Edmonton

Today I'm in Edmonton.  I woke up this morning feeling like a train wreck.  Ugghh.  My back and shoulder muscles are aching.  Maybe I'm not in shape for riding the bike all day long.

Here's the latest map of my progress across Canada:

I've ridden three days from Winnipeg to Edmonton.  It went something like this:

Day 1:  Winnipeg to Virden, Manitoba

180 miles

I didn't get to depart Winnipeg until late in the afternoon.  (I was waiting for my bike to get serviced.)  So I rode until the sun was setting directly in front of me and I was almost blind and couldn't see the road anymore.  My eyes were hurting by the time I stopped in Virden.  Bad decision.  I'll try not to do that again.

Day 2:  Virden to Davidson, Saskatchewan

269 miles

I passed through Regina and Moose Jaw.  I didn't see anything exciting.  Although Moose Jaw does have a few interesting murals...  Moose Jaw was apparently the headquarters for Al Capone's bootlegging operations in the early 1900's.  Working out of Canada enabled him to avoid US law enforcement to some extent...  The murals reminded me of a scene out of the Great Gatsby:

On the same day, I also rode through the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan.  My translation abilities are not perfect, but I think Qu'Appelle means the "What's-it-Called" Valley.  But I could be wrong...  The valley is the only non-flat geographic feature I saw in all of Saskatchewan.  It's a gorge dug deep out of the plains with a giant lake inside.  And because the whole province is so flat, it's almost impossible to see the gorge until you're descending into it.  Here's a picture which I stole off the internets:

Day 3:  Davidson to Edmonton, Alberta

396 miles

This day was a beast.  I think I rode for about 9 hours (with breaks).  My whole body is feeling it today.  I need a massage therapist.

I crossed from Saskatchewan to Alberta, turning the clock back another hour.  I'm in the mountain time zone now.  Saskatchewan is almost 100% flat and covered with yellow flowers.  This is what I saw the entire distance across the province...  Yellow flowers for hours and hours of riding:

And of course there are trains everywhere in Saskatchewan:

I also had a pleasant conversation on Friday morning with the Saskatchewan police.  Apparently I rode through the city of Saskatoon (Friday, July 20th) on the same day that Saskatoon was hosting the All-Canada Hell's Angels rally.  (Which explains why I've seen Hell's Angels bikers pretty much the whole way since Thunder Bay).

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Police+ready+Hells+Angels+converge+Saskatoon+national+rally/6967651/story.html

So the police had set up checkpoints on some of the major roads leading into the city, and they stopped everyone on motorcycles, including yours truly.  We had a brief conversation, I said I was riding to Edmonton, and the police checked out my paperwork, and that was it.  A couple of the police mentioned how they wished the government would buy them 1200gs's to use as police bikes.  And then I was back on my way to Edmonton.

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In the past couple days, I have realized that riding to Alaska is going to be far more challenging than I originally imagined.  I'm not quite two weeks into this bike trip, and I'm already hurting.  I'm only halfway to Prudhoe Bay.  And I'm not just riding to Prudhoe Bay; I'm trying to tour Alaska--  Denali, Anchorage, Kodiak, Haines, and a bunch of other places.  This is going to take a lot more time than I planned.  I'm thinking now that I should reach Alaska by August 1st, and I'll remain in Alaska until September 10th, give or take a few days.  I'm hoping that's adequate time.

"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly."
--Thomas Paine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmo8TmDYCI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEMmKyR11yM