and I sat around Talking for a bit, I took a little nap, then Deb got home and they fed me grilled salmon, potato, mushrooms and veggies.  And a wee bit of wine.  Then after chatting a bit more, I went to bed.

Life is good.

July 16

Wonderful day, eh?  Warm, not a cloud in the sky.  I backtracked through Revelstoke National Park and part of Glacier.  I was looking for the road to Meadow in the Sky and I couldn't remember where I'd seen it.  After about 40 or so miles of backtrack, I turned around.  Just as I was about to enter the town of Revelstoke, there was the turnoff.  So I went about 14 miles up Mt. Revelstoke on this neat little road with "Watch for Amphibians" signs on it.  Seems as though the lower reaches of the forest comprise what I've seen billed as the world's only inland temperate rain forest.  Don't quite know what that entails.  I suspect very finicky definitions.  This was not today's only great sign.  I saw a warning sign for mountain goats to add to the elk, deer, moose, big horn sheep and bears.  Say, if these guys all mix together could this be the reason for the rural crime watch areas?

Anyway, after dancing along my backtrack route, I danced up this wonderful little road to the top of Mt Revelstoke where the were horse and deer flies in abundance, I might add.  Here are some of the promised pictures.

The old fire lookout at the very tippymost top of Mt. Revelstoke.

Snow just below the tippriest topmost point.

The valley below the mountain wherein lies the town.

And for good measure.

Ate a good lunch after the flower- filled meadows in the sky and headed south.  Got to get ready to head back south of the border, as the Canadians say.  Came to a screeching halt when the road stopped at a reservoir.  Seems a huge hydro project flooded a long stretch of valley some decades ago.  Now you have to take a ferry across.  So I waited for the ferry and struck up a conversation with a young Canadian motorcyclist from Revelstoke who was just out for the day.  We pointed me toward the town of Nelson which is where I am now.  After we got on the ferry, we struck up a conversation with a third bike guy.  Talked biking and skiing and roads all the way across.  The dam forming this reservoir is across the Columbia, by the way.

We were the first ones off the ferry and these guys just blasted so I figured I could turn it up a notch myself.  Had a wonderfully exhilarating ride full of ups and downs and twisties for maybe 100 miles.  The Canadian guys said that people come from all over to bike through southern B.C.  And I didn't even take the road they suggested.  My twisties to Nelson were on a more direct route.

An outstanding day.  I have no idea how many miles I did.  Finished off the last few handfuls of Pat's nuts and berries, feeling, for the last time this trip, as one with the Great Bear.  Moscow, Idaho tomorrow.

July 15

Rained last night and was chilly this morning so I stuck around the motel until just before 11.  Washed some of the larger insect carcasses off the bike while I waited.  Once again, had to dress for the chill.  I understand some of you reading this may have forgotten what is this thing called 'chill'.  You do, however, know what 'warm' is.  'Chill' is combatted by adding more clothing so as to preserve the 'warm.'  You may recollect all this come, say, December.  Speaking of chill, it snowed last night on the mountain peaks.  Saw it with my own personal eyes.

Drove to Yoho National Park.  Another spectacular drive through narrow valleys surrounded by steep mountains, this time with the added drama of mist and swirling clouds.  And intermittent rain, unfortunately.  Not enough to get very wet, but enough to make me worry that I might get very wet.  When I entered Yoho, I tried to be a good guy and buy my pass.  The gate at the park entrance was closed.  Go to the visitor center, said the sign.  Never saw that before I reached the turnoff for Emerald Lake, which was where I wanted to go.  Got to the Lake and it was not raining.  Got off the bike and it began.  Took a few pictures with the phone (that still sounds weird to me) and decided to head back to Golden where the weather report called for clearing skies.  Here are my poor efforts, taken in the rain while trying to keep the phone dry.

I was looking forward to having something hot to drink in the lodge, but discretion, valor, etc..

It grew clearer as I headed back to Golden.  Stopped, had lunch, gassed up and headed to Revelstoke which is where I am now.  Rained on me a bit getting here, but the main thing is I passed through two more national parks, Glacier and Revelstoke.  Three parks for the day, bringing the number for this trip to six.  (Lifetime total, eight.)  This area is as rich in scenic wonder as southern Utah/ northern Arizona.  Of course, it is a very different kind.

Supposed to be warm and clear tomorrow so I think I will ride about taking pictures.

