I Wonder as I Wander

I've always wondered how those big trucks the railroad has, you know the ones with the train wheels between the front tires, are really used. Today I saw a couple in use on the rails along route 16, The Yellowhead Highway. The trucks were really on the rails, just like a train... looks like the front train wheels are on the tracks and the back truck tires are on the rails pushing the truck. Doesn't seem there would be much traction on the rails but then I saw a big truck actually pulling 5 gondola cars and a flat bed car with a large power shovel on it. Really something.

I wonder if a immigrant family operates the Jolly Lodger Motel we saw advertised on a billboard along the highway.

I wonder if the guy who named Saskatoon, Saskatchewan knew what a cool sounding name he created. Can't wait to get there.

Do you suppose that the wag who coined the phrase "flaxen haired maiden" ever saw flax growing? Here is Saskatchewan there are miles and miles of cannola growing along the roads as well as many fields of flax. Well, the cannola is so yellow I think of it as false sunshine, even when the skies are gray the fields are as bright as if the sun was glaring down on them. On the other hand the flax fields are pink/purple with lots of green showing through. So, a flaxen haired beauty is more likely to be a punk rocker and a cannola-head would be legally blond by Saskatchewan standards.

We are in Wynyard, Saskatchewan for the evening. We've had a great day on the road, just a bit of rain and lots of great plains scenery. Had lunch in Russell, Manitoba in a delightful family restaurant where we chatted up the locals and learned that the dozen or so huge arches over every Main Street intersection were salvaged from a skating rink being torn down in Dawson (where ever that is) and some one got the bright idea of putting up the laminated wood structures in the town. Quite spectacular, and I couldn't help thinking of the arches in the Columbus Short North that cost millions and didn't light up for years. I bet the Russell folks just string some Christmas lights on theirs in December and run some extension cords.

On to Saskatoon.

Canadian Humor

What a country! We've been impressed by how friendly and unassuming most Canadians seem to be. Their natural sense of humor and acceptance of what most US citizens would see as oppresive or intrusive or just plain wrong is quite amazing. I mentioned the cost of insuring a motorcycle here as an example of what in the US would be a deterent to owning a bike ($2000 a year for a cruiser). Gas prices are another issue, $5 seems the norm for regular, even higher in remote places. Food and lodging are not cheap and beer is at least a dollar a can for the cheapest at a liquor control store, not a bar. And, it's not even winter yet!

I've collected some examples of humor that seem to exemplify Canada. First is a rather grim but in some ways humorous warning I found on a discarded cigarette package (it's in a category that does not even exist in the US: governmental humor). WARNING: TOBACCO USE CAN MAKE YOU IMPOTENT. Cigarettes may cause sexual impotence due to decreased blood flow to the penis. This can prevent you from having an erection. Health Canada. The really humorous part of this dire warning is the picture of a very curved (wilted) burning cigarette next to the warning.

At a gas station near Winnipeg we encounted a Smart car, you know the 2 seaters built by Mercedes just now going on sale in the US)... the car had a huge decal on the rear bumper that read "Baby Hummer" and the license plate read "Itti Bitti". The driver invited me to sit in the car and when I started to get in there was something like a foot stool on the floor in front of the driver's pedals. She said, "Oh, I have a prosthetic leg and I take it off to drive and that's where I rest the rest of my leg."

At the same gas station I found and bought a tee shirt that has some many layers of humor I couldn't resist. On the front it asks, "What is a Canadian?". On the back is the answer, "An unarmed American with health insurance." Follow by, "heh, heh, heh...."

Rushing River

Monday, Neepawa, Manitoba.

