Well it wasn’t the start one would hope for on the first day of a long journey. The weather in Calgary was the pits. It was cold and raining when I left today at 5am. Luckily I have really good rain gear and set off for a rather long day.

Today I’ve seen everything from a drizzle leaving Calgary, temperatures just above zero in Nanton, hail just outside of Nanton (almost like snow on the road), fog and for parts of the day blazing heat. Literally ‘four seasons’ in one day.

I’ve never seen fog like that in Alberta in the summer time. On highway 533 from Nanton to highway 22 it was so thick that I had to slow down on the highway to 50kph just to see. It was pretty early in the morning so there was no traffic but if I can’t see what are the odds that someone else can’t see me? As luck would have it I saw a herd of deer just minutes before entering the fog (there were about 20 of them grazing on the side of the road and crossing) – whew!

It’s great leaving during the wee and ungodly hours because you end up having the whole highway to yourself. I saw about 6-8 cars/trucks from Nanton to the turn off from Waterton.

I always get a bit nervous crossing the border. I’ve only had one experience where they searched all my stuff. Today a few questions from the border guard and a little fun at my expense – “800 cc’s – such a ‘small’ bike – says he.

A quick tour through the “going to the sun” highway which is spectacular. It was very busy with traffic which kind of dulls the shine of the experience but still well worth it. Quite a few delays for road reconstruction certainly made this part of the day longer than expected. Interesting that the road is being rebuilt much like the original social programs in the 1930s – apparently some forms of socialism like roads are okay down here in the US.

Rather than taking the interstates as planned I let the GPS pick the routes. It worked quite well and really only added about 1-1.5 hours to the day. A bit more scenic, a bit less traffic and some roads I hadn’t ridden before. I’ve used my best judgment on some of the GPS suggestions as they occasionally were wild goose chases – luckily I brought maps, too.

Had a good chat with another rider here at the hotel. He met his family in Halifax for a function. He rode from Terrace, BC across Canada and is working his way back home through the states. We both chatted about ‘bike stuff’ (apparently he’s always wanted a VFR) and our travels as we both nearly ran out of gas – doh!

Internet connection at the hotel is not working so I’ll post pics tomorrow from my next destination.

I don’t think I’ll be able to avoid the interstates as much tomorrow as I have even more ground to cover (roughly 1000 kilometers).

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It’s was a really great riding year. A couple trips across western Canada, down into southern Oregon and many point in between. After spending time on the roads in the southwestern US, it’s pretty hard to get motivated to ride through the areas this side of the Rockies – so not a lot of Alberta trips this year. Lack of money didn’t seem to slow me down much this year as I put on as many kilometres as most riding years.

My final odometer reading for 2009 was 55,810 kilometres. I rode 14,244 kilometres this summer, even with a late start and dismal weather this spring.

As always it’s a sad day when I have to cover my l’il red Honda up and tuck it in for the winter. I must say, with 55,000+ kilometres on my bike in just three years, I’m glad to see just how reliable Honda bikes really are. This bike should easily make it to 100,000 kilometres with little or no physical cost for parts. Next year I’ll have to bite the bullet and have the valves checked – a $1200 hit.

I’m hoping to save enough money to buy a professional tire changing machine. This will save money on my own tire changes (at least once a year) and pay for itself in about 3 years. I’ve also toyed with the idea of opening a small shop to do motorcycle tire changes. There appears to be a gap in the Calgary market for this type of simple maintenance. We’ll see what winter brings….

5 more months to plan next year’s marathon journey. With a bit more money and some free time next summer I’ll have to venture to new points unknown.

Mike:

We made it successfully. Fiona did especially well on her first long day ride. No mishaps or issues to report for our first day.

The start was a bit of a concern as the temperature in Calgary was only 8 degrees, cloudy and threatened rain. It was a very chilly ride until we got almost to Blairmore and finally warmed up to about 20 degrees around Cranbrook.

We met up with our group of fellow VFR riders here in Nelson. A smaller group this year but a great group nonetheless. Fiona will be taking the day off to explore Nelson and I’ll be out riding with the fellers on there bikes.

Tomorrow we’ll head off west towards Merritt, BC.

Fiona:

The ride form Calgary to Nelson was my longest ride ever, and in spite of the chilly start (it was only 9C when we left the city Friday morning) it turned out to be a great day for a “spin.” The scenery along the way was fabulous – even the foggy rainy stuff near Nanton (which didn’t really look like Alberta at all). Once we warmed up, it was much easier to enjoy things (for me, anyway). We stopped for plenty of rests to stretch our legs along the way, and I finally got a taste of what Mike is always telling me about – the inevitable conversation between riders that strats with “Hey, nice bike,” and covers geography, weather, and all manner of subjects.

We didn’t end up taking the ferry into Nelson, instead choosing to ride through the pass from Creston. The road is less twisty, but still scenic, and the pictures below were taken at a rest area at the top of the pass. It’s a beautiful road. Still, I think we were both pretty happy to see Nelson and find a cold beer in the pub of the New Grand Hotel. After our less-than-summery start to the day, it was pretty nice to find some warm weather, too.

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