PS again.  Another PS.  I am always forgetting things.  (One reason is I am deep down tired despite staying with friends and not pushing too hard.  It is the gravity of age.  Rats.)  Anyway, another PS.  I lost my second set of Tupelo earplugs today.  Located a hardware store, though, so I now have Revelstoke earplugs.  And a dashing shade of orange they are, too.  Just want to bring everyone up to date on the important things.

July 14

So, today I left Calgary.  Really.  It was nippy again, with severe thunderstorms expected in Calgary in the afternoon.  Helen had a golf game starting at 9:35, so we wanted to be gone by 8:30ish.  I dressed as I did yesterday except for the leather pants.  I'm not real bendy with those things on and because I was carrying my gear over the rear saddlebags, I knew getting on the seat with a bendiness deficit would be tricky.  Still, it was mid to upper 50s so I thought I'd be OK.  And I was until just outside Calgary where I ran into a cloud that was right down on the deck.  Temperature fell to 50 instantly.  I was thinking shades of yesterday, but it cleared up in about 15 miles.  Went through Banff to the Kootenay Park turn and headed through new territory.  A short way in, I left Banff and Alberta at the continental divide and entered Kootenay and British Columbia.  A picture, shot blind because I was facing the sun and couldn't see the screen.

The road went downhill for better than 60 miles, wonderful scenery all the way.  A river flowing next to the road and mountains on both sides.  A picture showing Why I Ride.

Another picture, taken in Banff on the way to Lake Moraine, showing the same thing.

After driving through Kootenay, I arrived in the town of Radium Hot Springs.  The temp had risen to 70, I was a bit hungry, and you can't just drive right through a town called Radium Hot Springs.  So I stopped just after noon and am very happy to report that omelets are not a lost cause in Canada.  Had an excellent one with spinach and goat cheese and ham and other yumminesses.  (Boy, did spell check not like that word.)

After bidding farewell to the town - Radium Hot Springs, we hardly knew ye - I proceeded north along the western side of the mountains that form the National Parks.  Another gorgeous valley.  This road had more signs.  Now, I've seen the signs warning of masses of mooses, a few warning of elk, and more telling you to watch for deer.  But just outside town, I saw a warning sign with a big horn sheep on it.  A bit farther on, I saw one warning of bears.  Now, by any test, these are cool signs.  Groovy, even.

I am stopped in the town of Golden.  Tomorrow I will go to the fourth of the contiguous parks, Yoho.  It is, I am told, about an hour and one half from here.  There, Helen says I must see Emerald Lake and have something nice in the Emerald Lake Lodge.  Sigh.  There is just no rest.

Today I passed the 8000 mile mark.  I believe I seriously underestimated my trip mileage.

OK - weirdness I forgot.  A few days ago I walked up to a viewpoint overlooking Lake Moraine.  Quite a few people, as you might expect at so lovely a place at peak season.  But I did not hear one word of English during the entire walk.  I heard Hindi.  I heard French (once).  And I heard - remember I said German was so common in Arches National Park?  Well, here it was Chinese.  And not one time on the walk did I hear English.  Now if I was a left winger, I'd say this was either the global economy or global warming.  Oops.  Climate change.  There hasn't been any global warming for the past 16 years.

(And before I get all kinds of comments, yes, I do believe the earth is warming, and no, I don't believe the global warming models are worth a damn.  To my knowledge, none of them predicted an increase in greenhouse gases coupled with an absence of warming.  "Oh, but 16 years is too short a time."  I repeat, none of the models predicted an increase in greenhouse gases coupled with an absence of warming.  If the model can't predict, the model is crap.  I, The Carl, have spoken.)

July 13

I was going to leave Calgary today, but it rained quite a bit in the morning, so Helen suggested I again leave my gear at her house, zip off for a day trip, and return.  She had a golf tournament, and suggested I drop by for the tournament dinner on my way back.  Fortunately for the golfers, the sun came out and things dried out.  It was still a bit chilly, so I suited up as I hadn't done since early in the trip.  Long underwear, jeans and work shirt, and full leathers, with insulated gloves.  I looked like I was auditioning for "Lads in Leather - Pudgy Edition."

Drove off to the parks for the second time.  It is about 1 1/2 hours from Calgary, if I failed to mention it before.  Overcast and at times down to 50 degrees.  I finally not only wore my scarf around my neck and spread out over my chest, I flattened out my ski hat and wore it under the leather jacket just below the scarf.  Helped a lot, but still cold.

