Now in Winnipeg

Yesterday I  rode south east from Speedy Creek to Estevan passing through some immense fields of grain and other crops. Many of the fields extend from the side of the highway to as far as you can see.  Here's an example of a wheat field. Check out the nice morning sky.

All of a sudden I notice this curious parade of trucks being marshalled in a driveway to assist in moving a house; not a sight we see much back home. I wonder why and where they were taking it.

On my way to Estevan I had decided to ride through Gravelbourg which is in the heartland of Franco-Manitoba.  The former "Couvent Jesus-Marie" is now the town's primary school.

And the bishop's residence which is next to a co-cathedral is a B&B.

I couldn't resist riding around the town of

while there were none on display, there was this children's park across the street from the grain elevator.

to say that traffic was light on the secondary highways I rode is a bit of an understatement. Here, from the center of the road is where I came from

and where I was headed.

And off to the side here's another of those field and sky views that so please the eye.

The village of Gainsborough is, as the sign points out, the oldest incorporated village in Saskatchewan.

Its main street has as many empty buildings as occupied ones.

Christ Church Anglican Church that dates back to 1897 is still used

But sadly the cinema next door has closed its doors for good.

As you approach Estevan, Saskatchewan's Energy Capital, you since more and more drill rigs punching new holes and pumps drawing up the liquid gold.

Today's ride from Estevan to Winnipeg was mostly oh Highway 2 and I managed to somehow miss the rain which I could see pouring down from dark clouds on either side of the highway. That was sweet. While the motel I am staying at on the Pembina Highway is very close to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers new home field, the television in the room did not have TSN. I was forced to watch our team lose another close game at home against the Bombers on my computer. The smaller screen did not make the result any better.

Hinton to Canmore via Jasper and the Icefields Parkway; and on to Speedy Creek, Saskatchewan

Yesterday I started by retracing some of the route I had been on Monday afternoon as I rode on Highway 16 from Hinton back to Jasper to connect with Highway 93, the famous, and justifiably so, Icefields Highway. The weather which started off cool and misty cleared rather quickly and it turned out to be one of the best riding days of the trip.  The mountains, many of which have snow covered north facing walls, are so beautiful that it's hard to decide when to pause and have a longer look.  I made my first such stop at a lookout for Mount Edith Cavell which you can see (imagine) in this picture.

A while later I visited the Sunwapta Falls where the roiling river is funneled through a very narrow cleft in the mountains.

And as you round a corner and look off in the distance the road seems to run straight into another mountain.

At the Athabaska Glacier, which is part of the Columbia Icefields, I parked the motorcycle and walked, like dozens of other visitors, to the toe of the glacier.

Off in the distance, across from the glacier, you can just about make out a very large visitor centre located just off the Parkway.

After more stops, including lunch at the Crossings Pub where I got to bbq my own burger, I continued on the Parkway to Lake Louise and then to Banff on Highway 1. I stopped for a Starbucks coffee and parked my motorcycle in what seemed to me to be a familiar spot.

Here's why:

July 1, 2010

August 1, 2017

Not much has changed, except for the guy in/not the picture.

I arrived at our dear friends Neil and Glenda's beautiful condo in Canmore in plenty of time to have some wine and a lovely dinner.  Afterwards we went out for a short walk and Neil showed me the work that has been done to contact a stream that a few years ago overflowed its banks damaging some properties and washing out part of the Trans Canada Highway.  My hosts were extremely gracious and it was interesting catching with with our lives.

This morning after coffee and more chit chat I thank Neil and Glenda for their hospitality and left for Speedy Creek. (Now, how many of you knew that's the name residents of Saskatchewan give to Swift Current?)  The ride started off quite cool, at 13, but gradually got hotter as  I rode through Calgary, where I stopped at the BMW motorcycle dealership to pick up a litre of motor oil - just in case.

The rest of the ride was fast and eventful. Well uneventful except for nearly running out of gas. Do you know that riding at 125+ kilometres an hour burns more fuel than 110 kph? Enough in fact to throw off any range calculations I've been using for years. When I finally pulled into the COOP service station in Tongkins, warning lights were flashing a threatening yellow and I was coasting on fumes. This episode will sound familiar to my new riding buddy Greg who had the same thing happen to him when he and I were riding together .  The moral of the story is, Guy don't be so smug it can happen to anyone.

Because we all love trains, some of us (Mick) way more than others, today's picture of note is of a particularly long and slow one that blocked the highway for over 5 minutes as it pulled into the yards in Swift Current.

