New states on a long ride

August 6^th, 2026

Baraboo, WI

Woke at 8:00am like usual, but today I got going right away.  Long ride today, so cannot waste time.

Showered and geared up, loaded the bike and checked out of the room.

Got on the bike and rode through residential area again to reach the Circle K, hoping it was operational today.  Saves me time versus going back into downtown.

The station was up and running, so fueled the bike and bought breakfast.

Then we headed south.

Will be riding the same highway most the day, so not a lot of turns to worry about.

Views were not much different than much of the region I have been in last few days, trees lining both sides of the highway and not much else.

Few lakes or rivers, some boring, others amazing, but no place to stop and look at most of them.

The highway soon became a 4-lane divided highway as well, which also meant speeds increased.  And as in Canada, no one wanted to drive close to the speed limit, most doing 15-20 over.  The only real difference here is I did not have too many people passing me in no passing zone, though one car did, and then passed 4 cars ahead me at one time, really in some kind of hurry.

Stopped for breaks now and then to use restroom, grab a drink or snack or fuel up.  As I am riding much faster today, my fuel economy is sucking big time.

Reached the town of Virginia Minnesota and had lunch there at Taco Bell.

Later reached the larger city of Duluth Minnesota and it sits below a quite high bluff, so the downhill drive was kind of cool, and had some great views of the city.

We then crossed over the river that feeds into the tip of Lake Superior, and had some good views over the lake looking east.

Once out of town I kept going till I started to feel ill.  Stomach was doing twists and was very unhappy.   Stopped for fuel and used the restroom to fix that issue.  Never eating at Taco Bell again, 2^nd time this trip this has happened after eating there.

We then reached I-94/I-90 and headed southeast on it for a few hours.

Near the end of the ride, we pulled off on a small highway and went south a few miles, then into the town of Baraboo.  We are in the west side of town, think it used to be a separate town, but Baraboo grew into it and they sort of merged.

Found the hotel I had booked last night on Hotels.com

Parked and went inside, it was now 6:30pm.

No one at the front desk, buy sign said to use phone on counter to call for assistance.

Picked it up, and it auto dialed a number.  Phone in the office behind the front desk started to ring, and no one picked it up, only voicemail.  Left a message that I was in lobby, and no one was there.  

Already this hotel is starting to give me bad vibes.

After a minute, a guy shows up, looks more like the maintenance guy, clothes covered with dirt and paint.

He goes in and gets computer going, but then cannot find my reservation.  Spent 15 minutes trying to find it, but then he tells me they have been having issues syncing with 3^rd party reservation systems.

He goes ahead and enters a manual reservation, but did not charge me anything since the payment had already been taken by the website.

Not sure how this will go, but will ride it out and see.

Got my room key, and its on the 2^nd floor.  Stairs are inside the building and the back of the building.  So have to park out front (thankfully spot near door was open), and carry everything inside, through the building, up the stairs and down the hall a bit to my room.

As I am unloading, I start to notice all the ground floor rooms have furniture and boxes and other carp stacked in front of them.  And lots of people sitting in chairs just doing nothing.  It appears all the ground level stuff are occupied by people using them as apartments, and the 2^nd floor is for travelers.

Definitely not the best place I have stayed, bit noisy from the main road, and lots of people outside talking a lot.

Got everything upstairs, secured and covered the bike and then cleaned a few things off from bug spatter and finally had to take a shower as I was dripping sweat.  Was in the low 80s all day today.

After I checked for food options.  A Taco Bell (that’s not happening), some kind of steak place that was more bar than restaurant, and an Italian place in the hotel next door.  It was closing in an hour, but was best option, so took it.

Food was very good and not too badly priced.

When done, walked back to the room to work on the blog and figure out what my plans are for tomorrow.  Staying 2 nights here so I can go visit a few nearby places.  One place that was on my list already, and the other I found my accident last night.

Today was fun as I got to see much more of Minnesota, which I had only seen once about 25 years ago, and had only crossed to eat at a restaurant right on the border with North Dakota, so now I have spent 2 days riding a fair part of the north area.  And Wisconsin is a brand new state, never having visited it before.

Then I will probably go to be early, very wore out today.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route

Back in the USA

August 5^th, 2026

International Falls, MN

Woke at 8:00 am after an unhelpful night’s lack of sleep.  Between the 5:00am postal delivery tossing boxes around (post office was under my room) to the 7:00am septic tank cleaning noise.

Showered and geared up.  Packed the bags and then loaded the bike.

Once done loading, did the final room check and took last things down to the bike.

Checked out of room and bought something for breakfast at the store.  Then fueled the bike.

Last night I changed my route several times.  These last few days has seen several changes.  The long north route I decided not to do, that would have left me at same starting point as this morning, but would have taken at least 1 day longer to reach it.

I had then planned to ride all the way over Lake Superior, but decided that would add 2 more days I did not want to do, so moved my entry to the US to the west of the lake.

I was originally going to cross south of Thunder Bay, ON, but every single room under $300 was booked for this night, no clue why, so gave up and moved to the next border westward.

This border was right north of where I am staying, reason I booked this hotel.  It would have taken me about 5 hours to get here going through some forested areas with lots of lakes.

However, when I looked closer last night, the border includes a very costly toll bridge, so decided to avoid that and cross the land border a few hours west yet.  However, I still came to this hotel, which puts me back on the route I had planned for crossing MN anyway.