I drove through Banff National Park again until the turn north to go through Jasper National Park.  Took no pictures with my real camera because the light was so flat.  Here are two I took with my phone.

See what I mean by flat light?

For this one, the sun came out just a bit.

Given the weather - always threatening rain - and the temps, I did not go all the way to the town of Jasper at the north end of the park.  Did travel through a good deal of it though.  The road runs through a fairly narrow valley with mountain after mountain on both sides of the road, on and on and on.

At one point, there was a lodge by a lake.  I stopped to get something hot to drink.  Getting back out, I had to negotiate a small space because a car parked next to me.  I dropped the bike doing 0 mph.  Bad words escaped my lips.  In my defense, I will say I thought many more bad words than I actually uttered, but still.  A fine gentleman walking by helped me get it right back up, but rats!  I'd gone through the whole trip without this happening.

After 50 or so miles up the valley, I turned around and headed back to Calgary.  I was so cold - the guys on bicycles were wearing face masks - and tired that I did not stop at Helen's country club for dinner.  Good thing, too, because as it turned out, I was early and she was late.  I did text her to say I wasn't coming, but I sent the text to her home phone, not her cell.  Way to go, Luddite.

Tomorrow I really leave Calgary and will go through a third park, Kootenay.

PS. Saw a bear today.

July 12

Helen suggested I drive into Banff National Park, then return to Calgary.  The park is only 1 1/2 hours from the city, and it is a dramatic drive when the horizon fills up with the Canadian Rockies as you head west.

I stopped in the town of Banff and saw the grand old hotel.  Great building.  No picture, though, as there wasn't anything close to a parking spot available.  Banff is Sun Valley cubed.  A little bit away from the hotel, I stopped to see this.

Then I got back on the Trans-Canada and headed for lakes Moraine and Louise.  This shot is on the way to the lakes.

Here is Lake Moraine where I ate lunch before hiking to the vantage point overlooking this shot.

And here is Lake Louise, taken from the hotel restaurant patio where I had an excellent orange parfait, followed by an ounce of 18 year Glenfiddich, neat.  After leaving Lake Louise, I put on my leather pants because it was a tad brisk.  Funny thing is, they're a shade tight now.   Whodda thunk that might happen?

Melt water from glacier on the mountain at the far end of the lake pours a fine sediment, sometimes called 'flour,' into the lake.  This helps give the water its distinctive color.

Anyway, a fine day, capped when I took Helen to a late dinner at one of her favorite little French places.  A number of other places she likes are closed because of flood damage.

July11

Lots of stuff.  Simple things first.

Alberta roads signs warning of wind gusts say, "Wind Gusts."  There is none of this " Possible Occasional Wind Gusts in This or an Alternate Universe."  Go Alberta!

However, lest Alberta let praise go to its head, there are "Rural Crime Watch Area" signs in abundance.  Trouble is, they are In places where there are, for example, only cows.  And in other places where there aren't even any cows!  Just trees!  What are they watching for?  Criminal activity of rogue Ents?

OK,  went to the Calgary Stampede.  Watched nine chuck wagon races, four wagons per race.  Now, I thought these races were perhaps a bit, hmmm, tongue in cheek, let's say?  No way.  This is serious stuff.  There is a one million dollar total purse.  The four horse teams are thoroughbreds.  Each team starts next to its own set of two barrels, does a figure eight around them, then hits a 1/2 mile oval.  The top teams did all this in just over a minute, ten seconds.  There is a wrinkle at the start, too.  Two outriders must accompany each chuck wagon.  One guy holds the team in place at the first barrel while the second guy gets ready to toss a stove into the rear of the chuck wagon at the starting buzzer.  Then they haul themselves into the saddles, follow the wagon around the figure eight, and race for home along with their wagon.  If the outriders screw up, time is added to the run.  If the driver knocks over a barrel, there is also penalty time.  In one of the races, the four chuck wagons finished within fractions of a second of one another.

The starting area from the main grandstand.

Note the white barrels.

After the races, there was entertainment.  Acrobats from China, very talented young Canadian performers, wild costumes, a piano player pounding away at a grand while suspended in the air, a pair of acrobatic, incredibly strong twins performing over the crowd, a soprano belting out an aria while standing on a moving platform suspended in the air.  The group Kiss, fireworks, flames, lasers.  Quite the show.  But it was dark, so no pictures.

