Monday 27th May - On the Trans-Canada Moose Jaw and beyond!

Map below...

It has several parts....

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=200059512251364914226.0004daba15b3107f38ef0

Well up early and not the best view I’ve woken up to..

It’s a strange mix of emotions in the morning. First thing to check, is the bike ok, is it still there even, not that I've e had any indication that it wouldn’t be.  Then a quick look at the weather forecast for where I am and where I want to be. After breakfast I try and pack and load the bike in an organised way so that I know where things are and more importantly that they will fit and stay on.

The tank bag is the most important. One of my drop was due to the fact that I’d got that too far forward and couldn’t get lock on at slow speed. Then I have to put my lips salve on. Plays hell with ones’ lips all that lid-up cruising. Occasionally use Neutrogena – not that its any better than others it’s just that when I’m putting my lippy on I can imagine I’m as rugged as those bearded Norse fishermen who use it –yea  I bet they do!

Then I have to ride a few miles before I stop again and readjust all the things that don’t feel right.  By this time the bike is running ok and as I set off the pleasure really kicks in – I’m on the road again.

I always overdress initially, thinking it’s better to take things off as you get warm than try and get warm when the cold has set in. So, the weather really doesn’t matter, which is good because this morning it’s not at its best.

Am really surprised again about how quiet the road is.

That vehicle approaching is a disc-plough/harrow set. The equipment they use here is enormous. I know we have seen tractors and equipment get bigger in the UK nothing to what they have here.

 

Maybe doesn't look all that impressive until you realise it's size compared to that artic.

When I saw this I really thought I had to hit snow again

 - but it turned out to be salt or potash or some such deposits from the evaporating lake bed.

Off to Moose Jaw and Regina today with a few detours to things I want to see.

First though I rode to Moose Jaw – which apparently was from the Cree native Indian name  moose gaw, meaning warm breezes but as this was definitely a misnomer I didn’t stop long at. It has a checkered history, staring as a Canadian Pacific Railroad outpost, became a focal point for Chinese immigrants, I guess railway workers, is reputed to have been used by Al Capone for his alcohol smuggling enterprises during prohibition and has some shady KKK connection. It also apparently has a giant moose – Mac.  Mac,  built in 1984, is claimed to be the world's largest moose at 32 feet tall and a weighing nearly 10 tons – not that I guess there will be a lot of competition. Anyway, I missed him – I know, I spotted a life-size Moose at 100 yards, in the rain at 60 mph and missed this one – what can I say.

I put a "borrowed" picture of Mac here though for my younger readers ....

 

Now, America is a country of car wreckers’ yards or abandoned used car lots. Oh it’s got lots of beautiful country separating them with rivers and canyons and geysers and things, but essentially it’s all car wreckers’ yards and abandoned used car lots. If they stopped making cars tomorrow America could survive just on refurbishing the millions of old ones it’s got lying around. But they still do make cars so what they are doing or intend to do with all those old ones laying around I don’t know.

Well, Canada has nearly as many such yards but, here’s the clever thing, being a bit more canny – must be the Scottish ancestry – when they have 2 or more of anything they call it a museum. Two cars or more it is an Auto Museum. Two tractors or more it is an Agricultural Museum. If there is an old washing tub or a stove thrown in among the stuff it is a Heritage museum. I’m not knocking that, thinks it’s great. One of them is my first stop  - The Pioneer and Suskanen Ship Museum. Oh yes, forgot to mention that, if there’s a boat amongst your stuff then call it a Ship Museum!

I admit that on one level it was a bit of a disappointment. Most of the exhibits were a bit too modern for me, not many dealt with the early settlers but it was interesting enough. It’s taken as read that a collection of old buildings brought together in an artificial “village” will never be the same as seeing them in situ such as I had on route 66 but the old pioneers dwellings won’t survive being abandoned out on the prairies so it is good that they move them lock stock and wash tub to places like this.

