Travel Log Week 10

Monday 4.9.00 Grand Canyon to Provo, Utah (GPS N40.13.01.4/W111.39.30.3) The 2 man Phoenix tent worked a treat, as did our Vango Sleeping bags, the first time they'd all been used for real and what a wonderful nights sleep! Many thanks to Vango for making such excellent gear, the acid test of a tent is if you can put it up in less than 1/2 hour in the dark without any practice after a beer and get a good nights sleep; it passed with flying colours. We packed up and just took in the atmosphere, it was so quiet and peaceful, with a fresh snap to the air. As we rode back down the track, there were more Bambi's about, running back into the forest from the meadows. We stopped at the fuel station again and grabbed some chocolate, as we'd missed breakfast at the Hostel, but it had been more fun packing at our own pace. We rode back out through the meadows and forest, which we'd found out is Spruce, Fir and the beautiful white trunked Quaking Aspen, with Juniper, Ponderosa and Pinyin pines lower down the slopes, so there! The road was again a joy to ride, very relaxing, in fact almost too relaxing as John almost overshot the T junction at the main road while looking at the view; but he just managed to pull up in time, if a little flustered. Well held boy!

We got back to Fredonia enjoying panoramic views to the north and picked up 89 which is yet another fantastic road, meandering in and out of canyons as it goes north following the Sevier river. Interstate 15 takes all the traffic these days, so it is a pleasure to ride, passing through small towns and villages, we saw lots of scrap heaps of 50's and 60's cars, old bulldozers etc and mixed in were new developments like fully irrigated Golf Courses (complete with Air Conditioned Buggy's!) and Craft shops, one of which had a gruesome sign outside, a life-size dummy Cowboy hanging by his neck from a wooden scaffold, a bit peculiar! The scenery was wonderfully atmospheric and we stopped for brunch at Hatch, where you could buy all the gemstones and rocks you'll ever need, and cheap too. They suggested a quick detour up Red Canyon, though there is so much else to see here we could have taken a week out easily and sure enough Red Canyon was something else. It is a bright red sandstone, almost crimson, and the road cuts through outcrops and around blind bends with emerald green pines dotted about, again great to see and ride, well worth the small detour. We made good time up the valley to our next fuel stop and as we came into Circleville we noticed the "Butch Cassidy Motel", and sure enough when we asked, the lady at the filling station told us this was where he'd lived and his house was just back down the road a mile.

We decided to track back to see it, but just then a posse of Quads turned up for fuel, so we asked them why there are so many around. It seems that you can ride the trails over all the mountains around here and the people we spoke to had hired them for the week and they'd had a great time. We also noticed that each Quad had a coolbox mounted on the back and sure enough, once they had fuelled, it was over to the Ice machine to top up the beer coolers, how civilised can you get! We rode back round to Butch's place, which was a small wooden hut, substantially built but in poor repair, literally right by the road, but not marked or cared for, we just pulled up and walked in. It is still OK but needs renovation, apparently he'd built it here because you can see virtually the whole valley from the doorway and what a view. It was strange to think that we'd seen his end at Tupiza in Bolivia all those weeks ago and here we were at his house, so many miles away from there. It must have been a huge trip in those days and what a contrast between the two places. Yet another Quad shot by as we were moving off, we now realised that the dusty tracks either side of the road were just that, Quad tracks! There are so many its ridiculous!

We kept on 89 north through Richfield and other small towns, more green fields and car graveyards and at one point we saw our first Eagle, a huge one swooping down just by the road, it made the Vultures we have got used to seem small. We also passed a herd of Buffalo, which are huge and down wind of them you get a very strong farmyard smell! The river cut through more gorges, the rocks and sands exposed were fantastic, all the colours we'd seen at Cafayate in Argentina high in the Andes were here again, just so much to look at. As we got up to Fairview, we needed to refuel once more and time for another round of Ed's Flying Saucers. We were surrounded by big pickups with Quads in the back, and RV's towing trailers with 4 in. We chatted to some guys and they said the same thing, the whole family go out to the woods for the weekend and use the Quads as mobile picnic hampers to go up the mountains with, what a life. Plus when it snows which it will shortly, you can still use them then. We were now on the last leg of today's run, aiming for Provo just south of Salt Lake City, as the phone and email might work there so we would be able to hear from Paul how he'd got on. The countryside now looked quite like Scandinavia with big green sloped mountains and log houses and barns, however the barns were all in a sorry state, and it seems that a little like Butch's house, people do not look after their tradition and heritage somehow. Still, early days yet, many of these towns were only established in the late 1880's.