Helen and I walked to the Stampede.  About a 1/2 hour walk.  Very pleasant when we started, but cooled down once we were seated.  After the show, we walked home, but this was uphill.  No matter - helped warm us up.  Helen, by the way, is a walking fool.  She is in incredible shape.  Sets quite the pace.  Anyway, it was after one when we finally called it a night.

July 10

I saw a South Dakota plate!  Yay!  It was on a giant motor home.  Clearly, they were fleeing.

Weirdness:  today passed an establishment that washed "Cars, Trucks, Pets."  I want to watch a hamster get a power wash.

I am in Calgary.  Driving in, there was a traffic tie up on the Trans-Canada.  I figured it was an accident because I saw flashing police lights.  Turns out the cops had slowed traffic to a trickle so they could pull people over to check for impaired drivers.  We Americans may kill one another one driving drunk on the highways far more than the Canadians off one another from the same cause, but we've at least got the 4th amendment, by god!  And freer flowing traffic, too, except when the roads are closed to clean up traffic accidents caused by drunk drivers.

I am staying with a friend of Pat's and mine we met several years ago when Pat and Kat took me to the Galapagos and Peru for my 60th birthday.  Helen was on the same trip with her granddaughters.  So looking for Helen's house, I wend my way through Calgary and get flagged down by some construction workers.   Helen's house, as it turns out.  She was out and had asked them to be on the lookout for me.  I knew this was some house when I drove up the steep driveway to a turntable in the drive that helped negotiate a tight turn.  Another one in the garage turns vehicles around so they don't have to back up when exiting.  Then into the elevator for the trip up to the first floor.  When finished, the house will have beds for plants, a fish pond and waterfall facing the street and another waterfall on the large back patio.  The windows are, I believe the term is, 'electrostatic.'  Push a button and they become translucent.  Can't see either in or out.  There is a delightful little patio on an upper level, perfect for sipping wine or tea in the evenings and morning, and, I expect, on all but the hotter summer afternoons.

The house is thick poured concrete - this place will outlast the rest of Calgary - lots of right angles with spaces flowing into one another rather than being divided up into interior boxes.  Ceilings are high, stairs are wood steps, no risers, contributing to the open feel.  Some of the walls are finished, some smooth concrete.  Much eclectic, fine artwork all over the place, sculpture, painting, furniture, some from Helen's mother, most Helen collected.  This house is not everyone's cup of tea - one of Helen's friends came over to see it because she heard Helen was "building a bunker" - but I like it a lot.

One final note about the house.  I have one of the guest bathrooms serving my bed room.  Took a shower to get the road dust and perspiration off.  Not a normal shower.  It has electronic controls for water temperature and choice of shower heads.  Four coming out of the walls and one on a flexible hose.  So I shower and start to play around with the controls. The water is coming out of the flexible fitting and I want to see what the wall fixtures will do.  I was completely taken by surprise when water started raining on me from the four ceiling fixtures I hadn't noticed.

Helen and I went for a walk so she could show me where some of the recent Calgary flooding took place.  She is on a hill, so her problem was no electricity for a week, not flooding.  Her son lives down the hill, but slightly above the neighbors so although he canoed to his front steps, his house did not flood.  Not everyone was so lucky.  Basements flooded all over and sometimes the water reached into the first floor.  After the water receded, construction trash bins quickly lined the streets.  There was no electricity downtown, which was closed off in any case, so a lot of people did not go to work.  These people went to help flooded folks.  The trash was hauled away every night.  I walked through areas just a bit more than two weeks after the flooding and most of the big trash containers are gone.  Repairs are under way.  Helen said the mayor, who is Muslim, was on TV three times a day, asking people, ironically, to save water, giving information and helping bring the community together.  The results of all this spontaneous cooperation and competent managing are nothing short of spectacular.  Still, estimates are that it will take ten years to completely recover.  There are foundation problems with some of the older houses.

Helen scored us two grandstand tickets to the Calgary Stampede for tomorrow.  Someone must have cancelled just before she called because tickets are almost impossible to get.  The Stampede sells out way in advance.  I think we will get to see chuck wagon races.  Yay!

Some pictures of The House.  This is first to second and second to third floor stairway.

These are the second floor living and dining rooms.

