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Days 15 & 16 - 7/5 & 7/6
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Alaska Highway.... Done ! |
| Finished the Alaska Highway by zipping into Dawson Creek in fine style and had time to see the town. The big towns along the Highway are a strange mix of tourist shops, seedy motels, RV "resorts" of various quality, and BIG industrial plants, mostly gas power and timber. The last two days there was a lot of traffic with the biggest trucks you ever saw. Fortunately the drivers up here are incredibly polite. No honking or close calls @ 75mph, just friendly waves and a toot of the horn. How un-NewJersey!
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Dawson Creek nite-life |
Rapeseed field |
We are officially out of the mountains and the terrain to Grande Prairie was flat with good tail winds. Scenery is mostly agriculture and some forests. Lots of rapeseed fields for canola oil. Not much local fruits and veggies. Made mistake of asking for a basket of local(?) cherries before asking the price ...$12. I told the guy they'd better be damn tasty cherries... they were.
Grande Prairie looked huge as I came down the hill into the city. 70,000 people, the biggest city so far. It is home of the over-powered dually diesel pick-up. With the price of diesel, you’d think people wouldn’t blast off from every stop sign, spewing diesel smoke.
Anyway, we seem to have our routine down pretty well, but need to change where we stay on occasion. For example Northern Lights RV in Dawson Creek was a dust pit with over flowing dumpsters and RV’s so close that you could hear the neighbors belching, among other things. So we moved to a different spot. The place in DeBolt didn't exist so we stayed in Grande Prairie, making tomorrow's ride a bit longer.
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Marjie writes:
Notes from inside the RV- Entry # 2
Settling into the 6 to 8 hour daily routine of driving ahead, pulling over, driving ahead, pulling over at intervals that just depend on how comfortable I feel getting ahead, how many big trucks or vans are chasing me, or if there is an alluring pull-off (large dirt area). Communication between John and I for most of the day’s ride has been efficiently reduced to hand signals he gives me as he catches up and passes by (nothing bad yet):
- Arm extended straight out parallel to the road – everything fine
- Arm at right angle – stop
- Hand raised to mouth – need new water bottle
- Thumb and forefinger snapping together – take a picture
Luckily I do have dashboard support to ward off sensory deprivation. My spiritual guides are a guardian angel medallion from Barbara (SDS) double back taped to the dash, a traveling Buddha from my niece Megan swinging from the rearview mirror, and my stuffed bison, Watson, sitting on top of the dash – no conversation but comforting. I do think Watson looks lovingly at me during the ride
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Dashboard Buddies
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As for the human voice – I have mentioned a tenuous relationship with our TomTom GPS. She has a nice voice but I don’t trust her.
John has a very eclectic ipod collection of 356 songs. Heard them all now repeatedly. Turns out the best artist to listen to over and over again is Bob Dylan - great melodies and incredible lyrics that take awhile to decipher – better than books on tape. For days I have been singing along to his "Memphis Blues" and now, I swear, I sound just like him – I even got the strange cadence.
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Pull-off activities (2 – 4 minutes), may be as varied as sudoku, journaling, nail clipping, applying lip gloss, flossing. Sudoku number entries are done with great care, the number writing getting to be an activity in itself. If I don’t like how the number looks or fits into the box – I erase and do it again. Sometimes I do some writing with my nondominant hand to improve brain function (have you read that?). I’m pretty busy, but still manage to skillfully keep track of my biker. Of course, there is EATING in the RV but that deserves its own entry.
Summarizing to date: I have developed some sudoku related OCD tendencies, some ability to write meaningless but complete sentences with my nondominant hand, an ability to personify inanimate objects (Watson – he’s so cute) and am on my way to becoming a credible Dylan impersonator. So, it’s all good. Marjie
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Days 18 & 19 - 7/8 & 7/9
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Big city of Edmonton |
We are in the big city of Edmonton. Since I only had 40 miles to ride and had a fierce tailwind we were in the RV at 10:30 and had time to see the downtown. Very nice, clean and friendly. You can tell we’re not used to the urban environment as we got lost in the parking garage.
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Storm over Lac Ste. Anne |
| It was stormy last night over Lac Ste. Anne in Gunn AB. Very rural and now we’re packed in like sardines at Glowing Embers RV Park. Photo doesn't do it justice... it's much worse than it looks.
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Lonely RV at Gunn AB |
RVs in a line at Glowing Embers |
| Good place to clean my bikes, though.
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John cleaning bikes
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Marjie and I are practicing our western Canadian accents, so we’ll fit in at the stops. Usual conversation:
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"Where you goin' on the bike, eh?"
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"Key West"
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"By golly, that's a long way, eh"
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"Yes, it is"
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"Oh, ya, looks like you'll get wet too! Well keep pedaling & watch out for the bears, eh"
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Seriously very nice people by and large.
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Day 20 - 7/10
Still cold as hell up here. Stayed bundled up all day under threatening skies but no rain. Favorable winds allowed for a fast 120 miles to Wainwright AB. Average speed was 20.4 mph., probably the longest fast ride I’ve ever done.
I’ll be sorry to see Alberta go, as the roads and conditions have been the best for biking that I can remember.
Photos show a typical Alberta highway.... mostly flat or rolling hills, smooth asphalt, WIDE, CLEAN shoulders with almost no broken glass or trash. A bikers dream!
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John catches a tailwind |
Great Alberta roads |
 Types of road surfaces:
- Gravel…not good and not safe for me with my type of bike.
- Chip seal or seal coat... basically gravel with tar poured over it - terrible when new as the gravel is still loose in spots, surface is rough (larger the gravel size, the rougher the ride, and they use rough gravel 'cause it cheap). The jittery ride numbs your hands and wears out your tires. After it's been driven on for a few months, it's as smooth as asphalt.
- Concrete... ok if newer but spacers give you a constant regular bump. If old, lots of cracks that your tires can get caught in.
- Asphalt - the best, unless potholes.
This is FASCINATING stuff, right? I know you all were dying to know this.
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The stop at Wainwright is a good one. The nice people of Wainwright gave us a free stay and they have the cleanest bathrooms and the best showers. These are the things I'm reduced to worrying about.
Marjie always makes friends along the way. Here she's befriended a bison (they're NOT buffalo, ya' know).
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Marjie meets Watson's relative
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Tomorrow we go into Saskatchewan, our last Canadian province. My God Canada is big!
My sister, Judy is meeting us in Saskatoon.
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