 

This, believe it or not is the childhood home - without the new ramp and steps - a prime Minister of Canada, John Diefenbaker - ok, a bit ago 1957 - 63 - but a bit different from Cameron's pile I bet!

 

 

The ship, well that’s a sad tale which I’ll summarise.   Tom Sukanen was an immigrant from Finland who originally settled in Minnesota in the States with his family.  He moved alone to Manitoba to try and find better surrounding which he did but when he walked back to fetch his family he found his wife had died and his 4 children 3 girls and a boy, dispersed. He only found his son but when he tried to reclaim him the authorities accused him of kidnap or whatever and threw him out of America alone.  He never recovered from that. He found a water course which he believed would lead to the sea so went about building a boat so that he could sail back to Finland. This is the actual boat, but he died in a mental institution before he could attempt the probably ill-fated journey. 

 

 

This link tells the story much better Tom Sukanen

Oh and there was the usual tractors ...

                             and this beautiful 100 year old Grain Elevator.

For those who have no soul and can't appreciate any of the above, how about a barbed wire collection ...

 

From that museum I rode onto Regina. The weather turned to a fine Mizzle for a short time which brought visibility down a lot. It is one thing driving along romancing about how the road disappears into the far distance, another when it just disappears.

 

 

It really is awesome, and I use the word deliberately, to see the weather changes approach. With the horizon so low the clouds - which we are usually looking at above our heads - seem to roll towards you almost like a giant tsunami - it is incredible.

 As I approached Regina you can really see how big the prairie is and how cities just stick out as oasis.

I was going to visit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Centre. Their Headquarters is now in Ottawa but this was the original “Depot” and is where their training school still is.

Had a wonderful couple of hours here. The history of the North West Mounted Police as they first were lines up exactly with my interest around the pioneers. A lot about Sitting Bull to who apparently took refuge in Canada for a while, with Canadian approval, after his victory at Little Big Horn.

Smart chaps weren't they...

    a far cry from this officer who I just couldn’t resist asking if she would have her photograph taken with me – well. who could. (How long will it take for that smug grin to wear off when I get back?)

 

Should have stopped overnight at Regina but the weather closed in and I decided I would be as happy on the bike IN the rain as sitting in a hotel room listening to it outside so pulled up under a Skating Rink doorway, donned some wet weather gear and rode on through the last of Saskatchewan and to Manitoba – Brandon to be exact.

Arrived damp, tired but as usual happy and feeling very lucky....

                          And then brought back to earth as I made a prat of myself - again -  with the receptionist and  laundry room access by not realising I had driven across another time zone - oh hum...

 

 

Sunday 26th May - Canada and the start of The Trans-Canada Highway!

Before I went to bed last night I put the tarp on the bike and lashed it down as the wind was up and the rain was coming. I therefore got up this morning expecting to have a fairly cool and damp ride up and over the border.

How wrong I was – well the weather forecast was actually – the sun was shining and it was already warm by the time I pulled out of Great Falls and headed north to the border crossing at Sweet Grass.

I went straight up the Interstate as it was only a dual carriage way in effect and the ordinary road ran next to it anyway. And there was nobody on it.

 

For almost  120 miles there was just me and an old guy – yes, even compared to me – on a Harley.  It was so quiet and companiable that we even stopped for a chat on the hard shoulder.

All the way the Rockies ran parallel to me way over to the east.

A bit more traffic turned up from somewhere at the Border Crossing but nothing to worry about so I crossed over to Canada without incident.

 

And Canada was shut!

I was ready for a coffee and wanted to sort things out now I was across border so I rode into Coutts, the town on the Canadian side, absolutely dead, no one around at all. No-one to ask if anywhere was likely to be open. Never mind, Medicine Hat – the first place I would hit ion the Trans-Canada Highway was only 143 miles away.

Didn’t have a very detailed map of Alberta – The Canadian Province I was in – so into the trusty Sat-Nav went Medicine Hat and I was steered out of town on  quiet -  waste of a word that, everywhere was quiet – country road.