Since I made that change, I would not be getting back onto the main highway crossing Canada.  Instead, I rode south, through the small town of Richer and into the countryside.

Not much out here, farms and a few housing areas.  Passed a few small villages, but little if any services in them.

Road then ended and was faced with 8 more miles on gravel to reach the next highway.

Once on that highway, it was only about 45 minutes to the border crossing.

That went smoothly and after stopping to put passport away, I rode the few miles into the nearest town.

Stopped to have food at the Circle K, and while I had more than enough, decided to just top off the tank anyway.

Once I had eaten my pizza from the deli case, I got on the bike and headed in a general east direction.

The highway followed along south of the US/Canada border, rarely more than 3-4 miles away.

At one point I was going through a fair-sized town and suddenly, there on the corner, was a huge statue of a fish!  I had to stop and take a few photos before going onward.

Rest of the trip was nothing special.  I looked at stopping at a rest area, but no restrooms which is what I was wanting.

Went the final distance into International Falls, but was 70 minutes too early to check in.

I rode farther into town to see what was there for food and fuel.  I also needed a restroom really bad.

Pulled into the Circle K, figured I would fuel up to save time in the morning, however, the pumps all had signs that pumps and registers were down, so was basically closed.

I rode to the shell, but it was a really old dumpy station, not even sure they would have a public restroom, so decided to just find food.

Not much for food either.  Many places were either not open yet (dinner only) or were not open till the next day, weekend only places.

I ended up going to Dairy Queen, as only place that I knew would have restroom and parking that would allow me to watch bike while I ate, rest of places were in downtown, and parking was limited.

Ordered my food, used the restroom and then waited for it to come. 

Ate it and was then just going to sit there as I still had about 40 minutes to wait before I could check into the hotel.

I guy had parked next to my bike, and he noticed the AZ plate, so when he came in, he eventually came over to me and asked me how the ride up was.  Guess his sister lives in AZ.

He ended up sitting at my table and we talked about bikes, skydiving, and scuba, things he has done and had interest in.

Eventually I saw it was past 3:00pm, had spent about an hour talking about things, so decided to head over to the motel.

Got bike ready, then found I could cut through the residential area behind the restaurant to get back to the highway on other side of town, instead of going back up and then back down.

Reached the motel and parked up outside the lobby.

Sign at front talked about checking my text messages for instructions, which I thought was odd, until I walked inside.

This is an unmanned lodging.  There is no one working the check in desk (wasn’t even a desk).

When you book the room, they bill your card and then a few hours before check in time, they email you a code that allows you to use the computer screen on a wall of small lockers that hold the room keys.

So, I checked my texts, and did not have any.

Now I am getting annoyed.  Been nice if the listing on Hotels.com had pointed out this check in process, might have found a different place to stay.

I checked my messages on Hotels.com as I noticed the property had sent 2 earlier in the day.

Turns out that booking via the 3^rd party website caused the issue.  Hotels.com (Expedia) does not forward the phone number with the reservation data (Why is anyone’s guess since they send all the other data).

They were unable to send me the info.

I responded to the Hotels.com message, but after 5 minutes, I realized it might be hours before anyone checked those, so I looked around and saw a phone number to call for check in assistance.

While the connection was a bit fuzzy, the automated system got me into a queue after a minute of pressing buttons, and they answered almost immediately.

The lady on the other end found my reservation and confirmed the missing phone number, which I then gave her.

She then said she could just activate the check in so I did not need any code.

She did something and then a button appeared on the touch screen and when I pushed that, one of the little lockers popped open and my key was in there.

She then texted me the Wi-Fi data as well.

Moved the bike in front of my room and went inside.

Nice room, plenty of space.

Unloaded the bike and sorted gear.

Then I oiled the chain as I noticed the bike was making noise in low speeds in 1^st gear.  It had been a few days, and did ride in the rain at least once, so knew the chain needed another oiling.

Once done, I left the cover off, thinking I might ride somewhere for dinner since there is nothing nearby. (Restaurant across the road does not open till Thursday, though from the looks of it, not even sure it is open at all)

I showered and changed into street clothes, then when I checked the pizza place in the gas station down the road, the data on maps said they were closed, but would open at 6:00pm.

Sat around playing online till just after 6.

I then got ready to go, and looked it up….now suddenly it says they are closed and will open tomorrow, suddenly hours are closing at 6, not opening.  WTF.

I looked around, and most the other places in town were either closed, or closing in 30 minutes or less.  Found a Hardees down the highway, and grocery store next door, and thought I might do that, but when I went outside, I noticed the parking lot was much fuller.  Almost certain if I leave, I would lose my spot in front of the room (2 level hotel, so every space is in competition for 2 rooms to take it, no one wants to park on other side of lot near the road.

I decided to forget that idea and just walked down to the gas station.  Figured that they might have something even if pizza place was closed.

Yeah, nope.  This was not a regular station.  Was actually a service garage and car wash with a small, basic c-store and the pizza place.

I bought a candy bar, and a few Cokes.  Dinner of champions?

Walked back to motel, and ended up having a few of my packs of tuna I still had.  Jalapeno flavored version tonight.

I then worked on the finances again, balancing my accounts, paying off the credit card, verifying all the charges and making sure nothing unusual was going on.  They updating my financial tracking documents and the trip expenses documents I am making for this trip.

Once done, I had finished off the cokes and the candy bar was well.

It’s now after 11:00pm, going to finish this blog and update this and last nights, then go to bed.  