We were a bit worried to see that some of the deciduous trees were beginning to turn orange; Autumn is definitely on the way and with it snow in Alaska! The road down into the suburbs of Provo was being upgraded to Interstate standard, so John was all the more surprised to see a dead Bear Cub beside the road, it just goes to show they really are around even if you don't see them. We stopped at the Colony Inn which was economical and as we pulled up outside the room, got chatting to the couple next door who wanted to visit friends in Sheffield, but haven't made it yet. They recommended the "Sizzler" over the road to eat, so we headed that way, stopping to chat to James Johnson, with an XR600 on his pickup. It was a shame we'd not met him earlier as he knows all the trails around here and volunteered to take us out on the trails; once we'd shown him the XRV's, he said they'd be ideal for the runs he had in mind, so we regretted not being able to fit in some "unloaded" trial riding time even more. Maybe we can take him trailriding in England on Salisbury Plain instead. We made it to the Sizzler in the end and were well looked after by Elise who burst into laughter every time we spoke; she loves the English accent and studies theatre and Shakespeare at college, so our regional accents were probably not much help there! After a good meal, and a long day it was back to the room and check all the mails again, still no word from Paul so we hoped he was OK, but with no way of contacting him, we'd just have to wait and see.

Tuesday 5.9.00 Provo to Idaho Falls, Idaho (GPS N43.30.04.8/W112.02.43.1) Texaco provided an insubstantial breakfast and we set to loading up outside the room, which took a while as several people came over for a chat. We had a good time talking to them all about our adventures so far; the Africa Twins attract a lot of attention from other bikers as they are not imported to the US and since John stuck his joke "Area 51 Experimental Vehicle" sticker on, people are even more confused! Since we needed more video tape it was another quick trip to Wal-Mart and then a close look at the new Freeway construction through the middle of Salt Lake City; the entire thing is being rebuilt for the 2002 Winter Olympics and a big job it is too, loads of lane changes and cones around, but we managed to negotiate it all safely and carried on north up I15. It was a surprise to see a truck loaded with a refrigerated "Dole Bananas" container passing the other way - the last time we saw those containers they were in huge stacks on the quayside in Guayaquil. We passed the quarries where all the concrete & stone comes from, lots of new mega 5axle trucks pulling 4axle trailers, and huge mobile concrete mixers, they've spent a lot of money on new plant here. We could just see the lake in the distance and as the road took us further up the valley and onto a wide dry plain covered in yellow grass, it became quite hot again; John was riding in just his T-shirt and we started to make good time now the traffic had cleared a little. We pulled over for brunch at a fast food joint, the milkshake was good and they were kind enough to give us some biscuits to help us on the way as we were leaving. Back on I15 we passed the biggest Army Surplus store ever, it must have been 50 acres of boxes, bridges, aircraft tanks, trailers, trucks and cranes. The sign said "We've got everything you need, if we can just find it", which looked about right! The mountains opened out even more either side of us and we pulled over for fuel in a truck stop all on its own, looking miles out across the plain; a passing businessman told us his friends are still riding their Harleys around the States every year, and warned us not to go on the Interstate through Salt Lake as it was dangerous. When we said we'd done that bit already, he said "OK, from now on then, Ride Fast, Take Risks", which was good advice we thought!

I15 took us over the border into Idaho, where a big sign from the State Agriculture Board said "A free Potater for every out of Stater", but no advice on how to collect? From this we gathered that Idaho is big in potatoes, and sure enough, we did see huge fields of them, mixed in with barley being harvested and strangely enough, some Llama's, which looked a little out of place. The plains were now a lot greener and the Snake river coming down from the north cut its way through several lava beds which again looked pretty fresh to us. We were aiming to stop in Idaho Falls as this would be another good stretch off the trip and put us nicely in reach of Yellowstone National Park which we wanted to ride through on the way north and we pulled up at the 8 Motel and took a room with a view of the bikes outside. There really are Falls here, where the Snake crosses a lava intrusion, apparently first bridged by Mr Taylor in 1865, he must have made a bit in Tolls. Rutabaga's restaurant got the vote for dinner as they had Guinness and then it was back to check our mails. As ever many thanks to everyone, we were particularly pleased to hear that Johns' mum was happy to know that our camping experience had not included having to eat raw beetles or anything, as she had been dreading us camping out in the Amazon, but food is a lot easier to come by in Arizona! We were also glad to hear from Jim with the XR600, looks like we are definitely on for trailriding, if we can make it back to Provo, but we will have to complete this trip first. Kathy, one of the people we'd met while doing our "Martian" impersonations the other night at the Grand Canyon gave us some interesting background some of the more unusual goings on in the area between Vegas and Hurricane, and recommended a Mexican beer called DOS which is like Guinness, and being of Irish origin she should know, so we'll keep an eye out for that. So, a smooth days travelling, and we were really looking forward to seeing Yellowstone tomorrow, with Old Faithful the star attraction, as with so much else on this trip, we never thought we'd have the chance to see it for ourselves, let alone ride there on our bikes! Best Adopt a Road litter collection sign today went to the "Choo Choo Square Dancers", thank you to them for raising a smile!

