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":