Day 6 - North Battleford, Saskatchewan - Hinton, Alberta

Last night I went to bed when it started raining and about 20 minutes later the sky opens up and torrential rains comes down on us. The lightning strikes were getting closer and the wind was getting fiercer by the minute. I should mention I was camped on top of the highest hill in the surrounding area. I have never been scared of lightning but on this night I lay flat inside my tent while I watched the bright flashes from the lightning strikes. The wind picked up and for about half an hour the tent was buffeted left and right, I was expecting the fly to just "fly" away and I would be left powerless inside the tent at the mercy of the rain. I have to say I'm glad I bought this tent, it held together and survived the carnage around the campsite.

I wake up to see tree limbs and leaves all over the campground.

Richard Marcotte, my Quebecer friend had already packed everything in his little trailer and soon we were saying our goodbyes and wishing each other a safe ride.  I watched as he pulled out in his smooth sounding Harley Davidson.  He was so proud of his bike and all the chrome, even I was a little jealous.  I waved as he rode by but this would not be the last time I would see him or camped together.

I finished packing my stuff and then quickly left Battleford after eating a Nature Valley Oats 'N Honey bar, cheap breakfast and good for you at the same time.  I would stop later for a good cup of coffee, I can't function without coffee in the morning.  Leaving Battleford I encountered a lot of early morning fog from all the rain the night before, I proceeded with a little more caution but continued on my way along the Yellowhead Highway, also known as highway 16.  The Yellowhead Highway runs east-west connecting the four western Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia.
Yellowhead Highway

I stop in Lashburn when the bike needs gas and it was just the right time for coffee.  Along the Yellowhead Highway you see mostly farms and silos with a few little towns in between but this area is also where a lot of oil and wealth has been found in Saskatchewan's oil sands.  Canada's oil sands are among the world's great petroleum deposits and they are located on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan.  As I'm taking a photo of the silos I notice the tanker train going by.

A few miles down the road as I pass the town of Lloydminster I see the Alberta visitor information center.  I'm now in a new province, the sixth Canadian province I have visited.  I had previously visited New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario on previous trips, Manitoba and Saskatchewan on this trip so far.  Soon I see the "Welcome to Alberta, Wild Rose Country" sign and make a stop for the obligatory picture with the bike.

The road at this stage is very monotonous, farms, silos and trucks, big tanker trucks on the road that create lots of buffeting on the bike.  The roads are good and I make good progress, soon I'm crossing Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, a big and busy city of over a million people.  I'm stuck in traffic when I see the big Harley Davidson dealer to my right and parked in front is a black Harley with a very familiar trailer behind.  At the next exit I get off and backtrack to the dealer, as I walk in I immediately see Richard, the Quebecer friend I had waved goodbye earlier.  We both do a loud greeting and then continue chatting as he looks for Harley memorabilia.  Later we decide to look for a McDonalds, his favorite restaurant, so he tells me.  We find one nearby and settle for a good burger with fries and a soda, quick food for people on the run.

At this point on the trip I can still see through my windshield.

He is supposed to be visiting an old girlfriend in Edmonton, we say goodbye and wish each other a safe ride for the second time today.  I continue on my way and at 5:48 in the afternoon I pass a milestone on my bike, 10,000 miles, I stop to take a picture of the odometer, the temperature is 79 degrees.  The rest of the afternoon goes smoothly with a few threatening clouds but no real rain to spoil the day.  I get some nice pictures of the clouds over the highway that seems to go on forever.

I arrive in Hinton, a town just east of Jasper National Park where I had decided to spend the night and start looking for a campsite.  I spot a sign for a Koa campground and head straight to it.