Wednesday 6.9.00 Idaho Falls to Yellowstone, (N44.39.46.8/W111.05.50.8 alt 5600ft) We awoke to an unusual sound, rain! The first we'd seen since Santa Rosa in Argentina 6 weeks ago, the forecast had been for warm & sunny weather for the next week according to the weather channel, nice to know forecasting accuracy is the same the world over. The look of the skies meant we decided to put all the linings back into the Rukka suits and they went back together perfectly, including the gussets which Liz Leverland of Sew'n Sew had added behind the calves which give us the clearance to wear the Gaerne boots under them. By the time we had done this and loaded up, the rain had had stopped thankfully and we set off up 20 towards Yellowstone in cool, overcast conditions, a refreshing change to the heat we'd been suffering, and the extra padding giving our backsides a more comfortable ride. We pulled off 20 at St Anthony to get fuel and breakfast, the only place open seemed to be Big G's Star Bar so we went in, to find a backroom bar with some local guys having an early lunch. Gaylene made us most welcome, looks like their Halloween parties are quite something. Good coffee and the house speciality of Hot Chocolate with Marshmallow hit the spot and we had a nice chat with them about our adventures, in turn they said that we should have good weather for maybe another 3 weeks, and that they really could do with a lot of snow this winter as there has not been much the last few years, so water is getting a little short and this is the catchment area for a lot of people further south. We said cheerio and fuelled up round the corner at the Amoco, where we saw the biggest pickup yet, towing a trailer with a fully enclosed quad in the back, what a rig!

We pressed on across the plains, noticing that most farms and smallholdings had had snowmobiles parked outside under sheets which tells us we will be in trouble soon if we don't get a move on and suddenly we were climbing up through volcanic rock and into the pine forests surrounding Yellowstone Park itself. About this point it started to drizzle again and up ahead the mountains were getting bigger with more black cloud over them, and as we rode down by a lake we could see up ahead a heavy squall heading straight for us. It seemed like a good time to take a break and we pulled in at Henry's Lake Amoco, just as it really started to come down. Looking out across the lake we saw 3 storks flying over to take cover and for a while it was torrential. We had a typical gas station lunch and chatted to the guys there; they had enormous selection of fishing flies on sale, we liked the look on the "Furry Black Bugger" which apparently does the trick with the local trout. The rain slackened off but seemed like it was set in, so we decided to carry on, over to West Yellowstone and the Park entrance. It really was wet now and Adam stopped there to refit the Muffs, last seen in the Andean desert at Cafayate in Argentina and with the SnugGrips on, it was much better. We headed round for Old Faithful, climbing up along the Firehole river seeing guys out in the middle flyfishing in the rain. The scenery was wonderful in spite of the weather and we stopped first at the Paintpot and the mud fumaroles; it was really atmospheric with clouds of sulphurous gas and steam wafting over the road, and even coming out of the verges of the road. We had only expected a few patches, but everywhere you looked you could see columns of smoke coming up, and the mud basins bubbling away were incredible. Lots of tourists around and we chatted to quite a few again, while taking in the scene.

Old Faithful was further on round, but on the way we had to stop for a herd of Buffalo to cross the road, the Bulls are huge, with really wide faces and you certainly would not like them to take a charge at you. They look quite placid but have that glint in their eye that says they know who is boss! Just as we cleared the herd (close up with no fence you would not dare be rude about the smell!) it started snowing quite heavily, by now it must have been 20 degrees colder than yesterday which had been T shirt weather, and we decided if it didn't dry up soon we'd have to come back tomorrow to see the Park in better conditions. We rode up through the Upper Geyser Basin, lots more columns of steam and smoke drifting about on the wind looking prehistoric again and followed the signs for Old Faithful. The Lodge was huge and we asked about a room for the night but no chance and the guy on the desk suggested a motel just out of the Park, in Yellowstone where we'd come in. As we were soaking wet, the thought of camping did not appeal, so we booked it and went to the Gift Shop to check out the hats. They had a classic (almost as good as the Houston spacehelmet) which made John look like a Moose, but due to lack of space fortunately it did not get bought! The Geyser erupts every 90 minutes or so and after drying out a bit in the huge log walled viewing lounge (massive timbers and a ceiling 45' high) we went out to wait and as luck would have it, the sun came out and it warmed up dramatically. The downside was we could now clearly see snow settled on the mountain tops around.............

Old Faithful just looks like a smooth mound of rock with wispy steam coming out of the top and as we waited there were a number of false alarms, but when she started to go it was like a pressure cooker going off; we filmed it with the video and digicamera on the Vaio and in the first 30 seconds it built up to almost its full height, about 120' and for the next minute it kept going, producing a huge trail of steam drifting off in the wind. Apparently it throws out 12,000 gallons of water each time and it is certainly very impressive to watch, you would have a hard time engineering it, let alone seeing it done by Mother Nature, quite amazing and definitely an experience to remember. We ranked it alongside Lake Titicaca, Arequipa Gorge and the Grand Canyon as one of the most spectacular sights we've ever seen. Suitably impressed and feeling warmer, we decided to ride back down to Yellowstone and get sorted out and it was a beautiful ride back the way we'd come; in evening sunlight the Park is absolutely stunning, Lodgepole pines on the slopes, leaving meadows by the rivers, where Elk and large deer were grazing, with Buffalo for company. Although there are a lot of people about, they do not seem to intrude into the landscape, perhaps because it has been a park since 1872 it has been developed in such a way as to fit everything in sympathetically. Certainly the Lodges are huge hotels, but blend into the scenery surprisingly well.

