June 30 - 1st day on bikes

Today was a LONG day, started about 6 a.m. in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and ended about 6:30 p.m. in Grande Prairie, Alberta.

We didn't get too far and Bill's bike started to sputter ... yep, out of gas. BUT, we were prepared. Got out the little 1 liter jug, filled it up and on our way again.

The landscape started out flat and then we started to climb so we saw a lot of trees. Could have been in PA!! We were on a four-lane, can you believe it? When Harry did this trip about 10 years ago, it was a 2-lane. Things have changed. We were able to travel about 70 miles an hour. We're still east of the Canadian Rockies though.

The day was cloudy. Ran into a little rain but not as much as we could have (we skirted most of it). Sounds like Saskatchewan got quite a lot of rain after we left. The news talked about tornadoes.

Went through Edmonton and then Valleyview and ended up at the Super8 in Grande Prairie.

It was so windy that Anna's rainsuit ripped apart.

Here's a picture of Harry and Anna as we were going into Grand Prairie.

The hotel took care of us. When we got there, it was hotel appreciation day so we had free wine and beer

and food. We met two guys who were working on the pipeline. It wa interesting hearing about their jobs. They have some kind of tool that checks the interior corrosion. They use 4-wheelers and even helicopters to get to their work sites. I friended the one on FaceBook -- my first Canadian!!

We're only about 45 minutes away from Dawson Creek -- Mile Marker Zero of the Alcan Highway. Let's hope the rain holds out.

That's it for tonight. Talk to you tomorrow.

3rd Day - on the way to Saskatoon

Started out pretty chilly - 56 degrees BUT it's the last day in the truck YAHOO!! Left the interstate behind. For now, we're on a divided highway but I bet that ends soon. Little traffic. For entertainment, we guess how far up ahead we can see. So far, it's been about 3.5 miles. It's really flat. We saw 4 cars and Harry said, "Criminey, look at the traffic." Most we've seen since we left Jamestown 3 hours ago. Saw lots of oil drilling rigs.

Lots of grain elevators and trains as we get closer to the Canada border. No incidents at the border patrol. Anna and I were worried that Harry and Shuffy wouldn't make it through it so we sweet talked the attendant.

Estavan is the 1st city after the border. It's called the Energy City because of its coal-fired generators and oil production and has won the right to host the national music festival to raise awareness of climate change. The city of 10,000 had the most entries per capita to a web-based contest that encouraged people to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions and reduce them. Pretty cool.

The landscape in Canada is flat. Miles and miles of nothing but grass, grains of some kind because there are LOTS of grain elevators and trains to haul everything. We even saw a colorful grain elevator. There's about 15-20 miles in between each town and NOTHING in between the towns.

Saskatoon was founded in 1882 as a temperance colony under leader John Lake. According to legend, a Cree Indian brought Lake a handful of hte purple berries that grew in abundance alongside the river. Lake was so taken with the fruit he named his settlement Saskatoon, after misakquatoomina, the Indiana name for the wild berries. Today a slice of Saskatoon pie is a traditional treat recalling the city's past. Saskatoon is known as the city of bridges because of the seven spans connecting its banks.

The province of Saskatchewan grows half of the entire quantity of Canada's major export crops: wheat, oats, barley, rye, flaxseed and canola.

Billy and Harry are getting the bikes out of the trailer.

Can you tell that Bill is ready? I'm sure we'll be leaving bright and early. Not sure how far we'll make it tomorrow. Supposed to have thunder storms. Bill is getting our rain gear ready.

The owner of the motel is a Harley owner. He had spots saved for our Harleys.

June 28 - 2nd Day

Been on the road since about 6:15 a.m. Would have been on the road a little sooner but the boys got to talking to a couple who were riding their motorcycles from Bloomsburg!! They forgot about us. Anna and I had to go find them.

Wisconsin had lots of farmland but very few farms. The population density is pretty low. We saw some farms but they were few and far between. The word Winconsin has its origins in the name given the Wisconsin River by one of the Algonquian speaking American Indian groups living in the region at the time of European contact, French explorer Jacques Marquette was the first European to reach the Wisconsin River and recod its name in 1673.


Been driving about 600 miles so far. We crossed the upper Mississippi just after we crossed the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. However, if you turned the wrong way, you would miss it. Not very wide up here. The Mississippi River is the second largest river in the US with its length 2,320 miles from its source in Lake Itasca, MN, to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico.

We just drove through Fargo. Been a much easier driving day because we didn't have anything like Chicago to navigate. Harry started off driving but Anna couldn't sleep, so Shuffy took over and it was snooze time for Anna. We just missed a lot of rain. Portions of eastern North Dakota were cleaning up, a day after Mother Nature brought intense rainfall, fierce winds and hail - all in a 24-hour period.

Connectivity has not been good. The aircard was slow when I was connected but didn't have much opportunity to be connected. Not enough population.

Seems like we can reach up and touch the clouds. Feel much closer to the heavens here. Been using Harry's Princess Nuvi today. It's such a straight stretch of roads, he didn't think she could be wrong. We have about 589 miles to reach Saskatoon. I think we're all ready to get on the bikes and take off. We have about 100 miles to go yet today - -Jamestown, ND.

