June 26,2007

I have over-used my descriptive terms on this trip because I have seen so much that is truly impressive and would test any one's descriptive abilities. Today, however was really special. We left Mcbride and started down to Banff and if this route doesn't knock your socks off, you can't see. First stop (the picture on top belongs at the end and I don't know how it got there?) . The next picture is called Robson Peak before you get to Jasper. If you can, blow these pictures up to full screen because these little pictures can't do it justice. The picture just above is on the road to Lake Louise.

These pictures show the glaciers, ice fields and rivers that result from them.

Note the snow on top of the mountain picture above.

Sorry about the one above on left, I can't figure out how to turn it around. The one above is of waterfalls that are all along the road.

The picture on the left is Lake Louise, one of the most stunning bodies of water anywhere. You just stand there and say wow. The guy below didn't play "Richola", but he really did know how to play this thing. Several moving songs, had a very deep and nice tone to it.

The picture below (now on top) is the Lake Louise Lodge, a historic lodge built by the railroad in early days and rebuilt several times. Really a special (expensive) place. You owe it to yourself to try and see this area at least once in your life. This is my second time and it still wows me.

We left Lake Louise and went to Calgary for the night. It's a very large city with all kinds of big city problems. It is impressive to see the downhill jump venues and the bobsled facility from the winter Olympics when you drive into town.

Tomorrow,Wednesday, we have new tires and as it turns out rear brakes put on the bikes. Brakes? Who in this group ever uses their brakes? Seriously, nobody went warp six with their hair on fire today. It was a day of soaking it all in.

Wednesday, June 26, 2007

We found out later that John and Hayne had driven most of the night, slept in the truck and arrived in Calgary Tuesday morning and have been working on their bikes. John's son went on the Internet, found a fix from a fellow adventure rider for the fuel pump problem, called John and he fixed it in the parking lot of the KTM dealer. The dealer didn't have the KTM parts nor did anyone else in Canada, so an American Carter fuel pump was pressed into service and according to John works great. Hayne had his oil changed (no parts to fix the water pump) and they left Wednesday afternoon to get an early start towards a dealer in Missoula that we hope has the parts to fix Hayne's bike. Today, Wednesday we hung around the bike shop waiting for the tires to get changed and then back to the motel for laundry, working on catching up on the blog and repacking for the next leg to Glacier.

Here it is again, Chateau Lake Louise. Sometimes you can't find the pictures, and sometimes they are everywhere.