Mitch & Mark explore the Kootenay Range 'a little'

Good Morning Sunshine

This is the 'Indian Graves' road looking east to the 'flat lands'.

Same road looking west

This is the Oldman River.... Hmmmm what a coincidence..... hmmmmm?

The Bull River Road north of Galloway and Jaffary BC. This is a great road and a wonderful day.

Can you see the smile.... ?  I LOVE this stuff.

This little guy decided he wanted to lead for a while, quite a while actually.  He didn't leave much of a dust trail so I just let him lead.

Look at the color of that water. It makes me grateful that we can go out and enjoy the majesty of the outdoors. 

Mountain Man Mitch.

This trip made us weak with appreciation of the exquisite beauty "EVERYWHERE"!

White Swan Lake, there is a guest lodge with cabins at the far end of the Lake.

Fall colors just starting to come on.... Sighhhh.... Wow georgeous. Pictures only capture some of the essence of the whole experience, there is so much more just being there.

Man and Machine....

Another Man and another Machine.

Nice giddup!  Like it?  The newest swimming boots, just in for the fall season....

In case you were wondering, this is a natural hot spring at the side of the river. It's a nice place clean, and best of all free for all to enjoy....

Morning day #2.... The rising sun backlights the rugged essence of the Kootenay Range. 

This is Iceworm Creek, we are on our way to Kootenay Lake.  Up and over Grey Creek Pass. So, beautiful.... The views litterally take our breath away.

This was a great adventure, no "MFU's" (Major foul up's).... Both Mitch and I are impressed with the durability and capeability of these bikes.  We were on some pretty rough roads and covered the ground a whole lot faster than a 4 wheel drive or quad could ever do it.  Fully loaded and moving quickly.  The bikes are also completely at home on the highway, all you have to do is point and shoot.  

At the end of an adventure the question is "Would you do it again"?  Answer to this one is a resounding ABSOUTLY!  Mitch was awesome, the routing was fantastic, and there is so much more out there to go explore.... It's mid september and we will only have another few weeks to explore up here in the Canadian Rockies, at least for this year.  Oh well I guess we will just have to move our adventures into Mexico and parts south of there.... I don't know about you but I'm in on that Gig! 

Mark and Nola on Ride About....

Where do you want to go?  I dunno'.... How bout to the Coast again? OK.... OK then it's settled....

Metaline Falls Washington.... Cool spot....

Winthrop Washington.... also a cool spot.

Deception Pass to Whidby Island... Cool spot as well....

Sunset is upon us... Hmmmmmm..... Nice.

This is Port Townsend.  We really like this spot....

The Bishop Hotel?  Yeppers.... another cool spot.

Cool Chick on the docks ....

Me at an art gallery? Yeppers... the painting behind me is awesome..... it Looks like a photograph.

Deception Pass again...

This is the Okanagan ... It's really smokey from all the forest fires.....

A really cool hotel in New Denver BC....

This was a spur of the moment trip with my georgeous bride.  We just traveled and chatted and enjoyed some good meals and some amazing scenery.  Ya know It doesn't get much better than this.... We left Calgary September 4 at about 5:30 pm and traveled all the way to the west coast of Washington state and back to Calgary (taking the long way around) by monday evening .... I think I'm the luckiest man on the planet.  For sure I am one of the most grateful.  It is wonderful that we can share these kind of 'Adventures' together. 

July 4-5 2009 From somewhere in North Eastern Arizona to Calgary...

We got up early and pounded the road. We blasted through Arizona, Utah and a lot of Wyoming ending up in Pinedale for the 4th of July festivities.  Wow, the fireworks in Pinedale were really good.  Earlier in the day going through Rocksprings, I got shot with a Roman Candle from a bunch of rednecks on a hillside...  all in a days adventure... I thought it was funny.

This is Wilson Arch near Moab UT.... we stopped and visited with Marshall Hannum at his new bike store 'Uranium Cycle'...

Jackson Hole Wyoming..... I think we can just about see Calgary from here...

On the way home we got absolutly blasted with a thunderstorm .... Right around Browing MT, the wind and rain hit us so hard we just about got blown off the road. Then in Claresholm another thunderstorm has litterally blown 5 cars off the road just north of town... We get home before 10pm.  Great day.... fantastic journey and exquisite adventure.  LOVE IT!

July 3, 2009 Mexico by noon today...

We wake up in Silver City, New Mexico.... The storm is gone.... the day is great. We look around for a while and cruz into the Visitors Center, there is Billy the Kid's Homesite... cool spot.

From Silver City we head out to the Desert. Due to the recent rains the road is damp and the dust levels are low. The Desert is blooming with life. Wow a great road, in an amazing place. Just a few more hours and we are in Mexico. Woooooo Hooooooo! Love it! Lots of rain = plants grow... even in the desert. This is an exciting place with unique sights.... I love this adventure.... Wow.... Great stuff.

We have been seeing some bicycle tracks in the dirt and mud for the past 5 days. Seems like there was an unsanctioned 'race' from Banff to Mexico, allong the Continential Divide .... and we have been on the same track as these intrepid adventures.... These folks have been on the road for 21 days. We have been at it for 5.5 days, Hmmmmmmmmm..... I'm impressed with their grit.

We made it... Here we are at the 'Antelope Wells' border crossing ... There is no town here, no gas station, no cafe, nothing 'cept' the border Xing.... We stay here for 10 minutes and head home.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

In a few moments we will be 'winding our way back to Calgary'... We take off from 'Antelope Wells around 1-1:30 and start to "Blast" back to Calgary. The trip back home is a 'RIPPER'....

This is in a town called Lordsburg. A billboard on the way into town said " Lordsburg... Your Soul is our Goal"..... Nieeece.... This was a restraunt, we were hungry, and the sign says "Good Food", what a coincidence, I prefer to eat good food.... So we stopped. It was Good Food, infact this meal was a great experience.... Loved the place. We continue to Blast north and get into Hwy 191 North of Cliffton Arizona.... That has got to be the wiggliest road in the planet.... Wow. It was a little wet, but absolutly great none the less.... We push a few hours into the night and find a roadside place to hole up in.... Great Day.... I LOVE this Stuff....