Valemont BC to Hinton Alberta via Mt Robson and Jasper

Today was the shortest riding day of the trip, only 209 kilometres, but what a magnificent segment.

Since my Valemont  Hotel room was just across the road from the main CN rail line I was awakened many times during the night by long trains that announced their presence by blowing their whistle as they approached and crossed nearby road crossings.

I had a quick breakfast at the local A&W and rode north on Highway 5. The sunlight reflected off the mountains on each side of the highway.

My first stop on Highway 16 was at the

Mt Terry Fox is  off in the distance in the middle of this picture.

And then a few kilometres further this huge snow capped Mt Robson, the highest mountain in the Rockies appeared.

The first picture is of Moose Lake, one of the light Jade lakes along the highway.  The second was taken when a while later I stopped to watch people wading knee deep hundreds of yards from shore in Jasper Lake

Rounding a long curve I noticed cars parked on both shoulders of the road, a sure sign that some wildlife was close by.  Sure enough, just a couple of metres from the road this magnificent specimen was slowly munching and posing.

I had some really delicious fish tacos for lunch at Earl's in Jasper where I took the time to ride around and walk along the main street.

All in all a wonderful day under sunny skies.

From Crowsnest Vineyards Guesthouse to Valemont BC via Kamloops

Yesterday's ride after breakfast at the Mountain Dinner from Keremeos to Kamloops along Hwy 3 to Princeton and then the 5A took me through one of the places north of Merritt that had recently been struck by one of those devastating forest fires.  The area affected extended for many miles on either side of the highway.  I can only imagine how terrified the property owners felt as the flames approached.

It was another hot day and I arrived at the Double Tree Hotel right in the centre of the city of Kamloops.  I had a great steak dinner with a lovely glass of BC Merlot at the Mittz Kitchen and then wandered over to the Waterfrront Park to admire the flowers and take in some of the Music in the Park programming.  There was a really good blues band on the bandshell stage and a fair size crowd listening on the lawn in front of it.


Two boys playing in the water at a boat launch area. Who could resist?

Or who could resist buying these amazing BC cherries and stopping to have some at this same spot?

These beautiful roses were in a bed at the Riverfront Park in Kamloops.

This is the North Thompson in Kamloops with the bridge that I would ride over the next morning as I continued me journey north.

I had the hotel breakfast buffet and headed out to Valemont along Highway 5. From Barriere you could really smell the smoke and from Clearwater north it was difficult to make out the tops of the mountains on either side of the road because of the smoke which is covering all regions to the east of where major fires are still burning. This is what the view looking north from Clearwater looked like at around 10:30 this morning 

This is a picture of the North Thompson river a few kilometres further north.

Already at Blue River where I stopped for a burger at The Grill in the Sandman Hotel the mountains begin to re-emerge from the smoke

And by the time I arrived in Valemont where I will be staying for the night you could see some hazy blue sky and white clouds above the mountains; and even small patches of snow in the elevations.

I must say that the roads I have traveled on in BC are very well maintained. The frequent double and passing lanes, along with the generous, as high as 120 KPH in some places, make getting from one place to another extremely easy in the summer.  I imagine though that things slow down a bit on the sections in the mountains in winter. 

I have now reached the northernmost point of my trip. Tomorrow I point the bike east and begin the return trip. What an amazing country we have!

Last half day Mr. Greg Basky, a great riding companion

After a good night's sleep at the Creston Valley Hotel, an establishment that I would strongly recommend to anyone, and particularly to bikers because of the attention to the little things that are so important to that breed like a bucket, soap, clean wash rags and a hose to clean the accumulation of dirt and bug splatter from their mounts, Greg and I had an early breakfast at the Break In Time Cafe. I had a coffee with a dainty small English muffin with egg, tomato, cheese and ham, while Greg feasted on a humongous breakfast burrito.

Greg had expressed a desire to "sit on" my motorcycle at some point "to see how it feels", and I must admit that I was curious to see how his Yamaha 1300 cc felt like, so we swapped bikes outside of Creston and rode to Salmo where we stopped for coffee and a treat at the Dragonfly Cafe.

There are small differences between the bikes but as I told Greg, I love my beemer but wouldn't be unhappy riding a bike like his. It has loads of power, great protection from the elements behind the windscreen and fairing, and it tracks admirably through the corners.

The ride west from Creston is beyond doubt one of the nicest I've been on.  These view of Christina Lake, and of Osoyoos, do not do justice to the many impressive vistas along the Crowsnest Highway.

