The Trip

Well the trip started on Sunday instead of Monday, the weather was taking a turn for the worst. It was 29C in Jasper when I went through there. 

People were sitting in a lake, or a slough. 

I stopped in Jasper for lunch, but i had to get a move on. My goal was to hit Calgary that night. So I set off from Jasper, when I got through the park gates for the Icefields Parkway, a sign said last gas for 124 kms. I had 30 kms on my bike by the time I saw the sign. I had been driving around 118 kph all the way from home to Jasper (except in the park). I was getting good mileage, I decided I'd stay close to 90 kph to get the most mileage. When I got to Saskatchewan Crossing (home of the most expensive fuel in Alberta) I only needed 7.5 litres, out of 13 capacity. I had not stuck to the plan though, there is an incredible zig zag from the Glacier down to a valley, it is too much fun on a bike. 

I didn't stop and take a lot of pictures on the way down, I wanted to get to Lake Louise and MorraineLake  and use the fisheye lens. Above is a waterfall just before summit, below is Bow Lake

I got to Lake Louise around 18:30, too late to head out to Morraine Lake so I took my pictures at that lake. 

The fisheye did better than I thought it would. A German guy was there with a Nikon, he had a regular Wide Angle lens. We swapped, he was like a kid in a candy store taking pictures of everything. We had a good time, his friends took off on him. He must have been a camera addict - look at me, bike and camera addict. 

I decided to stay in Canmore for the night, as it was the cheapest place to stay, IMHO. Well it was a joke, the room was $95, it was hot as hell, no air conditioning and it appeared the furnace was on. The thermostat did not work. I was tired after a long trip, I read part of a book on iPad and passed out. 

When I woke the next day, the news was about a shooter in the Navy Yard in Washington. I wanted to watch a bit on TV before heading out. The Shaw cable box and TV were stuck on some Bass + Drum music station and would not move. I headed out, had to go back and take pictures of Morraine Lake. 

Here you go. 

i asked to go on the dock to take a picture, the guy said sure. This is the fisheye lens with an incredible effect. I actually saw a regular lens version and it looks truncated. 

So I walked halfway around the lake taking pictures with fisheye and then regular lenses on the way back. 

I went both ways on Highway 1A from Banff to Lake Louise and back. 

I got into Calgary on Monday afternoon and stayed with friends there. The bike broke down on Tuesday, spent some time at dealer getting it fixed. Fortunately it was not expensive. 

On Wednesday it poured, all day. I basically sat in and watched a British TV show on Netflix. iPads are handy :). Went out for drinks a couple of times with Colin. He managed to get stopped at a Check Stop on the way home. He is a magnet for those things. He is wise calculating his drinking. I was a bit nervous in case his calculations were wrong. We'd be cabbing it, no way I was under .05

Thursday I got up and headed West. It was cold in Calgary, 7C. According to the iPhone it was 4C in lake Louise. I knew from trip down that I had to make tracks to get to Edmonton before bambi time. 

When I got to Lake Louise it was still cold. I stayed there to warm up, I was not prepared. I switched to thinsulate gloves. I have no windshield so my hands tend to get cold. In Calgary I had already put the sleeve inserts in the jacket. I put an outer shell on over the leather jacket and I was glad I did. 

When I got to the South gate of the Icefields Parkway I asked if it was snowing at the summit. The attendant said she had not heard of any snow. 

I decided I would make up my mind on my journey at Saskatchewan Crossing. These are pictures on the way to the summit. 

Bow Lake first. 

I fluked on this one, had to do a u-turn, there was a little clearing on the highway where you could see the lake. 

Saskatchewan River, this is before it splits into the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan. 

This is the glacier at the summit. If you drive towards it there are little signposts marking it's retreat. The highway in the foreground used to be under it. But that was over 150 years ago. 

The highway was down to one lane in the picture above. They are building a glass observation deck. I retrieved camera while I was waiting for the light to change. The drop off there is quite steep. I would think it is similar to the Grand Canyon deck, but this one will be way more accessible. Could you imagine working on that thing?