We are about 300 miles from the Canada border. Met some guys today that said they weren't allowed into Canada because they didn't know the address they were going to. Harry said they looked a little shady. Good thing we have a reservation at the Travelodge in Saskatoon. We probably look just as shady!!

Stay tuned to see what happens tomorrow.

First Day on the Road

We did make it to Rockford, Illinois (about 650 miles). Chicago is behind us and $60 in tolls -- thank heavens. It took us 1 hour to crawl through Chicago traffic. Sorry, Drew, I tried to get a shot of the Chicago skyline without a wire but traffic was so bad I had to take a shot when I could.

Had a nice dinner at Thunder Bay Grille and decided to stay in Rockford. It seems like a storm is coming in, lots of wind, some lightening and rain. Bill's comment is that he won't listen to the **** GPS again. He's not going through Chicago AGAIN.

Although we don't have all the comforts of home like we did last year in Lou & Dee's motorhome, we're off to a good start. Look forward to going through a new state tomorrow for Bill and Peg -- North Dakota. Talk to you tomorrow.

Don't forget, you can subscribe to the blog so you know when there are updates and you can leave us comments. We'll get back to you when we can.

On the Road

Testing out the aircard while Willy is driving. Speed is a some slower than home network but it's not too bad. Here's what we saw as we were driving away.

Hopefully stopping for breakfast soon, belly is growling. We're hoping to get to the other side of Chicago today.

The night before

Harry and Anna arrived. We've packed up the trailer. Can you believe 2 bikes fit in there?? We're all excited. Wonder what time the boys will wake up tomorrow?

I've been learning more about Canada and their provinces. When we leave our truck and trailer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, we will be above North Dakota. From there, we'll bike to Edmonton (Alberta province) and on to Dawson Creek to begin the Alaskan Highway, nicknamed the Alcan Highway. It is still considered an adventure road but the degree of difficulty has eased considerably. To read more, check out this link.

Decided we needed to change our wireless plan to include Canada so we could call without getting slammed without extra charges. We'll have coverage while we're around Saskatoon and Edmonton but then it gets pretty sparse after that.

Stay tuned to find out what time we're leaving tomorrow. Harry says 5 a.m.!!

Getting Ready

Spent some time today thinking through what all we needed to pack. Take a look at this bag we got from Gander Mountain. It looks huge. Although when we start putting clothes, helmets, and leathers, it fills up quite quickly. We're trying to pack so that we don't have to get in that large bag everyday. So we have another bag packed that we'll use for the 1st 3 days while we travel in the truck to Saskatoon. All our clothes were lovingly rolled and rubberbands put around them to try to take up the least amount of space as possible. Everything seems organized for now but I'm sure as the trip gets going, that organization won't make sense at all.

I mapquested our trip from Saskatoon to Fairbanks trying to determine where we will be for July 4. It works out that we'll probably be in Tok or Fairbanks for July 4. I think we should make room reservations just in case it gets crazy up there like it does in State College. But then you're really stuck to that schedule, so not sure what we'll do.We'll talk with Harry and Anna and decide.

Here's the way our schedule looks right now:

• July 27 - leave State College
• July 28 - 29 -- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
• June 30 - Valleyview (8hrs, 33 min)
• July 1 - Ft. Nelson (7 hrs, 50 min)
• July 2 - Whitehorse (11 hrs --YIKES)
• July 3 - Dawson City - 6 hrs, 42 mins)
• or Tok (6 hrs, 5 mins)
• July 4 - Fairbanks

Going to go read more about the towns in Alaska

Lodging in Canada

Well, we know where we'll be leaving the trailer -- WaHOO!! Harry and Anna booked the Saskatoon Thriftlodge for June 29 and July 14. We think (hope) it will take us 3 days to reach Saskatoon, probably staying around Chicago the first night.

As more plans develop, you'll find them here.

Shuffy's are on the road again

It's time once again to get on the road -- the Alaskan Highway that is. Yep, we're going to ride the Alaskan Highway on our motorcycles. Harry and Anna Carey will be riding with us. We're going to trailer the bikes to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan beginning June 27.

I've been doing a little research and thought there may be some others out there that might need the information I've found so here are a few links if you're also preparing a trip to Alaska.

1. Some ideas of what to see:
   http://alaska.org/best-of-alaska.jsp
   http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/alaska-motorcycle-road-trip-450549.html



2. What to wear:
   http://www.blogger.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://alaska.org/what-to-wear.jsp
   http://alaska.org/packing-list.jsp

Looks like I'm going to need to layer deep. When we road to Nova Scotia, I had 7 layers on. Wonder how many layers I'll be able to have and still move :-)?

So, if you've been to Alaska and want to relive your trip or maybe you've never been to Alaska but want to follow us on our trip, subscribe to this blog so you'll know when it's been updated. I can't tell you how often I"ll be able to update. That will depend on when we have a connection. But I do promise you that I'll have lots of pictures on Flickr for you.

Leave us a comment if you wish or just follow us as we head north to Alaska. -- peg and bill