Saturday, June 21, 2008

Today was a pretty quiet day. I spent most of the day in the hotel room. I did venture out over to West Edmonton Mall. I had to exchange one of the DVD's I bought. The weather was absolutely beautiful. I think the high was 28^C. I took a different route home and went through down town and along River Valley Road. Its very pretty along there.

Start: 34,421 km - End: 34,460 km - Total Distance: 39 km

Friday, June 20, 2008

I woke up to warm weather finally today. I didn't have to worry about cold or wet, it was great. The day started out very much like yesturday. I met up with Dan at Timmy's at 10 am. We also met up with Dan's friend Russ. Actually, Russ and I got there early, so we had about 10-15 minutes to chat before Dan showed up. We headed out to Fort Saskatchewan to go and see Dan's sheep. They're not really Dan's sheep, they're his aunt's but that's another story. The black one is Olive, she was in "Love according to John" when she was little.

After that, I'm not really sure where we went. I was just following Dan and trusting that he would get me back into the city at some point. We did end up around antler lake, which is where the black part of our day occurred. We were in a residental area near the lake and the road was pretty windy. I came around this one corner and Dan was in the ditch. He was mostly o.k. (just a bit of road rash) and the bike was mostly o.k. (a few more scratches than before, and a bent brake lever), but it was pretty scary. No one's really sure exactly what happened, but we're pretty sure he took the corner too fast and didn't make it. But we re-grouped and carried on our way.

We pretty much came back into town at that point. We did stop at a little antique shop and looked around. We thought there was a tea shop there, but it was closed. So after that we went to Denny's for lunch with Russ' family. I had a really great time.

After lunch, Russ went home and Dan and I just hung around town. We headed over to West Edmonton Mall to do a little bit of shopping. We were there until about dinner, where we went over to Red Robins for dinner with Jason and then over to South Edmonton Common for a movie.

When the movie was done, Dan and I were sitting in the parking lot comparing bikes. We decided to switch for a little ride. It was just back to my hotel, but its always interesting to ride someone elses bike and compare it to your own. So that was pretty much my day. All in all it was really great (other than the black cloud).

Start: 34,204 km - End 34,421 km - Total Distance: 217 km

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Today I met up with Dan at 9:00 am at Timmy's. It was an early start for me (only because I stayed up too late the night before). We headed out to Two Hills. Its about an 1.5 hour ride out there. There is a grave yard there where my grampa and uncle are buried. My uncle's headstone had just been put in so I wanted to go and see it. I knew how to get to Two Hills, thanks to good old Mapquest, however getting to the grave yard itself was a bit tricky. I had only been out there a couple of times and neither time was under my own terms so I was really not in the state of mind to remember directions. However, it wasn't that bad, we only had to turn around once (although I did second guess myself a few times).

It was really good to be there and spend some time there on my own terms. The first time I was there, it was the first time I had seen my grampa's grave and we had to go with the entire family for what they called "green holiday" and it really wasn't a very good scene at all. And the second time I went it was to bury my uncle, also not fun. So this time no one made me go out there, I chose to go, which was much better.

I still think that this last headstone is very odd, but there were more like them throughout the graveyard, so I guess its just what people do. (Note: This is a double headstone for my grandparents. My grandmother is still alive)

Anyway, we spend about 45 minutes to an hour at the grave yard itself and then we headed home. We got spit on a little bit and it was pretty windy but all in all it was a good trip.

After I said goodbye to Dan, I headed back to my hotel for a nap, and I went over to Irene's for the evening. That's about it for the day. After all is said and done, another good day of my holiday.

Start: 33,853 km - End: 34,204 km - Total Distance: 351 km

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

So because I rode my bike to Edmonton, its my only mode of transportation. I didn't really go anywhere, but I did put a few kilometers on my bike. First thing I HAD to clean it. I am still amazed at how dirty it was. I found a car wash on 50th Street and sprayed it off. After doing that I realized that it was going to take more than that. So I took the car wash brush to it. (I don't usually like doing that but the spray just wasn't cutting it.) That got MOST of the mud off, but the bike still looked like crap. So over to the bike shop on Whyte ave for some cleaning supplies. Then over to Zellers for cleaning clothes. I spent the hour or so in the Zellers parking lot polishing my bike. I got a few weird looks but I didn't really care. I didn't really have anywhere else to do it. It was well worth the time however, I finally found my bike under all the grime.



At least the weather was nice for most of the day so that I could clean my bike. It was raining by the time I had to go to Irene's bridal shower (the whole point of this trip) so its a little water spotty again from that, but nothing compared to last night.

Start: 33,799 km - End: 33,853 km - Total Distance: 54 km

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

So today was the beginning of my mini-holiday. I washed and loaded up my bike last night so I was all set to go this morning.