Seen from dining room to living room.

Living room fireplace.

Back patio from a side bathroom.  Freaky until you realize the windows are electrostatic.

TV area to kitchen/casual dining area.

Not shown are bedrooms, wine cellar and home theater.

Tomorrow I head off to Banff, leaving my gear here and taking my camera equipment.  It is only 1 1/2 hours away.  Then I will return to Helen's house.  Stays light until about 11 p.m. So I will have a good deal of time around Banff and Lake Louise.

July 9

Well, driving along, I decided to write a detective novel, circa 1940.  So far, I have this.

     I was sitting in my office, hung over as usual, trying to remember what day of the week it was, when           

     the dame walked in looking like like a tall, cool glass of water on the hottest day of the year.

     "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!"

     The dame was hysterical.  Most dames are.  Still, it answered some questions, like, when did I get a 

      bureau in my office and why was my desk covered with a duvet?  Maybe it wasn't my desk.  

     Maybe it wasn't a desk at all.  Maybe I'd had more to drink than I remembered.

     "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE?!"

     The dame was still hysterical, only now I noticed she had a pair of thirty-eights.  And a gun.  I 

      figured I should leave.  It probably wasn't my office.

Anyway, what do you think?  Feel free to compliment extravagantly.  If you don't like it, keep your rotten opinion to yourself.  I suppose if I don't hear from anyone I will just give it up and be left with only the bitter ashes of my artistry.

I am in Medicine Hat, Alberta, today.  Had to travel through Swift Current to get here.  I think Canadian town names are just outfreakingSTANDING!  I am the first kid on my block to spend consecutive days in Moose Jaw and Medicine Hat.  Am I cool or what?  Calgary tomorrow.  Two fairly short days, a bit more than 200 today, fewer miles tomorrow.  I am now over 7000 miles for the trip.  If the weather is decent, I plan to hit the Canadian Rockies parks after my Calgary visit.  Six national parks and several provincial parks.  Just driving through should be stunning, assuming the weather is half decent.

Saw wildlife today.  Ducks, coots, pelicans and pronghorn.  At one point, a hawk came swooping in close to the ground on a collision course with me.  I ducked, it swerved and all was fine.  I have also killed a good bit of wildlife in the form of Arthropoda, mostly insects.  For sheer proof, look at my bike and helmet.  I wash the helmet every night, but the bike needs a good cleansing.  The country has turned from flat to more broken up, high plains terrain.  I find it more interesting.

I am going to relax, have a good dinner and sleep in tomorrow.  Of course, I tried to sleep in today and still woke up at 4:30.  Still, 4:30 beats hell out of 2:30.

Forgot to mention something yesterday.  My boots dried out.  For me, this is a big deal.

July 8

Got right into the shop in Winnipeg to get my oil and filter done.  Showed up a bit before they opened and they took me before starting work on other bikes.  Let's give it up for the fine folks at Wildwood Motor Sports!  Yay!  Yay!  Huzzah!  (Sounds of whistling, clapping and foot stomping.  The crowd is delirious.)

Left Winnipeg not knowing how far I'd go because, though I fell asleep at 8:30 last night, I woke up at 2:30 and never got back to slumberland.  Thought I'd go at least as far as Brandon, decided to push on to Regina.  Regina turns out to be a massive construction project, at least east of the city.  Hotels and shops going up, apartments, too, I think.  Anyway, I pushed on even more.  I am spending the night in Moose Jaw.  Surprisingly, there is no giant statue of a moose jaw.  Did a bit over 400 miles today.  I am pretty close to the 7000 mile point.  Should hit it tomorrow.

Driving across Manitoba and part of Saskatchewan gives new meaning to the word "flat."  I do not believe there was as much as 20 feet between the highest and lowest points I saw until I was near Regina.  The flat world was not oppressive, though, because the fields were green almost to brightness and the fields that were not green were yellow.  Hard to tell whether yellow or green predominated.  The yellow is, of course, rapeseed.

Weirdness:  Saw a sign off the road in Manitoba that read "Rural Crime Watch."  The sign was a good deal closer to a field of rapeseed than to the road and there was nothing in sight except fields.  I believe people will be watching for quite awhile before they see any rural crime in the vicinity.  Except there won't be any people either watching for crime or committing it because there aren't any people.

