Day 26 - 53 miles -July 24 by Rita

Day 26 - July 24, by Rita

Aye… it’s a great day to finish off our bike tour of Canada. It has been a real experience! Just camping for 24 + days straight has been the kids’ dream come true. Race who has been avoiding the “far-between-shower” nights, now smells like a real little stick of firewood. He is happy, but we have banned him from taking off his shoes in the van. We spent last night at the White River RV Park where we were asked to join in on a little evening nature walk. Our guide was an interesting character that had a real love for nature. He had the kids spellbound with all the cool things that he had found in the ice fields back up in the mountains. The nature walk was to show us the plants in the area that were edible. Now the kids think we should try all the plants we learned about. We will see about! Just wait till I serve them a bunch of fried dandelions for dinner when we get home. We visited with Bob and Amanda, our guides and also the owners of the park. Bob has been there for 35 years and told stories about all the changes along the Alaska Highway. He was a very interesting fellow and after a long visit we headed to our tent and although it was 10 p.m., the sun was shining brightly on the rain that was drenching us and a bright double rainbow appeared over the grass airstrip near our tent. There was no pot of gold, so we all crawled into our tent for a good night’s sleep.

Today we were off to the border. It was only 53 miles away, so we were very excited and everyone wanted to ride. Once again the views were beautiful, although the road was rough. The closer we got to the border, the rougher the road was, with gravel and several road crews as the more important sights at this time. We had our first flat on a gravel stretch about 10 miles before Beaver Creek. We stopped for a nice lunch break at Buckshot Betty’s in Beaver Creek. Brett and the boys had the largest cinnamon rolls I have ever seen. We shared and they were good! Crossing the border, about 20 miles after going through Beaver Creek, we were all mud spattered from the construction, making it look as we had been riding for a lot farther than we had gone today. I can’t believe that we finished out 1900 mile ride. After loading up at the border, we headed to Fairbanks, some 260 miles away. We stopped in Delta Junction and got a photo by the end of the Alaska Highway. Between Delta Junction and Fairbanks we saw 11 moose...more than the rest of our trip combined. We ended up rolling into Fairbanks and our relatives at 1:00 a.m., and it was still fairly light out.

Day 23 (July 21) (98 miles) by Gage

Today we woke up to a cold, mosquito-free campsite. Thank the Lord for no mosquitoes! I’d rather be cold any day rather than eat my cereal while walking circles around the campsite. Nevertheless, it was a very dreary, wet, cold, rainy morning. So after eating some muffins, oatmeal, granola, and a little fruit, we took off from Whitehorse. While we, the boys, started biking, Madison and Mom got groceries and filled up with gas. For the first thirty miles, we had a nice road and tailwind. And, at around the thirty mile spot, Madison and Mom caught back up with us. So, we pulled over on the side of the road and had lunch (delicious pizza-bread pretzels, and a bunch of blueberries and cherries). The rest of the riding was bumpy, but the road was pretty flat. Also, on today’s ride some of us saw a coyote and we also got to check out an old wood bridge that was originally built for wagons during the Gold Rush. The scenery is starting to get more mountainous again. Right now the clouds are really low and we can’t even see the tops. We ended today at Hanes Junction. We had potatoes and hotdogs for dinner. Then we went to the ice cream shop nearby and had a few treats for dessert.

Sorry for no pictures, the internet connection isn't good enough here at Hanes Junction to upload any.

Day 22 (July 20) (Rest Day) by Gage

Today we slept in to ten. We sure were well rested after that! (Some of us had wet sleeping bags because our tent isn’t completely rain-proof and the edges drip onto the people who lay on the outside.) Then we ate our breakfast and went into the laundry room to up-date our site and wash clothes. Then, we went downtown and went to a really cool bicycle shop to fix one of our bike breaks. The owner was really kind and talkative (he had some kinetic art that he showed us and he also told us about a bicycle trip he took to Cuba). Afterwards, we went on a tour of an old steamboat. There’s a few interesting things about them that I never thought about. After that, we went to the park and had PBandJ’s, and pita bread with hummus. While Mom and Dad talked, we, the kids went and played at the park and had a blast. Then, we to a quilt shop where mom got to look around. We also went to the Museum and watched a short video about the Yukon. After browsing about town a little bit more, we went to the movies and watched Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. What a treat! Then we went back to camp, had dinner and went to bed.

