pedalpanam

A quick note for those of you that probably will be at a computer in only a few hours (you probably have an office job or something), as I may not update again until later tomorrow, Tuesday.

I arrived in Banff just as it was getting dark.  Cold after a few days of rain and ice, I decided to check into a hostel.  It was only few dollars more than the local Banff National Park campsites anyway, and I’ve ended up with a dorm room all to myself.

I was hoping to take a day off tomorrow, but am not sure Banff is the place to do it.  Real expensive (the guidebook says “resort town”), and despite a long week, am looking forward to being back in the USA in less than a week, so am tempted to just keep going.  Gorgeous surroundings, to be sure, but boutique filled streets are just not my thing.

Just rolled into Jasper after having crossed into Alberta a few miles ago (also crossing the continental divide for the 4th time this trip).

Two days ago an English cyclist, Cass, caught up with me, and we ended up staying at an organic gardner’s place that night (more on that later…).  We cycled together yesterday, a rather rainy day, and made it to a campsite after dark last night.

Continue reading Jasper, AB

I’m almost all packed up after 4 nights here in Prince George.  I spent a while working on uploading 2 months worth of pictures, they are all organized by the highways I was on, and also by a few other themes.  Head on over to my flickr account. I still need to work on some descriptions of the pics, but at least for now you can see them.

I’ve  added a “contact me” tab to the blog as well.  Several folks have asked how to send me mail, the next chance to receive something via general delivery will be somewhere in Montana most likely, I’ll let you know as soon as I can.

I had hoped to get the map updated, but have been having trouble with the Google Map plugin.  You can see a list of Alaska and Yukon highways on wikipedia if you want to learn more about the roads I’ve been on.

I ran into the Scottish family again on Friday at the grocery store, they were going to continue biking, and are probably a few days ahead of me, but I hope to catch up to them eventually and spend some more time with them.

I’ve been uploading plenty of pictures on my flickr account, trying to catch up with almost 2 months of stuff.

As tens of thousands of people gathered on the shores of Lake Michigan to celebrate the Fourth, I was by myself in the middle of Alaska, with nary a patriotic display to be seen.  During the first few days on the Dalton, there was pretty much a tailwind the whole time, but when I woke up that day, this had changed to a headwind.  That afternoon, I started to notice the sky darkening significantly behind me, and thunder off in the distance.  The black clouds started moving in quickly, swallowing the mountains and scenery with it.

Continue reading Fourth of July

After being on rather desolate highways for weeks, approaching a city of 70,000+ is quite overwhelming!  Especially around here, there is a lot of logging and farming, so there are trucks loaded high with lumber and bales of hay whizzing by.  Unlike the Cassiar, or even the Yellowhead Hwy a few days ago, the traffic is constant, so biking becomes less of a ride through scenery as it is a stressful chore.  A good reminder why taking the road less travelled is always so much more worth it.

Yesterday afternoon, as I was in Vanderhoof, thinking of riding another few miles to make today shorter, I ran into a cycling family from Scotland.   Continue reading Prince George, BC