Stopped for lunch at a Subway.  The classic Italian does not come with provolone.  There is no provolone on offer.  You can have your classic Italian sandwich with white cheddar.  I begin to despair of the the Canadian palate.  Still, it is, as Mr. Twain remarked, difference of opinion as makes a horse race.  On the other hand, an honest difference of opinion is not inconsistent with despair.

There was Saskatchewan weirdness, too.  Driving along the Trans-Canada, which is not a limited access road with on and off ramps, I repeatedly saw signs announcing "Important Intersection."  So I guess all the other intersections feel like chopped liver?  I will say that no "Important Intersection" looked that important to me.

Saw license plates for Iowa, Arizona, Utah, Tennessee and a few others today.  No South Dakota.  Did all the South Dakotans move to North Dakota to get jobs fracking?  Did they all just die of boredom?  Where are these people?

A nice thing about Saskatchewan is the speed limit.  Yes!  It went up again.  110 kph, which I judge to be about 68 mph.  We are getting reasonable.

I don't know whether to push on to Calgary tomorrow or do an easy day and stop in Medicine Hat.  I will probably stop so I can say I stayed in a town called Medicine Hat.

July 7

Trifecta!  Meet Huskie the Muskie located in a park beside Lake of the Woods in Kenora, Ontario.  (You should google Lake of the Woods, by the way.)

Here is some of the town opposite Huskie.

A delightful little town of a little over 15,000 people.  And it looked to me as though they all had boats.  There are inlets all over, so lots of mooring spots, islands dotting the water just offshore.  I may have a too happy view of the place because the sun broke out just as I reached it, but I don't think so.  Besides, anyplace that challenges the Wawa Goose and the Dryden Moose with a giant Muskie named Huskie is clearly cool.

I left Dryden this morning without putting on rain gear.  Two reasons: it was cool and the leather jacket is warmer, and I wanted to dry the boots out in the wind.  I lucked out.  It grew steadily lighter as I moved west, until, as I said, sun broke out at Kenora.  Soon after leaving Kenora, I also left Ontario and entered Manitoba.  The symbol for Manitoba is the bison, I think.  Manitoba bison are apparently better behaved than Ontario moose.  I have yet to see a sign warning people of predatory packs of bison.

Look at a map of the area between Thunder Bay and Manitoba.  The highway has to thread it's way among the lakes.  It is astonishing how many lakes there are.

One nice thing about Manitoba - the speed limit increased to 100 kph.  In Ontario, the fastest you could go legally was 90 kph.  That's about 56, 57 mph, folks.  Mighty slow, and Ontario is mighty long.

The terrain is not as interesting, however, as Manitoba is in the Canadian plains.  Flat, flat, flat, flat, flat. Still lots of trees, though, at least so far.

Got into Winnipeg and found the BMW dealer where I arranged to have my oil and filter changed.  ( I am now over 6000 miles into this trip.). Got a room at a Holiday Inn just down the street from the dealer.  Will pop in tomorrow when they open and then see when I get out of there before deciding how far I want to go.  Kind of a pedestrian necessity, oil changes, but not as pedestrian as the laundry I'm doing now.  Better go check if it's dry.

July 6

Got on the road a bit after 8 today.  A little later than usual.  Partly cloudy, but no rain.  Drove along Lake Superior's north shore for about 130 miles, then, at Thunder Bay, turned inland.  It immediately warmed up from high 60s, low to mid 70s, to high 70s, low 80s.  Stopped for breakfast after traveling 150 miles.  The scrambled eggs were great, the ham pitiful.  Was looking at some homemade pie, but thought, "Stop!  Stay thy hand!  Eat not of yon pie, though it be apple, and seems not over cooked."  So I passed on the pie.

A bit farther on, I crossed from the St. Laurence drainage where everything flows into the North Atlantic, to the Arctic Ocean drainage.  I swear it got colder.  So, I started this trip in the Columbia drainage emptying into the North Pacific, crossed to the Missouri-Mississippi-Ohio drainage emptying into the gulf.  In Ohio, crossed to the St. Laurence drainage, and now every stream I pass empties into the Arctic.  Very cool, really.  The early history of exploration in North America was largely trying to figure out just where the drainages were, and whether it was possible to jump from one to the other easily.  This continued right up to Lewis and Clark, so the questions were open for centuries.