It ran East straight as far as I could see and that was a long way. By now it was a balmy 23°C, the wind was warm and light, I rode with my visor flipped up and all was well in the world. 16 miles of arrow straight road till I turned left. It was a wonderful ride, still a few hill on my right from the range I crossed before dropping down to the crossing but totally flat on my left.  I saw and heard  birds of all hues and yes, more deer – I know I said I wouldn’t photograph any more, but these were Canadian deer now.

They are much more robust, beefy – should be venisony I assume – than the ones I’d seen in America, less like Bambi and more like Rudolph if you get my drift. The American ones were Mule Deer which live west of the Rockies, these were White Tail Deer for those purists amongst you.

Life was good…… but then a bit of anxiety set in......

And it got worse

                              and worse.......

             The road ahead fizzled out and the “trusty”  Sat-Nav said turn left which I did and ground to a sideways, sliding halt – not fall number 4 but very close to it. It appears that setting to avoid “unpaved roads” – I’d learned that the hard way – didn’t mean she wouldn’t try gravel roads in Canada.  I just couldn’t ride through it, my road tyres just dug straight in and steering was akin to trying to pull a sow from her piglets – and yes I have tried that.

I looked around – and as I said I could see a long way – and there was nothing else for it – a lovely 16 mile ride on a road as straight as an arrow in the sun looking at the wild life – only going west this time!

Picked up a better road further north and eventually headed for Medicine Hat.

The land got flatter and the horizon dropped. I’ll stop trying to photograph it. Just imagine standing in a field, now expand the boundaries to infinity until you are looking down on the horizon – in every direction, 360°. Now place a blue dome over the whole lot and you are getting somewhere like.

Colourful farmsteads come up now and then, all surrounded by trees planted as a shield against the wind that can be merciless I understand - tell me about it!

In the few small towns, mostly just a few houses around a junction, there are grain elevators, mostly grey concrete jobs, but occasionally old colourful wooden ones like these. Get used to these  – I love them.

 I say grain elevators, they are probably Canola elevators, Rapeseed to you and me, the Canadians changed the name in the 70’s for a number of reasons primarily its “disturbing connotations” as they put it and the fact that in 1956 the rapeseed then grown in Canada was so toxic it was banned for human consumption – a bit of a handicap for cooking oil!

When I got there Medicine Hat was closed too. Well, a bit busier traffic wise but nothing obviously open.

After stopping to photograph this – I’m afraid you may also have to get used to me waxing whatever about the settlement of the Prairies – it’s my obsession on this return leg. This one is a tribute to the German/Russian Pioneers that settled here.

 

I asked a guy if there was anywhere to get a coffee –“Sure” he said “just go through the lights and through that underpass and there’s a Tim’s on the corner”.  Well there would be wouldn’t there -  probably not of any significance to anyone but the Canadian branch of the family but Tim Horton was a Canadian Ice Hockey player who reputedly started the chain because he didn’t like flying and therefore drove everywhere. He couldn’t find decent burger and coffee bars so started his own. I don’t know ...  but it is Canada’s number 1 Fast Food chain – out stripping McD’s and Stabucks. He died in 1974 bizarrely during a police chase on his way home from a match.

Had originally planned to stay overnight in Medicine Hat but it was only 2.30pm and it was such a gorgeous day I pushed on another 140 miles to Swift Current – hey the names get better, Moose Jaw next.

So I set of along The Tran-Canada Highway – another dream realised.

 

The Trans-Canada Highway runs between Victoria on Vancouver Island British Columbia and St. John's in Newfoundland. With a length of 4,860 miles it is the world's longest national highway. After driving east 800 miles from Seattle before joining it at Medicine Hat and then dropping off at my daughter’s in Beaverton, Ontario I am only riding 1912 odd miles of it – leaving scope for another ‘venture!!

It is a dual carriageway at this point - not at all like an Interstate and is still so quiet. Riding along at less than the speed limit - it's 110kph usually  - in the sun and warm breeze, lid still up and still lots of birds and deer around, it was really pleasant - actually more than that, wonderful - one of the best days I've had - and that is saying a lot!  I am one lucky chap I know.

