June 15 - 17 Windy Montana....Out House to the Rescue!

After a thorough investigation, at least it seemed that way, the border guards let James into the US of A. Woohoo America here we come! At the first rest stop, a disoriented lady bug made for some great entertainment.



 The name of this town just calls for a photo and a smirk. C'mon...Babb. What a name!

 The mountains of Glacier National Park. Unfortunately the Going to the Sun Road was still closed due to snow so we had to circumnavigate the park. Still beautiful.

As we rode on from East Glacier, the wind continued to pick up. It got to the point where it was too dangerous to ride because the wind kept pushing us (mostly me) into the traffic lane and the fact that the shoulder was only about a foot wide did not help. We found a little wall to sit behind to wait out the gale force winds. We sat, snacked and napped there for 5 hours but the wind just got worse. The only other structure nearby was a wheel chair accessible outhouse. We were so sick and tired of the wind we would take anything for some good shelter....even a lonely outhouse on the side of the highway. 

 It was very clean inside and we could not detect any unpleasant odours. Home sweet home...finally!!!

 We managed to stack both bikes in there, still leaving enough room for us to sit, cook and later on sleep. I must say my bed for this night was a big of a tight squeeze next to the toilet bowl but it was still waaaayyy better than getting blown away by wind.
I am trying to picture your guys' faces as you are reading this. WHAT camping in an outhouse!!! Gross!!! Well I tell you, sometimes you get desperate and an outhouse becomes exceptinally inviting all of a sudden. We sure had a great time. Our delicious soup and pasta dinner was followed by yummy Mayan style hot chocolate and a movie on James' iPod. Cool, huh?! All this while the elements were raging outside.

 Cozy cozy birds eye view.



Happy Out House Appreciation Day to you all!!!!

June 14 - 15 Heading to the Montana, USA Border by Waterton National Park

Hello Prairies.

The ride to the border was gorgeous. We passed through true prairie landscape (exciting for me since I have never been to the famous Prairies). Next to a farm, we came across this snazy car. Cool pic I think.

As usual I had my eyes primed for the local flora. Here some Shooting Stars.

More Shooting Stars and some onion like plant.

There was a lot of flooding in this area. Obviously the horses know how to make good use of it. This one in particular thoroughly enjoyed himself.

The mountains of Waterton National Park. We did not enter the park for time reasons. It looks like a gem though.

In search of another stealth camsite. This usually means pushing the bikes through some off road terrain. This tall grass was super cool. A great hiding place for stealth campers.

Our camp! Wonderful!

I found these gorgeous lady slippers on the side of the highway. I cannot remember ever seeing any of them before in the wild. Stunning!!!!

Taking in the amazing view. Behind us were big, steep mountains and infront was an endless plain of grass, shrubs and some trees. I really enjoyed spending some time in this geological and ecological transition zone where the mountains meet the prairie.

June 13 - Highway 22 and Lundbreck, Alberta

When we came up highway 22 the first time at the end of May, we stopped at Thunder Valley Ranch to fill our waterbottles. Judy and Larry, a lovely couple, kindly filled them for us and as we were about to leave, Judy asked us if we wanted some muffins. Larry had just made some. Sure we would love some muffins (it also happened to be James' birthday that day). The muffins were sooooo delicious we decided to stop by again on the way back to get the recipe (Cranberry Orange muffins mmmmm).

We did not expect to get such a warm and excited welcome! They said they have people stop by quite often but they never return. When we asked for the recipe Larry did not just give us the print out but also offered to bake a batch of muffins if we were willing to hang around for an hour. What's an hour. We got loads of time. Of course we will wait. So we got the honour of helping Larry make those wonderful muffins, all of them we were allowed to take with us. As they were baking we were fed delicious chicken sandwiches while Judy showed us her nice crochet projects. Thanks you SOOO MUCH Larry and Judy. You made our trip down highway 22 very memorable. I hope to come and do some crocheting on my way back home.

