Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

We toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn, just north of Bismarck North Dakota. This is near the site of Fort Mandan where Lewis and Clark spent their first winter. We are becoming experts on these two explorers having visited the interpretive center at the mouth of the Columbia River on the Pacific Ocean (2008), and having traveled along the Clearwater and Snake  Rivers earlier in this trip in Idaho. Today's Center filled in the details on the trip up the Missouri River and their meeting with Sacagawca without whose assistance they never would have made the trip to the Pacific. Dave got cold in the Center but a dead bison helped him out (though at a 20 lb weight) and Bev dressed for the discovery trip....Jefferson had insisted it be a military operation.

Fracking in the Bracken Formation

We stopped overnight in Williston, North Dakota.  It is the North Dakota hub for all the fracking activity in the Bracken formation.....remember Lac Megantic? This is where all the explosive oil originated.....and Bev is adding that there at 20 men for every woman in Williston (they are all loaded and they drink too much).  Dave adds that there are 20 pickups for every car!!
We followed Rte 1804 along the north shore of the Missouri River; this is also the main supply route to the fracking operations which are about every 1/4 mile along the road.  Each of the wells consisted of numerous tanks for holding the liquids they inject into the formation, a walking arm pump that pumps the oil out of the ground and into a network of pipelines that parallel the highway and finally a flare to burn off the hydrogen sulfide gas.  It is this hydrogen sulfide gas that is mixed with the oil that is thought to make the bracken crude so explosive.

The Fort Peck Dam and Reservoir

The Peck Dam project was built in the 1930s as one of FDR's New Deal Make Work projects. It is the largest hydraulically filled dam in the world and the second largest dam in the US.  The trouble is that the size of it makes it difficult to see the whole thing....it is 250 ft high, 4900 ft wide at the base, and 50 feet wide at the top.  We were travelling along the top of it for awhile without realizing it.

We managed to go on an excellent tour of the 185 megawatt power plant (free!) hosted by the US Army Corps of Engineers who built and meticulously operate the plant.  Unfortunately since 911 we were not allowed to take pictures of anything but we were allowed to touch the rotating shaft that connects the turbine to the generator.  The power houses are dominated by gigantic surge tanks that are about 10 stories tall.

The spillway, about 5 miles from the dam, is far more impressive than the dam as it is made entirely out of concrete and is about a mile long.  They were repairing the spillway, hence you'll not see any water pouring through it in the picture below.

The Tunnels of Moose Jaw and Flying Bike Parts

We left our hotel on the outskirts of Swift Current and then had difficulty finding the actual town. We cruised through the historic downtown, though it didn't seem very historic....we left for Moose Jaw. There we took a tour of the Tunnels...which explained how a small Saskatchewan Town earned the nickname "Little Chicago".  Public enemy #1, Al Capone, had his goons, his guns, his gals and his secret world in the underground Tunnels of Moose Jaw.  All this happened because there was a railroad from Chicago to Moose Jaw and during prohibition Capone manufactured whiskey used stills in the basement of Moose Jaw buildings and used the town as a hide out when things got too hot in Chicago....alas, they would not allow pictures.  It was an interesting tour because the guides were in period costume and acted their parts.  We the guests were to assume the roles of bootleggers who had come to buy Al's production booze.

We headed south from Moose Jaw on Hwy 2 toward the US Montana border...the road was great with no traffic until we reached Assiniboia when all road hell broke loose.  The road was full of great pot holes....there was a sign which we should have taken more seriously..it warned vehicles to travel slowly. Dave hit a monster pot hole at about 80 km (he WAS going slow) and the impact caused the plastic piece covering his right speaker to fly into the air.  He stopped the bike and went back to search for the missing piece of fairing; while he was slowly pacing the side of the road with his head down any vehicles passing stopped to enquire what the problem was...now, you have to realize that there was only one vehicle about every 5 minutes!! One person even offered to help with the search. People in Saskatchewan are very nice, unfortunately that can't be said about all their roads.  With no luck finding the missing pieced, they soldiered along the road to the border.  The road now offered wide rows of loose gravel which was great navigating fun.

We arrived at the border at 5:45 only 15 minutes before it was due to close for the night.  Had we been too late, the road would have been closed off and we would then have to retrace our steps along that awful road. Being the only vehicles at this rather desolate crossing, we approached the customs office at about 20 km per hour. We were promptly chastised by the customs official for speeding and were told we had to circle back and approach through the sensors at only 3 miles per hour.....driving a bike at that speed is trickey!!  Eventually we were admitted.

We headed to Glasgow Montana.  As to be expected the US road was far superior to the disaster on the Canadian side....BUT unfortunately Bev had underestimated the trip by about 100 km and so both bikes arrive on fumes with fuel lights flashing.

It was a loooong 500 km day.......time for cold beer and hot dinner.

Hoodoos and Hard Riding

We set out from Drumheller and after a short ride through the famous Alberta Badlands, arrived at the Hoodoos.  Now the name Hoodoos arise from the West African Hausa language for evil magic, AKA "voodoo"...and Bev taught high school in Nigeria though never got involved in voodoo, though she did eat fried termites.

We continued south on hwy 56 and lo and behold our old friend "the rain" returned.  It wasn't bad until we hit Hwy 1, the Trans-Canada, and the winds that had been at our backs (which were not noticeable) became nasty vicious cross winds.  We could barely see and slowed down to about 80 km/hr. In desperate need of a break we pulled off at the first of two exits for the tirst town we came to -  Bassano, We drove past a hotel and a gas station with expectations of soon arriving at the town and a restaurant.  Unfortunately Bassano only consists of that gas station and hotel!!!  We continued back on to the highway and headed back to Bassono where we pulled off at the gas station.  Dave stopped at the entrance; it was mushy gravel and he was contemplating on whether to proceed. Bev was cold and needed a warm beverage ans a washroom break.....she hesitated for a second and then turned her bike right at 90 degrees and headed across the muck to the concrete that surrounded the pumps.  Dave had no choice but to follow.  Shortly after their arrival, a large bus full of of NATO soldiers from CFB Suffield appeared. They created a coffee lineup and the men's washroom was backed up.  Bev had a quick pee.
From Bassano we continued on to Medicine Hat where the rain finally stopped. We pressed on through the Cypress Hills, and when we arrived in Swift Current (about 500 km from Drumheller) the sun finally appeared.

Drumheller Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum

After spending a restful three days enjoying Edith and Dave's hospitality, we set off for Drumheller. The skies threatened a bit but the sun won the war.  It's amazing how straight the roads are and how little traffic there is. The Royal Tyrrell Dinosaur Museum, located just out of Drumheller, is internationally known and extremely informative on the different paleontological time periods regarding the richness of prehistoric life in Alberta for both animals and plants.  It was a delight walking through, and we recommend a visit to all adults and children.

Forest Fires and Animals

We left Jasper and headed to Edmonton to visit Dave's sister Edith and her husband Dave for a few days of rest (sorry we ignored the blog for a while but we did get both bikes successfully serviced).  Along the way we saw a "prescribed" wild fire on the side of the mountain.  Essentially they light a fire low on the mountain and then let it burn itself out at the top.  It looked bad to us, the flames were 30 feet high; a helicopter was flying around the circumference.  The plume looked like a mushroom cloud!
With all the smoke and ash in the air (and on our bikes!) the animals decided to seek safer pastures.