I am at the front desk signing the paperwork when I look behind the front desk lady, out the back window and to my surprise I see the familiar Harley with the cute trailer.  I ask the lady if a French guy from Quebec had just signed in and she replies, yes, do you know him?  I had to laugh, what a coincidence I think to myself.
I pull in to the site across from Richard's and he immediately comes over to greet me.  He tells me he couldn't get in touch with his friend and decided to continue west, his next destination being Jasper National Park.  I setup my tent and he comes over and says he has to run into town to buy a bottle of wine, I smile and agree to join him.  We come back later, each carrying a bottle, mine a small half litter of Merlot from a local Ontario winery and he has the 750ml traditional size.  I heat up my soup and finish it with a "lunchable pack" of turkey, cheese and crackers with a Kit Kat for dessert, obviously everything went down with wine, not a drop was left on the bottle at the end of the meal.  I suspect Richard might have finished his too.

I only had a plastic cup, not the same as a glass wine cup  but it did the job

I wash some of my clothes, take a quick shower and then retire to my tent, the beautiful mountains of Jasper providing the perfect background for the evening.

Route:

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440 miles today, one new Canadian Province in the books and a new friend.

To be continued.....

Alaska Trip update

My last update was on July 2nd covering day 5, I am now on the 26th day of my trip (July 17), everything is going well and I am on the return trip, currently in Prince George, British Columbia.  I apologize for the delay but the reason for such a long delay with updates is because I have been camping and usually getting to the campsite late in the afternoon or evening.  Most campsites in Alaska and the Yukon have very bad internet access if any.  I have been able to upload a few pictures to Facebook so my wife can see my progress but have had no time to blog and sort through all the photos I have been taking.  I don't want to only post pictures, I want to try and describe the experience, it will have to be done when I'm back.
Tomorrow I head to Jasper and then Banff National Parks.

I have been having lots of fun, here's a few pictures that have been posted to Facebook and a few that haven't, some of the readers have already seen the Facebook pictures.

The Super Tenere gang on one of the day's trip near Whitehorse.  My bike is at the center of the middle picture easily recognizable with the "radioactive" sticker on the back of the helmet.

This is my kind of adventure, miles from the main road and no one in sight.  I was alone on this trip.  Take a look at my bike on these pictures, it will get much worse later on.

Another trip with the gang but I dropped them in the afternoon and went exploring by myself.

Another trip and this time I was leading a few of the guys, my bike has the red Rotopax fuel container upright.  Later they decided to turn around and go looking for a place to eat, I continued by myself and had a great time.

"Top of the World" highway if you can call it that and finally Alaska.

Much more to come soon......

Day 5 - Neepawa, Manitoba - North Battleford, Saskatchewan

It's time to continue my trek.  I leave the Neepawa campsite and stop downtown for a cup of coffee and a snack.

I had made a mistake on my route the night before and had gone East on the Trans-Canada Highway 16 for a few miles instead of West.  Neepawa is on 16 so all I had to do is continue West and then take the turn I had missed the day before in Minnedosa.  A little later I come upon one of the Canadian Geese at a rest area and pull in for the obligatory photo.

After a few hours of riding I was getting hungry and was in desperate need of some warm coffee plus the bike needed gas, time for a break from the monotony.   I pull in when I see a subway sign and "Beer" store, and NO, I didn't have a beer, only had a subway sandwich and a cup of coffee.  When I walk outside a cruiser had stopped next to my bike.  Nice paint job and exhaust.

The roads through Manitoba are pretty monotonous, just farmland on both sides of the road and little towns along the way.  I think I managed to find the only hill in Manitoba, much of it is as flat as Kansas.

A little later I cross into Saskatchewan and pretty much find the same on both sides of the road.   I ride through Langenburg and find this old beetle parked on the side of the road as a tourist attraction.  I had to take a photo when I saw all the pretty colors. The town was pretty much deserted but the sign says "Family and Friends".

I continue west and start seeing farms with the little red silos/tents, not really sure what they are, they are too far from the road for me to see what they are made of.  I see lots of them spread throughout the farmland.