I managed to get to Edmonton at 21:00, I left Calgary at 09:00 - 12 hours on the road, I was a bit stunned. The bike made good mileage, when I stopped at Sask Crossing on the way North, I only got $5 worth of gas, which is probably one of the lowest totals anyone has paid. 

The temperature was warmer at the summit than it was in Lake Louise. I was warm pretty much for the trip from Jasper to Edmonton except where there were sloughs, riding by them was cool, then I'd go up a hill and be warm. 

I had had incidents before West of Edson, usually people from the North and the South will enter the highway heading East at the same time, and take their time speeding up. This time that didn't happen. An oil rig service vehicle entered and he actually sped up. He was kicking up a lot of dust, so I pulled to left lane. It was a good thing I did. This black thing on the back of his truck went airborne spilling what appeared to be transmission fluid all over the highway. e didn't stop. The black thing went about 10 feet in the air and then flew off to the right. When I spoke to some riggers later they told the thing, which looks like about four bread trays, is about 80-100 lbs and was supposed to be tied down, as they act like cardboard on the back of a truck.  

Today I parked the knapsack and camera at a locker and am zipping around the city before heading home. 

Where did Summer go

I know I haven't been updating this as much as I was before, but life happens. 

I am headed off on a road trip next week, to Jasper, Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise, Morraine Lake and the to Road to the Sun. I plan to go for a week.  I would leave today, but there is a firefighter golf tournament Saturday and overtime on Sunday. Extra money doesn't hurt. 

Bow Lake, last year. It is along Icefields Parkway

Lake Louise

Speaking of which, I worked OT in August and no cheque yet. Which is a pain as house insurance has expired, I want to pay it in one lump sum.  Taking a chance being uninsured, but.....

Speaking of taking chances, last night I left glasses, apple keyboard, and other bike stuff on bike when I went to a bar.  Someone stole a lot of stuff. Who does that?  Trained me for trip, Nikon will be with me at all times. So i went and bought new glasses, non name brand at MEC. I get back to bike and find my Oakley's. i guess it was too dark for the, to see them.  I didn't put them in their case, good thing, case is gone.

Work has been busy, I did my stats and I think my boss is going to ask how I could do the work of three for two months. I'll ask her how she can let 2/3 of unit go on holiday at once. Bad people don't take the Summer off lol

I am going ahead with the plan to dump my existing service providers, and switch to one.  I own my iphone 4s, but i think i will get an iphone 5s, on a plan from Telus as well as tv.  This saves me money, i will get 11gb of data, i am going to try just using phone and tethering for internet. Or i could dump cable and just use the internet. Save me a pile of money. Either way, someone is going to lose. I could save $50 to $90 a month. 

I have become a jock again, i run 4-5 a week and use gym 2-3 times. This has lead to 15 lbs. going away. Plan is another 15. I hang out at the Druid and drink Guinness. This beer is brewed the old way and has lots of stuff your body needs. Believe it on not, i run faster and longer. 

The glasses they didnt take :). Fields of gold

Morning fog

I am glad i have another keyboard at home. I really like those things. I hope the stealer uses it to write. 

The Story of the Phone

Well the last time the phone was in a story it went flying off the bike at 140 kph, I found it and it still worked. That was about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

(the last picture the phone took)

This time I was taking pictures at the egg park on a windy day. I took the pictures and somehow dropped the phone on the ground and a pickup truck with a fifth wheel ran over it. The iPad could find it as it was still pinging. Someone sent me a text, it buzzed saying there was one, but the screen was fried.

I went to a phone I could use as I had to call Apple. I had Applecare and when I bought it I asked if it was good for a similar situation. They said yes, in fact it was the Manager of the Store. 

So I called Apple and everything was going good until Doniqua said there's be a $199 charge to replace it, not the $49 charge. I wasn't happy with this, then I learned all about Apple+ which I thought I was buying, I got Apple, no +. 

she passed me to Dereck, he was sympathetic but couldn't do anything. this was on a Sunday, he said he was off till Thursday and told me to contact him again if nothing was done. 