Just 6K south of Route 17, as the Trans Canadian Highway is numbered in Ontario, is this beautiful provincial park known as Rushing River. We saw it on the map and it's location happily coincided with our rapidly declining stamina. Tomto checked us in and for a measly $3 extra (on top of the standard $29.50) got us a waterside campsite. A reasonably level site, big by most park standards, huge flat rocks where we could dry out tent and other gear that got wet in the previous night's downpour led down to the peacefull broad river (the river must rush elsewhere). Friendly chipmunks who obviously had been well fed by campers kept us company with their constant chatter. Bold crows who also had found a bonanza of camp scraps dropped in hoping for some good luck. It was still sunny and warm when we arrived and we relaxed a while before setting up camp. I dipped my hot and shriveled feet in the water for a while and it felt soooo good.

While I set up the tent Tomto prepared dinner: fried Spam (whatever the Canadian version is called) with maple flavored baked beans. Really, not as bad as it sounds when eaten with a six pack of Lakeport Premium Lager.

Sometime during the day we had slipped over into the Central Time Zone and it was still pretty bright outside when we hit our sacks. After the Lakeport and bean dinner nature called sometime after midnight and I headed to the privy ("washroom" in Canadian) I was greeted by a fantastic canopy of stars and a sliver of new moon. The sky was refleced in the still waters and if it wasn't for the hungry mosquitos I would have moved my sleeping bag outside and slept on a rock.

Still on eastern time I was up early and walked to the end of the campground and caught a shot of the rising sun through the trees. The camp wakes slowly and we had coffee and granola bars as we packed before much of anyone else stirs. But as these things go packing and leaving take longer than one would expect. Before we left a mustacheoed man stopped by again, he had stopped to ask about our bikes when we pulled in, and we were drawn into a long discussion about his bike collection and the cost of motorcycle insurance in Manitoba where he is from. Seems that his Kawasaki cruiser costs $2000 per year to insure and his Bergman Scooter costs about $600. Would make you think twice about owning a bike in Canada. Maybe my membership in the AMA does some legislative good in the USA.

Other encounters along the way: Guy in a Jaguar convertible with Manitoba plates headed to Niagra Falls, "There is a new pipeline in Alaska and the roads are all torn up, don't even think about going there. I saw it on television"

Old guy at Grandma's Cafe after dinner. "Got to go to Casper outside of Calgary... beautiful mountains, great roads. My son lives in Kodiak at an Army base, you know, where the big bears are. But don't miss that road to Jasper."

First Nation gas station attendent at a crossroads west of Winnipeg, "You guys are going to ride 8 more days, wow. Eight more days. To Alaska!"

On to Saskatoon.

Priceless

Breakfast at nameless cafe attached to a gas station at a crossroads in western Ontario: $16.58 CDN. A campsite at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park, $29.50 CDN. Premium gas @ $6.00 per gallon in Upsala (in the middle of nowhere)Ontario with 10 miles left in the reserve tank: Priceless.

Doors with Grandmother Faces

Day two: wet and beautiful, at least the Superior views. Our destination was Wawa, Ontario and we were early enough to have ice cream and pop corn in the Cooper General Store and dinner at the North if 17 restaurant before we checked into the Mystic Isle Motel. The Mystic is above 17 south of Wawa... when I say above I mean up a sand road about 100 meters (note metric reference). I hit a soft spot in the road and did a bit of off-road fish-tailing before hitting the top, Tomto profitted from my error and made the top without incident. Once at the top we found a'restored' 40's era motel with a log exterior and even log walls on the inside. A German lady was at the desk and when we inquired abot discounts we got the equivalent of, "You vill pay the price or ypu vill not sty". We paid and stayed. Very clean and orderly as you'd expect from a German Motel. The flags of many nations were flying in the considerable breeze but that didn't keep the determined mosquitos from buzzing in our faces as we unloaded. By the time we were settled the np vacancy sign was lit and I was grateful for Tomto's foresight in reserving a room on the internet before we left.

