Saskatoon to Calgary (with a detour)

In front of Steven and Alma's beautiful home in Saskatoon.


what the road in front looks like at 120kmph



Breakfast at an A&W, of which there are many in Western Canada

What a sky awhat a field. there's a house where the trees are.

Had a great day in Saskatoon yesterday. The weather continues to be nice; it was sunny and hot as I went for a walk along the waterfront and some of the streets downtown after having spent some time along Broadway which is just a few short blocks away from where teven and Alma live. I was asked to accompany Steven, Alma, their niece Maria and a friend to the jazùz festival. The music was quite good as were the G&Ts that Alma had brought along in a cooler bag. Afterwards the three older folk had a wonderful bbq that Steven and Alma prepared. Afterwards we called Jane and continued the conversation using the speakerphone on me blackberry.

This morning I left the Lewis-Weibe's residence at just after 7:30 and started to make my way to Calgary along Highway 7 stopping for braekfast at an A&W in Rosetown and a while later a gas and coffee at Tim Hortons in Kindersley. Invariable wherever I stop someone comes over to talk to me about my BMW. It's true that they are few and far between around here.

Crossing into Alberta I stopped at a provincial tourist information kiosque to ask for a roadmap. Rather then providing one for free the province charges $2; this came as a bit of a surprise. I guess the fiscal situation here is worse than I thought. I stopped for a hamburger lunch in Hanna where a big screen tv was showing the Spain Portugal World cup soccer match. A short while later a sign along the highway indicated the distances to Drumheller and Calgary. I looked down at my new $2 map and noticed that the Royal Tyrrell Museum was in Drumheller and that there was a route that one could take from there to Calgary. Since I was curious and had made good time I decided to make a stop at the museum. First, the typography around Drumheller is very interesting as it is located in a deep trench formed by the Red Deer River. The museum itself is remarkable and well visited. It is certainly worth a return visit of more than the hour and a half I spent there. Jane has often mentionned a desire to see it.

After leaving the museum I headed for Calgary along Highways 9, 72, and 2. A huge black cloud was just to my left for a long part of this section but I ignored it, and it did likewise; you could seee the dark veils extending from the clouds to the ground indicating that rain was falling quite heavily south of the route I was following. I had meant to gas up in Drumheller but had forgot to do so. While my bike has an impressive range, over 400km on a tank, one still has to put in fuel regularly. When I finally reached a gas station in Airdrie, on Highway 2 just north of Calgary, the low fuel warnings on both the bike and the GPS unit had been flashing for some time. This was cutting it just a little too fine; a lesson for the rest of the trip.

It was a short hop from the gas stop to the Super 8 directly accross from McMann Stadium where I'm staying for the night.

Tomorrow morning I will be picking up Jane at the airport, and after picking up a key from their daughter Kirsten (and seeing the two perfect grandchildren) we'll be heading up to Neil and Glenda's condo in Canmore.