Day 21-july 19 by Madison from Teslin to Whitehorse 109 miles

Today we woke up to a wet morning because it had rained during the night. There were also lots of mosquitoes, but luckily they were slow and we were fast. We took down camp and set off. Gavin and Race hurried up to the front to get a small figure of an otter and beaver. We went 109 miles. We stopped for some big, delicious, world-famous, cinnamon rolls after going across a bridge that was being worked on. There have been lots of small, gradual hills (felt like most all just went up; no going down). We went across another bridge that some one with a homemade boat had gone under too. We arrived at Whitehorse and are at the Hi Country R.V. Park. Then we went to Boston Pizza to eat dinner and then went to get groceries. We saw a few murals then retired back to camp, took a shower and went to bed.

July 18 (78 miles) (day 20)by gavin

Hey, thanks for all the great comments. Feel free to ask questions.
Sorry any mispelling being away from school does that to you

Today when we woke up instead of making our own breakfast and cleaning up after ourselves we decided to head to the local restaruante and get pancakes and omlettes. While walking back to our tent the cook's dog, named Hunter,began following Race everywhere.He even had Race shake his hand, but abandoned Race to chase squirrells and go back to his owner.The Ride out of the valley we were in was tough, but it was cool and every uphill was followed by at least a small downhill. About 20 miles into the bike, we stopped at rest area to switch people on the tandem. while there we saw three moose all in the same meadow from our vantage point above them. One was a bull and the two others were cows they could all see and hear us from the quarter mile distance they were at. Not much happened the rest of the ride except our mom and dad saw a black bear contemplating whether or not to coss the road before running of into the bushes. Before driving right into our camp the yukon motel and RV park, we crossed the third longest bridge on the alaskan highway. instead of being concrete it was metal grate so as you went over it you could see the watermoving under you. When arriving at the RV park we got a campng spot next to Telsin lake, and then went to check ou the very well set up wildlife museum. We then went to check out the tinglit(check them out)heritage mueseum but it was closed so we just took some pictures with the totem poles out front. We then took dash to play fetch in the water she gt very worked up we then went back to the tent to finish a mmovie and go to bed

Day 19 - July 17 - 88 miles by Brett

We left Watson Lake, traveling only 14 miles until stopping at Nugget City for a little shopping and where we had breakfast. The rest of the day was a long steady climb up to the Continental Divide Lodge. The road had wide shoulders but it was very rough making for sore bottoms by the time we made it to the Lodge. The last 11 miles were gravel, but due to a recent rainstorm, there was no dust. Race and Madison both rode 20 miles on the tandem. Gage and Gavin quickly rode 20 miles, and then got in the van, where all the kids were in the van reading Archie comic books they acquired at Watson Lake RV park. The campground at the divide was nice, with decent amenities. We went and celebrated the owner and his sister’s birthday. He sold his ranch near Grand Prairie about 4 years ago when Mad Cow disease destroyed the Canadian beef market in that area, especially because the sick cow came from an adjacent farm.