Oh, The Grandmothers. In downtown which looks a lot like other northern North American towns... lots of closed storefronts, gritty streets, and other evidence of harsh winters and a less than booming economy, there stands a most remarkable display of public art. Dozens of used hollow core doors are mounted vertically every 3 meters or so, attached to the side walk near the curb with steel stakes. On each side if each door is a work of art depicting someones grandmother. Each doorside has a life-size Xerox copy of grandmas face and some artistic representation of a body...one had a real grandma dress with real sneakeras at the bottom, another an apron, another clothing made of newspaper pages. Every dorr had a writtin story of the grandmother, "Grandma came to Wawa from Nova Scotia in 1934 and had 8 children..." Some boards had multiple photos showing the subject over the years. Some were oviously the work fo young children, oters the work of artistic adults.... all celebrated the obvious affection the artist hold for their grandmas. The overall effect of the display was to make one forget the grittyness of a struggling town and to see only the love and beauty of its residents.

Day One: And then some other stuff happened...

Tomto and I met at the McDonalds at routes 36 and I71 at 9AM. We talked for a while, for some reason neither of us were itching to hit the road for real. Once we got underway we got trapped in a traffic jam in Delaware... the main road in was closed so all traffic was routed over a secondary street. So much for detailed planning. US 50 is called the loneliest road but the road to Toledo, routes 23, 15 and I75 qualify as the "boringest" roads, therefore nothing to report. I475 around Toledo dumps us in Michigan, the only sign that we had in the state was a speed limit sign announcing 70 MPH, and of course the total absence of cars built overseas. More boring highways, we elected to take 223 to 127 which as Don Jameson promised was less crowded than 23 or 75 but still boring. Road kill included a number of deer and a yellow cat. Lunch at Wendy's in Jackson where we did chat with a couple other riders, one seemed impressed that such old guys were actually riding to Alaska. He asked where we started and when and when we said Columbus, today he seemed somewhat skeptical that we were actually going to Alaska.

The other rider was on a 1975 Honda CB 360, a close relative to the Honda 350's Tom and I had in the late 60's. He gave us a brief history of the bikes (his Dad had purchased two bikes in '75 and the bike he was riding was the remains of the two original). His stupid brother had run the orange one without oil so the blue one was left with some orange parts. And with that he was away like a flash.

Days Inn in Clare. Not a bar in walking distance, picked up a six pack of Molson blue to get us in the mood (I wonder if the labels in Canada say "Imported"? )Well, off to dinner and the Dollar Store. Into the great Canadian North tomorrow.

After Midnight

Am I excited or what? Couldn't sleep last night and tonight I am still up at 12:30 AM typing this post to test the email posting capabilities of Blogger. If all works as it should this email will become a blog post. Should make posting from the road a lot easier with the little XO and its tiny keyboard and minimalist browser. The bike is packed the maps are cut and labeled, I've mutilated the Milepost cutting out just the pages related to our part of the Alaskan Highway. Hope to report again when we reach Clare, MI tomorrow PM. Tomto and I are meeting up near Delaware today at 9 and we will have a 300+ mile day ahead of us. The weather looks great and I'm ready to go.

PS Had to cut and paste to get this into the blog... the email function does not work as I had hoped :-(

The Long Ride

The Blog is shifting gears. Up to this point I've been talking education, now it's motorcycle time! Tomorrow Tomto and I are heading off to Alaska on the Beemers. Alaska will be our 49th state, we've bagged all the lower 48 since we started the quest in 2002, the last two (MD &DE) and Washington, DC Tomto picked up this spring. We're headed to Clare, MI tomorrow, from there we will cross into Ontario on Friday. Our route takes us across the top of Lake Superior to Winnipeg, then to Saskatoon, to Edmonton and then we pick up the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek. The only firm date we have to make is August 11 in Haines, AK where we will take the Alaska Marine Highway ferry south to Bellingham, WA. We'll split up for a few days and join back up in Nevada to ride the "Lonliest Road" US 50 back to Ohio. The whole trip should take about a month.

I will attempt to add to this blog via my little XO (the One Laptop Per Child computer). Failing that I'll email Loretta and ask her to forward to as many of you as she can.

Got to finish the maps. Stay tuned.