I decided to try Rogers, my carrier. They were sympathetic but their device insurance is only available when you buy the device and it costs $10 a month. She hoped Apple would give me a new phone. 

She did say that if they won't I could sign a contract for a new phone. This would have been OK but the new iPhone comes out next month, and i would have to pay for the fee to end this contract. This contract is pretty sweet, the new one would cost $30 a month more. I had to think about it. A regular   cell phone just to text and get calls would be $39 + $10 for a simm card and they would have to mail it. 

Monday, I thought everything over and was speaking with a Rogers person by chat. She would not bend, the out of warranty iPhones were for New Rogers Customers only. I wasn't bending. I headed to the city to get an old iPhone off my son. It was unlocked, I was just going to hook it up to Rogers. He gave me the wrong phone, it was assigned to TELUS so I couldn't use it. 

On the way to the city a thought popped up, I have an iPad with 3G data, I have expensive internet and home TV and I need a phone. What if I went to TELUS, I could accomplish all of this, with no cell phone for about $80 a month less. The 'home phone' would have voice mail that I could access from another phone. This was tempting.....

As I settled into the new reality, Rogers popped up and asked if I had made a decision. I told them about the TELUS choice, they weren't happy about that one. I said I would try Apple one more time. 

I called and got Alexander, he had notes from the other guys, so I didn't have to go through it all again. I was going to see if I could get my (useless) AppleCare fee of $75 refunded, Derreck suggested he'd do this. I wanted to see if they'd apply it to the $199 to make the net cost $124. He took my notes and went to ask a Manager. Somewhere along the line I mentioned I was a firefighter.....I didn't connect the dots, but Alexander did.

The Manager came on, he asked me if the phone worked, I said yes. He put me on hold and then came back on. He said to go to an Apple store and they would see if they could fix it. I asked what happens if they can't fix it. He said they'd give me a phone. 

I bought another Lifeproof Case, but they do not have the motorcycle mounts for 4S anymore. 

I went to the Apple Store for my appointment. They took phone out of case and the only thing broken was the screen. The tech decided to give me a new one though. 

There were lots of little bits of glass, but the back of the phone was intact. 

At the store I put the new phone in the old phone case. I decided to take back the new Lifeproof case as it was kind of expensive for a phone that I was not going to use the system.

I got a Mophie case instead, it has added battery life. this means I don't always have to know where a power source is. There is a spare built into the case. My son works at the store I went to so I got a Discount. 

I only have two month left on Rogers contract, I am still thinking of no cell phone, I can sell this for a fair price as it is unlocked. 

Just a quick story

I

Well something happened tonight on the way back from the city. It has been over a year since the last thing happened (the deer). This one wasn't as tragic, but it was tense. 

I was riding back after being at The Druid, I didn't feel like staying in the city tonight and I had to get out of the bar, $3 beers would just lead to trouble. 

The ride out of the city was non-eventful. It was around 21:00 so the further East I got the darker it was getting. At 'Deer Corner' I slowed down just in case the bambis were out frolicking, nothing. 

The road was pretty busy with trucks, I passed a lot of them. There was a bit of a head wind, it wasn't too bad. I got past Mundare corner and had to be in the left lane, as there was a semi parked on the shoulder. About 400 yards East of the corner there is a joint in the highway. It used to be significant, I remember driving in the car pool and hating it. The car would jolt as you went over it, disturbing a car pool nap. 

The bike went over it, just like any other time. I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye and looked at my handlebars, where the iPhone was was ....well this. 

On the top picture, taken Sunday, you can see the iPhone in its mount on the handlebar (left side to the right of mirror). 

The Lifeproof mount disintegrated and the phone went flying, it didn't come straight back, or it would have hit me. I went up to the next place I could turn around and then headed back to the joint in the road. 

I was lucky, I had my iPad with me, on it is the 'Find your iPhone' app. I located the phone and it was still online. I took off helmet so I could here the dings, when I played a sound. I heard nothing - but there was a lot of traffic, going East and West. 

I walked up and down the shoulder on both sides and nothing. I then started to hit the Ding button more. 

