Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I got my chance to chat with the biker who had set up camp near us; he’s from England, and had cycled the Logan Pass the previous day. He said it was actually not as bad as some he had already done on his trip (he was on day 20), as it was straight up and straight down, more or less. Others he had done went up, then down about 700 feet, so he had to start over again. Good point; I wonder what Rogers’ Pass is like (sorry, Monique – I’m analyzing again…) He was pulling a trailer, and was using a mountain bike with fat tires. He preferred them, as he said he passed lots of cyclists who were having many flats and broken spokes. I may have to go back to using my old bike yet!

We headed back toward Calgary, stopping for a short visit at the interpretive centre at Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump. With a name like that I couldn’t resist checking things out. I was most fascinated by bits of stories about Napi, who seemingly is the Blackfeet Indian equivalent of the creation stories. I tried to get some written material, but there was none available, but one the staff gave me an author to look up.

We arrived back at John and Joy’s in Calgary around 3:00 and relaxed for awhile before I attempted to put some seam sealer on my tent. It has never leaked before, but I thought it might be a good idea to reinforce some of the seams, especially after seeing what kinds of rains the west coast is capable of getting! After that I transferred my pictures to the computer, and attempted to add some photos to the blog. So far it’s a bit of a marathon process, but I hope to be able to speed it up with more experience. I hope you enjoy my efforts so far.

For those of you who received Albert’s detailed itinerary, and are noticing that we’re not really sticking to it, I’ll let you know that we do plan to visit Banff and Jasper tomorrow and Thursday, and hope to be in Vancouver by Friday night. The rest of the itinerary should be about the same. We never did get to see the dinosaurs in Drumheller due to all the flooding etc. It just seemed to make more sense to stay with people who had a proper roof over their head, rather than camping where people were being evacuated.

We’re going to have a final cup of tea before bed; I’m happy to finally catch up on my blogging. Chances are I won’t have another opportunity until we get to Vancouver. Thanks for all the emails; I’ve tried to answer a few of them, but can’t do them all. It’s great to keep up with the news from my friends and family.

Lotsa love,
Nynka