Actually, it was nearly silent, which is what I was trying to capture, but the video cam has an auto-gain, and when it is that quiet, it starts recording feedback. It sounds like insects, so I left it in, but in reality, it was DEAD quiet. It was really a beautiful spot, despite the crappy weather and the campfire ban.
Emerson Lakes campground to Evansburg , AB click on image below for larger version More of the same, 'till we'd had enough and called "uncle"
cold and wet. Again. I'd scouted what seemed to be an interesting connector road through the maze of pipeline access roads. Nice and curvy, up at elevation, through forest land. Unfortunately, as soon as we got above about 3800ft, we were riding in the clouds. the ground was soaked, and goggles would bead up as if it was raining, but it was just a heavy, dense fog... bordering on a mist. The chill permeated through every layer we'd wear. I was keeping an eye on the knobs... I knew that if they started to pack up, we'd have to turn around. conditions deteriorated from there. :huh We had about 30-40 miles of this. And we weren't sure if it went through, or if we'd have to backtrack. Needless to say, our morale was taking a beating. "words" were exchanged. The intercoms were turned off for a little while to cool down.
we came to a gas facility, and it seemed we'd hit a dead end. We turned around, and saw this marking the road we'd just finished riding. I scrolled around the GPS for a few minutes, and realized that we just needed to take the continuation of that road, and it would spit us out on the highway where we could get gas, hot coffee, and dry off. <iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" width="640" height="360" src="https://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1330906168_BSMNZ8n?width=640&height=360"></iframe> Sure enough,
progressed from lower-elevation rolling hills, to flatter prairie, this is how we felt, and when it came time to start thinking about where we were going to stop for the day, neither of us was in the mood to camp again with the weather looking like this: so we took our chances in the one-horse, one-motel town of Evansburg, AB.
but we could only find this one: It didn't look like much from the outside. Or the inside. But we got a room, for pretty cheap, and sidled up to the bar. The people couldn't be nicer. The motel/liquorstore/restaurant owner was a motorcycle rider, and had us park our bikes out back next to his motor home. We had some grub at the bar, and hung out the evening drinking with locals, swapping stories, and having some good laughs. It was Stanley Cup playoffs, and was kind of a trip to be sitting in a Canadian bar watching hockey with the locals. Quite a hoot. All in all, a pretty good day.
I can't believe I finally caught up. Just in time for more! Thanks for all the work you have put in to this. Its been awesome.
Holy smokes, batten down the hatches on the ADVloft...:eek1 You and LDF stay safe, (but take pictures!)
I made it into work this morning in the thick of it, wearing a kevlar mesh padded jacket, and a motocross helmet with goggles. -- I looked like the original Stig, all in black. On my bicycle. :huh Streets empty except for cops, deadfall and debris all over the place, standing water at intersections, and gusty winds. Good times.
For the longest time I'm thinking to myself... I know this is funny, but I'm not making the connection. But the second I heard LDF (who got it right away) say it out loud -- "Emerson lakes... Palmer?", it triggered the recollection. Well played, sir.
of riding for M7. We were giving ourselves a few days to do some comprehensive maintenance on the bikes, and Dave (AlbertaStrom) had been kind enough to offer up a spare room, garage space and tools. So Dave & Wanita's would be our final destination, only 70 or 80 miles away. It was another dreary morning, but our barfriends from Evansburg came out to say good morning and send us on our way. <iframe src="https://api.smugmug.com/services/embed/1330905242_dQV8DQJ?width=640&height=360" frameborder="0" height="360" scrolling="no" width="640"></iframe>
to get across the Pembina, once past that, though, we aimed for the straight dirt farmroads. through small towns, replete with woodland caribou, and other wildlife: these little mayflies were horrendous. They were so thick, I thought I was going to suffocate. We couldn't even talk to each other on the intercoms, 'cause you'd get a mouthfull of bugs.