While we were stopped to admire Christina Lake an older local motorcyclist stopped to say hello, ask where were from and going, and as he does to other bikers that are passing through wish us a safe trip. The short encounter is one of those beautiful moments that stick with you long after they've happened.

Greg and I stopped at the Rock Creek Trading Post, for our last meal together on this trip. My cold and thick double espresso vanilla milkshake and ham and cheese sandwich were delicious. Rock Creek is at the intersection of the 33, that Greg would take to ride north to Kamloops, and the Crowsnest Highway that I would continue on. After lunch we said our thanks and goodbyes, and reminded each other to ride safe and "keep the shiny side up".  (By the way if you want to read a really great blog, one written by Greg, a professional communications person, go to https://keepingtheshinysideup.wordpress.com/  )  I extended an open invitation to Greg to come and ride in Eastern Canada at some point and I genuinely hope he takes me up on the offer.

The rest of the ride to the Crowsnest Vineyards Guesthouse west of Osoyoos. in (Duh!) Wine Country was beautiful. I admit that I had pretty high expectations for the place, a small guesthouse with less than a dozen rooms, at a winery with a restaurant. It couldn't be better.  As it turns out just about everything should have been. Well ok the cold German beer, and the wine, particularly the Dry Riesling that I sampled and the Pinot Noir I had with with dinner, were more than just good.  But the rest, not so much.  When it's Pizza Night at the restaurant and everyone else, including a fair number of locals, are all ordering their individual custom pies, it's probably not a good idea to order from the menu, and as it turns out certainly not the lamb loin chop that the waitress at the bar had highly recommended a few hours earlier. A smaller, more grizzled, bony and over cooked piece of lamb I have yet and wish never to encounter again. As for the vegetables, the potatoes wedges were burnt not caramelized, and the the carrots and what I took to be two french fry shaped pieces of turnip were more raw then al dente. In fairness though the 6 green beans were nice.

As for the rest, the room had a noisy under performing AC unit, a slanted ceiling that I managed to bang my head on and a small television, on a dresser next to a tall cupboard, that you could not see from the flannel sheet covered mattress single bed with the small pillows (all furniture, decor accent pieces and bedding from Ikea). Not that it mattered because the television only had a few channels all of which were broadcasting shows that were shot during blizzards. I thought that the football game was a rebroadcast of last year's eastern semi-final in Ottawa (WHICH WE WON!!). Oh and there were no blinds on the window which explains why I am up writing this blog post at 6:00 am.

So if you are riding through BC Wine Country, deny yourself that pleasure, don't, DO NOT stay at the Crowsnest Vineyards Guesthouse.

Here's hoping for a better experience in Kamloops today.

From Lethbridge Alberta to Creston BC - Crowsnest Highway

After a quick breakfast at the Holiday Inn, Greg and I rode off on Highway 3. We stopped at the Frank Landslide Disaster Interpretation Centre in the Crowsnest Pass.  The Frank Slide was the deadliest Canadian rockslides that buried part of the town of Frank on April 29, 1903 killing between 70 and 90 of the town's residents.  Over 82 million tonnes of limestone slid down Turner Mountain.

The scenery along the Crowsnest Highway which winds its way between ridges in the Rockies is amazing and has enough curves to keep it interesting for motorcyclists.

I took this picture of the Welcome to British Columbia shortly after having nearly run Greg off the road as I pulled onto the shoulder of the highway.

I'm sure that as he waited for me to take the picture he was thinking, who the heck does this crazy BMW rider think he is!

We stopped for lunch at the Lunch Box restaurant on the main street of Fernie, a town that most would know as a premier ski destination in the BC interior.

The rest of the ride to Creston, where we are staying tonight was one of the nicest I've had in a long time. Having a riding companion has been great and we've each alternated between being the leader and the follower during the day's ride.  The lady at the desk of the Creston Valley Hotel gave each of us a plastic coaster (actually a large disk) to put under our motorcycle's side stand to prevent them from sinking into the softening asphalt as a result of the 35 degree heat.

As we walked back to our room after an excellent cod teriyaki dinner, which came after a good pint of Kokanee at another establishment, I took the following pictures of old grain elevators in the town.

And finally here a sign in the restaurant's washroom that I found amusing.

But I can wash my own hands; and if I need some help in doing so it's surely not all the staff. Which isn't to say that I have unusually small hands, or fingers for that matter.