The skies in Saskatchewan were amazing and kept me entertained amongst the flat and boring more… landscape. At least three distinct layers of clouds had formed and beams of light scattered throughout the countryside. I understand why they call this place the “Land of the Living Skies” now. The video doesn’t do it any justice, so check out these pics:
I always create a route of my trips in Google Earth. So I tried capturing the flybys of each major destination that I stopped at. My computer isn’t that fast so it isn’t too smooth. You can download the original KMZ file that you can open up in Google Earth for a better view:
I have some chain problems. Just talking about what happened and how I got it fixed.
I get the third degree when trying to get into Canada and then I talk about the metric system.
I am still in Minnesota just rambling along. I am trying to figure out which way the winds are more… blowing so I know if I am riding into a storm up ahead. I try and determine if the Earth’s rotation has any effect on the direction of the winds. A very dumbass theory I come up with that a 5th grader could articulate better. Talking about BMW touring bikes verses a support sport bike as my next bike.
Driving through Minnesota towards Winnipeg. Discussing the idea of “expressway friends.” Later on the car I was tailing pulls off and I follow them into a rest stop and chit chat. Riders here seem to snuff my waves. Talking about various ways that I keep myself comfortable while touring. I run into some rain and have to stop.
I’ve been trying to continue my written series of blogs about my trip but I’m getting blanks here and there. So I’m starting my series of videos that I made along the way. I am hopping that once I watch the videos I made the details will start coming back to me. I have a channel on LiveVideo.com under the name AtlasShrugger. Only about 60 subscribers so far, but perhaps this series will generate more interest.
You see it everywhere. Carved into park benches, written on rocks or walls. Love graffiti. The documentation of an extraordinary love between two people displayed in the most ordinary of places. I always see them dated and faded. I chuckle when I see hearts scratched out. Obviously they had a falling out and didn’t want to misrepresent themselves to those waiting for the bus on bench at 6th and McClintock St. Today I saw a very recent love documentation. It was only five days old. I could almost still smell the permanent marker in the air. Perhaps there is some significant to the location. Perhaps this girl (it’s clearly girly handwriting, just shy of full out bubble letters) is the guardrail for Mario that keeps him from careening off the road of life. Or maybe they are just stupid teenagers.
07/30/07
Origin: West Yellowstone, Montana
Destination: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Mileage: 100
I arrived at Yellowstone before noon. The entranced consisted of four lanes leading to booths. Something you expect to see at Six Flags. On the way to Old Faithful I stopped at location that contained various geysers. A wooden deck snaked through the geysers which were all given names such as, Turquoise Pool, Jelly Geyser, or Red Spouter. After that I went to the Old Faithful site to watch it erupt.
I saw these two bikes parked next to mine after saw Old Faithful erupt. They are sponsored to ride all over the world. Check’em out at 2ridetheworld.com for more info. The majority of the park was devastated by forest fires. Half of what I rode through was nothing more than scattered rotten logs. I didn’t do much riding through the park so I setup camp early that day. I just laid in my tent, listening to Jim Gaffigan’s Beyond the Pale CD for the 10th time. I can only listen to so much music. Gaffigan and Hedburg were the guys I would “hang out” with so to speak.
It was ten o’clock and some people at the adjacent campground came back. They were making tons of noise and kept me up until midnight. Jack asses. In the morning they were still sleeping. As I packed up all my gear I fantasized about riding through the middle of their tens, revving my engine at 10K RPMs to piss them off. Unfortunately they woke up and I missed my chance.