Not sure where I am headed tomorrow, will check in the morning and book a room then.  Probably get well into Wisconsin at least, might try pulling a longer day on the bike.  Can ride a bit faster now since fuel stops are more common, and fuel is bit cheaper in the US as well on average, though last few days it has been about the same cost after converting the money back to USD from Canadian dollars.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route

Another day of nothing

 August 4^th, 2026

Richer, Manitoba

Woke at 8am and got showered and dressed.

Loaded the bike in the cool morning air, but so far looking like it will be a dry day at least, few clouds in the sky.

Once loaded up, we checked over the room, then locked it up and dropped key in the box at the office.

Stopped at the fuel station at the entrance to the main highway to fuel up and grab a candy bar for breakfast.

Hit the highway (TransCanada 1) which is a 4-lane divided road, similar to US Interstates, but not fully controlled access, many turns right off the highway onto side roads.

Made good time and stopped to fuel up when tank was getting low, and grabbed a snack.

Later I tried to pull off at a rest area, only to find it out of order, so had to get back on the road.

Found a fuel stop bit later and as I was close enough, I fueled up again and bought another snack.

While eating it off to the side of the building, another bike was at the pumps and I noticed when I walked over to toss trash away that it was also a Suzuki V-Strom, just an older model.  Really nice color of blue as well.

Spent some time talking with owner while it fueled up.  Then walked back to my bike, he rode over and we talked a bit more.

He left and I was a few minutes behind him to get back on the highway.

We reached the area around Winnipeg and routed around the city on a bypass loop.  Traffic was still quite heavy, but still better than going through the city, I am sure.

Arrived 30 minutes later at the small town where I am staying.  The hotel is basically the back part of the fuel station and convenience store on the corner.  It appears to be fairly new in construction, and the room is quite nice.  Was not badly priced either.

I checked in, and moved bike over near the steps to the second floor.  Unloaded the bike and sorted things in the room.

I then needed food as I had not found any place to eat on the ride.

NOTE:  There were a few Subways in gas stations (like the one I am staying above), but really not what I want for food.  Saw a few A&W, but again, not what I wanted.  Few Tim Hortons, but food options are pretty limited.  Otherwise only saw a few small restaurants that would not be quick, and I was looking for a quick meal.

Oddly I found very little in services on the highway, seems in many places, you still need to drive into the town to find anything, but they do not list what is in town on the highway either.  If you pay attention, there are small billboards talking about stuff, but most are smaller, hard to read at 65mph and quite worn out in some cases, and not even sure they are accurate anymore.

So back to dinner.

I was planning to just eat at the Subway or buy something to microwave in the room.  But while I was unloading the bike, I noticed a small restaurant across the road.

When done, I checked and they were still open for a few hours, so walked over there to have dinner.

Much nice menu and enjoyed a spicy chicken sandwich and a plate of nacho fries (waffle fries instead of chips, but regular toppings).

Once done, I was going to go pay and realized I had left wallet in the riding jacket in the room.

As I had been working on the laptop, I just told them I would leave that on the table and be right back.  They seemed okay with that.

After retrieving my wallet, I paid for dinner and returned to the room.

Worked on a few things online, booked my hotel for tomorrow, and changed the route I was going to take several times.  Actually, have changed it a few times in last 3 days, dropping a long route farther north to save time and money, and then changing how far I would got into Ontario, and finally dropping Ontario completely, instead crossing back into the US not far from where I am at.

I still have to go back up to the border to stay as I booked hotel when I was going to use that crossing, but on further research, the bridge is a toll bridge and costs $10 or more and is barely 100 feet long.  The route I changed to is 45 minutes faster as well.

But the route through Minnesota works really well from that spot anyway, and no really good highway near the crossing I am using, so works out.

I then booked some flights for some travel I have coming up in September.

Then I wrote this blog entry up, but really tired and its late, so going to head to bed now and upload this tomorrow.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route

Cold, Wind, and Boredom

August 3^rd, 2026

Balgonie, Saskatchewan

Woke at 8am and sat in chair for a bit.

Then took a long hot shower to try and wake up.

Packed up the bags and changed into most of the riding gear.

I was going to have breakfast today as there would not be many lunch options on the way from what I had seen, and I got half price breakfast as a hotel guest.

Walked over to restaurant and had eggs benedict and a Coke.

Back to the room I put away the last things and started to load the bike.

Took first bags out and holy smokes is it cold outside today.

Next load I wore my jacket, finished securing the bags and went to go in for next batch.

Door will not open, card is not working for me to get into the building.

I had to walk around the front of the hotel and get a new card.  She tested it and it was dead, would not even reprogram.  This was card I had been given last night to replace the one I lost.

Went back to room, and this time took both room keys with me in case one stopped working.

Loaded the bike, and yeah, one of the keys stopped working on the room door bit later.

Last load was the backpack and riding gear as always.  Quick check of the room and we left.

Finished loading the bike, geared up and rode up to the front of the hotel to drop off the keys.

Then we verified I still had good amount of fuel, so would just stop about 120 miles down the road at a nice stop I had found to fuel up and would then grab something to eat or drink as that would be around lunch anyway.

Got onto the road and headed east.

Flat, dull, boring, empty.   Not many other words to describe it.

Occasionally, there would be something cool looking with the slight hills and the color of the particular crop in the fields, that would make me record some video, or a river valley breaks up the flatness, but mostly just rode past nothing.

I had to stop after an hour to put on the rain jacket, was just too cold out, was starting to shiver.