For days now, I have been passing signs warning of moose.  They show a moose at a fast trot, with "Night Danger" below the moose.  Today, I even started seeing electronic reader boards warning of moose.  I think what goes on is that masses of mooses congregate around dusk.  When it is dark, they make raids on isolated cars and mug the occupants.  There are just way to many warnings for it to be something more benign.  Anyway, here is a photo of artist's conception of a thug moose.  I'm sure you can find similar pictures in all the Canadian Post Offices. 

Actually, this is Max the Dryden Moose.  The Dryden Moose is Dryden's response to the Wawa Goose.

As I moved west, the Blue Sky god's power waned and the Cloud Demon's power waxed.  I finally felt a few drops, stopped and put on my rain gear.  A cloud of mosquitoes found me within seconds, just like this morning when I was loading the bike.  Got into my cute little yellow suit, but did not put on the rain boots because it is hard to do and it didn't seem to be raining hard.  Mistake.  It was raining hard in about five minutes and the leather soaked right through.  So I stopped after 350 miles today instead of the 420 or so I intended.  The boots are drying now.  By morning they will only be drier, not dry.

Been thinking about why I motorcycle.  When doing the speed limit, it is usually mere transportation; when going faster, transportation turns into dance.  Not slow and stately, but fast and stately, coupled with a sense of fine control.  Sometimes it seems the bike's trajectory can be altered just by thinking about it.  I think this is the same reason I ski, and when do, I ski fast.  Not the same fine control in skiing, though, and it requires a lot more effort.  Of course, ask 10 people why they ride and you get more than 10 answers.  "Freedom" is probably the most common response.  And I agree there is a sense of that, but it is odd to say 'freedom' when you stop to think that you may as well be glued to the seat for all the moving you can do.

Below are a series of pictures celebrating Terry Fox.  He lost a leg to cancer and then decided to promote cancer awareness and raise money for research by running across Canada on one leg and a prosthesis.  He averaged almost a marathon a day for over 140 days before his cancer returned.  He was forced to stop just east of Thunder Bay and died soon after.  A very nice monument overlooking Lake Superior and Thunder Bay commemorates him.  There are signs along the Trans-Canada, Highway 17 noting it is the Terry Fox Courage Highway.  While he was running, he couldn't understand why everyone was making a fuss about him.

July 5

Walked outside my little Blind River motel room this morning and ducked back inside.  Peeked back outside.  BLUE SKY!  I was happy, but there was a crowd of agitated people pointing at the sky, cowering, pointing again.  Afraid the gods were angry, they were preparing to sacrifice a waitress.  I pointed out that in old days blue sky was a sign of favor from the gods.  I don't know whether I convinced them, but at least they let the waitress go.

Got on the road, sans breakfast because dinner the night before was substantial - pickerel, I had - and commenced motoring.  Stopped after four miles and put on my jacket because the temperature dropped from 68 to 62.  Now warmer, but looking cool, I blasted off.  Glorious day.  I started with Lake Huron on my left.  Eighty miles on, I hit Sault Ste. Marie and started riding up the east shore of Lake Superior.  130 miles from my first encounter with the mysterious blue sky, I stopped for breakfast.  I mention this only to note that, while data are still very preliminary, I begin to suspect that Canadians are unfamiliar with the intricacies of the omelet.

After breakfast, traveled on through Lake Superior Provincial Park.  This is a real jewel.  Lake Superior on my left, with its headlands and bays, and on my right a succession of small blue lakes strung on the deep emerald forest.  This goes on for 142 miles.  And blue sky, did I mention the blue sky?  Temps in the 70s, not much traffic.  Below is a picture of what turned out to be one of the least of the overlooks.

Note the straps for the Camelback.  I am hydrating.  Also note the pot belly from the vast quantities of good food people are making me eat against my will.

Continued on from this overlook and came across a mini-van with Idaho plates.  The most surprising thing was that it was driven perfectly well despite having 2C plates.  In joke.  Apologies to non-Idahoans.

By this time the temperature had risen to 84.  Then it dropped 6 degrees in about as many seconds.  I think the wind must have shifted so it was coming off the lake.  Later in the day, after it rose to 84 again, it dropped to 59 over the course of about 30 miles.  18 of that drop was pretty fast, too.  Of course, by that time, I'd taken my jacket off so it was downright chilly, being a 25 degree drop in temperature, and all.

