Today was a real tough day! The goal was Redcliff, 149 km down the road and 5 km west of Medicine Hat. That would be difficult enough for most people (or impossible), but add to that 10 km headwinds and you have a monster day. Here's the team passing us at the first checkpoint after 50 km.
Saw lots of oil rigs today. We also picked up a new passenger, our Canada 150 Bear! Say Hi!
We stopped at a Tim Hortons in Brooks for a break and these fine ladies made a very nice donation to the cause.
Thanks Ladies.
Back on the road again for the grind.
Caroline did an amazing job riding 77 km into that nasty wind!
We stopped at the CANex Store at the Armed Forces Base outside Suffield and Caroline took an opportunity for a photo with this lady from the British Forces.
One tough day for Ritchie!
But you wouldn't know it to look at him 15 minutes after the ride!
Tip of the hat to our warrior today, now approaching 1500 km. Well done!
Tomorrow is a well deserved and needed rest day.
We are staying at the Redcliff Municipal Campground (14 sites/ $30/night). The municipal campgrounds have been some of the best sites we've had.
On a closing note, it was actually a tough day for everyone. I won't get into the "Black Water" issues we dealt with Today😱
Enough said!
We left Calgary this morning and bid adieu to Denise who was an awesome host. Thanks for everything Denise.
While Ritchie and Caroline rode out of town, Lynn and I went to visit Marj, a cousin of Lynn's husband Jim. They had not seen each other for 8 years and had a great time catching up.
This is the new view we're getting used to. Will probably get even flatter in the weeks to come.
Ritchie and Caroline stopped into a Timmies and this fine gentleman made a contribution to Honour House and Soldier On!👏👏👏
While Lynn and I never noticed in the RV, the winds today were tough on Ritchie and Caroline. Having said that, Caroline rode 106.3 km, a personal best, her longest continuous ride ever. AND into the wind to boot!
Ritchie rode on to Bassano, a total of 154.3 km, the man is made of iron!!
We stayed at Poplar Grove Campground, a 20 site RV park. We got a fully serviced site (water, sewer, 30 amp service) for $25 (half the price of most of our sites). It was the honour system. We left an envelope with $25 in the drop box!
We have a few non-paying guests (Prairie Dogs). Lots of fun to watch!
There was a horse in the accompanying field and I "bravely" gave him a carrot!
Some thoughts on our Rocky experience:
The railroad, that opened up this part of the country in the late 1800's is still a very large presence. All of our campsites and towns were beside (near) a very active rail line (very cool).
Its been pointed out to me that we weren't actually in the "Rockies" until the end of the first week. We actually passed through a series of different mountain ranges (can't remember them)😎
This is my third time to the Rockies and I must say, there are no words that can capture the feelings and emotions of this magic place in Canada.
Today was a little bittersweet. This will be our last day in the Rockies.
One of our last distant views of the spectacular mountain range.
Here's today's ride.
Check out the vertical climb coming out of Cochrane!! Probably won't see anything like that again till we hit Northern Ontario.
This completes the first leg of the ride (Victoria to Calgary), 1124 km, 9524M climbed!
Today's ride ended at Ritchie and Lynn's niece Denise's home in Calgary.
Ritchie's doing so well after the first leg that he's decided to finish the ride on a different bike!
We were joined by Denise's daughters, Cailey and Raelynn, and Charla, another niece who lives in Calgary. We had a very enjoyable afternoon catching up and then enjoyed a delicious meal........
......and a surprise cake foe Ritchie and Caroline!
A great way to celebrate the completion of this first leg!
We have been totally blessed by the weather. This afternoon it was 81F or 28C. Last Wednesday they had a blizzard!
It was a little nippy today as Caroline and Ritchie started out. Temps were around 40F or 4C.
We took Highway 1 while Ritchie and Caroline took 1A. The scenery was once again fabulous on both routes.
We finally caught up with them just before Banff.
Ritchie & Caroline rode into Banff and stopped at Coyotes for a Cappuccino. Unfortunately, there was nowhere to park the RV in town so we had to pass.😏 We went to the Banff Springs Hotel and Sulphur Mountain instead.
Spectacular views from Sulphur Mountain. I was on this gondola ride a few years ago with my son Paul. Scared the crap out of me!
Their ride from Banff to Cranmore was an excellent one. There is a bicycle path all the way. It was great to see how many people take advantage of it! It was quite busy.
By the time we stopped for supplies, Ritchie and Caroline were already at our site waiting for us!
Today's numbers........
Another spectacular site!!
The three sisters, just to the left of our RV.
Today was laundry day!
Ritchie showered, changed and then hopped onto his bike again to ride into town for some specialty beers. The guy doesn't stop!
And then he made us fajitas for dinner!!
After dinner we sat down to our $10.30 fire!
We will be leaving the Rockies tomorrow and will really miss them. We will hopefully return in a few years to enjoy them all over again.
But the rest of the country waits for us (at least to Ottawa).
Another early start for Ritchie today. He is facing another tough day of climbing on his (their) way to Lake Louise. We departed the Golden Municipal Park and stopped in town for a few supplies and then drove to get our propane tank filled. We stopped at Canwest Propane and the lady that was filling it started asking about the sign on the side of the RV. We explained about raising awareness for PTSD and when she was finished filling the tank said that it was on her!! We are meeting some amazing people on this journey.
We finally caught up with Ritchie in Field, the last location we'll see in B.C. If the other provinces provide even half of the beauty and experience, they will be a success! A bit of a reflective pool.
In some parts the river is raging. Here it is spread out and just flowing quickly and provides a beautiful view.
Surrounded by mountains again.
This couple is on the way to Vegas from Fort McMurray. They were very interested in what Ritchie and Caroline were doing. They filled us in on some of their Fort McMurray experiences.
Caroline joined Ritchie for this last section to Lake Louise.
We stopped just down the road to see the Lower Train Spiral. The lower entrance is just below the centre of the photo. The upper one is located in the upper left. They actually tunnelled through the mountain not only in a circle, but also vertically. Unfortunately, no trains passed through while we were there, but we did spot a bear! If you double click on the photo below and look closely in front of the upper tunnel you might see a bear (black dot) eating the grain by the tracks that has fallen out of the railroad cars. It was much clearer through binoculars.😏
While we were there Ritchie and Caroline rode by. This give you an idea of what they're facing, and this wasn't a real steep hill!! Go Caroline! Ritchie has now ridden over 900 km and Caroline over 600km!!!!
Even the view from the rear is awesome! (Don't worry we were stopped for construction).
We arrived at Lake Louise and parked the RV to get a bus ride up to the Lake and the Chateau Lake Louise. Do you think its a popular RV destination???
Still plenty of snow!
Most of the Lake is still iced over.
I've had my photo here with my brother Bud and son Paul in years past.
A new friend!......Oh, by he way, Ritchie and Caroline saw a Grizzly while they were riding today!......Yikes!!
This is my friend Bill Havers' daughter Brooke, she has worked at Chateau Lake Louise for 10 years and is a very pleasant young lady. It was great getting to meet her.
Another amazing camp spot. This is the view near our RV!
Richardson Ground Squirrel next to our site.
We've been in the RV for three weeks now and all systems are still GO! We've found it very comfortable and a great way to travel.