Finaly reached the Circle K I wanted to get fuel at.

I pulled up to the pumps same time another guy did on a CanAm 3-wheel bike, and we exchanged a few words while filling up.

I moved bike up to front door, same as the other rider had and went inside.  Waited my turn for the restroom and then bought a few small taquito things for lunch and a tea to drink.  When I checked out the guy gave me a Mtn Dew in a can, guess it came with the two taquitos as part of a special deal?

Back outside I talked some more with the guy on the CanAm, he was heading to Alaska, so had some questions about the roads and fuel stops and such.

Told him what I could, then he left and I ate my food and got back on the road.

Few hours later I stopped again to use restroom and bought a candy bar as I was feeling big hungry, or stomach was getting upset, hard to tell sometimes.

Another hour down the road and I was ready to stop for fuel again, getting close ¼ tank, and that is usually when I try to fill up.  Also, stomach was starting to feel very unhappy.

Pulled off at a small truck stop, and headed for the restroom first.  Intestines were very unhappy.

After that ordeal, we fueled up the bike and got back on the road.

Not too much farther to go, but getting close to 5pm, and skies were still very overcast, and was raining off in distance in at least 2 directions.

Made it to the north side of Regina, and skirted around the city, going through a few work zones, but at least missing the congestion in the city.

Took a small highway out of the area heading east that ran a few miles north of the main freeway.

The hotel sits on that freeway, but right where this other highway intersects, so was able to get to hotel with out going on the freeway today.

Pulled up to hotel in the small town of Balgonie.

Office was closed!

I was working on calling the number on the sign when car pulls up and it’s the hotel manager (actually owner I found out later).

He got me checked in, and then we got into long conversation about my trip and his own travels in Canada years back.

He was very helpful and making sure I had everything I needed.

Motel is an older property, but it’s had some work done on it, and he seems to put in every effort to make sure people are happy.

When we finished talking, I got the bike moved over and unloaded.

Then before I even got out of the gear I wanted to walk over 2 buildings to a pizza place for dinner.  Riding pants were warmer than my other pants, so would change later.

Got outside and it started to sprinkle lightly.  Glad I covered the bike tonight.

Got to the place and the hotel owner was actually there getting his own pizza.

Talked with him while we waited for our food.  His arrived and he left and mine arrived then as well.

I stayed and ate, though I think the restaurant had actually closed, but a lounge is part of the building as well, and that was still open.

Once done eating I left and walked back to the room.  Owner was sitting in his car outside eating his pizza still.  Not sure if he lives on site or in a house in town.  There is a space that is likely living space for the hotel owner/manager, but perhaps he is not using it?

Back in room I got out of riding gear and will now work on blogs and maybe get the video I did yesterday uploaded.

Will also copy footage off the cameras as well.

Will try for an earlier night tonight, long ride today, and similar for tomorrow.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route

Dinosaur Deep Dive

August 2^nd, 2026

Hanna, Alberta

Woke normal time and got ready.

Got on the bike in the brisk morning air and hit the road.

Back tracked toward the main highway to Drumheller, but then passed it and went over to the back road I had planned to take the day before.

Was a nice little ride, though a bit chilly still.

Dropped down and crossed over the Red Deer River, which was a nice little fast downhill and then back up.

Just past there I turned south on a minor highway, but one that had just been re-surfaced, best roads I have been on so far this trip!

That ran for several miles and then the road was closed at the turn off to go back toward the river.

This route dropped down again, but this time you take a ferry across the river.  Supposedly the last cable drive ferry in Alberta still operating.

Its only about 200 feet across the river, but ferry moves pretty slow, so takes about 4 minutes to cross.

I arrived at the bottom of the hill just as the ferry was departing the other side empty.  One car in front of me, and a truck and camper came up behind me, but then turned around.  Another car came up right before ferry docked.

The car drove up and then I got up the ramp.  Car came in behind me and that was that.

Crossed and drove off without issue.

Then the big hill out of the river canyon.

This area of the river canyon is where many dinosaur fossils have been found in the region.  Some great looking rocks in the area, would be fun to go hiking up the side canyons, see what you might find, erosion is always changing things, so even though canyon has been searched often, new stuff always coming to light.

Back on top of the hill we went a few miles, then turned south and later went back down the hill, closer to the river where the road runs along the shore all the way into Drumheller.

A few miles up the road I reached my destination.

The Royal Tyrrell Museum, one of the best dinosaur specific museums in the world.

Rode up the road to the building and holy hell, what a mess.

People all over the place, parking lot is jammed and cars driving around in circles.

Did the same, and was thinking I might have to give up on this place when I found road going toward exit, but also saw sign for over flow parking.

Down a small hill and found a huge gravel space, not organization, just open space, but RVs and cars were parking.

Got small space between the last RV in row and the trash cans, big enough for the bike, right next to the steps back up the hill to the building.

Got parked, secured the bike and covered it as the lot was very dusty, and figured it would hide the bags better, though not much in them.

Helmet does not fit in them, so had to carry it and the tank bag up the steps along with the jacket, not going to risk leaving it with the bike.

Up top you first walk through a playground over run with small kids, almost got run into a few times from them running around without any awareness of what is around them.

Then got up on main walk and near some of the dinosaur statues, but no point in taking photos as they all had someone climbing on them or a dozen people standing in front of them.

Found the main entrance and got in line.  I should have bought the ticket online the night before, I had planned on it, but forgot.

Line as probably 50-60 people deep at this point, and that was just the outside part.