Day 18 - July 16 - 130 Miles by Brett

Today was a mosquito day. It rained all night, getting several of our sleeping bags and clothes wet. We had plenty of mosquitos to help us get on the road quickly. They were even worse than Grand Forks or Harlem. The only way there could’ve been more was if they had been smaller…and they were in all different sizes. Rita and Madison even found an albino mosquito in the van after everything was packed. We had just as many mosquitos in the van as outside when we started this morning. Once we were on the road, the cool morning air lifted our spirits and we quickly left the nasty bugs at the Liard River.
The road was wide, with good shoulders, but had enough roughness to make one appreciate the smooth paved roads around O’Fallon. Gage and Gavin rode 41 and 31 miles, respectively, with no problem. Race and Madison both did their 20 miles behind on the tandem. Rita got on and went 61 miles, leaving me with a solo ride the last 28 miles into Watson Lake. We’d often top a rise on the highway and see rugged peaks in the distance, drawing closer as we edged nearer to Watson Lake. We saw two buffalo and one fox with a kit (pup). We approached the buffalo with caution, as they were both right alongside the highway and we weren’t sure of their intentions.

We stopped at Contact Creek and got a soft ice cream, reminded me of Steve and Scott’s Saturday rides. Stayed at the Downtown RV Park, a gravel parking lot with power and water outlets, ran by a Scotsman named Archie. He pointed us to his establishment for food. It was burgers for a price, but very good. Afterwards, we went to the local grocery store, where we paid $8 for a gallon of milk and $3.89 for a small bag of ice (very pricey). We combined two days, so now we are a day ahead. We’ll continue north tomorrow after a well deserved shower and good night’s sleep

Day 17 - July 15-Day Off Liard Springs by Brett

We slept in after a long soak in the hot springs last night. There are two pools, one is about waist deep and the other is about 9 feet. Madison was ill this morning with a headache and upset stomach. I cleaned bike chains and swatted mosquitos. Rita and the others, except Madison, went to the pools for another soak. After everyone returned, we made a short trip over to the nearby Liard River Lodge. The lady at the desk was going to charge us for filling our water jug up. After we bought some expensive groceries ($5 for a quart of milk) she said we could have our water for free. Rita and I shook our heads about her desire to make a buck out of us. After getting our “free” water, we made lunch and then rested in the afternoon, trying to keep cool in our hot tent. We finally had to escape the heat and headed back to some cool spots in the hot pools for a short soak before supper. When we returned, Rita and I cooked up some pasta over the fire. Some of the best tasting pasta we’ve had for some time.

Day 16 - July 14 -102 Miles by Brett

Sadly, left Summit Lake and headed along the lake until reaching the top of the Summit Lake pass. At the pass, there were two caribou in the gravel pit. Heading down the pass into the MacDonald River valley, we stopped for several Stone sheep, a bunch of ewes with some lambs and one nice ram. The ride down into the bottom of the valley was scenic, with rollercoaster type hills and descents along the MacDonald River. Crossed the Racing River, a swift, full river with milky colored water and continued up towards Toad River Lodge. Road is still narrow, with scarce traffic. One RV, with Alaska plates, passed us with horn blaring and then almost ran over Gage who was about 30 yards ahead of us…need to put that driver on a bike for 70 miles and let him ride in the gravel. Stopped at Toad River, about 31 miles into the ride and filled our water jug up. We’re going through about 3 gallons/day, even more when it is hotter. At Toad River, we finally saw our first moose in the backyard of someone’s trailer. Just 10 miles farther, Gage rubbed the tandem’s back wheel and went down hard. Thank God, no broken bones, just some scrapes, so we went another mile before changing drivers, putting Rita onto the Litespeed. Still steadily climbing, we stopped after 10 miles for lunch. The road continued upward for another 25 miles, with a stop at Muncho Lake for a quick juice break and to rest a hot left foot. Downhill after Muncho Lake with our final stop at Liard Hot Springs (lots of mosquitos). Taking a day off here to soak our weary legs and backs.

Day 15 (July 12) (65 miles) by Brett

Left Prophet river Muni Campground early (0645) because the mosquitos drove us out. We were on the road in record time (1hr). No wind to a tailwind coupled with a slight downhill almost all the way to within 2 miles of Fort Nelson made for a fast ride. We had to pay for all of the down hill with a steep 1 mile uphill into town. No animals today, just lots of horse flies and mosquitos...not nearly as bad as Harlem, Montana, but darn near. put up camp in the Westend RV camp, then went and pigged out at the local pizza place. We went to the nearby museum for sightseeing. We had trouble uploading photos, so decided to use text until we are able to show pics of our journey.

