Guess what?………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

We actually got la jefa down the road today! Yes, after two days in Lethbridge we were able to leave that city in the rearview for good. The day started a little early this morning because we were tired of being cooped up for over 48 hours in the same place. We got on the road about 7:30 this morning and headed out Highway 3 and then headed North to Calgary on Highway 2. It was about 130 miles of the straight two-lane highway but it felt so good to finally be moving again.

It was a brisk 42 degrees, the wind was blowing but the sun was at my back and it just felt so good to be moving again. There is something magical that happens with a new motorcycle shortly after you start riding it and for me, it happened today. Today about 30 minutes into the ride Killer (KLR) felt like a familiar pair of old jeans, you know, the ones that your significant other wishes you would just throw out but you can’t because they just feel so damn good! Today I was one with the bike, it was as comfortable as a couch and I just clicked off mile after mile until the “Welcome to Calgary” sign appeared.

We pulled into a Safeway to get some bread and milk and quickly headed out-of-town with Banff and Lake Louise in our sights. As we headed for the mountains to the west on highway 1 the sky opened up and mother nature spewed forth her cold wet rain only to be replaced by snow once altitude came into play. After about 15 miles of this, I had to pull over and get better dressed to deal with the new conditions. We had to go another 40 miles or so to get to Banff and the entire trip was accompanied by either rain or snow. When we arrived in Banff the town was hustling despite the weather and parking was tough. We did find a spot on a back street that was marked RV parking so we set up camp and had some lunch. While we were having lunch a very opportunistic traffic cop decided to add to the revenue stream and issued us a $50.00 parking ticket. We were all in the coach eating and none of us seen the ticket being placed under the wiper. SNEAKY BASTARD!!!

Once we left Banff we headed to Lake Louise. The rain had subsided for the moment and it was clear sailing for the next 40 miles until we pulled into the upper parking lot of the famous lake. I took Benz for a walk before Dad and I walked down to view the lake and the famous hotel. When I walked around the corner and saw the lake for the first time I just couldn’t believe my eyes, I thought I was in Europe somewhere! This is truly a magical place. I just can’t imagine why my Mother wouldn’t walk down with us to see it? I guess she wasn’t feeling well. I offered to have my father carry her but she just looked at me like she does.

It was now 5;30 in the evening and getting colder (39 degrees) and I wasn’t looking forward to the next 139 miles it was going to take to get to Jasper. Once back on the road we quickly started climbing and in no time the rain turned to snow again. Up, up and up we went and suddenly I found myself riding in 4 inches of fresh snow. I have never been so horrified of crashing on a road bike (if you can call Killer that) in my life. I had to constantly wipe my shield clean of snow (that was also fogging) while trying to stay in an 8″ tire track from the previous car so I didn’t get my skinny little bike tire into the heavy snow slush. loose traction and go down. My father was trying to maintain a good distance behind me and I’m sure that he was horrified that if I went down he might run over me?

This went on for 10-15 miles or so until we finally started downhill and the snow turned back to rain. I was frick’n froze at this point and we had another 90 miles of this shit! Thankfully we were headed downhill from here and the snow was a thing of the past. The highlight of the day was that we saw two Black Bear by the side of the road about 30 miles from Jasper which is where we are camped for the night. I don’t know if you have ever seen a bear in the wild but it is spectacular! They just look larger than life in the wild, so healthy and aware.

As challenging as this day sounds it was a blast. I had a lot of fun, my Mom and Dad think I’m nuts but that was before they saw the dude on the pedal bike grinding up the same mountain with full luggage!

See you tomorrow, we’re off to Dawson.

MM