Day 6

The morning routine was our usual. After breakfast we head to the bikes for a diversion to Edmonton since bad weather makes touring Banff pointless. Hopefully, we can come back that way.

During the night it has snowed again and the bike covers are covered in a layer of wet heavy snow. Light snows continues but we are advised that further north, toward Edmonton, there is not even rain. We take to the road.

Within 30 miles the snow is heavy and we stop to ask the locals what the prognosis might be. A kindly plowman advises that just a bit further, there is both clearing and lodging should we feel it safer to hold up. The bikes can handle the weather fine, especially with the darkside all-season rear tire but people are afraid of the “crazies” on the road knocking us off and it becomes apparent that they are out there. The snow fall increases, though the temp has risen from 32 to 36. Cars, from the crazies, are off in the ditch everywhere. Three inches has now accumulated and the only steady going is to find a truck and ride tire tracks. Our plowman, offers to plow us a clear path out of our pull off and we continue towards Edmonton based on his radar readout on the iPhone. After Red Deer, it looks like the storm lets up.

By the time we get to Red Deer, only 80 plus miles north of Calgary, the snow is now 5 inches deep and the crazies in vans and SUV roar by sending up 10 foot waves of slush and grit, which not only contributes to the wet and cold but, renders us effectively blind until we can clear our shields of the slush. This begins to undermine even my crazy disregard for reason. Tomorrow is supposed to be a better day but, of course, today wasn't supposed to be a bad one. Only one inch of snow was predicted. So, tomorrow comes with no guarantee. I want to push on but Bruce has is not the risk taker I am and I am beginning to see his point of view. I ask a nice lady if she knows the weather forecast. She is heading north, too, and can give us no help as to how far before the snow turns to the expected rain. But, she is on her way to visit her sister in Edmonton and offers to call and see how things look there. The new is good, it's only light rain. But, before the conversation ends, the sister corrects herself and advises us that the rain has begun to switch to slush. Another 80 miles in worsening road conditions is not worth Bruce's life even if it is mine. Also, I am still to aware of the California incident to want to risk damage my bike in a mishap. We elect to check in to a local motel. It's 12:30; an embarrassingly short day but, fortunately, I had banked hours by pushing harder in the good weather and we are dangerously ahead of schedule. Dangerously, I say, because, if we arrive even a day early, there is “dead” time to be used in Dawson City because the last of the three ferry crossings to Inuvik does not start running until June 3rd. I'm afraid, we won't want to wait and will push on to Alaska promising to return on our way back … that is not always the way things work out.