I woke up to rain. Not the best way to start a trip, but oh well. I donned all my rain gear and a way I went. I only got to Purden before I had to stop and put on my clothes. (my hoodie and warmer gloves) My next stop was at Doom Diner, just to warm up a little. It was so cold. As I'm heading into McBride, (at about 180 km), my bike does a funny little jerk. I couldn't quite figure out what the heck had happened and then it did it again. I then realized that perhaps I needed to go on reserve. I couldn't believe it. As I mentioned earlier, I should be able to go at least 230-240 km before I hit reserve. But I guess with the wind and rain I did not get the fuel range that I should. I did make it into McBride though, so things were all good. So I stopped in McBride for gas. While I was there, I had to change back into my thinner gloves, because my warm gloves were soaked through. Yes, it was still raining at this point.

My next stop was at Mount Robson where my friend Steven and I were supposed to meet for lunch. (He was going to PG, while I was going to Edmonton) We arranged to meet at 11:00 am. Note to self: if we do this again, remember to specify BC or Alberta time. Unfortunately, Steven and Carol had to sit and wait for my for over an hour. I also had to buy a new hoodie because mine was soaked though. I changed my shirt too. Fortunately it had stopped raining by this point. For a little while at least.

Next stop: Jasper, for gas and more clothes changing. I had to get dry pants at this point. It felt like I did a lot of that this trip. But there was a lot of rain this trip too. ;) The trip was mostly quiet after Jasper. I stopped again in Edson and Entwistle for gas. It mostly stopped raining after the park but it was brutally windy and cold. I was just happy when I hit the "Welcome to Edmonton" sign because I knew my trip was almost over. So I thought.

It took me nearly another hour to get to my hotel. Taking the wrong exit onto the Whitemud didn't help, but what really slowed me down was the stupid construction on the Whitemud. Grooved pavement at 30 km and slower for 20-30 minutes is NOT fun. I finally got off at Fox drive instead of going all the way down to Calgary trail. I know Edmonton well enough to be able to find at least SOME alternate routes thank goodness.

Once I finally got into my hotel I spend a good hour cleaning all the mud off me. (I'll leave the bike until tomorrow).

I am not sure I have ever seen my bike so darn dirty. I was so tired of being on the bike though that I wimped out and got Dan to come and get me for dinner. I need the evening away from the bike to recover from today. It was a cold and LONG day.

As a point of interest, here is my animal count for the trip: 2 moose, 1 bear, 4 fox (a family), countless mountian goats. Amazing I saw all of these before I hit Alberta. (O.k. that's not completely true, the mountain goats were in the the park)

As much as all of this sounds like I didn't have a very good trip. And all though the trip was very cold and wet and windy, I did have a good time. Its the first time I've ever taken any sort of long trip by myself. I was proud of myself for doing as well as I did.

Start: 33,037 km - End: 33,799 km - Final Distance: 762 km

Thursday, June 12, 2008

So, my chap project failed before it even got started. Fabricland didn't have the proper elastic I needed to make my chaps bigger. And since Fabricland is about the only place in Prince George to buy material, my project was sunk. I gave into the fact that I was going to have to buy new chaps and so the hunt began. I came home and jumped on my bike, joined up with mom and started shopping. Unfortunately, chaps are hard to find. Well, that's not really true, we did find chaps at a few different stores, but chaps that fit me are hard to find. So we ended up at the harley shop again, and found what I was looking for. We were going to go for a ride after that, but by the time we finally found what we were looking for, it was raining. After a frustrating morning, both my mom and I decided to go home.

Start: 33,023 km - End: 33,037 km - Total Distance: 14 km

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

So today was a pretty nice day. I had planned on doing a few other things, but after my husband nearly pushed me out of the house ;), I decided to go for a ride. My plan was to go out to bear lake to see if it was open yet. It was nice and sunny, a few clouds but really nothing to worry about. I was cruising along the highway and really enjoying the ride until the weather was all of a sudden not so nice. I didn't even really see it coming One minute it was beautiful, and the next it was pouring down rain. So I only made it to about summit lake and I turned around. I did have full intentions of taking some pictures of the lake to post up here, but since I didn't make it, there are no pictures. Sorry.

After I decided to turn around, I had to find somewhere to actually do it. As I'm getting very wet, I watch FOUR semis pass me going into town. Yes, I got stuck behind them. I did 120 km/h all the way out, and 90-100 km/h all the way back into town. Not really a great way to come home. (Especially considering 3 of the 4 trucks were big white Peterbilts :P ) Anyway, I decided to come home and wash by bike. It was defenantly needed. Now I'm working on altering and restoring my chaps, I'll take some pictures and post them up here when the project is done.

Start: 32,913 km - End: 33,023 km - Total Distance: 110 km