Old Faithful, Yellowstone Park

We found the Evergreen Motel and were just unloading when a couple of Harleys pulled in beside us, they'd seen us at Old Faithful and been sent down to the same place and were most interested in the Africa Twins. Mark had thought they were development bikes (Johns sticker again) and after we'd explained the bikes and the trip, they offered us a go on their Harleys; well, its not every day you get to try a 1340, so we quickly agreed. We popped Brandon on Adam's XRV ("Hey, is it running? Oh yeah, the rev counter is going up & down!") and headed off. Mark told us to give it some stick so we could hear the noise, but on someone else's bike and such a different one to ours, we took it a little easy! Brandon's Road King was really smooth, you can see why people do ride them especially on these roads and Mark's ElectraGlide was a blast, with extra loud pipes on, also really smooth. They are both the latest generation motors, reckoned to be much improved and with air assisted suspension. Mark enjoyed the XRV too, which he thought felt very light; he rides an XR200 for fun, so he knows Honda's as well as Harleys. So, another unexpected but magic experience, and we all went round the corner for dinner to compare biking notes. They explained the helmet laws, it seems some states like California have now made helmets obligatory for everyone, even on bicycles, most states for example Texas say you have to wear helmets until you reach a certain age (18-19-20-21 depending on the state) after which you only have to have one in your possession, and the remaining few states like Colorado have no laws at all! We said we were amazed at the sheer number of Harleys we'd seen, hardly any sports bikes at all, but they said a lot of them were RUBS, which turned out not to be an arcane motorcycle club, but 'Rich Urban Bikers', a little like Executive Toy riders in the UK. They said that people mainly cruise in the states and they'd heard the the Europeans just like riding fast, we agreed that this is probably true because the roads are so different, there is not much point running an R1 on a 55mph National Route with a corner every 25 miles, but put it on a good twisty road in Europe and its a different story, the other way round with a Harley. They'd seen the film of that French guy who does the Peripherique flat out with a camera on board, mad! We had a great evening and it was good to share experiences and get under the skin of the US, and we retired to bed hoping for a dry day tomorrow to see the rest of the Park on our way north, while being concerned that the colder weather seemed to be closing in fast now.

Mark & Brandon from California, Yellowstone	Adam on Brandon's 1340cc Road King
Click on photo for larger image

Thursday 7.9.00 Yellowstone to Great Falls, Montana (GPS N47.30.35.5/W111.19.15.4) Well, the colder weather certainly made itself felt, as the bikes were completely frozen up in the morning and we had to wheel them over to the sunny side of the yard to thaw out. John's furry seatcover "Larry" had gone all spiky and took a while to recover. We took some pics with Mark & Brandon as they warmed up the Harleys, they told us to "Ride it like you stole it". We said farewell to them as they pulled out to do a 200 mile run south to a cousins place. It was a glorious morning and John nipped down the post office with the bill for our lunch yesterday which we'd forgotten to pay, sorry Gaylene, on the way there he noticed that everyone was getting their snowmobiles out and serviced at the garages, definitely time to be moving on! We rode back into the Park and up the Madison river, a Coyote trotted across the road just infront of us and we turned north to look at the Gibbon Falls which were beautiful, then climbed the caldera wall and rode out onto the plain at Twin Lakes, where more Buffalo were grazing. We stopped at Roaring Mountain, where we met Rudolph and Jacky who seem to be travelling the entire world; the entire mountain side has steam and sulphur oozing out of it, quite amazing, the picture does not really do it justice. The road weaved up and down in the forest, virtually all this north western area had been burned out by a forest fire a few years back, but everywhere naturally seeded pines are springing up, natural renewal in action. We stopped for a look at the Obsidian cliff which was quite something, a major source of arrowhead materials before iron and copper came into use, and stone from this cliff was traded over large distances.

