Day Nine - Prince George, BC to Red Deer, Alberta

Wow, this was a day to remember. First, my hotel in Prince George this time was Esther's Inn. Wow. Fantastic place. So nice, I stayed a little longer and got a late start. Left at 7:30am and that bed was still calling my name miles/kilometers later.

I saw some great wildlife today. Right away I saw a coyote just trotting down the highway. At first I thought he was a dog, but then...

Also saw And elk, one more moose and some Caribou! Not enough time to get the camera though!

Anyway, as I got on the road, I stopped at this little rest area about 80 miles east of Prince George on Hwy 16. And this wasn't some polished up, well maintained rest area. It's basically pit toilets and a parking lot. And a view. WHAT a view!

You can see Brad Case from the Saskatoon area taking pictures as well. He was shooting his wife (pictures, i mean, of course!). Brad had one of my favorite Canadian accents - heavy on the uptalk and they 'hey' (another version of 'eh') What a neat guy. He's had it tough medically too. He had 4 heart attacks one after another and was clinically dead for 2.5 hours! I can attest that he's fully alive now!

Can you dig this river? The water is so cold you can feel the coolness of it by just standing near it!

Here's Brad posing for me.

This is Jessie. I met him in McBride, British Columbia. I was getting really, really low on fuel and figuring I was gonna have to employ the old gas can, but then this place finally met me at a great spot near the foot of some mountains. Yes, a little rainy, but it had gas and was open!

Anyway, Jessie was very interested in what I was doing. He rides an 84 Honda Magna 700 (I've seen -and talked to- 3 different people that were riding that bike on this trip and all of them swear by it. Honda didn't even make that many of them, but when they did, this bike was the fastest production bike ever sold. Those of my longtime blog followers will remember that Matt's Magna got a little scorched in Roger's garage. I think there's reason to salvage it though!

Jessie was also a past president (I hope I got that right) of Widows Sons riding club. He explained that it was related to the Masonics. He said that if I (or you for that matter) ever see anyone sporting these colors, know you can trust them instantly. I believe him. He was really kewl, but I had to get going!

This is Jessie's bike. Hey Jessie, did you ever get that tire rub figured out?

These folks gassed up in McBride just as I was leaving...the dog's name is Sarge and he has his own goggles and helmet. And he seems to like wearing them! he rides in a piece of backrest luggage with a hole cut out so he can enjoy the trip!

I don't think I even need to say anything about the views, do I?

This is Robert Darling, and I met him in Jasper, Alberta. He was heading the opposite direction as me, but he was almost to Valemount (his destination). He and I didn't get to talk much but he was very funny and quite entertaining. I think he's one of those guys who has a million friends everywhere! Now he's got one more....me!

This is in Jasper National Park. Just a common everyday sight there.

Some views from the road. Amazing mountains!

Can you imagine driving by this stuff? It was surreal! (as you can tell, I pulled over for this one)

Mid July and that's how snowy it still is up there.

Now this next series of photos I am quite proud of. This is a glacial river outside the park (I guess technically it's a glacial lake). Look at turquoise blue water!

This should have been a postcard!

Approaching the end of hilly country for awhile. When I got to Rocky Mountain House, things had really flattened out.

Oh, the contrasts! These things are immense!

Tomorrow it's off to Regina, only 878 kilometers or about 10 hours (more like 12 for me, I'm a motor mouth).

Keep feeding back, I LOVE IT!