Day 14- (July 11) (74 miles) By Brett

We started from Pink Mountain at the top of a long hill, near the legendary Suicide Hill. Nice wide shoulders, tailwind, low traffic, and beautiful vistas on this day. There was a steep, steep downhill on the ride down to Chief Siskanni River, about 16 miles into the ride. Got a picture of me using the local facilities at the lodge at the bottom. On the climb out of the river bottom, Gavin took a spill in the gravel, but no injuries. We saw four black bears on the ride, but still no live moose, only road kill. Stayed at the Prophet River Provincial Campground, where the only water is from a spring with a sign that says “Spring Water Boil Before Use”. Went by auto to Prophet River, about 9 miles away, and replenished our 5 gallon water bladder, as we’ll need the water to complete the ride into town tomorrow.

Day 13 (July 10) (67 miles) by Gage

Today we simply biked for the most part. We left camp at around 10:30 and finished at 3:00. The roads are starting to get hillier as we near the Rockies again. For lunch, we had ham and cheese sandwiches, cherries, and bananas. No sightseeing today, besides the beautiful landscape we get to see everyday. Gavin and I took a couple falls on our bikes today. Luckily, I only fell in a gravel driveway while going slowly, and Gavin fell in the grass while heading out from camp. We are now at our new camp called Pink Mountain Camp. We had potatoes and onions-which we cooked in the fire with tinfoil. We also had the classic hotdogs, and marshmallows. Before we went to bed, we sat down and played cards. The weather here is about 65 degrees, cool, nice and beautiful. This trip sure is cool!

Day 12 - by Rita, 64 miles (July 9)

We started our day at mile post “0” RV park, we were all well-rested after our day off. The bikes were all serviced and we headed out. The terrain has changed a bit. There are no longer the big majestic Mountains although there are lots of trees and a couple rolling hills. This area has crop land where ever the trees have been cleared. We were fortunate to see a rather large Elk ranch where they had the Elk penned near the highway. The antlers on the Bull Elks were amazing (we took several pics). There was quite a head wind and so we had quite a little work for the rather short distance we covered. We also had to go through about 10 miles of road work where they made us ride through it on a pilot truck. Brett was not overly excited about that but Rules are Rules. We did make a fun stop at a Bee store (The Honey Place) ; it was fun to see the bees working in the hive they had set up for viewing. We bought some blueberry honey there and it was amazing! We arrived to our camp site early and set up camp. This place was kind of like a little German Community in the middle of the woods. Every thing was clean and orderly and the restaurant had every thing homemade right down to the toast that they served

Day 11 (0 miles) (July 8) by Madison

We took the day off today here at Dawson Creek, mile zero of the Alcan Highway. It drizzled almost all morning. As dad worked on cleaning all the bike chains, we read books and napped in the tent until about noon. After relaxing in the tent, we went to an art gallery that was in a historic converted grain elevator. Then we went to a museum that showed the history of the Alcan. After PB and J’s for lunch, we took a picture with a Mountie at the mile 0 sign. In the afternoon, we walked through town and looked at the murals, which were really creative. Then we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. We went back to camp and decided to go play on the seesaws. There was also a car show that day with some really neat old cars. Of course during our expedition I (Madison) have decided I like that really tiny-looking, new car. It’s called a Pulse (the car you can see on Wii commercials or the Pink Panther with Inspector Cluzoe). We talked to a lady here who said that she came all the way up here in a Pulse from Vancouver on just 61 dollars for gas.

