Day 9 - July 31, 2013

Day Nine.  All is well.  Still headed north.

Today was a relatively short ride (250 miles), from North Battleford, Saskatchewan to Edmonton, Alberta.

I made stops along my route today.  My most interesting stop was at Lashburn, Saskatchewan, pop. 967. This is where I met Mr. Larry Walker, a gentleman who said he had lived all of his 65 years within 20 miles of Lashburn, and most of that time he was a farmer.  Mr. Walker invited me to have coffee with him at the local cafe.  It was the only one in town.  I am glad I did.  He told me that there is no place on earth that he would rather be than where he is.  He said that when the thermometer dips to 40 below it is not a deterrent to life. Did you know that 40 below on the Fahrenheit scale and 40 below on the Celsius scale represent the same temperature?  Me either.  Mr. Walker did.

There are oil wells on Mr. Walker's property.  But in Canada (mostly from what I read tonight) mineral rights belong to "The Crown".  Canada, like Australia, is a federation, and loosely interrupted "The Crown" is the government.  It is too involved for this blog, but it produced some interesting reading tonight.....

The whole of the above is that it was a good day.  In a great part because of my opportunity to meet and spend time with Mr. Walker.

I traveled the Trans Canadian Highway from North Battleford to Edmonton.  It remained a divided four lane road, and it was very smooth.  My day started at 6:00 MDT, and it was 49 degrees.  It warmed to low 70's along my route of travel, with not rain.

As I progress north the prairies are giving way to small rolling hills.  Imagine a time when the prairies were often dark with Buffalo.  Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals of a time they waited over two hours for a great buffalo heard to cross a river in front of them. That was another prairie, but not unlike the Saskatchewan prairie.

Gone is the prairie grass and the buffalo, but the landscape is much like it was just over a hundred years ago when the CN built a new rail line (1905), that produced new settlements, that made it possible for farmers to move here.  It is a big land.

Another good day.

Dy 8 - July 30, 2013

Day Eight.  Still headed north.  All is well.

The land remains flat along my route of travel, with some rolling hills beginning just north of Regina, but that lasted only a short while, and, then there was a resumption of the seemingly endless prairie.  As I got farther north the land was not under cultivation at the 100% level as it was in the Dakotas and lower Saskatchewan, but not far from it.

The top photo was taken at a stop (gas) at Hanley, SK.  The middle photo is from a stop to photograph another sea Canola, and the third photo is a closeup of the plant.   According to a Canadian link I found this evening there are are over 21 million acres of Canola under cultivation in Canada this year.  Okay, I had to do the math.  21 million acres is 32,812 square miles.  The State of South Carolina is 31,189 square mile. There is more Canola under cultivation in Canada than the entire size of the State of South Carolina.  That is a lot of Canola.

Day 8 started out with rain (again), but it was light, and intermittent through much of the day.  It was 51 degrees when I awoke, and my travel temperatures hovered in the high 50's to lower 60's all day, with mostly cloudy for the day.

Today I traveled on Canadian Highways 11 and 16, the later also named the Trans Canada Highway.  The entire route was a four lane, divided highway, with a posted speed limit of 110 Km (approximately 70 mph). It was mostly smooth, with some areas that needed work, and some areas getting work.  I did not experience any roadwork delays.  The traffic was light.

Day 7 - July 29, 2013

Day 7.  I did not get to depart Minot until early afternoon, which is just as well.  It rained this morning, and it was raining and 59 degrees when I left.  As I traveled farther north the rain lessened and it warmed slightly. It continued to rain until just before I stopped for the night, in Estevan, Saskatchewan.  Now that I am here the skies have begun to clear and it has warm to the mid 60's.  Because of the rain I did not make photos today, but I will make a special effort to make photos tomorrow and add those to the blog.  I am not expecting any spectacular photo opportunities until I get north of Dawson Creek.  I will be staying overnight in Dawson Creek Wednesday night. The Al-Can highway begins (or ends, depending upon your perspective...but for me, on this trip, it begins.) at Dawson Creek, British Columbia.

All is going well, and I am happy to be back on the bike and making progress along my planned route of travel.

I am thankful for quality rain gear to keep me dry and comfortable while riding during these summer rains.  I know the people of North Dakota and Saskatchewan are thankful for the moisture too.

Day 6 - July 28, 2013

This is my last day and evening in Minot.  Tomorrow I resume my travels.  Canada is only a short ride from here, and I consider entrance into Canada the second part of my journey.  The third part of the journey begins at Dawson Creek, where I pick up the Alaska Canadian Highway....but lest I get too far ahead of myself I will focus on the now, and the start of part two...tomorrow.