Before that, though, and just north of the provincial park, I stopped in the town of Wawa to see the goose.  I knew the goose was there, because I saw a sign for it about 750 kilometers to the east.  Behold the Wawa goose.  This is a side shot.  From head on, the goose has its wings partially extended.

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.  Next is the goose's view.

Somewhere in this drive, by the way, there appeared another winner.  Anal Intruder.  Proctologist?  Tapeworm?

I am also playing the license plate game for Canada.  Pretty sure Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland/Labrador will be joining South Dakota and Delaware wherever they are hanging out, but the others are a lock.  Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, at least.  Not so sure about Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest Territories.  Of course, these are territories, not provinces.  10 provinces, 3 territories.  I imagine the territories have their own plates, but I'm not even sure of that.

Factoid:  Canada is the world's second largest country by area.

I am staying the night in Terrace Bay, a pretty little town.  Went to the town beach and saw this.

Turned 180 degrees and saw this.

Did I mention the blue sky?

July 4

Happy 4th everyone.  Watch out for the people who think it is their god given right to set off fireworks when the conditions are burning hot and tinder dry.

Did 360 miles today and am stopped for the day in the town of Blind River.  That's a name I just can't see.  Maybe there is some special story behind it.

Got a latish start after breakfasting on my first omelet on this trip.  Unfortunately, it was on the low end of acceptable and wouldn't have been that if I hadn't been hungry.  Rained slightly the first 30-40 miles, but was a nice break from the humidity.  Kind of like on-bike air conditioning.  After 150 miles, I made a planned stop at Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park.  I attach pictures.  Before I do, however, let me tell you about what is in some of them.  I have pictures of two canoes.  One is a single man, two in a pinch, little birch bark number, paddled by a little old man who only took it out on Sundays.  The other is the Mack Truck of birchbark canoes.  Thirty-six feet long, six feet at its widest, three feet high.  When it was fully loaded, it had only about six inches of freeboard.  This is a replica of a craft used in the fur trade.  Personally, I had no idea they were so large.  Apparently, they could go as long as forty feet before they got so heavy they would just break during a portage.

The canoes in these pictures are the real deal, constructed as the old ones were.  I hope you can read a bit of these.

These are a couple of the one man sports coupe.

Note the fancy grill work in the last picture.

These are the Mack truck.  Three pictures, stern, middle, and bow.

I estimate the birch bark to be about 3/16ths inch thick.  Note how close the supports are to one another.

This is a shot from bow to stern.

And here are replicas of the packs.  About 50 pounds each.  When portaging, two were carried at a time using only a line connecting the bottom one to the porter's head.  Ordinarily, each voyageur was responsible for six packs.  That, for the arithmetically challenged, is three trips per portage.  These guys were seriously tough.

Here are examples of some of the furs that were the object of all this effort.

After leaving the provincial park, I looked for weirdness.  Found some.  Saw a sign for a place where you could "MAKE YOUR OWN GREAT WINE - Ready in 4 to 6 weeks!"  Personally, I think they're aging it too much.

One of the reasons I traveled only 360 miles today is the speed limits are designed for driver trainees.  The limit on the equivalent of U.S interstates is 100 kilometers per hour.  That's about 64.  On other parts of the Trans-Canada Highway, the limit is 90 kph.  Think of the old two-lane US highways and you have the general idea.  The Canadian roads do, however, have some improvements over the old US roads.  Every few miles the road widens to three lanes so you have two lanes in one direction and one in the other.  This allows for easy passing and the traffic moves right along.  I'd forgotten this nifty feature.  Except for the interstate equivalents, however, the roads go through towns, not around them, and are not limited access.  They are nice drives, though.  Saw a beaver dam and several lodges right off the side of the road.  Also several signs warning of moose crossing.  Only other place I'd seen this was in Maine.

The signs, of course, are in both English and French.  Got me thinking about how many French words the English language has just adopted outright, and how many more are modified.  For example, 'ville' for 'town' yields 'village.'  There are phrases that just don't translate, though.  "Take zat, feelthy English peeg dog!" simply cannot be translated into the continent's predominant tongue.

Here is the view from my accommodations for the night.  Lake Huron, it is.

I forgot to share some of my favorite signs from Vermont.  "Hidden Drives" and don't we all have that problem?  Even when doing our self-improvement best we still have at least one "Hidden Drive Left."

Checked my maps and I figure 6 days to Calgary.  Taking it easy and may make a stop in Winnipeg for an oil change.

Night, night.