Day 10 - (87 miles) (July 7) by Brett

Left Grande Prairie after a short shopping spree at the local supermarket and Ernie’s Sports store, gathering some needed supplies. Started riding just short of the Smoky River Bridge, starting with a huge climb into town and then a long ride into the wind. The good part of the ride was the wide shoulder on the road. Stopped at Beaverlodge and got a good picture at the big Beaver statue. Near Swan Lake, took Rita on a wild ride into the ditch when we went off the road while trying to get our supply team’s attention. Cruised into Dawson Creek and stayed at the Mile “O” RV Park. We’re taking the next day off.

Day 9 (July 6) (106 Miles) by Madison

This morning we got up to a rain-washed outside. We left at about 9:45. It has been cloudy and very hilly. Good shoulders on the road with lots of big truck traffic. On our trip today we saw a coyote and a black bear; the bear looked right at us when we rang the bell on the tandem. While in the car, Race and I entertained ourselves by playing sound-effect chopsticks and the dreaded quiet game. We went 106 miles today. Dad went the whole way; Mom 56; Gage 50;Gavin 30;Madison (me) 30; and Race 20. We are staying at a R.V park for the night; the people were kind enough to let us stay on a tenting area in the back. We are close to the showers and bathrooms. Today, we have gone pretty far, and fortunately, nothing has gone wrong. We’ll write, I mean type, for tomorrow. Well, ta ta for now.

Day 8 by Gavin July 5th 40 miles

We only went forty miles today but it was fun all the same. Today was fairly uneventful in the way of biking but at the campsites it was fun. This morning when we woke up we got a hot breakfast once again, and all of the kids went down to the river and washed our faces and gave our selves some painful brain freezes just from the water on our faces.
The shoulder was very narrow but the logger trucks were kind and gave us plenty of room. Although dad tried to make our ending spot downhill every day, but alas he was unable predict this monster of a hill before hand. After reaching the town which was on top of the hill, we visited the information center at Grand Cache (the town). then we headed over to our campsite and put up our tent. We then went out to eat at Milos and were going to swim but the recreation center in town was having a power outage. Not only that but when went to update the blog at the local library, they had no internet because they also were experiencing a power outage. What was nice about the camping ground was that it had showers and it had some washers and dryers for our clothes. After taking our showers and washing the clothes, we ate our dinner of hamburgers over an open fire. Then as we tried making s’mores, it started to rain on us so we got into the tent and began watching blood diamond on the laptop before we went to bed.
For the most part, today was as exciting as every day of this trip has been.

Day 7, by Rita 120 miles (July 4)

Today we were up early, tent packed, bikes adjusted, everyone fed, and on the road by 9:30 am. It had rained during the night and the tent had to be packed still damp so we put it up as soon as we made camp here at Big Berland River camp ground. The lake next to our camp site last night had quite a few resident loons (the birds) that called back and forth during the wee hours of the morning. What an eerie sound they make as it echoes over the still water.
We had a great day of riding although Brett finished out the day by him as the roads got narrower and there were a lot of logging trucks traveling it. It was also very hilly (big hills), I don’t think there was any level portion, he was either going up and or down the whole last 46 miles. He finished strong and we were all happy to see the camp site was by the river. After starting the fire the boys all had to go down for a dunk in the glacier cold river. It was a daring thing to do and even Race could not be outdone. I will try to include a few pictures. Because of our position near the bride on a railroad track, during the night, the noise of a train crossing was deafening. What made it worse was that it traveled very slowly and it sounded as if it were rattling through our tent.
As we tooled along the Yellow Head Highway and then the Big Horn Highway all of us in the van were kept entertained looking for wild life and were rewarded by two new species to ad to the list. Although, the moose we saw was road kill. The bear we saw quite near the road we believed to be one of the mighty grizzly. We also saw a large bull elk and another big herd of cow elk. We also had to stop for some Big Horn Sheep crossing the road in the middle of the day.
Our day has had lots of giggles and laughs; we talked with several fellow travelers and covered lots of territory. We burned our baked potatoes in the camp fire but did salvage enough to eat with our meal. The kids have put there pocket knives to good use and are currently carving walking staffs out of the willow here around our camp. As we travel farther North the Mosquitoes are getting a bit thicker. We have not yet been chased into the tent but we have been warned that it could get that bad. My great plan of shaving the dog down before our trip did not work out so well. She is now a moving target for the every biting bug around. And also she gets to cold at night sleeping on top of the sleeping bags and seeks refuge in the bottom of some ones sleeping bag. She has been lucky to find a friend to share with her every night so far. Well Ta for now.