For the batter lovers out there, I can assure you I ate enough of this delicious stuff to meet my and your quota!

Here is the recipe:

ORANGE MUFFINS
1 Orange, cut up
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup cranberries
1 egg
1/2 cup margarine

Put above ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth.

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

Mix above dry ingredients in a bowl and then stir together with the blended orange mixture.
Put in greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes.
Makes about 12-16 medium sized muffins.

ENJOY!!!



Buttering the muffins!

James, me, Larry and Judy

Well fed and satisfied we hit the road again. My set up has changed slightly since I started so I decided to include a pic of my dear Bicyclette here. She was adorned with a pretty flower bouquet from Michaels Craft store a few days ago. I get compliments for it everywhere, its great!

View from the cockpit.

Foothills landscape with dramatic cloud formations. Just awesome!!!

After a very long, windy ride we found refuge in a carwash bay in Lundbreck. Here I am cooking dinner. We ended up sleeping in there too. It was well protected and quiet and the locals just gave us the thumbs up when we emerged next morning. For once we had a clean floor to sleep on!!!

The carwash from the outside. James enjoying the early morning rays.

June 11-12 - Longview, Alberta

 When we were on our way towards Calgary at the end of May we came through Longview. It is a very cute little town in the Rocky Mountain foothills with a beautiful, "long" view over the rolling hills towards the snow covered peacks of the Rockies. As we were riding through town I noticed that I had a flat tire..AGAIN!!! Really flat this time. A bit nail stuck out of it. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

We pulled over and as we were fixing it amidst all the paniers and bags lying around a man walking his dog came up to us. He introduced himself as Harry and showed lots of interest in our adventure since he himself has done a fair amount of cycling touring in his life. He invited us over to his place but we were set on getting up towards Highwood Pass that day so we said we would gladly accept the invitation but around mid June when we pass through again on our way south.

So when mid June rolled around we stopped in Longview after a glorious ride down highway 22. The sun was starting to set flodding the rolling hills and pastures with golden light and I had beautiful classical music playing through my headphones. It was like living in a Planet Earth episode about the Alberta Foothills.

Harry and Doris warmly welcomed us into their home and fed us to the nines!!!! Thanks so much you two. It was such a pleasure to meet you and you really made our trip so much more memorable. By the way, the Juice Plus is really great!! Thanks for that Doris.

 

My friend Esther and Chris stopped by in Longview on their way to Vancouver. It was so great to see them. Thanks for making the detour up the 22 for us!!!!

With Harry and Doris at DQ...mmmmm that was delicious!!

Doris and Harry took us to Okotoks to see the Big Rock. It is the worlds largest glacial  erratic rock that has been moved great distances from its origin by glaciers.

At Big Rock, a photographer was experimenting with a magic ball and he let me try to take a pic through it. Cool, isnt it? You can get the same effect through a filled wine glass.

Taking the dog for a walk with Harry.

Breakfast time!!!! Thanks again sooo much for your hospitality, Doris and Harry.

 

June 6-10 - SendOutCards Convention in Las Vegas

I interrupted my bike trip for a few days to attend the annual convention of the SendOutCards, which I am a distributor for.

It was a very inspiring time!!! I must admit it was a bit of a culture shock coming from living in a tent on the side of the highway to the Mirage Hotel in Vegas. But after a nice swim in the big pool and strolling up and down the strip, watching the Mirage fire show and stopping at the Bellagio for a water fountain ballet show I settled into the Vegas groove quite nicely. (I do prefer my tent though)

Big thanks to Shayne who did a fantastic job straightening my hair. I have very little patience for stuff like that so I am very grateful for this help. 

Martina, Don and I at the Glow Party on the last evening

 The Glow Party at the Mirage

Since I am a bit limited in computer time, I will post more Vegas pics on this post at a later date. Now back to the bike trip.

June 3-5 - Calgary (more photos to come on this post!!)

NOTE!!!At the moment I have most of the photos from our stay at Valeria's on discs which are buried in my bike bags and this computer has no slot for them anyways. I will update the photos on

 this post as soon as I find access to a computer with a disc drive.