John and Adam at Roaring Mountain Hot Springs, Yellowstone, with Rudolf & Jacky

Click on photo for larger image

The road then started dropping fast and we were at the last area of hot springs, Mammoth, where you can follow a tarmac road around a loop to see them. The shapes are quite remarkable, big terraces on the lower level and more complicated forms higher up. We particularly liked the Orange Geyser, which has hot water flowing out of the top and has built up into an orange peel textured mound about 15' tall. While we were admiring it we got talking to Peter & Jenny who were great, and a BMW rider David, who says he loves riding his bike so much he will sell up just to keep going until he drops! Once again we were impressed at just how much volcanic activity there was here, apparently the centre of the Park is still rising, which means there will be another eruption sometime, the last one was 630,000 years ago....... Back on the main road we switchbacked down into Mammoth itself, throwing the bikes into the corners, John was impressed; Adam had tyresmoke coming out of the back wheel on the right handers, what a road! Once out of the Park, we rode down the Yellowstone river which was now pretty big, as far as Livingstone, big ranches and spectacular views on the way, with more of the funny cartwheel irrigation systems we'd seen in Idaho, not enough rain here either it seems. We were now on 89 again, and followed it across I90 until we stopped for lunch at Clyde Park, under the strangely named Crazy Mountains. The Lucky Penny Saloon did excellent chicken wings, but sadly we couldn't wait for the weekly band which plays Friday nights. They say they are short of rain here too and there have been massive forest fires only 30 miles away; today apparently was the first day in quite a while that the sky has been clear of smoke.

Over the road for a refuel and John nearly got us into trouble by trying his John Wayne impersonation when a Cowboy came in to have the lights on his Bronco (no, the pickup type!) fixed. We rode on up 89 across more wide open spaces, few communities around here, a hard life it seems and not many people. Adam slowed right down and took avoiding action to clear another large Doe which was about to rush across the road, we also saw another Eagle circling around, as well as what we think was an Osprey. Smaller Sparrowhawks had also made an appearance, so plenty of wildlife around. Suddenly we came into a mountainous area of limestone covered in pines again, a wonderful river gorge and the Little Belt mountains, on the higher slopes there were Ski runs cut into the forest, and we passed a team of Cowboys on horseback herding cattle down the road, looking completely at home on the range. Nearby was the best Litter Sponsor sign of the day; the "Dam-n'er Ranch" with an interesting story apparently! Running across the top we began to see the wide open prairies of Montana which becomes the wheat belt from here north and east and you could see for miles around in all directions, which was just as well when a group of Pronghorn deer ran across in front of John, he saw them coming, they saw him as well but still went for it, again he avoided them, but you would not want to meet them at night with no warning.

The odometer showed us completing 9000 miles since Punta Arenas on July 1st down in Chile and it was starting to feel like we were on the last lap, though still with a long way to go. We dropped down off the plateau towards Great Falls, which is on the Missouri, and looked for somewhere to pull in for the night. The Eidelweiss looked fine and we sympathised with the owner who seemed to have all the same problems as we do in running a business. It is on the market and when its sold "All you'll see is my tail lights" he said, another one who just wants to ride his bike around in peace & quiet, it's not just us then! We unloaded (the tyresmoke turned out to be the spare tyre touching down, just before the pannier grounds on that side!) and went to look for dinner which was a rather longer walk than we intended, but on the way we heard a band warming up at the J-T roadhouse and after we'd got a Chinese, we went back for a look. It was a live broadcast on local radios' Country Night and the band were excellent, good electric Country music with a real beat to it and lots of people dancing. Is it just us that can't? We really enjoyed the action at the J Bar T, it was great to be in a real place with everyone just enjoying themselves, so we stayed a lot longer than we intended and did not get the early night we had planned, oh well, must keep picking up the culture!

Friday 8.9.00 Great Falls to Calgary, Alberta, Canada (N51.00.33.8/W114.04.04.2) We settled our phone bill after emailing all the Yellowstone pics back. Thanks to the Ipass software we loaded in Ecuador this cost us the princely sum of 75 cents for an hours transmission at local rates. This is heartbreaking when we think how much we spent on international calls before that! We were still discussing the J Bar T band of last night, they'd played a brilliant Country & Western version of Celine Dion's Titanic hit, but John had not burst into tears as he usually does to that track and was convinced it was a different song - the jury is out on that for now! After a complimentary coffee and final chat with the friendly owner, we fuelled up and set off out of town, past a dodgy looking motorcycle shop with a yard full of "salvage" stock, which reminded John the good old days! I15 headed straight north for the Canadian border, through real wheat country, huge storage silos beside railway tracks and wide open spaces as far as you could see, all turned over to wheat. They call this "Big Sky" country and it is amazing just how far away the horizon is, and with a strong wind today cloud formations were whipping across the sky, constantly changing. There was almost an opaque haze being blown across the horizon which looked like a stubble fire, but as we got closer we could see that the wind was so strong now it was picking up the salt from a lake some miles off the road and carrying it downwind like smoke. Sure enough as we rode through it you could taste it on your lips.

