Sunday, September 30, 2007

Blown into Moab



























So today is a rest day in Moab Utah.
Last post, I was headed South from Yellowstone to find fish fossils in Kemmerer Wyoming.

Wyoming was a large and rolling place with almost no trees and almost all sage-brush. As far as I could tell there were places where I'm sure there was not a single tree for 50 miles in any direction (quite like the Australian Nulabor - only colder)... Turns out that trees are smarter than I am since they chose not to live up there where the wind is strong and the air is cold. I was fighting head and cross winds of about 50Kmh all the way down to Kemmerer.When I got there I asked around and someone made a call for me and I was set to go meet the fossil guy the next morning at 9am.

After camping on the "plains" I showed up and we spent the morning at his quarry whacking rocks (the only trick to it is knowing which rocks to whack!). There is a layer of limestone in the area known as the 18" layer where all the fossils are and you just have to know where to find it. Anyway I whacked a few rocks and found a few fossils and then we sawed the bits of rock I wanted to keep into rectangles and now I'm carrying an extra few Kg of weight on my bike.
I would have stayed a bit longer there but a storm was coming in and it was already -5 or -10 degC overnight, so I scooted off South to Moab.
Before I left town though, I had my second bike accident of the trip! - While I was in a cafe having breakfast, a pretty little blond local girl who must have been about 22yo reversed into my bike and knocked it over.
So, now I have a matched set of broken signal lights!

After that I headed off South at about noon and stopped in the town of Dinosaur to look at - you guessed it - more fossils. The ride was again into a (worse) cross-wind and the winds were getting stronger! Again I camped and checked out the museums and self guided tours while I was there.
Then South again to Moab... But the storm was right on my heels and the winds were again terrible (I'm sure they were 80Kmh or more and gusty as well - Hell to deal with if you are on narrow twisty roads and the wind comes from the side.) although the air was finally getting warm. So I made it with no accidents and now I'm having a rest day in Moab :)) Its a beautiful place and I plan to spend a week or more hear climbing and doing off road trails on my bike or hiking etc.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Alberta/Montana/Wyoming
































































Well, after spending a couple of days at Yuka's place in Calg, I headed off south to try to get away from the cold. The first day was down through Waterton/Glacier national parks on the boarder with the USA. There was a very strong head/cross wind in southern Alberta and no shortage of wind farms to make use of it.
There was also lots of new snow laying in the fields and the riding was again uncomfortable.

I rode into Glacier park after buying an annual pass for the US parks, but I could not ride through as I had planned since the road in the alpine was closed. Then while taking a picture of a snowy vista in the park, I had my first bike accident of the trip... The wind blew the bike over and it broke a signal light.... did I mention it was windy!. I taped it back together and then rode back out of the park and around the south and down off the high country to where it was significantly warmer.

Then I met a bloke in a cafe where I was having dinner who kindly invited me to pitch my tent on his lawn, which I did. Next day I pushed south again and again I had to fight a strong head wind and very cold conditions as I drifted back and forth across the high country of the continental divide.
I stayed off the freeway and went through a few small Montana towns - It seems Montana is the land of strong wind, pick up trucks, and cowboy boots. I got all the way down through Montana and stopped just short of Yellowstone Park near a lake for the night ... again avoiding paying for camping by using a disused spur of the old highway.
My bike rides better at about 90Kmh than 120Kmh which I had been doing and as a result it took about four hours for my ears to stop ringing and my hands and feet to stop tingling. I'm going to try to go slower as soon as the temperatures start to rise as I get further South.

Next day I spent all day riding around Yellowstone looking at elk and bison and fumaroles and steam and boiling mud etc. - nice. Then I was headed back to the camp I used before and decide to check out one of the National Forrest camp sites on the way back.
But as luck would have it there was another touring biker there (Adam) and he let me share his camp site for the night. The night was very cold but the frost in the morning made the ride South through the Park very pretty.
And now I am running South again to go look for some fossils in Kerremer at the southern edge of Wyoming.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

The mountains on the way to Calgary




22 September

Made it to Calgary today after spending the night in Golden.

The first half of yesterday was fine and dry out to Kamloops, but then it started raining and didn't let up till I stopped riding in Golden. My feet and hands were soaked and my lower half was damp (doesn't seem to matter how much you pay for gear, when its raining and windy for six hours, you get wet). Anyway, I decided I was uncomfortable enough to get a room rather than camp and I got a good nights sleep so I think spending the money was worth it.
Today, riding to Calgary was cold but bearable. My boots and gloves were still soaked and while it wasn't raining at all, it was cold and overcast, so the wind really sucked the heat away. It was well worth installing the heated hand grips on the bike. I've had them switched on and set to high for the whole way since Kamloops.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Monday, September 17, 2007

Inaugural Posting

Starting a blog to track progress of "odyssey".