Day 6, by Rita (July 3)

We are taking a little break today, at a camp site named Honeymoon lakes just south of Jasper. We are getting pretty good at setting up camp and tearing it down every day. Every one has there job and it all gets done. The camp site we are at does not have running water so we went to town to the swim pool. On our way we stopped at Athabascan chutes, (Falls) what a wonderful mile or so walking tour of some beautiful falls. One of those little side detours that you don’t know what you will be seeing till you get there. We also saw 20 mountain goats with kids(baby goats) on the way into town in the same spot as yesterday.
The pool facility had a very large hot tub and steam room. The kids enjoyed the slide and diving board; I enjoyed the nice clean showers. It was well worth the trip in to town.
We also stopped at the library and up loaded our journal for the first 5 days. Nice little library, we had to practically drag the kids out of there as they had all started reading a book. We ate at the Jasper Pizza house and headed to the tent so that we could start a fire and make some s’mores as we had promised the kids. On the way back we saw two black bears right next to each other going up an embankment next to the road. So all those clean faces went to bed streaked with soot once again. They were all happy and full though.
I have to say in over view of our trip. The sites have been spectacular and the people we have met have been very friendly. Other bikers stop us often to chat and give us a heads up on what to expect ahead of us and ask what they have a head of them. We have not seen many Journeying along with kids. So far our biggest trial is keeping every one fed. Brett is pretty good at manning the Coleman for breakfast and I can make a pretty mean sandwich. I don’t even have to get to creative as they all want peanut butter and jelly. We are eating out about every other day and the kids don’t leave a crumb on there plates.
I hope that you all are having a great summer! We are!

Day 5 by Brett (July 2)

Departed Waterfowl Lakes after talking with a friendly guy from Edmonton. He gave us the scoop on the road to our North and the big mountain we had to go up to get to our next stop at Honeymoon Lake Campground. At 30 miles, we hit the big hill with the boys on single bikes and me and Madison on the tandem. What a climb! It never seemed to end. After getting to the top, we coasted down to the Columbia Icefields Interpretive Center and switched out riders. Riding down the mountain was fun, but the fun came at a price, as the gaps on the road were extremely jarring…but no accidents. Rode the bikes to a Honeymoon Campground. Only running water is from a cistern and when you run over and get it, but the place is nice. We went into Jasper and had a very nice pizza meal at Jasper Pizza. On the way in we saw two black bears, a herd of elk, and 10 goats. Day off on 3 July to update our website and rest sore muscles.

Day 4 by Gavin 85 miles (July1)

Instantly after waking up at 6:30 we started eating breakfast and packing up all of our stuff. By 8:00 we were riding our bikes. By the way, today is Canada day. While going through Banff National park, we at Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. While still in the park, we stopped at Johnson canyon which had two unreal waterfalls, to walk the trail which had many amazing features. At one waterfall, you were in a cave right next to it and were sprayed with water. You would be amazed at the color of the water its actually blue from the glacier melt not only that but its colder than anything you ever felt. We stopped at a town and looked an outdoor sports store and stopped and got candy at an old time candy store. Not only that but we some food at a nearby bakery and café. I got an apple tart, Mom ate some date cake with Madison, and Race, Gage, and Dad had gigantic chocolate chip cookies. Before that, we stopped at the visitor’s center and picked up some little Canadian flags. We then went up to Lake Louise, an unreal blue/turquoise colored lake. So far, I’ve seen quite a bit of people who speak French as their main language instead of English. On the way down, a little boy kept petting Dash our Dog, and all he could say in English was “doggie” and “sit”. We then got back on our bikes and rode to mosquito creek campground which was our planned camping spot and was conveniently named, which was full. So, we went to our back up spot, Waterfowl Lake which was further on and found a campsite. Although, there had been a bear reported wandering around the campground two days before, and the park wardens had placed a live bear trip in one of the empty camp sites. There was even bear scat near our tent site. We tried hard to make a fire but our wood was damp. We went to bed with a few smoky s’mores in our stomachs.
For now, Gavin signing off.