I heard some sonar sounds, I could tell they were coming from median. The sound was coming from the East. I walked about 100 yards past the seam in the road and there, laying on the side of the road was the iPhone, dinging away merrily.    

The phone still works, the first thing that happened when I turned off the dinging was a Facebook message from my friend Nick came through. 

My friend Toby called, I sent her a message on the iPad, to call my phone. I figured the song would be louder than the dinging. The phone worked, I could hear her and she could hear me. 

I recommend the Lifeproof case, but not the handlebar mount. 

One Month of Summer Gone

A good week and a better weekend. Work was hectic and it went by really fast as I was the only one doing the work in the unit. 

Monday  night the Fire Department had a Team Building exercise, Paintball. I got some head shots. I learned you can't aim the damn thing so it is best to blanket the opposition with fire for effect. Having been in the artillery, I was good at this. I managed to knock out a pile of guys before getting hit. 

Wednesday the power went off in town when a sub-station South of town had a transformer blow up. There was no fire call - Thank God. We can't go in there anyway, we aren't trained in high voltage. We'd go in there for rescue, but there'd be a power technician there. 

I left work early on Wednesday, I took leave, just my luck they'd close the office at 9:00 am, my boss would not let me cancel my leave. I am not sure how much I want to push this, as I couldn't cancel it by computer as they....were down. I told her before we left building and she kept saying "Approved leave". It was only three hours. 

The other side of the coin, she was doing a job similar to mine for the past 6 weeks. She had come to know what we encounter, so now she is working WITH me instead of against me. Better just suck up the lost leave. 

Friday night I did SFA. I watched 'That's My Boy' a terrible movie, it is like a train wreck though, once you start watching it, you can't stop. The family baseball game was hilarious though. 

Today I got up early, made breakfast and did my 60 pushups. I have been doing the pushups since May 2012, everyday. I have missed a couple of days, usually when I am hung over away from home. They are becoming easier now, I can feel the strength in my upper body. I usually do them before I even make coffee in the morning. 

Anyway, I had a camera club meeting at an auto wreckers. I had breakfast, grabbed bike. Oh, I picked up bike on Wednesday. I rode down 16 West to the Park and then North to the auto wreckers. The buffalo were out in force today, I have never been in the park before 10:00 am. The buffalo are fully rested and frisky. There were several occasions when I had to stop to study the guy, it was usually a male, standing on the side of the road, glaring at me. They can move pretty fast. I had to be sure I rode up to him slowly and then crank it. The first one moved, but my bike sound scared him and he went the other way. These animals can turn on a dime. I had to ride about 40kms through the park. There were 5 occasions where there were males lurking by the side of the road. This made me late for the camera club. 

I got to the auto wreckers and walked around taking pictures, it was a great opportunity to get up close and personal with the limos I have taken picture of outside the fence. 

After the auto wreckers I took off to Robert's place, he need me to take pictures of all of his stuff. He will be moving before October. I guess he will be getting rid of a lot. I better start downsizing, to make room for new to me stuff - ROTFL. 

I left his place around one and headed to the city and got a hair cut. One good thing happened, the bike had 187kms on it before I put fuel in it. The previous record was 170. 

Got a hair cut. 

On Wednesday I met a fellow bike rider at the Tim's on Whyte, he told me about a trip he is taking next year to Port Dover, Ontario. He wants about 10 riders, we"d ride there through Canada and back through USA. I think I may do it, it is in June. That means I won't be going to Pride in Toronto, but oh well. 

Some Canola and bike pics

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Well I sure am glad I went on vacation!. When I got back to work I wound up being the only guy in the section, out of three. Someone promised to come back and help if it got too nuts and had her new bosses permission. Well that never happened. Luckily the overtime Gods came unexpectedly to my rescue. I got 2 hours extra a night to get things done.....and I'll have extra dollars too!

Last week I wound up going to Pysanka Days on Saturday night, after doing nothing on Friday night. I only went for one beer at the beer gardens......8 beers later. I got to hang out with some old friends which was great. 