My dear friend and former ESL student Valeria warmly welcomed us into her house. It was great to see her again and also meet her husband Cesar and her daughters Lara and Anaclara.

Anaclara, the youngest daughter, kept us in shape by showing us all sorts of games she had invented on the trampoline. I did not know you could get sore legs from jumping too much on a trampoline but now I do!! :-)





Anaclara was fascinated by the idea of sleeping in a tent. She had never camped before so she and I camped out in her back yard for a night. She was thrilled to be a tent worm cuddled up in a sleeping bag cocoon for a night. Of course there was no way we could go to sleep before a good pillow fight. Thanks for the good times little princess! You were so much fun!!!

May 31 - June 2 Canmore

On our way down from Highwood Pass (HWY40) we met a road cyclist who had just got a flat tire. We offered our help and while he fixed his tire we chatted. His name is Nicholas, originally from Quebec but has lived in Canmore for several years now. He said that we should give him a call when we get into town because we may be able to stay with him. He is in the middle of moving to Calgary but he said his landlord may allow us to pitch our tents in the back yard. 

In Canmore, we met up with Nicholas and were even able to help him move some of his stuff into storage. Once that was done, he invited us out for a picnic in his camper van. We drove to his favourite spot at Two Jack lake in Banff witha great view of Cascade Mountain. We had a fantastic dinner with tuna salad, baguette, pate and various cheeses. A touring cyclist's dream come true!!!

Cascade Mountain

Nicholas kept rummaging around in his little fridge where he found a stack of chocolate bars and fruit. How about some chocolate fondue with lake view and music in the Canadian Rockies? O yeah!!!! What an amazing evening!!!! Thanks soooo much Nicholas.

Next day, James and I did a thorough bike clean and later on treated ourselves to a beer taster set at the Grizzly Paw Brew Pub. Yummy!!!

May 25-27 Fernie, BC to Frank, AB

(sorry this posting is out of chronological order)

I bet that the Fernie Overwaitea has one of the best views a grocery store could ever have. Unfortunately I cannot capture good panoramas with my camera so you will just have to imagine yourself standing in the doorway with grocery bags in both hands and all around you see snow covered peaks. So beautiful.

We got to stay with Meg and Kurt. In this picture we are enjoying a delicious dinner on the deck with humming birds buzzing around us.

 I saw this magnet on Meg's fridge. I love good quotes and poems. This one totally hits home!!!! Enjoy and FOLLOW YOUR DREAM!!!!

 

Natalie and Jeff came out to Fernie for the weekend too. Here are Jeff and James on the way into town. Fernie has so much character and is full of unique little shops. I can definitely recommend Big Bang Bagels. Their bagels are soooooo deliciously tasty!

As we were eating our bagels, I was looking for some easy reading material and found a local flyer called McGuffy's News. Among various jokes, advertisements and random facts, I came across this story. I hope you like it!

DONT GIVE UP!!!

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Back at home, the eating goes on. This time in a more Mexican style. Love burritos! (Natalie, Jeff, Kurt, Meg and Kootenay the dog)

Next morning as we were heading out of town, we met Hirotaka. He is from Japan and is walking across Canada pushing his luggage on a Costco cart! Amazing! I definitely prefer my bike!

THE LARGEST TRUCK IN THE WORLD - TITAN 33-19

 (at least that's what it used to be a few years ago)

We had lunch right next to this monster. It is located next to the visitor center in Sparwood.

 HELLO ALBERTA!!!! One province down, 9 more to go!

  

In a small town called Frank, we stopped at the Pure Country Pub for their Sunday night buffet. Meg and Kurt came out too for the meal. It was sooo DELICIOUS. Excuse me for talking about food all the time but when you are on the road cycling every day, it becomes a BIG DEAL!!!!

The Pub owner allowed us to camp on their patio. We concluded the evening with Toy Story 3 on James' iPod.