We reached the US border in good time after a Mars Bar stop. John's only complaint about the Bell Helmet is that you cannot eat a Mars Bar while riding along, so he intends to submit a redesign to Bell to correct this problem when he gets back. Compared to our last overland Border, Peru to Ecuador, this was a breeze. The US guys did not even want to see our ID's and the Canadians were ever so helpful in completing the Immigration checks with minimal fuss, and that was that. Mind you we had been told one horror story of a US citizen who drove up to Alaska and when he tried to re-enter Canada, forgot he had an outstanding US traffic violation from years ago and was refused entry. He ended up flying home, avoiding Canada and paying someone else to go and drive his car back overland, so things can go wrong! Off we went after just about 1/2 hour getting our entry stamps and trying to get used to roadsigns in metric again. We were heading for the next town of Lethbridge which has a huge old railway viaduct crossing its river, just like in the westerns. This was still wheat country and if anything the silos were bigger in Canada with a lot of intensive activity going on. We were out of fuel again and pulled over at a cafe where the two ladies running it were surprised to see us, but they rustled up some good pizzas to keep us going. John tried winding up the forecourt attendant by paying for his fuel with a piece of rock, but the serious young man had him sussed out and said he wasn't sure if they accepted rock and would John care to check with the Cashier. She regretfully informed him that they did in fact prefer Mastercard or Canadian Dollars to rocks, but they were up for a laugh!

With sufficient fuel on to make Calgary, we turned off the Interstate at the strangely named "Head-Smashed-In Bison Jump", and rode north through Vulcan County, who's signs feature the Starship Enterprise! Sure enough, in the main street is a huge model Enterprise on a pedestal overlooking the street, and the Town Hall is built like a space dome with a spire - some serious fans here. The wind was still whipping across the prairie, almost as strong as in Patagonia 6 weeks ago and we were leaning a long way into the crosswind. By now there were some serious looking rain showers about and we seemed to be keeping just ahead of them, but the wind was so strong that we eventually got caught briefly, before running into clearer air beyond. The Combine harvesters and contractors were out in full force bringing in the last of the crop, in one field we saw a roadtrain with four 40' trailers attached, heading back to a silo, serious amounts of grain being carried. As we came over a low hill, we could suddenly see the skyscrapers of Calgary in the distance rising out of the plain and beyond them the Rockies, with Mt Joffre 3449 sticking out above the rest. We pulled up at the first set of lights on the ring road and sadly agreed " That's snow on them there hills", so the season has definitely started to change early, as there is not supposed to be snow laying for another month yet.

Calgary is a big city and it took us a while to negotiate the outskirts, eventually finding our way in on the Macleod Trail: we wanted to be well positioned to find a motorcycle shop in the morning and fit new tyres if possible, since the Michelins were well worn now. They'd exceeded all our expectations as the advice we'd been given was that we'd probably only get 3-5000 miles out of them with the loads and road conditions we were putting them through, but actually there was still a fair bit of tread left. If it had not been for the fact that we wanted to be as prepared as possible for slippery conditions, they would have done another 2-3000 miles no problem. The Cedar Motel was suitably economical and had a couple of restaurants very close as we did not fancy walking quite as far tonight. The seafood at the one next door was great although we did not feed up to the whole Lobster this time. Another 350 miles completed and if we could find some tyres tomorrow which should be possible in a city this size, we would be well set for the final push to Alaska. However we are more than a little concerned about the weather, which could stop us going anywhere with just one heavy snowfall!

Saturday 9.8.00 Calgary to Canmore, Alberta (GPS N51.05.22.1/W111.19.57.7) During the night we'd been able to text and email the UK and at last received news that Paul should be in Vancouver today and was OK which was a weight off our minds, and hopefully he'd be able to liaise with Mannix Freight who are taking care of the homeward trip for the bikes. We celebrated with a couple of bars of Cadbury's Milk Chocolate which miraculously the shop had on the shelf - you should have seen John's face light up when he spotted it! Apparently not quite the same recipe as at home, but close enough. After coffee and toast for breakfast we set about phoning the local tyre and bike shops to see about tyres and they all pointed us towards Blackfoot Motosports, which even better was only a mile away from us. We also checked on camera shops while we were at it, as Paul has been doing the still pic's so far and of course took his camera on to record his loop up to Vancouver and with the non-arrival of the other Digital Camera ( the package returned by DHL from Guayaquil arrived back in England on time but empty, their security is investigating!), we wanted to pick up something so we could take stills ourselves on the last leg of the trip.

Armed with directions to Blackfoot and various camera places we loaded up and went looking for the bike shop, in fact you could hardly miss it, John went green with envy when we pulled up, it is massive, the third largest in the whole of North America! We had been advised to ask for Gordon Mounce on the spares counter as he has actually ridden to Alaska himself and he would be able to recommend the best tyre for the job. Inside, the store was incredible, they have over 80 staff, 8 full time salesmen and 8 on the parts counter, Sports bikes, tourers, motocross and trail bikes, the entire XR range, Skidoos, Wetbikes, quads from tiddlers up to the fully enclosed ones, all the riding gear for road and MX, and they even sell lawnmowers. There is a Cafe upstairs, along with more showroom space for the same model bikes but in different colours, incredible! Gordon told us that in fact he'd recommend a good intermediate tyre like we already had, as providing we did not hit snow, any dirt sections would be well graded and there was no point fitting an Enduro style tyre as we'd mostly be on pavement. We were more than happy to go with his advice and bought a pair of the same Michelin T66's we'd already used so far for Adam's bike, plus an Avon Gripster for the back of John's, having decided to fit his bike with the new spare front we'd been carrying since Chile. We thought the chances of hitting another piece of steel like the one which sliced Paul's rear tyre open down at Potosi was fairly low on these roads, so we felt happy not to carry spare tyres from now on. We also picked up some gloves to replace the ones which did not make it from Ecuador to Houston and went round to the workshop as Gordon said they'd be able to slot us in to fit and balance the tyres for us.

