DAY 33 OF THE AROUND-THE-BLOCK TREK-AUGUST 2, 2008

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August 2, 2008 - Saturday - Day 33
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
  -- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 442    - Total Miles - 7674
Calgary,Alberta,Canada- to  Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan,Canada
(-staying at  Park Motel  -)
(Alberta-Satchkatchewan)
- MOVING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT - DANCING WITH CLOUD SHADOWS ON THE HIGHWAY - AT RAINBOW'S END -

   By 9am I was ready to meet Myron and Marilyn Weber. They live here in Alberta. Last I had seen them was three years ago when their wedding was photographed on the same day as leaving on the All-48-State ride. Myron looked dapper in a black cowboy shirt that I liked a lot.
   I finished packing the bike and moved it over to the Denny's parking lot that was right next door to the motel.
   Myron, who is a professor at Calgary University, said he was just back from China and he's worried about the Olympic athletes going there. It seems that the air pollution has even turned the skies in many areas a golden yellow. He fears all the athletes will need medical attention for their lungs when they return to the USA.
  Myron related a number of good tales. He and Marilyn, real world travelers, were in South Africa a bit ago, and planning to stay in one particular town. The desk clerk in the hotel said to the couple, "There's going to be trouble tonight, and I'd get my lily-white asses out of town!"  They did, and a good thing, too.
   But it was even more dangerous when Myron was speaking in Egypt one time recently. He was accosted by soldiers with AK-47's pointing at him and Marilyn.  He bluffed his way out of that one saying he was in constant contact with folks, and if he didn't call in, they would swarm all over that place right away…. I said that that made my rain stories from the other day seem like puny child's play in comparison.
   Clearly a guy after my own heart, Myron said in the end, "I'd rather have the headline read, 'Old prof  hit by rhino,' instead of 'Hit by truck.'"
   The Calgary Stampede is a big draw around here. Myron said it's the largest rodeo in the world and has million dollar prizes - but he was concerned that  organized crime was gradually moving in.
  Myron noted that much of Calgary is high altitude desert at 3500 feet, and that my ride today was very flat and heading downhill a bit. So flat and so long he kidded, that I just might be able to see William Penn's hat.  (A statue of Penn sits above City Hall in Philadelphia.)
   As we were parting, Myron said it was good seeing me, and that I was "looking as immortal as ever! Kanahorah." (A Yiddish expression meaning "to ward off the evil eye, especially in light of good fortune".) I let out a belly laugh at that one!
   After the nice breakfast on this cool morning, and our chatting for about an hour, I was out on the highway and moving by 10:20am!
   And it was another most favorite day as the roads were sparkling, clear of debris, and straight as an arrow.
 
  Had an hour lunch at Pizza Hut - was very happy to get on-line and clean up all my emails. Also had a nice IM session with Jim, a video buddy from home. I enjoyed a big salad and a small tomato sauce and mushroom pizza while typing away.
  It was so flat today that there was nothing but the mirage of the water on the highway to the end of the road.
  Saw a few freight trains on the prairie today - one was seemingly stretched form horizon to horizon there were so many cars.
  I mentioned Soarin' earlier in these notes. It's that Epcot exhibit where one sits in a chair and the countryside on the huge screen flies by on film giving you the wonderful illusion that one is flying over the landscape. That is what it was like today - the road was perfect - flat, clean, and smooth. It felt like I was flying over that fabulous scenery of farms, sparkling low-lying lakes, and deep green pastures.
    At 1:30pm I rolled through Medicine Hat. Their sign at the front of the town proclaims them the dubious honor of being, "Gas City."
  The breeze was fresh as it rolled across the plains today, but there would be occasionally pungent fertilizer smells and more occasionally, the ripe awful smell of a putrefying dead animal.
  It was a perfectly clear afternoon ride, although I'd like to offer apologies to hundreds of little black bugs that sacrificed themselves by splatting against the Vulcan windshield. (I was culling the herd I suppose.)  I had to work hard to remove what was remaining of them when I'd stop for gas.
  The sky began cloudless, and then a few hours later, little puffs appeared. Then the puffs grew bigger, and by the afternoon, with the bigger clouds occasionally blocking the sunbeams,  I was dancing with cloud shadows down the highway. And a good dance it was!
   As I ride along, you'll remember, one of the things I do is memorize or recite poems that I know.  Well today the countryside, or at least the inside of my helmet got one hell of a performance of Poe's The Raven. I aced it perfectly while picking up some new meanings in the words, and new and better inflexions in the presentation.
  I looked down at the speedometer at one point and it read 93, and it was like I was going in slow motion. And the same with 97. And the same with 103.
  Even when I really TRIED to slow up I would look down and notice I was STILL going a hundred. The winds must have been really something today blowing me along!  At one point I hit a record 110 while crossing those plains! 
   And I think the Nomad was sorry that I backed it down then because it wanted to see how much faster it could go! We were just galloping along across the Satchcatewan countryside.
   Smiling all the way, I was a blurred streak of pure joy hurtling down the highway.
    I had a situation at one point where I had to back it down to 80mph. It was like everything around me was in slow motion, and I was taking baby steps down the highway.
  At one gas station I asked how far it was to Moose Jaw. The lady translated it into miles and then said, "About an hour and a half."  I replied with a smile, "Okay, I'll be there in twenty minutes!"  Everyone standing around laughed.
  Roared into Saskatchewan about 3:30pm.
  No two days could have been so different as yesterday from today, and no two days could have been as wonderful.
  At one point today it occurred to me that I had no clue as to what day it was!
  Rolled into Moose Jaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moose_Jaw,_Saskatchewan)
(Don't you just love that name?) and passed the turn off for the motel, and so I had to double back.
  I found a man who looked very much bored with his job there, but he promised a web connection, and a somewhat reasonable rate.  I checked in and shot down the highway to a little restaurant for dinner. The salad and baked potato were superb and I gobbled them down. After taking my gear up to the room, I discovered a problem with the web connection, and so had to walk out of the room every time I wanted to get on-line.
Got my laundry done in a washer provided by the motel.
   There was a rainbow in the sky amidst all the wonderful clouds over Moose Jaw this evening.
   It was one of the first night's I didn't take a shower or even get ready for bed. I was laying on the bed typing away, and just fell sound asleep, deliciously exhausted.


To view photos from today, which include some amazing sunset shots, or the whole trip, you can check out
http://www.photostockplus.com/home.php?tmpl=45&user_id=42473&event=196141
    Some folks have reported trouble with this link, but most find that it works. Sometimes it takes two tries… Also, you can check out the past day journal entries by going to joelperlish.com, and clicking on the appropriate trip down at the bottom on the left hand corner, by going to http://www.joelperlish.com/blog/blog.html... and/or you can just email me back and I'll put you on the daily send list.  (I especially recommend days 10,12 (the sandstorm day!), 14, and 32.)


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