It didn't start to get dark until about 10PM last night and was light before 5 AM. This picture was taken about 9PM and the sun is still above the mountain.
First I will tell you the cot and sleeping arrangement worked well, That does not mean I slept well though. There was too much road traffic with large trucks and trains going up the mountain. I got up at 5:15 and checked e-mail and seen a message from Jager suggesting a trip north to Elkford and to be sure to see the worlds largest truck in Sparwood before I left. I got everything packed up and ready to head out. It was 42 degrees this morning and the bike was a little slow to start.
I road into Sparwood and took a picture of the large truck.
What it needs is Big Brutus from southern Kansas strip mines to load it in one bite. I found a station that had air and checked the tires. The front was a little low so I corrected that. I looked for a place to eat but didn’t find a café so decided to go on east. Noticed the GPS was showing north but didn’t think anything of it as roads meander. There were lots of deer in the area and I had to slow several times. I came to a 4 way stop in Elkford and stopped for breakfast. After eating I started north again and the pavement stopped so I thought I must have made a wrong turn at the stop. So I started up the other paved road but didn’t see a highway sign so went back to the café and the waitress was outside for a smoke break. She showed me where I was on my map but there wasn’t a road where she was pointing. The one I came in on dead ends and the other goes 20 miles to the coal mines and stops. I needed to go back 35 kilometers to Sparwood to get on the correct road. Darn! So I did.
I entered Alberta and stopped at a province information rest stop for a map as mine was buried.
I was surprised to pay $2 for the map as all the states give them away. I wanted to take hwy 22 north on the Cowboy Trail and the first 100 miles is very nice then it gets old. I did appreciate the vastness of the area when you look from the mountains on the left to the hills on the right. There were thousands of cattle and I even saw a few cowboys.
I really liked the three miles of caps fastened to the fence posts.
As the day wore on I wore out. I rode 555 miles today. There was lots of traffic near Calgary and in that area. The speed limit for the entire road in open country was 100 kph which is 60 mph. Much to slow in my opinion. Traffic was moving at 70 mph so I did too. On highway 43, where I am now, the speed limit is 110 k/mph and traffic was running 75 mph with some much faster. I originally planned to continue all the way north through Alberta and into Northwest Territories but have now decided to head for the Alcan highway. I stayed at the Alaskan Motel in a not so nice room for $75. The first place I stopped wanted $115 plus tax. I did sleep well for the first time since Monday night.
They have some large mosquitoes up here as you can see from the bug splatter.
I was trying to stay ahead of thunderstorms all afternoon. As long as I headed north I was okay but every one in a while the road would head west for about 8 miles and I would nearly drive into them. This one got me a little bit.
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