John went even more green when we saw the workshop area, 6 service benches laid out beautifully, a power washing area, then another separate 6 bays where more guys do all the pre-delivery building and inspection, what a set-up! We took the wheels out and the tyre expert smoothly changed them over and rebalanced them and we refitted them, so we actually spent more time chatting and looking about than doing the job we'd come for. What a great shop, oh, and they have a full size MX course the opposite side of the road open for practice every day, a couple of YZ 426's out there mixing it with the 2 strokes which we were glad to listen to while refitting the wheels. So, a very successful visit and Gordon gave us much good advice about the stage to come for which we were most grateful. Look at their website on www.blackfootmotosports.com for any American stuff you are interested in and they should be able to help. We said our farewells, received many good wishes for the rest of the trip and went into town to look for a camera.

The centre of town was very impressive, lots of wide streets with brand new tower blocks mixed tastefully in with a few remaining older buildings and very clean tree lined precincts everywhere. We found the first shop and while Adam went to see what they had, John chatted to a guy who renders concrete on the new skyscrapers. He said he might retire at 40, but to be really comfortable will probably work till he's 45....... Nova had a reasonable used OM1 Olympus which looked the part, but no other lenses, so we carried on over to Vintage Visuals, who had a 100mm tele which added to the OM1 should give us all the options we need. Carlos there was very interested in the trip as he comes from Chile and we chatted while he sorted out the bits & pieces, then we were all done and it was still only 3.30pm. As luck would have it, the shop was actually on Highway 1 which was the route we needed west out of town, so after a Snicker break we decided to ride the 100 km to Banff which would put us back into the Rockies for the trip north and ideally placed to do some miles tomorrow.

The Highway out of the city runs right past the Olympic Park where the Winter Games were held a few years back and you cannot believe the size of those Ski Jumping launch pads, they must be mad to go down those. Mind you, put a few boulders on and it would have been about the same as some of the roads in Bolivia! As we rode over the hills skirting the city we could seen the Rockies across the plain, now a lot closer, and yes, quite a bit of snow on top and the wind was again quite cold coming down from the Northwest. We made good time across to the mountains with the bikes feeling great on their new tyres. Just as we came into the foothills John went onto reserve; he has had a problem switching over since Lima when the fuel tap spigot snapped off, so he now has to pull over and grope under the tank to find reserve. Still, not a problem and we pulled into the next service station, the Hiniki Gas Bar at Morley.

Without really noticing to start with, we suddenly realised everyone else there was an American Indian, which was a bit of a shock as we had hardly come into contact with any Indians at all on the road so far. We checked afterwards and the Stony Indian reservation is nearby; it certainly made us realise how much we take for granted without thinking about it. However, it was a another real shock when we went in to pay and found that we no longer had the Mastercard -instant panic, and Adam realised he had left in back in Calgary at the last shop. Of course the mobile phone did not have a signal now we really needed it and by the time we'd got to the payphone and found the right change it had gone 5pm and there was a recorded message saying they'd be open on Monday at 9! Not good news, and we considered all the options. We did not have other suitable cards, we only had a limited amount of extra cash for emergency use and to mail more cash from the UK would take another couple of days. So all things considered we decided to ride back to the shop and see if they'd perhaps left us a contact number to phone. The ride back was not relaxing and once we arrived, no note. However the Tattoo shop next door was still open, Wendy & Shaun suggested phoning the security company; the security helpdesk said yes they had two contact numbers but could not disclose them of course. However they did try them on our behalf but there was no reply, so they said they'd retry later. Wendy then tried the Police but they simply said cancel the cards, which we did not want to do as we would not be able to get another quickly. Shaun put a call in to a mate who lived close to the owner and that was all the options we could think of. Shaun is also a Harley rider, and they are more people who just love taking off on the bike and getting away, North America certainly is the place for it! After an hour we retried the security company, and this time they managed to get hold of Andrew the owner, who kindly said he'd pop down and unlock for us. He arrived about 20 minutes later, and after another brief panic once inside when we could not find it, the card reappeared and panic over.

After thanking Andrew, Shaun and Wendy for their help, we decided we had enough light left to get to Banff still and set off. The ride out of town was beautiful, the wind now gone and a lovely sunset and we made good time back to the mountains. The road soon climbed into a valley between enormous snow covered peaks and we realised we were missing a lot of good scenery, plus with Elk warning signs about we changed plan and pulled off at Canmore to find a place to stop. The main street had lots of Motels, but all had Full signs outside except the Hampshire Inn. We went in to ask but the only room they had left was the Bridal Suite and we did not feel that was very appropriate! They did however suggest a B&B which we thought that was a much better idea. Judy Taylor's Jewel Mountain Lodge was perfect for us and we were made very welcome with the best cup of tea on the continent so far! After a long day which was ultimately very successful, we were hopefully all organised for the last leg of the trip, with our new tyres ready to cope with the last 3000 miles up to Anchorage, snow willing!