Day 3 typed by Gavin (short day) (June 30)

Today we were going to have a break day but our camp site at Sundance lodges was full for that night because of Canada day (July first) which is Canada’s anniversary of becoming a country. So instead of not riding at all we ended riding 15 miles to the next open camping site in order to get a spot to put our tent, we had to take a RV spot because the other 100 tent sites were completely full. When we got there the Canadian guy next to us, whose name was Lauren, introduced us to his dog Amber and told us he had another dashaund but had to put it down 3 weeks ago. We had got there about 2:00 so we went to the city of Banff to look around, while there we looked at the Fairmont Banff springs hotel, named the castle of the Rockies for good reason and even though it was built in the late 1800’s it looks like it was built yesterday because it is well taken care of. We drove back to Canmore which is basically a town filled lodges for people to stay at during vacations. When we got there we got some food at the grocery, filled up the van with gas, and ate at a gourmet pizza place called Boston Pizza. We then went back to our campsite at Willow rock campground and it was about 10:00 so we went to bed right away.

Day 2 Typed by Gage (June 29)

Wow! Today was quite an experience. After packing up from our campsite, we set off intending to bike about 110 miles today. We started at 9:45 a.m. About 20 miles into the bike we passed a farmer’s/rancher’s fence which had hats on all the fence posts. It looked pretty cool (we should have a pic of that). We also saw a farmer training/working a team of horses. After 32 miles into the ride we stopped at a town called Longview which had the “world’s best jerky”. While we were there, it really started thundering and pouring, and we had our lunch at the Twin cities café. We haven’t found any internet access yet to download these journal entries yet. All the libraries are closed this week because up here in Canada it is a four day vacation (for Canada Day). The rain showers continued to douse us as we entered the Rockies. The hills were really hard, but it paid off on the downhill. We had a 28 mile downhill ride. Dad was cruising! While in the Rockies, we saw Rocky Mountain sheep, Elk, and beautiful scenery. At the end, we stopped at our 110 mile mark at the Sundance campsite nestled in between all these ominous mountains. They had teepee’s and trapper’s tents for campers to sleep in. We got the trapper’s tent. It was still pouring cats and dogs when we got there so thank goodness for the tents and teepee’s that were already there. We ended our biking at 8:00 p.m. Also, this campsite had showers. It’s a relief to be able to go to bed nice and clean after a nice hot shower. We’re all pretty wiped after covering 202 miles in our first two days. We’ll see what tomorrow has in store for us.

All; report on day one; (June 28)

This is Madison typing; we started our biking adventure yesterday at 2:00.We entered Canada through the Chief Mountain port, on the northeast side of Glacier National Park. We stayed the night camped in our tent at Chain Lakes Provincial Park. We ate fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and Pringles. Our “neighbors” had a pot belly pig that kept squealing. The country side is spectacular and looks like Glacier National Park. We have seen beaver dams, cows, deer, a coyote, and even an elk. My dad rode his bike for 92 miles just 8 miles short of our campsite and will make the 8 miles up on day 2.The roads are up and down and no flats are nearby. The temperature is just right and all is going well.

Sincerely,
The Owens

A special note to my dad’s biking friends; the road has been great; it has a wide shoulder and not to busy with cars. He would go faster with you all here, but for now we’re all he’s got.

Here is our Ofallon group for the Monday night ride.

This is the group of guys at the O'fallon YMCA Monday night ride.

Up and Running

hey guys!

Our traveling blog has now been created. Make sure to stay updated!