We stood there for about 10 minutes perhaps, then they started to let us inside.  I almost did not make it, they stopped line with me at the front, but there was enough space in side still that they let another dozen people inside.

Inside they split into 3 lines for the admission stations, and that took about 10 minutes a well as they were doing a shift change already (place had only been open for 90 minutes) and line stops while they do that.

Paid my fee and grabbed a map and then went over to the lockers which I had seen a sign for.

Was able to put the helmet, tank bag and my riding jacket in that, so should be a much nicer walk now.

Then started to sort my pockets…..and my room key is missing!

I can only assume that when I put my phone in the pocket earlier near the bike, and when I pulled it out later while in line, the damned case on the phone catches the room keys and pulls them out.  Had it happen before, and usually catch it, but a few times I do not, like this time.

I secured the locker, and then verified I could come back inside with my ticket, then went outside, but searching around the area (which now had about 100 people standing) revealed nothing.  So, either was kicked off into dirt or picked up.

I asked inside, they had a room key, but wanted me to describe it, and for life of me I could not recall what it looked like.  I thought it might be brown in color (it was not), and she said they did not have one that color.

I figured I would ask again later and went ahead and entered the museum.

Some amazing displays, and lots of information.  Most of it completely blocked off from a dozen people standing in front of it, or just standing there, or 8 strollers all jammed up trying to get by each other, and 6 dozen kids running around between everyone.

After the first room, I gave up trying to read anything, could never get close enough, and trying to wait was going to take 6 hours with all the people and how slow many were moving. 

The entire museum moves in a pattern; you basically are routed along hall ways and cannot skip around except by just going past a section and not seeing it.

So of course everyone moves in same direction, kind of like a landslide of people flowing through a canyon.

I bounced from side to side, looking for gaps in displays or trying to see if it was something I really wanted to see or could skip.  I had resigned myself to only seeing half of the displays.

Was able to get a few photos in those gaps, or just by being taller than many, so could photo above the heads.  Thankfully many displays are quite large, so easier to photograph from a distance as well.

Moved through all the sections, seeing what I could, and some great stuff.  Saw several interesting fossils, both original and casts.  This included a few famous pieces I had only see in books up till now.

We soon reached the room with all the big dinosaur displays. Some great stuff in here, and larger room allows some gaps, and since I had moved faster than many by skipping many things, I was ahead of the large mass I started in, though still plenty of people around, and still stumbling over kids all over.

Eventually reached the end of the section, and I got through and out of the gift shop as soon as I could.  Nothing I needed, and crawling with kids.

Asked again at lost and found, but new person there (they must rotate jobs here, no one seems to be in same spot for more than an hour) said they did not have any cards.  So, either was clueless, or the card they had was already claimed and not mine.

Ill just have to get a new one at hotel, not going to look anymore.

I grabbed my stuff from the locker and left the building.  Decided I was not going to do the hikes, as they can take another hour, and it was already getting warm.  While not as hot as yesterday, still too hot to be hiking in full bike gear carrying helmet and bag.

Went ack to the bike, uncovered it and geared back up.

Left the lot and down the road to the main road.

Drove into Drumheller and headed for the other highway leaving town as I recalled seeing a restaurant on google maps that looked interesting.

I drove past the large T-Rex again, place was mobbed, so think I will forget about stopping.  Not worth the hassle to climb up a giant dinosaur to look out.

I turned down the highway and in about a mile the town just ended, so I turned off on a side road so I could use the phone to figure out where this place was, and just so happened that the road I turned on was next to the little strip mall of food places, just not visible from the road and not signed that good.

Stopped at Between the Buns to have a burger.  I was thinking I might have an Elk or Bison burger, but went with regular beef burger instead, and a plate of poutine.

Was a very good, but messy burger.

When done, I went out and got on bike.  I had decided to head south out of town to the next small village a few miles out to visit another museum I had seen when I rode past yesterday on way to the HooDoos.

I rode through the residential area to get to the other highway instead of going back up to the intersection.

Then headed south to the small town and stopped at Waynes Fossil World.

Small building, but every fossil inside was collected by this old guy Wayne over the last 50 years.

He had been all over the Alberta badlands region collecting surface fossils in that time and had amassed a huge collection.  Most of it had spent decades in his house in various boxes and tubs.

He had also worked with various organizations over the years preparing fossils for display and working on identification and reconstruction.

Just this year he finally opened his own museum to display his collection.

There were a lot of small pieces here, but some very interesting pieces as well.  The displays were done up nicely, even if it was 200 of the same kind of bone, they were arranged for neatly.

Some decent signs on where things were found and what they belonged too.

Wayne himself was onsite talking to various people, his daughter was running the front desk and another woman was going around talking to people and letting you hold small samples. (not sure how she was related to the display, but knew a lot about them).

I spent some time looking over all the objects, including some amazing petrified wood displays.  The wood in this particular region was trapped in soils that created a crystalline coating on the fossilized wood, something I had never seen before, and when I was talking with Wayne, he thinks it has only occurred in this region of Alberta, he had not seen it elsewhere either.

When done, I got to talking with the daughter at the front about some of the objects and what I had seen at other place and my own interest in the fossils and then the bike trip came up.

Once done there, I went outside and got on the bike and left.

I made my final decision to skip the big dinosaur, and stopped for fuel as I would need it to get back to the hotel.

I tried to use the restroom, but for some bizarre reason, a huge fuel station and store in a busy location thought they only needed a single public restroom.