A little latter as I approach the Quill Lakes I see a sign for Kandahar, I thought Kandahar was only in Afghanistan but there's one in Canada too.   Kandahar is the second biggest city in Afghanistan.

As I continue west I see lots of road work, the winters must be pretty hard in Saskatchewan.  I have to stop multiple times for road construction but soon I'm passing what appears to be flooded areas, I don't think the electrical poles were installed in the water on purpose.

There are streches of road that just go on and on as far as the eye can see.  I don't listen to music while I'm ridding, I like to hear the sound of the engine but on streches of road like these it gets monotonous, but I have no alternative, I have to continue west and try to cover as many miles as possible.

A little later I arrive in Lanigan, the sign says Saskatchewan 1st Industrial town, that may be true but the town is in bad shape, a few dusty houses badly in need of repairs and an old train station that is now a dusty museum.  Wikipedia says population of 1300 but I doubt it very much, that must have been in the town's heyday.   I fill up with gas and then go across the street parking the bike next to an old caboose before entering the station.

The lady inside tells me this station was very busy during the gold rush and when industry flourished but now even the museum is decaying.  Inside I find a display of old artifacts, tools and an old telegraph machine, a piece of technology that has gone the way of the dodo with the advent of the telephone and now the cell phone.

I go back outside and find an old horse drawn road maintainer used in the 30's and early 40's, how things have changed.   I find it interesting to see and read about old machines and technology, life must have been really hard during the early part of the century.

Next to the caboose there's a few artifacts from a long time ago, a few bags and some kind of containers.  I keep thinking what kind of stories could these bags tell us if they could talk, what memories are hidden within the old cloth.

The road in front of the station isn't even paved and across the street the houses are falling apart, time has passed these old industrial towns and I see lots of them along the way.  I can't waist too much time here, I have to continue if I want to ever get to Alaska.

Again I find myself passing farms with the silos/tents but this time they are blue, I keep wondering what the purpose is for these things spread out through the farmland and since I am bored I started counting them but lost count at some point.

I continue west passing Saskatoon, the most populous city in the province of Saskatchewan, but after riding 460 Miles I have had enough of the road and it's time to find a camp site.  Soon I come upon a tourist information stop on the highway and decide to stop when I see the Royal Canadian Mounted Police statue outside.

The lady inside points me to where I can find a campsite down the road in the town of Battleford, I leave the place and head directly to the campsite.  The area is very run down and I have a hard time finding a place to buy something to eat.  After riding around the small town I find a little supermarket and buy a few items for dinner.  I get to the campsite and there is no one at the entrance, I proceed through the gate and ride around the park looking for an atendant.  After circling the park I find one motorcycle with a trailer occupying a site.  I stop to talk to the owner of the motorcycle and find a very friendly gentleman from Quebec that speaks in broken English.  He doesn't know where the attendant is but says I can share his campsite since it's a big site and there's enough space for another tent.  While we talk he is holding a glass of wine in his hand.  I park the bike and setup my tent.

He is riding a Harley Davidson with a cute little trailer across Canada from Quebec to British Columbia.  He shows me his trailer and the 12 volt powered cooler he has inside.  He is traveling in style, if you look careful at the next picture you will see a grill and a full size coffee machine on the table.  Throughout the rest of the night he walks around holding a glass of wine and keeps refilling it from a bottle he pulled out of the trailer.  We chat for a while discussing our trip and where we heading, he tells me he will be making a stop to see an old girlfriend from school in Edmonton the next day.  I boil water for my noodle soup and afterwards have a can of pears for dessert.

The weather had started changing for the worse and I could see a thunderstorm approaching.  I took a quick shower and after chatting a little more with my friend from Quebec, he tells me he is a detective but only in Quebec, we both retreat to our tents.  No cell phone, no wi-fi, nothing to do but sleep.  A little later the rain started and much worse weather was on it's way.  It's not going to be a pretty night for sure, I can hear thunder in the distance already.

My dirty Tenere.

To be continued.......