Going West - Week Two ERBb'

BEGINNING OF WEEK TWO

Day 8 - Monday - 7.1.13... on to the Icefield Parkway in Alberta Canada
Up Hwy 93 for 100 miles and crossed into Canada and British Columbia at Roosville. Continued in high agri-forest conditions at 3000'. There was residual of the flooding from last week. At the Trans Canada #1 I crossed into Alberta, went south to Banff and at the same time I crossed the Continental Divide - from Pacific to the Atlantic. Since today was a holiday, Canada Day, Banff was packed and complicated by heat over 90 deg. The roads were packed and driving slow. A ride around town and the thermos were I stayed and swam I decided to split - lines even into McDonalds. I went north up the Icefield Hwy to Lake Louise for the nite.  Terrible motel. Very hot and poor Internet. When it cooled off I went to Lake Louise and Morraine Lake. The grand hotel is beautiful and I remember grandparents Beebe staying there. Only animals were beautiful white coated Mountain Goats. Originally I was going up to Grande Prairie and then to Edmonton, but I am so tired from riding I shall rest in Edmonton at Calder's before Grande Prairie.  So tomorrow for 300 miles to Peter's via the Thompson Highway. 350 miles.

Day 9 - Monday - 7.2.13 on to Edmonton for a rest at Calder's
Up at 6:00 and left at 7:00 up Hwy #1 to the Thompson Highway to the east. No traffic as I rolled out of the Rockies, thru the foothills and onto the Prairie at high speed. I stopped at the first town, Nordegg, for breakfast and it caused me to be so sleepy I had to stop at McDees in Rocky Mountain House for coke and coffee. Refreshed, I rode on to Red Deer and north on 2 to Edmonton - 90 degrees by noon. The most beautiful part of the Rocky Mountains is in Canadian along the Icefield Highway. 300 + miles in 4.25 hours. Peter Calder is a friend from our doctoral program at IU, 1969-72.

Day 10-11 - Wednesday & Thursday - 6.3/4.13
Lunch and dinner out- Vietnamese and Lebanese. Washed bike, cleaned clothes and fixed throttle controller. Sat and talked.

Went to bike shops looking for my chin strap clip and finally found one at the fifth shop-stop in the afternoon. In between we had lunch with a friend and fellow faculty member of Peter's at Vietnamese. In the evening we went to a 4th of July ribs, steak and shrimp dinner at the faculty club. Great meal of many points!

Day 12 - Friday - 7.5.13. Back on the road for north Rockies.
I have ridden the rockies as there are no road above Grande Prairie in or by the Rockies. Left at 7:45 for Grande Prairie, Grande Cache, and Hinton. Cold morning starting out and from noon on it got worse. The rain and mist were intermittent for the next 5 hours. It was hard to appreciate the rolling foothills and lovely forest to say anything about the Grandes. Crossed the Athabaska River.. which flows to the Arctic Ocean. Rode 499 miles and have completed 3867 miles so far.. Thanks to Peter and Judy Calder for a great respite.

Day 13 - Saturday - 7.6.13. South -Icefield Parkway to British Columbia
Up at 6:30 and driving by 7:45 0n a cool sunny day to Jasper on the Yellowhead Hwy. Very cold. I turned south on the Icefield Parkway and it started to rain and continued the cold. Rained hard, snowed and hailed on and off for the next 150 miles to the end of IP and onto the Trans Canada Hwy #1. Over elevations of 6800' causing water shed changes. I started this  morning on the Atlantic side, crossed to the Artic area, and then over the
leaving the Rockies.........
Continental Divide again to the Pacific basin. Gased up in Revelstoke at about the end of the rain and it started to warm. I turned south toward Kelowna on 97 at Sicamous and it started to get very hot.. like 90s but it felt good comparatively. Followed along beautiful lakes all the way south.  Rode 499 and 485 miles since Edmonton for a total of 984 and a total of 4361 miles. Developed a cold...off for Alka -- caugh and cold. Very sore in the neck during the rain and cold.. Right arm more than left.

Day 14 - Sunday - 7.7.13        back to the USA
Up at 6 and on the road by 7:15 to be held up twice for an hour by two bicycle rides on 97. Rode along water the entire way from Kelowna and Penticton, which by Chelan became the Columbia River. Finally crossed the border by 9am+ and went toward Twisp...one of my favorite town names I discovered in 07 when passing thru this country. Twisp is Indian for yellow jacket or wasp. It is located in the Methow Valley only accessible by several 4000' passes. The Indians used to come there in the summer to pick berries and fish for the winter at lower elevations. Tried to go over the other pass at Winthrope but it was a traffic jam so I turned around and went south. The area is very arid and only green where it is irrigated so little agriculture..but a lot of wood and tourism-skiing. The area is the Loup Loup area and 4 rivers come together to form the Twisp River which empties into the Columbia. Several rich people have houses here- Starbucks, Microsoft people, and Bardhl Oil people. I next went to find out about the Beebe Orchard (we have had an apple box from there on our wall for 30 years) near Chelan. Went to a fruit sorting factory and talked to some workers. No Beebes were involved any longer and now mostly live in Boston. However, most of the orchards are gone after being sold twice and they gave alot of land for a park at the end of the Beebe Bridge.  The Beebe Ranch is selling building lots along the Columbia River - I suspect for a pretty penny. As I came into the town of Cashmere on Hwy 97-2 I saw a sign indicating the "Aplet" factory (a candy our family got at Christmas that we all hated) with an indication for a tour.  Needless to say I did not tour.  Finally, I went over three passes, 4k' and 2-2700' in desert heat and environs to get to Yakima where it is very hot (last week it hit 111 degrees). My glasses are deteriorating as the finish is coming off the lens. Nice ride of discovery today with 385 miles in 7 .25 hours and 4746 miles total.

xxx