And as usual, a line was formed and someone was camped out inside reading a book or something.

Decided I would find another place, so left, and went across road to station over there and used their restroom.

Then back on the bike and headed out of town.   Took the most direct way today, was getting tired and just wanted to get back to the room.

Ride back was a bit colder, and uneventful.

Back at the hotel I went inside the front to let them know my card had been lost.

They got me a new one and then I rode around to the door near my room.

Went inside, changed out of the riding gear and then decided that I would see what I could find for food.

Only 3 places close by, the onsite restaurant, another small restaurant across the road (which was closed) and the A&W, which was in a gas station.

Decided to just stay onsite, even though things were really slow the other night.

Same girl working again, though this time it appeared she has some help with to go orders at least.

Busy place, so did take some time to get a menu even, and longer to get order in, but she was definitely able to focus more on the dining room today.

Had a pasta and bowl of soup tonight.

Once done eating I went up to pay and spent a few minutes talking with her as it was close to the end of the night and nearly all the people were gone, so she has a few moments.

Talked about the trip as it usually comes up when people start asking where I am from and what I was doing there.

When done I returned to the room.  I worked on another video and was able to complete it, but will upload it later as the internet here is very slow, and it is already midnight, so do not want to wait.

Tomorrow we will leave and head east to another city for the night while we make our way toward the eastern side where I can re-enter the USA to get to my next trip starting point.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route

Finding the Land of the Lost

August 1^st, 2026

Hanna, Alberta

Woke at 8am and sat there for a bit.  Still tired.

Took a shower and got geared up and packed all the bags up.

Went down to grab a luggage cart, thankfully they were all there.  Back up in the room we loaded everything onto the cart in a somewhat strategic way to assist in unloading onto the bike.

Took the cart into hallway, and then did a final check of the room.

Down to the lobby, then to the elevator for the parking garage.

I have been able to always find parking on the top level right next to the elevators, so was a quick push to the bike and then started loading it up.

Spent a few minutes talking with a guy who was cleaning and emptying the trash in the garage, he liked the bike and through very broken English we had a basic conversation.  Few things he said I never did figure out, and not sure he understood everything I said, even as I tried to simplify my speech to hopefully be clearer.

Once loaded, took the cart up and checked out of the room.

Then back down, onto the bike, got everything sorted gadget wise and then we pulled out of the garage.

The GPS route today was different from other days, the roads around here with the hills and river and some road construction works are confusing as hell.

Finally reached the river, crossed then took a new route up the other side and down a street heading south.  Oddly the other road I took the other day would have taken me same direction and I actually passed that road going west later, so must have been a traffic thing that made google choose the other road.

Few south and east routes to reach the highway heading southward.

I had hoped to fuel up on the edge of town, avoiding the more crowded stations in town.  But there was nothing out here.  Still odd how many fuel deserts there are in Canada compared to most places stateside.  Most cities usually have fuel stations all around the city edges.

I finally stopped about 30 minutes later at a local place for a community region.  See a lot of these types of setups.  Dozens of farms/ranches in the area, and they all converge on a local fuel station which is usually a mini-mart and sometimes has other services as well.

In this case there was the fuel, mini-mart, restaurant, lounge, meat and produce store and even all the mailboxes for the area.  Even an event hall you could rent.  Other communities will have a community center, but it’s the only building around, just central to a few dozen farms, I guess.

Once fueled, I bought a few slices of pizza from the small deli counter to have for early lunch.  Then we hit the road again.

This highway as pretty much just heading straight south, few small hills and couple of wiggles to curve around, but always back to south.

I had plotted the GPS to take me to a town along this highway as it wanted to take me down the bigger freeway to the west.

As I approached that town, I pulled into a fuel station on the corner mainly to fix an issue I had with the phone and use the restroom.  I also bought a snack to have the rest of the day in case I got hungry as I would have a late lunch.

When I left, I was still ½ mile from where the GPS said I should be (center of town probably) and it would not give up.  For the next few miles, it kept trying to turn me around to go back and ride that last half mile to the center of town instead of seeing I had stopped edge of town and continued on my expected route.

Google Maps really has some odd issues with routing at times, things I would have programed differently if I was calling the shots.  Hard to figure out why this is not default already.

I finally pulled off the road and found a way to delete the stop in that town and it then routed me back onto the highway I was already on.

Bit later we headed a bit east, and then south again, but then went east again.  I was starting to think it had freaked out again with the routing.

Sure enough, I finally hit the main highway into Drumheller (my destination) that I was trying to avoid, instead taking a back route through a small canyon.

Not sure if the deletion of the one town did it, though I had the other route marked, but for some reason it though going into town, all the way out to the other stop then back to another stop and then back to town made any sense at all.

I looked things over, and basically, I could have rerouted, but then I would backtrack a significant number of miles, and I needed to use a restroom again, so decided to just take the main highway into town and tomorrow I would ride the other route as a scenic route instead.

Reached town and enjoyed the long canyon descent.  Stopped at the Welcome to Drumheller sign (they have a few on various roads, though all the same sign).

After doing my photos, I plotted a course to the famous HooDoos a few miles south of town.

Rode through the town which was quite busy.  It was about this time that I realized my huge mistake in coming here on a weekend.  Not only had all the hotel rooms been booked, forcing me to get a hotel an hour away, but the place was just packed with people.  Every stop of any interest was mobbed.