Today was a restful day.  It was a day where I stayed close to the hotel, washed clothes, did my regular routine on the treadmill....something I had not done since I left last Tuesday, and did some light reading.  I did get out late this afternoon, for a short tour of the country side.  The weather is absolutely fantastic (This is my personal estimation, with deference to those that like other weather variations.)  The temperature today was mostly near 70 degrees with humidity below 50%.

Scattered thunderstorms are forecast for Minot tomorrow.  We will see.

Day 5 - July 27, 2013

Today I spent sightseeing in and around Minot.  And, when I learned it was the last day of the North Dakota State Fair, in Minot, how could I resist.  I missed the rodeo, but I saw the North Dakota State Arm Wrestling Championship. Did you know they had weight divisions?  I didn't. I didn't even know there was a North Dakota State Arm Wrestling Championship. The two guys in the photo above were in the open-heavy weight division.  By the way, the guy on the right won.  No contest there, or the semifinal bout either.  I didn't see any side bets, or hear any mention of a winner's purse, so you gotta figure these guys were in it for the glory, the trophy, and the record book.

The fair ends tonight, so even if I get bored tomorrow I can't go back.  Too bad, as I would like to look at the static display of some of the largest farm equipment ever.  Monster stuff for the monster farms in much of the Dakotas.

The weather today was most pleasant, with a high around 70, and near zero humidity, all under the most brilliant blue skies you can imagine.  There was a light wind, but in North Dakota there is always a light (or more) wind.

Day 4 - July 26, 2013

The top photos is in front of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, and the bottom two are of the re-created Fort Mandan.

It was a cool (64 degrees) morning to start the day in Jamestown, North Dakota, and it did not get that warm all day, with temperatures near 70 degrees all day.  The ride today was relatively short at less than 200 miles total, but that short distance allowed me to visit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and the nearby re-creation of Fort Mandan (www.fortmandan.com), where the Corps of Discovery spent their winter home in 1804.  The 1804 Fort Mandan was built on the east banks of the Missouri River while the Mandan village of approximately 5,000 inhabitants was on the west bank.  Although the re-created fort is also on the banks of the Missouri River, it is not at the same location as the original.  Many changes of the river and other factors did not allow this.

It was a good side trip for which I had planned, thus the relatively short travel day.

The ride from Jamestown to Minot was typical of the last two days riding, with the exception that instead of the endless flat lands some hills began to appear as I travelled further west, and the countryside became somewhat less lush, indicating less moisture.  And the travels re-united me with the closeness of the Missouri River.

It has been several years since I was last in Minot, and there have been many changes since my last time here. Most changes are attributable to the Bakken Oil Fields - US and ND reports that 7.4 billion barrels of oil can be recovered from the Bakken and surrounding fields using current technology.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakken_formation)

The point is, Minot has changed...a lot....and oil is the reason...principally.  The unemployment rate for the state is 3%.

Motel rooms are at a premium, and the shopping center parking lots are full.

North Dakota is now a booming state.

Day 3 - July 25, 2013

Day three was uneventful, and I took advantage of some extra time to make a couple of short side trips.

My favorite side trip of the day was The Redlin Art Center in Watertown, ND.  It is a beautiful place, and I recommend it.  http://www.redlinart.com/

Terry Redlin was born and grew up in Watertown, ND.  He has a long history of producing the most amazing paintings of outdoor themes and wildlife.  Through much of the 90's he was named America's Most Popular Artist in gallery surveys.  He is still alive but  he has been in a nursing home with complications caused by Alzheimer's since 2007.

I started the day in Sioux City, IA, and spent much of the day on the bike riding to Jamestown, North Dakota, which is west of Fargo.  The weather was moderate, with temperatures in the mid-70's all day. Much of the day was overcast with the finest of misty rain on two occasions.  Neither rain event produced enough volume to wet the roads, or me.

The terrain was flat, for the most part treeless and all was in crop land of various description.  I thought it was interesting that the sides of the interstates in both Dakotas are cut for hay - round bales.  This was true on all the interstate system on which I traveled in both North and South Dakota.  Same with the secondary roads in North Dakota.  Good land utilization I guess.  It was more noticeable today than other trips to the area because the farmers were cutting and preparing to bale all along the way.

I-94 from Sioux City north had non-operating flashing signs and open barricades indicating that if the lights on the signs) were flashing the interstate was closed.  Think winter, and snow...lots of snow.  They close the interstates in Florida too.  Hurricanes.

