Million Mile Monday (and only a couple of photos)

First things, first, and that was to get the mileages from the bikes so we can register them for the HD million mile Monday. It won't be a high-mileage day since we needed to do services in Edmonton, but every little bit adds up in the end. It's a team effort after all.


Left Hinton a little before 8 a.m. No coffee because we didn't have cups to put it in. We need to purchase coffee cups … somewhere on the road today hopefully. So we stopped at Mickey D's for coffee. Jaz had an egg thing, and I actually ate something from there, a BLT bagel, and it was actually not so bad after all. We learned a new word, too, which is always a plus.

Serviette = napkin. Learning the language, one word at a time. I'm sure I'll forget it all by the time I get home … senior memory, you know.

Highway 16 is like an interstate. It's the Yellowhead Highway, and mostly four lanes. Coming out of Hinton it was a couple of gentle curves, and then straight, straight, straight. I thought it a bit boring … no animals except for a small flock of Canada geese. But a nice day just the same. A few clouds, sunshine. It had rained the night before, though, because there were some big puddles and the bikes were covered with raindrops. However, we did not have to ride in it, which was a plus. Ran out of the clouds by the time we reached Edson, about 60 miles east of Hinton, in Alberta. (Yesterday was British Columbia. Done three provinces now … also Yukon Territory.)

There were some interesting industrial smells today – a pulp mill, and something that smelled like clorox or chlorine. Have no idea what it might have been, but sure did not smell good. When you ride a bike, you have to take the good with the bad. The clorox with the smell of freshly mown hay. The sweet smell of flowers countered by the gagging smell of something dead off the road that you cannot see. The bad is way worth the good, though.

Sometimes when the road just isn't exciting enough you have to entertain yourself. Today I was beebopping to the music on the radio … found some good stuff, so I was moving all over the bike. It's probably like doing mild aerobics or something, so in addition to burning calories just by riding, you add to that with the biker aerobics program.Stick around, those who ride with me. You'll lose weight through biker aerobics and not being allowed to eat. Jaz is not used to mostly one meal a day. When I'm on my own I eat fiber or granola bars, a meal sometime during the day and maybe an apple and peanut butter at night, or some other snack. I don't like breakfast food and she needs to eat before riding. So we're working on a compromise. The Mickey D's bagle BLT this a.m. was actually okay, though, and I survived.

The cruise control was another function that entertained me as it's something I don't use a lot. But today's road screamed for use of cruise control. Jaz can set hers and be just fine. Anyone that is following the leader has to keep adjusting their cruise control, up a mile or so, down a mile or so, because you're either falling behind or trying to pass your leader. And that is a definite no-no. I've been chastised for that in the past. Or at the very least given the finger motion to back off. It's just hard to moderate, although a couple of times I was there, and kept the proper distance for quite some time, until we had to pass a car, or back off to wait to get by someone. Then I had to start trying for perfection yet again. And it was not the norm.

So, another area of entertainment is making up a question based upon something I saw. The question is: “Why do there seem to be more tar snakes on one side of the road than the other?”

The shop is located on the east side of Edmonton, so had to ride through town. It wasn't exactly combat riding like some we've done, but there was enough traffic to make it interesting, particularly because some of the intersections are rather strange. I ended up in the middle of a turn lane because I thought it was where I was supposed to stop. Had to try to back that girl up … didn't get very far with that. Miss Scarlet is not a light-weight. Only had one guy shake his head at me as he passed. Then there was the Scarlet sandwich, when I had a big old 18-wheeler in the lane on each side of me. One slight miscalculation on their part, or if they didn't see me, and I would be nothing more than a grease spot on the pavement. Finally got out of that … traffic was making it difficult to get away from them.

There was another very strange intersection where you went around, doubled back or something, but we arrived safely and all in one piece at the Edmonton shop a bit after 11 … it was great. For a few moments we were on Wayne Gretzky Road, the “Great One” in the National Hockey League (now retired). I was such a fan of his for a long time, until he left the LA Kings. Then not so much. But still, it was exciting to see his name on a road sign, because I can guarantee I'll never do anything famous enough to get mine on one.

Harley-Davidson of Edmonton was a great shop. They got Jaz in immediately, and me shortly thereafter for my 10-k, which is actually a 12-k to them. The young lady who helped us, tall, blond and with so much personality, was really fun to talk to. Could have stayed longer doing that. She ended up going out to the blog sites, and Jaz gave her a card so she could find it again.

When the bike was finished, she showed me a little checksheet they use to show their customers what they've done to the bikes. For instance, how much tread is left on your tires, brakes, etc. Was great. Bringing that one home. Would make a great customer service tool.

Jaz and I had a couple of hours to kill after shopping. We went upstairs to their customer lounge and played an HD pinball machine. Jaz is pretty good at that.

Jaz on the HD pinball machine.  She was putting up the points like crazy.

The HD pinball machine was so fun ... but I'm not so good.

Was fun. But then we realized we needed to get to work. Internet access was a go at the shop, so we got busy getting started on tonight's blog. Of course, I always have way much more to say, so it takes me longer. There are only a few photos, which Jaz took, so that's all there is for that today. Tomorrow there will be more.

See, I really was working on the blog ... and e-mail ... and Facebook.

We left the shop and headed east on the Yellowhead Trail, Highway 16, again. We decided to go to Lloydminster, about 150 miles down the road to spend the night. On the way we passed Elk Island National Park. We didn't go in, but I saw two bison, one on either side of the road as we went along. Later I saw a coyote. He was dirty and dingy, the color of old pavement, and just loping along on the other side of some pasture fence. Was cool to see him. Guess they're considered like rodents in a lot of places, but for me it was a treat because it's not something I see all the time. No photos of that as the highway was busy and we needed to keep moving.

There were a couple of other things on the ride this afternoon. For the second time I saw a truck with a purple tarp covering its load. I know someone in Anchorage who'd probably love to have a purple tarp … the Purple Haze (Sherry). I need to have a glossary of road names.

We also passed a sign for Uncas Road. Biker Bill has a niece, Emily, who calls him Unca Unca. I thought of that when passing the Uncas sign.

One train is now ours. We got it to blast its horn at us. It was a big old freight train. Yahoo. Another one bites the dust. It's so uplifting to get them to honk at you … and then it's arm pump time. Oh yeah.

Jaz and I are now in for the night. We unloaded the bikes and took a little walk around several blocks. It's a great way to see some of the town you're staying in. There were some very nicely-kept ranch houses, old and established neighborhoods with mature trees, and property people take pride in. Was a lovely walk, and we're now getting into our traveling routine, which includes walks. Was hot, though. I'd say in the mid-to-high 70s, if not a bit more. (Just went online … the Internet is a wonderful thing … high about 80.) No wonder I was dripping.

On a final note, I notice the roadside memorials people leave when one of their loved ones has died on the road. I forgot to mention one I saw yesterday although it did leave an impression. It was on Highway 16, coming out of Jasper. It was in the middle of the median. It was a cross, but the horizontal piece was made of two hockey sticks. It was so unique. If I get back this way I intend to stop and take a photo. It's been a thought of mine to take photos of some of these memorials and put them out there … they're interesting and each is unique in its own way.

With that, I'm done for the night. We are all in.