Just a brain-dead moment I guess that I failed to realize a popular tourist area would be crazy busy on a summer weekend.  Likely still busy during the week, but less so.

I finally reached the HooDoos and pulled off.

You had to pay to park, but that technically was your access to the site as well.

An hour cost $5 Canadian, so reasonable price.

I paid via the QR code and then walked around the HooDoos for a short while.

If I had not had all the gear on the bike, I might have climbed back up on the cliff more.

After about 15 minutes I was back at the bike and ready to leave.  Partly as it was 98 degrees (38 C) and I was wearing my bike gear.

Got back on the bike and rode back into town.

Stopped for fuel as I would need it to get to the hotel as it was probably just on the edge of my range, rather not risk it.

I then stopped at the world’s largest dinosaur, or so they claim.  It’s a very tall T-Rex structure that you can go up inside and there is a viewing platform in the mouth.  It seems to be setup on same concept; you pay $5 for parking and get an hour to explore the area.

I just parked on the street and did a few photos today as I could not go explore with all the gear on the bike with 100s of people wandering around.  Too risky.

I will stop again tomorrow when I come back into town for a few museums.  Bike will be unloaded then.

I then looked for a place to eat, and chose a local bar/grill just around the corner.

Stopped and had a nice lunch, then plotted route to the hotel using a back highway instead of the main highways.

Left and turned onto that road right away, it went up the canyon a bit quicker, steeper hill I think, and then it was just rolling hills of farm land for miles and miles.

Road took me east a bit, then north, and when it reached a small town south of the highway I needed, it routed around the town.  But the road looked like it went through town, so though I would be fun to take it, was actually shorter route and only a mile to the main highway.

The GPS updated as I went into town, but then took me immediately out on a gravel road and bypassed town anyway.  Oh well.

On the highway it was just a 30-minute ride going straight east to reach the small town of Hanna.

I booked a room here for the next 2 nights.

Found the hotel, nice place.  Checked in and then rode around to the back side where my room was.  It’s a hotel, so had to go inside and find room.  Not too far from the back door.  Parking lot was hard packed dirt, but thankfully dry and mostly level.

Unloaded the bike (did I mention it was still HOT outside).

Once done, I got out of the riding boots and pants and took a cool shower.

Once done I got dressed and played a bit online, updating Facebook and such and catching up on some emails.

Then walked over to the hotel restaurant to have a light dinner.

Small place, but I stopped at the front desk to wait while girl was cashing out someone.  She seemed a bit annoyed, and kind of rudely asked me what I needed or if I was looking for the lounge.  I asked if this was the restaurant and could I sit anywhere, she just nodded so I sat.

She later brought over a menu and then left.

I figured out what I wanted, and by now I noticed she was the only person working.  So she had to seat people, cash out people, take orders, do the drinks, bring out the food, and answer the phone as the place seems to be popular with phone orders for pizza mainly, but lots of people grabbing food to go.

She finally came by to get my drink order, but said she could not take my food order yet?

Finally came by to take my food order, but still had not brought the drink yet, and she was looked a bit frazzled.

Finally got my drink and the food came out.  All the while the phone kept ringing, and she would answer and say please hold.  Then few seconds later it rings again, and again.  If I heard the conversation right, seems like people just hang up and redial when asked to hold, so she just makes them all hold out of spite.  I like that idea.

She stopped by and took my dirty plate and told me to just come up to the desk when I was ready to pay and she would take care of it.

I finally went up as she was finishing with another guy.  She seems agitated, and I just commented it was a crazy day.  She agreed, but was like she needed to use restroom for last hour, but has not been able to get away.  I told her I could wait, but she was like, no, too many things going on, but yes, you will have to wait as I need to get some food out to the table.

Finally got rung up and paid and walked out.

Feel sorry for her, but also not going to go back tomorrow if it’s that crazy!

I walked outside to take some photos of the large goose sculpture outside.  (Hotel is the Canada Grey Inn.)

I then went to the liquor store at the end of the building (there is a lounge in the middle section as well, but no reason to go there).

I was hoping they would have some soda or something, but did not.  Guy said he was still waiting for a delivery so was pretty much out of sodas other then a few bottles of Pepsi and Diet Coke, neither I would want.

He did tell me the grocery store down the road should be open and have what I needed.

I went out side and looked and there are 2 grocery stores right next to each other.  The one was going to close in 5 minutes, so I walked to the other one.

It was actually a small mall like building with the grocer, a bank, a dollar store, and drug store all in one.  All but the grocer was closed already.

I did stop at the bank and tried the ATM to get more local cash as I was almost out, and while I could probably go without, I prefer it for smaller purchases.  Thankfully the ATM worked and I was able to pull out a bit more money.

Wandered the grocers and finally found a cooler with cold drinks and they had my tea, so bought a few cans to get me by tonight and tomorrow, and also a candy bar for a snack tomorrow. (I still have chips and jerky to finish off tonight).

Walked back to the hotel and put things in the refrigerator, then sat down to work on this blog.

Will then work on converted more of the 360-camera footage so I can work on the next video in a day or two.

Tomorrow we will go back to Drumheller to visit one of the best dinosaur museums in the area.  Will also see if I can get to another small fossil museum and then stop and check out the big T-Rex again.  Major dinosaur mecca there.

Catch ya down the road!

Todays Route":

Aviation and Railroad explorations

July 31^st, 2026

Edmonton, Alberta

Woke at 8:00am, but was still feeling dead tired.