I eclipsed the 1,000 mile step today.  Another 3,000 (approximately) and I reach Fairbanks.

Day 2 - July 24, 2013

This photo was made in Harrison County, IA.  80 miles south of Sioux City, IA.  Any other photos made today would have looked very similar.

Today's ride was pleasant, with temperatures in the low 80's all day.  What clouds there were are were similar to those in this photo.  From Richmond, MO, to Sioux City, IA there was an abundance of row crops, and mostly flat, except around Council Bluffs.  I expected mostly corn, and there was more corn than anything else, but there was also an abundance of soy beans. 

Today's ride paralleled the Missouri River all day, but tomorrow we split company as I continue north and the river heads to Great Falls, Montana in a NW direction. 

I rode a combination of interstate and secondary roads.  I was surprised to find that Iowa has a lot of gravel roads, many of which show up on their state map.  So planning using secondary roads does not always work when one of your goals is to stay on paved roads where available.  So I did some backtracking, but not too much, because after the second gravel road experience I limited my travel to nothing less than a designated state road....no more roads with CR (county road) designations.  And, the secondary roads are often not in a good state of repair, or at least the ones on which I rode.

Unlike Tennessee though I saw no litter - NONE - on any of the secondary roads on which I traveled.  It is not the dedicated cleanup, it is the mindset.

Day 1 - July 23, 2013

The trip begins, just before the rain arrived.  This is me, on a clean bike, and all suited up to deal with the imminent rain that was quickly approaching. Within less than 5 miles after leaving the house the rain started, and continued, sometimes quiet heavily, and with strong winds, for the first two hours of riding.  But, thanks to good rain gear, rain suit, gloves; boots, I was able to stay dry. After about two hours of riding I was clear of the rain for the rest of the day.

The first day ended just a little over 500 miles from home, in Richmond, MO. All in all it was an uneventful ride, ridden over relatively familiar roads.  It was a little hot when I got to St. Louis, and remained so for awhile.  Late afternoon the temperatures moderated to the mid 80's, and it was dry.

Tomorrow I have a shorter day, and will end it in Sioux City, Iowa, at a motel in which I stayed two years ago.  The Missouri River was over its banks and there was flooding along much of my route that year.

I am new to blogging so I am learning the process. I still have a few days to prepare, and setting up and becoming familiar with doing a blog is on the list of things to do.

I am sure those following this blog know of the Alaska Highway, but I am including a Wikipedia link (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Highway) for general information and for my testing purposes.  Of the total of 4,000 miles I will travel (one way), 1,700 of those miles will be on the Alaska Highway (aka Alaska-Canada Highway).  It begins in Dawson Creek, BC, CA, and ends at Whitehorse, Yukon (almost to Fairbanks).

I will see if I can post a map of my proposed route before my start date (7-23-2013).  JRL

Preparing for the trip

Wednesday - July 17, 2013 - Only six more days until I depart. I leave early morning July 23, 2013.

Preparing for the trip is the biggest part, and probably the easiest.  Preparation started last year while I was making another extended ride, which started in my home in Tennessee and took me to points north, north being various stops in Canada before turning around and heading home.  Total travel miles was a little over 6,000 miles.

This may be a good place to talk about the bike that I will be riding.  I will be riding a 2008 Honda Goldwing, with the comfort package, which means heated seats, grips, and warm air vents that can be opened in front of the feet.  I hope I will need none of that.  It has a built in GPS, AM/FM/XM Radio, CD player (actually it is a electronic devise controlled from the handlebars that simulates a CD player.  I have over 1500 songs loaded, so better than a CD player.) and a CB.

I have fresh oil and other fluids and new tires.  The bike is in tip top shape.  I hope that I am equally ready, which I think I am.

The trip will take me into the Kansas City area, Sioux City, IA, Fargo, ND, Minot, ND.  I cross the US-Canadian border just north of Minot.

Trip planning goes like this, beginning with Minot:  Minot, Estevan, North Battleford, Edmonton, Dawson Creek, Fort Nelson, Watson Lake, White Horse, Beaver Creek, and then Fairbanks.  I plan on an overnight stay at each of these locations.  I have lodging reservations at each stop, so no sleeping bags or tents.

I will spend three days in and around Fairbanks, then move to other locations.  My next hard date is August 12, 2013, which is when I catch the MV Kennicott in Whittier, AK (just below Anchorage) for a four-day boat ride to Seattle.

JRL