Sunday 10.9.00 Canmore to Jasper, Alberta (GPS N52.53.04.2/W118.04.45.1) As we hoped, the view of the mountains around Canmore was stunning, sheer rock rising to snow capped peaks either side of the narrow valley and in the morning sunlight it was a terrific sight, almost as good as Judy's breakfast! Cuddles their African Grey Parrot had plenty to say this morning having decided we were OK and we spent a happy hour chatting about our adventures to everyone and in turn we picked up good advice on places to see on the way through, plus how to handle Bears if we were to meet one. Apparently, if it is a Black Bear, you stand still, take your jacket off and hold it up until you are bigger than him, then he will run away. But if it is a Grizzly, this does not work! Not being completely sure how to tell which one is which, we will just have to practice tree climbing, but they are probably better than we are at that as well.........

We set off in lovely sunlight, admiring the view and pulled in to Jasper to refuel; it is a highly developed ski and tourist resort, picturesque but pricey, and as we were filling up, John & Judy Hopper who had been in the queue for a room with us last night came up for another chat and insisted on giving us a donation for Down's which was very kind of them. We got back on Highway 1 and rode up through more spectacular scenery to Lake Louise, where we turned north up 93 which runs through Jasper National Park. At the Park entrance we were relieved to find that the road had been reopened this morning after the snowploughs had cleared the Kicking Horse Pass and we headed off uphill. It is a fantastic road, wonderful views with loads of glacial lakes and huge mountains, pine forests and orchids in the verges. We did not make good time as we just had to keep stopping and looking and were lots of other RV's and coaches, definitely on the tourist trail here. We went along a valley floor like a huge gutter between the mountains either side and up ahead we could see even higher snow capped peaks; a sign said Next Gas 170km, we had just enough, probably, but decided to fill up at the station there anyway, just in case. Back on the road a big switchback took us up over the pass below Mt Columbia 3747m and then we were right in the snowfields. All the pine trees had big layers of fresh snow on them; we were thinking that it could be a problem if it got much thicker, but this was the highest point of the Pass and after a couple of miles we started to drop down again. However another stop was needed to rubberneck as we now were now in the Columbia ice field, where Glaciers run almost right down to the road. You can take a coach trip right up onto the ice, but we were happy just looking. Now we dropped quite fast and the river beside the road opened out into a big flood plain with boulders and ripped up pine trees all over it, very dramatic and still those peaks up in the clouds either side. The Athabasca river kept growing in size and where it dropped off a limestone cliff there are a lovely set of falls which cut a narrow gorge through the rock, lots of potholes, and the water is a lovely turquoise blue colour, we are not sure why but it looks almost artificial (though it is natural).

We now get spoken too all the time as people read the pannier stickers and map; they can't believe we've done the trip to here, same as in South America, they are not sure which way we are going, north or south! "Left it a little late haven't you, winter's a'comin!" Jasper is wonderfully situated where the valley meets the Yellowhead Pass going east-west and we cruised around looking for somewhere to stop. There were loads of coach parties and hikers there already, so most places were full, but we switched to the back streets and found a guest house, the Odorizzi's have a lovely place with a view back up the valley, very homely. Rita made us welcome and Paul really missed out here, as she has a great vegetable garden with superb cabbages just ready for picking! After unloading we went for a walk, some nice older houses in the town, log built with shingled roofs, and everywhere very clean and tidy. Even the few run down places looked tidy!

We stopped at a Greek restaurant for supper, the young waitress serving reminded us of a quiet Bubbles off AdFab, we could not place her accent and Adam asked what it was. " I haven't got an accent, I live here" was the show stopping answer! She was not being funny, just completely honest and it was all we could do to keep straight faces! The meal was great and we went back to the house where Quinto was back from fishing, they have travelled a lot and he really wants to take a cruise around Cape Horn, but Rita hates sailing, so he's still working on that. They had been to Peru and flew in to Cusco, they'd met some people who had taken a bus there up the road from Juliana, the one we had decided not to travel and we were relieved to hear that the road was so bad that the bus passengers had to get out and push it across rivers! So, it looks like we made the right decision to take the "easy" route over the top and past El Milenio restaurant into Arequipa. After an excellent Italian style coffee, time for bed, we had only covered 200 miles today but the scenery was so wonderful it was not worth rushing and Quinto says that once we pass Mt Robson 1st thing tomorrow, there is not much to see then apart from Bears and Elk for the rest of the trip, so we felt it was worth making the most of this last bit of dramatic scenery, before we get up onto the flatter bits which will not doubt be picturesque in their own ways.

Link to next update: Week 11