How would you like to walk out of your front door and see this every morning? Might help to take the sting out of the hour and a half stuck-in-traffic commute to work. Or this. At the border, I failed to pay attention to the sign on the right and blew right through the stop sign. The border guard was not a happy camper. I tried to pull the I'm old and confused trick, but he wasn't buying it. Gave me lecture and I was on my way. I sure am glad he didn't find the guns, booze, drugs, cigarettes, hand grenades, bag full of currency, etc. I might have been detained. Back in America in traffic-clogged roads and a zillion Type-A drivers. Lucky me.
Spent a couple of days in Golden, BC. Seems like a nice small town. Wondered out loud to a kid about what young people do in this town for entertainment and her immediate reply was "drugs and alcohol." It's a chronic problem. Yet, the crime rate is very low, according to her. The economy problem is starting to hit the area, so I expect the crime rate will change, as well.
Starting to warm up, but the lake is still mostly covered with ice. Bow Falls, Banff area.Take notice of how blue and bright the sky is in these pictures. I wonder what comments would have been made had I used this picture instead of the other one when I said, "This was like looking in a mirror."
Another great day, cool but not cold and no wind. Lots of traffic on the road was the only problem as evidenced by the following picture. Late 1800's town. Fort Steele grew into a commercial centre, shipping lead, zinc and silver from Kimberley's North Star Mine to smelters in the United States. However, when the railway bypassed the centre in 1898 the town was gradually deserted. This was like looking in a mirror. The mountain view sure beats the flat crop lands. Eye catching! Click on it for a larger view. A great road side stop to have lunch. Man, I love this country.
Finally!..... Mountains in the distance. How to screw up the view in three easy steps. Overnight at the Travellers Motel. (That's the way it's spelled). The owner is one of ten siblings and can't even come up with the correct number of nieces and nephews in the family. Mom and pop didn't have much else to do during the long cold winters. Only one smart sister in the bunch who is now living in Hawaii on the big island. According to him, her husband invented and patented some sort of non-reusable syringe during the height of the aids outbreak. Went down the street and found a place offering a Ukranian buffet. What's a Ukranian buffet, you ask? The answer in a picture is:
Small museum, worth seeing and it was free. Reminds me of houses in Mililani. Sort of a puny looking buffalo. This one is on steroids. This moose as well. Rained in Regina overnight. No rain when I left this morning and half way to Medicine Hat it turned into a great sunny day. Had to stop to put some oil in the crankcase. The leak is getting worse. Gee, with all this traffic, I shouldn't have to wait too long to get picked up if the bike craps out. When I arrived in Medicine Hat, I found a small bike repair shop, and although it was almost closing time, the owner went out of his way to help me. He determined the cause of the leak, got it repaired, and I was out of there within an hour. I watched while the repair was made, and he performed additional steps that is not usually done by other mechanics. Corey displayed a work ethic not normally seen in many young people nowadays. Additionally, he also displayed a lot more "aloha" than what I'm used to seeing in Hawaii. In fact, I think the "aloha" has left Hawaii and come to Canada. From the mechanic here in Medicine Hat who went out of his way, to the grandmother clerk at a convenience store in Swift Current who bought me a cup of coffee because I was so far from home, to the young order taker in a fast food restaurant that had a big smile on his face, was outgoing, and looked like he was happy to be serving me, to the counter receptionist at Motel 6 who gave me cookies as an alternative, because she couldn't provide the whiskey, free dinner, or girlfriend I requested to go along with the room. Maybe I'll move to Canada.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Minot is a busy town with lots of traffic....probably because of the Air Force base situated there. Lots of traffic compared to what is is like on most of the roads between towns. For instance: Just me and the train. Then every once in a while, something like this comes into view, and I have to wonder about the history of the property and the people who lived there. Running low on fuel and this is what the next town had to offer. Just because a village is on the map, it doesn't mean there are any services provided. I'll have to remember that. And yes, as soon as I crossed the border, I noticed the bike had developed another oil leak, and it's dripping at a fairly good rate. I can't tell where it's coming from. Fortunately, there is a WalMart in Vagina, oops, I mean Regina.Lots of bikers here, many of them women. Unfortunately, they don't look like this. It's warm here in town unlike this morning when I awoke to frost on the bike.
Woke up this morning and the wind was still blowing like hell. Crap! Now what? Headed north and traveled with the wind. Half way to Fargo, I decided to head west and fight the wind for a while which was constant and moving pretty fast. I'm told by one of the locals that wind blows through the area most of the time, but not usually like the last two days. He said it must be a bitch riding in a cross wind. I said, "No shit, Dick Tracy." He said, "Who's Dick Tracy?" Geez, young people don't know crap! The contour of the land is less flat and wind barriers along the way helped somewhat, so it wasn't as bad as yesterday. I needed to travel 75 miles west before I could head north again all the while thinking the ride will be better when I turn to the north. Half way, almost immediately, the wind shifted from the south to blowin' from the northwest and the temperature dropped about ten degrees. What the hell just happened? Now I'm fighting a head wind the rest of the way to Jamestown. Then the low fuel light comes on and I remember the bike gets 20% less miles per gallon in a headwind. Next service station?........Jamestown, of course. C'mon Mr. Kawasaki, you can make it. MADE IT and filled the five gallon tank with 4.7 gallons of fuel. Life's good! Always one to know a bargain, I got a great rate at Motel OpenAir.
It started out to be a great day....cloudless sunny day, light jacket, in the low 70's. Then it started to get warm....last temperature display I saw was 96°. Off came the jacket. Two days ago, it was a stretch for the temperature just to get to 70°. Iowa and Minnesota crop lands don't offer great views, but for the most part, the roads were in good condition and traffic was very light between towns. Everything blooming in all the towns. The trip started to SUCK when I started heading west in a straight line. There was a strong cross wind coming directly from the south and it did not let up for a second for about 180 miles. It's a ribbon of road through flat as a pancake crop land, and it's beyond me why anyone would want to call this home. At some point, rigor mortis started to set in because of the "death grip" I had on the handlebars. Great area for these: Have to wonder if the artist had the television program by the same name in mind when this was done:
Or this.
At the border, I failed to pay attention to the sign on the right and blew right through the stop sign. The border guard was not a happy camper. I tried to pull the I'm old and confused trick, but he wasn't buying it. Gave me lecture and I was on my way. I sure am glad he didn't find the guns, booze, drugs, cigarettes, hand grenades, bag full of currency, etc. I might have been detained.
Back in America in traffic-clogged roads and a zillion Type-A drivers. Lucky me.