Nigel with two beer, always

Just a shirt

I wound up walking home, great thing about small towns! I did the walk of shame to get the car the next morning. 

After work I was pretty tired each and everyday. I wound up having a nap every night. Friday Night Brian called, he wanted to go to the Fair in Lloydminster - Colonial Days. Lloyd is about an hour and half East and straddles the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. The Fair was on the Saskatchewan portion. Brian, who likes gadgets but hates cell phones did not have a clue where the Fair was. Google maps on my phone showed us. Ironically it was the events page for the Town - Glass Tiger was going to be playing. 

We arrived around 6 and toured around. I think we came in a remote entrance as all we saw for awhile were the Clydesdales setting up. I got some good pictures. 

So we asked a tough looking lady where the rest of the fair was, she gave me the 'Are you a fucking idiot stare'. I said we came in the entrance behind her, and pointed and this is all we have seen of a fair. Another lady bailed up out, she said head through the bard and out the other side and warned us to watch out for horses. 

We got out the other side and found the midway. Brian found his favourite game 'Bulldozer'. This is where you position loonies ($1 coins) or toonies ($2 coins) and cause other coins to go over the edge as the bulldozer pushes. Sometimes there are bills. Brian spent about $40 to win $16 - it took him 1/2 hour, but he had fun. Then we ate.

We walked down the midway and toured the various t-shirt places, with their Sons of Anarchy knockoffs. 

Got down to the Adult Rides and took some pictures. I had a camera bag and all kinds of lens, I was not going to screw around with gravity. But I got some good pictures. 

We then wanted a beer and asked where the beer tent was, we knew we were close when we found a lot of smokers outside a building. While in there we were joking with some people out age about Glass Tiger The only song we could remember was 'Don't Forget Me When I'm Gone'.

We had one beer and then went for a walk, and wound up at the stage area where guess who was playing. 

Here are some pictures, I was using the telephone mainly. 

They closed off with a song they promised they would't play 'Don't forget me when I'm gone.....'

We wound up staying a lot longer than I thought I would. We went for a tour of the midway again, it was dark now and all the rides were lit up. I was practicing taking pictures. The automatic modes were screwed as the coloured lights came out as white. So I started to play with the other modes. Here are some pictures. One was really terrible, but it took a cool picture.

Automatic....see how boring

This was Automatic and it actually worked

I forget what mode this was, but it is a ride - I think it looks kind of cool. But this is not the result I was looking for. 

Finally i found the right alternate mode, P. I turned to it not knowing what it did. But I had a 16GB card.

All the lights are the colours they are supposed to be. I looked up the mode at home, it is kind of automatic, but not as automatic as Auto. It is fast though, and that is the key to taking these pictures. 

Well I was hoping last night that my fire cheque would be deposited as the bike is in the shop. It has beed there since before Toronto. So I was hoping to go to Edmonton and ride all weekend. It is not going to happen. 

I am past being mad about this. The month of June was a right off for riding, it rained just about everyday. The one day I rode it, it broke. It turns out the lack of activity and a short ride to work killed the battery. The shop took 2 hours to find the battery was screwed, so it cost $300 before I said replace the back tire, now it is $600. 

I am starting to think that the camera is a better hobby than biking. The bike costs more for insurance, maintenance and just about everything else than the car. There is the thrill of just about getting killed every time I ride it. But I am not finding the camaraderie that I thought I would. Just like in the gay community, I am into guys, thats about all I have in common with the community. 

The camera club is good though, these guys get out and do something and talk to each other. Then we rate each others pictures. It is fun, but cameras are like bike, expensive. 

I think it is time to make a choice on the bike. I like to travel, but the car is more practical than the bike. Hell you can bring a tent and sleeping bag. I don't have to worry about safely packing the camera in the car either. 

I think I am going to complete the riding season and seriously evaluate the bike. Brian is suggesting a Jasper, Icefields parkway trip in September. I am looking forward to it. 

If I sell the bike it will be over the Winter, people are willing to pay more for a bike at the start of a season than at the end. My Reality is changing, as it does.