Went back to sleep for another hour and then sat in chair for 30 minutes after that, and still felt dead.  Took a shower and that helped, but think this might be a physically exhausting day with all I have planned.

Dressed and went down to the bike and got it ready.

Rode out of the garage and then across downtown, and reached my first stop in about 12 minutes.

The Alberta Aviation Museum.

This site is located on what I believe was an old airfield.  The building was part of a military site from what I could read, and lots of open land still around it, though appears it might be in the process of being developed.

Paid my way in and explored the museum.

They have several planes from the 1920s through the 1970s on display.  Most of them have been nicely restored, but from what I can gather from many of the signs, few if any of these planes are flight worthy, and most will never fly again.

Noorduyn Norseman Mk IV (1942)

The really cool feature of the place is that all the planes are on display in a diorama fashion that places them in a context of how the plane was used.  Many of the planes also have local relevance, or are replicas of planes that were locally used and lost in crashes.

Barkley-Grow T8P-1 (1938)

An equal mix of civilian and military craft, and quite a few planes that served both functions.

Canadair CL-13 Sabre Mk I (1950)

Many of the planes had some access to the inside for the tours, but as I did not take a tour, I did not get to peak inside any.  Most of the tours seemed to be focused on young kids, probably about 20 of them in various groups around the place, guessing some kind of summer program as they even had one area roped off for the kids to be sitting at a table doing something.

The restoration side of the hanger was off limits also without a tour guide, so could not see that stuff.

I did go outside for a few planes they have outside.  A few military planes, similar to ones inside, just not restored.  Another plane that must have belonged to a local company and a private jet that was abandoned at the airport years back and eventually moved here to get it out of the way at the actual airport.

Hawker Siddeley HS.125-600A (1973)

Once done, I got on the bike and head to the next place.

This one was about 25 minutes away, on the far north side of town, actually out of town.

I was hungry, but really did not see anything I wanted to eat along the way, so did not stop anywhere.

Spent bit of time on the highway and then turned off on to a country lane.

Few miles north of town I pulled into the ground of the Alberta Railroad Museum.

Parked in the dirt lot and went into the main building which is an original railway station used in another town on the other side of Edmonton.

Bought my ticket, and decided not to take the ride on the speeder (small rail transport cars used by rail workers to move back and forth on the tracks).

I just went into the main area which is all outdoors.

They have several locomotives and cars of various types parked along tracks.  A few original buildings as well that had been moved from other places to here as well.  Most were closed to the public, used for staff only, but a few were setup like how they would have been at original locations.

General Electric Locomotive C40-8M (1990)

Many of the train cars were accessible to walk through.  Some were still setup as they were originally, or restored to how they were at some point in the car’s history.  Others were empty and used for displays on other railroad history and topics.

There were several dozen cars farther out that were not accessible to even walk around, either extra stuff they just left there or future restoration projects.

They had one locomotive you could get into, the oldest one, a steam engine.  That was pretty cool.

#73, built sometime before 1930, operated till 1960

Lots of extra equipment laying around as well, and even an old water tower you could walk around inside.

The main building also had more items displayed in there.

I enjoyed the walk, but found I was somewhat hindered by having to carry my riding jacket and helmet around.  At the air museum they had offered to hold my helmet at the desk, so only had the jacket, but here they did not have any place.

I really need to research new luggage I can lock, then I could leave the jacket in the pannier, and also need to see if I can find a way to lock helmet to the bike.

While I doubt I would have an issue so far out of town as the only people here were visiting the museum, just never know when sticky fingers will come by.

I had trouble walking in some of the cars because of the gear, and was just dripping sweat as it was well into the 80s and no breeze inside the cars.  And carrying all the heavy gear was a bit of a work out (which might have been a good thing).

I also skipped reading a lot of signs due to this.

When I finished, I got on the bike and headed back to the hotel.

When I arrived, I came up to the room and took a cold shower to cool off and wash the layers of sweat away.

I then sat down to eat a few chips as I was very hungry, and then I fell asleep in the chair for about an hour, I think.  Time is a bit fuzzy here.

Woke enough to realize it was close to 5pm, so decided to walk over and get an early dinner.

I looked around for another place to eat, but those within walking distance were either not open yet (dinner only), already closed (lunch only), not anything I wanted to eat, or too costly.

Thought about a Russian place, but reading the reviews made it seem like the place is mainly a psychic reading place, that just happens to serve food as well, and sounds like it could be a bit annoying.

I decided to just return to the Donair place from the other night as the food was good, reasonable in price and was also the closest place

Walked over, had same sandwich, but this time had a loaded poutine as a side.

Worked on videos while eating.

Returned to the hotel and sorted some of the still damp clothes, moving them where they might dry faster.  Underwear and socks are about 95% dry, so should be good by morning.  Half the shirts are going to be good, but others may still be damp, those are the ones I Moved around to either get better airflow, or sitting on the vent to get either AC or heat on them. (I have thermostat set to 24 C, it keeps running AC, then runs heater, then AC, and so on, weird, but lots of air movement, so maybe will help dry stuff.

Took the time to write the blogs I was behind on as well as todays, and then will get back to the video, hoping to get another one completed before I go to bed tonight.

Might go down later to the lounge and have a drink, try and be social? 

Really need to work on that.  While I have had a few really good local encounters, I generally seem to stay isolated, or spend more time in the room working on media.  Might have to rethink how I manage that on future trips.

Well, that sums up the day, so will get back to the rest of it and leave you till tomorrow.

Todays Route: