End of Chapter 1

Our trip from the last update to here has been a great one. We left Cranbrook a few days ago now and headed towards Fernie. Along the way we met a tame crow and tried to wait out a thunderstorm only to get drenched and cold later. We went through a short tunnel in the mountainside as we biked from Elko to Fernie. (Elko being where we stopped for lunch and where the crow, Squakie, was). The other side of the tunnel is notorious for the bad weather, and it did not disappoint us. When we were roughly 5 minutes from Fernie my front tire, which I had noticed was splitting apart (the new tires I got to start the trip in Halifax did not last long...) blew. So we had to do a highway side, in the pouring rain, with all the traffic zooming by, cold as ever, tire and tube change. We decided Tim's would be a great place to warm up and that is where we met our host for the night, Steve. Steve mistook Neal for a biking friend of his. When he heard our story he asked us if we had a place to stay in Fernie and then offered for us to stay with him. So we did. He was a really cool guy. We had a BBQ and he got us some beer. The next day we busted "over" crows nest pass and into Alberta. It felt like quite an accomplishment to finish a province. The changes in landscape were surprisingly quick to happen too. Suddenly there was grass everywhere. The foot hills rolled and waved at us rather than strike intense awe like the mountains had. We of course could see the mountains for a while. The foothills really are awesome though. We saw Frank Slide (in the early 1900s part of Turtle Mountain broke off and destroyed a whole town). We saw a family of Great Horned Owls at our campsite the other night. From that campsite we went for a big day (120k+) into Lethbridge. The terrain flattened out more and more as we were pushed and helped along by a massive West to East tail wind. Our hosts Greg and Leah have been very nice to us. We took the day off yesterday. We went to a bike shop and a used book store, where we stocked up on some reading material. We went to a record store and then saw the movie Up. Up was amazing. We all highly recommend it. 3D movies are just way cool. Well, e are getting off to a nice and slow start here today. We had a bit of a patio/kitchen party last night, which was great. In two days we'll be past Medicine Hat. Then we'll do the Cypress Hills. Basically, we are going to be in Saskatchewan in no time. All of us would like to wish our fathers a Happy Fathers Day. Take care everyone. Willem, Patrick, and Neal.

Cranbrook

Well, we are in Cranbrook. Our campsite is not glamorous. And we certainly aren't either. The ride today was fairly easy. We had a relaxed start to the day and then seemed to spend most of the day going down hill. We biked the length of the Moyie Lake. Last night we spent the night in Yahk, at the provincial park there. Yahk is a pretty small place. We've also been to Wynndel where we were able to meet up with Pat's relative Jill and her family. They frequently get deer, coyotes, black bears, grizzlies, and herds of elk on their expansive valley farm property. They were very nice and feed us moose meat burgers. Brgrs? k? Moose brgrs? k. The days are still beautiful. We are fortunate to spend almost the entire day out doors, everyday. Naturally we get to see many awesome things daily such as the mountains, storms, wild life and we do lots of cloud gazing in the late afternoon and evening at the campsite. Neal and I saw a deer couple. Prom king and prom queen at the deer prom. They were separated by the road with us in between. The male, with his antlers just beginning to show, bounded across the street and they had a romantic reunion. Patrick made some delicious eggs for breakfast today with the new frying pan that we purchased. Check for excellent purchase. Yesterday we decided it was incredibly majestic listening to Sigur Ros in the mountains. We all love when birds fly with us. Every now and then a bald eagle or some great blue herons will fly just above us and follow our journey. These things often lead to conversations about Legend of Zelda. We're aiming to get to Lethbridge Alberta in four days. We also happen to have a random connection there for a place to crash. We all hope things are well back home. Willem, Neal and Patrick.

Rock Creak fair trade coffee wi-fi

Well we busted over the Anarchist Pass today. We got up really early this morning because we heard it is just super hot at all other times of the day. Turns out it is pretty hot in the early morning too. But we made it. It was an intense ride up with lots of switchbacks. We rocked an 8 or 9 % grade for 8 km up and then it eased up a bit but we kept goign up. The scenery is beautiful. Huge expansive grass fields with trees and cows and horses dotting them. The mountains are all around us. In the distance are huge mountains with snow. There are hawks and countless other birds flying all around us. Ground hogs are everywhere as well. We saw some stupid deer on our trek down the mountain today. One of them decided to wait until trucks were coming in both directions before making the awkward bound across the highway. He made it ok! The other one waited until we were right by it and then turned and jumped over a fence and hopped and bounced down the mountain side into the woods. We went for a swim last night in Osoyoos lake to try and cool off once we reached our campsite (a small piece of grass beside a waterslide in town). The bike ride from Princeton to Osoyoos was intense. I think it was more grueling than the Allison pass. The first bit to Hedley was easy and nice. We cruised along a back road off the highway. Hedley is, well, small. We could see some old mining cabins up the mountain side though, which were cool. I can't fathom going up there though...60+ switchbacks and an average grade of 12%! We biked on to Keremeos and had lunch. The landscape had changed from huge trees to a very dry deserty feel. When we did the push from Keremeos to Osoyoos we felt the full weight of the desert. It was nothing but heat and hills. Down a little and then up a lot. Or at least it felt that way in the 30+ heat with no real wind. By the end of it we were all a little out of it and just wanted to crash for the night. Today being Neal's birthday and all, we are going to take a relaxing afternoon and set up camp and then just hang out and party. Maybe we can find a birthday cake somewhere for him. The lad you knew as Neal is a man now. 22 has never looked this good. Sitting at lunch he was showcasing the biking spandex, a wife-beater, moustache, helmet sweat hair slicked back into a pseudo mullet. But, we all love it. I hope things are well back in the maritimes or wherever you are reading from. So long, from BC: Willem, Neal and Patrick.

one

Well here it is finally. Blog travel entry number one. It is nice to type on something that is not the Black Berry, although this keyboard on Ian's mini PC is pretty small too. Right now we are in Princeton BC. It has taken us a few days to get here. Back a week ago Neal and I flew into Vancouver and got to see where we'll be biking all in one go. Patrick met us at the airport with bike tools and my BOB trailer he picked up for me. Without too much difficulty we assembled our bikes and then literally rode out of the airport. Pat flew into Vancouver a few days early to see the city and to spend some time with Kate.

Neal and I headed out to Victoria. The ferry ride was great but sadly we did not see any whales. Some seals and eagles made apperances though. The ride was beautiful through all the islands. Karin and Peter, my aunt and uncle, met us on the otherside and took us to their place. They fed us a nice BBQ dinner and then it was early to bed. We spent the next day touring around Victoria and went to Mile 0! we also got to splash around in the Pacific ocean a bit. I got to see my cousins Gavin and Brett over the couple nights we were there. Gavin on male athelete of the year at his high school!

We came back to Vancouver via the ferry and I got my first flat tire on the way so we missed the 9 o'clock ferry and had to take the 11. There were more tire issues once on the other side and Neal had to do some biking and searching to find a replacement tube. We saw lots of great blue herons nesting in trees! We made it to Kate's place and had lamb shanks and stout beer for dinner. Pretty hearty for June. The next day we did some errands and then headed out to Mission. The errands took longer than expected so it was looking like we wouldn't make it all the way. We met a lady who took us to a campsite and then set up for our first night camping. Since then we have traveled through Hope and up and over the Allison Pass (1342m)! Biking up mountains for literally a day is pretty nuts. We camped in EC Manning Park, our first night in Bear country, and survived to tell the tale. It was cold up there at night. Alas, the ride up was well worth it because you can guess what happened next. We got to bike down some mountains. It was awesome and insane. We cruised well over 60 kph down some of the steeper portions. All the days so far have been filled with stunning views and scenery. Every turn on the road brings another photographic moment. If we stopped to take a picture of everything we wanted to photograph we'd never make it home. Gazing out over valleys with mountains everywhere is really awesome. Especially when we considered that we had to bike up the mountains. There haven't been too many problems besides a few flat tubes and one tire blow out issue, that left me stranded on a boring section of road for nearly 3 hours. Tomorrow we are heading out to bike 114 km to Osoyos. It should be another amazing day of adventuring and stuff to look at. To appreciate the climbs and the bombs you really have to get out here and try it out for yourself. We miss everyone at home and hope things are going great! Willem, Neal and Patrick. Dictated but not read. But not really. Jokes. But seriously. Bye!