By the time I arrived at Swift Current I’d clocked up 424 miles today so stopped at the first motel I found and crashed – no not literally I’m please to say.

 

 

Haven’t therefore looked around the town – guessing it shut today anyway – but to give you a flavour, well you remember me saying that Santa Fe in New Mexico was characterised by the Lexus Car Lot – this place has a mile and a half stretch of lots selling John Deere tractors and equipment, Silos, etc.!

Weather forecast says thunder storms for tomorrow - here's hoping its wrong again.




 

 

Saturday 25th May - Eastwards across Montana

Woke up to a damp and dismal morning. Wasn’t actually raining but looked like it would and it was still so cold. So put all clothes on again and off we went.

Initially I rode through wooded valley with fast flowing streams

 and then the valleys got broader and the rivers wider.

 

The morning warmed up so I shed clothes and looked forward to a more comfortable ride.

 

I knew exactly where I wanted to go…

 

 

 

 

 

 

And it is!

The land flattened then, the valleys got much wider and the rivers broadened

 

Then, just when I was thinking the cold passes where behind me

 

 

  the tail end of the Rockies, so that’s what that grey bit on the map meant!

Still, didn’t let it get me down. How could it when I was driving through an area where someone will take this much trouble with a post box....

 

 

Took a detour to the National Bison Range. I knew I couldn’t get in because they won’t let you ride around it on a bike for some reason but thought I may see them from the road. Quite disappointed to only see these two, and then in some kind of paddock...

Later on when I stopped for a snack I realised why the herd may be depleted – and looking at the portions they serve it’s a least one bison per burger.

 

Talking of portions, was in a restaurant the other day and a family came into the booth behind me, mum, dad and not so little Billy, or whatever. They all ordered a meal and then the waiter reminded them that it was a free child’s meal with every adult one so they were in fact entitled to two children’s meals. After some debate as to whether they should get a second child’s meal and take it home they decided, nay, Billy would have them both there and then, and he did!

These guys were near the Bison Range, some horns eh

And you have to admit they suit him more than they do this chap I met last night.....

Maybe they will look better when he mounts them on his truck - that was his plan!

 

This place looked an appropriate place to stop (believe me!!!)

 but Froggy had a better way of dealing with the problem – ahhhhhhhh!

The Rockies were always there but actually I didn’t have to climb too high to get through.

 

 

Although as I said I couldn’t ride along it on my bike I had been following the route of the first wagon route to cross the Rockies to the Pacific Coast - remember, this chappie Capt. John Mullan

and therefore the road I was on swept around the contours of the land much as Route 66 had. Big difference though was this a predominantly green landscape be it grassland or forests and there were rivers everywhere.

Those rivers were beautiful and where they were deeper and slower they were apparently home to the endangered Bull Trout. There was fishing everywhere so I don’t know what they do catch.

Where the river was fast and narrow it was great for other types of sport – makes my bike ride look a doddle.

 

When I first drove past this sign I thought it was The Herpes Capital of the World…

      See, I told you it was cold.

There was still plenty of wild life and enough dead deer on the road to convince me that riding at night still not a good idea. 

 

 

 

 Oh forgot to say, I saw a bull moose yesterday in Idaho. It was standing in that iconic pose in swamp up to its knees – assume moose have knees – and just staring at me. I couldn’t stop as it was persistently raining and too dangerous. Looking it up on Google it says the population around here is “exploding” but as I said this one just stood there.

 

As I approached Great Falls I passed the site of an old - in American terms - Fort. Nothing there now, but it was exciting to think that people who passed through here 140 years ago would go on to rub shoulders with Custer and who knows, may have seen Sitting Bull.

 

Well, if things go to plan I cross over border to Canada tomorrow. Tonight will involve making sure all that paper work I have carried around in my little black bag for 6 weeks is in order....