Canadian Rockies Day 6
This morning started normally. Tea and coffee in the camp
ground, then off to start the day. We left Ft. Peck Dam and headed back on the
road. We traveled to Glasgow and had breakfast at Bills Casino and Diner. Food
was good and plentiful.
We left Glasgow and traveled rt. 2 all the way to Montana
rt. 232 into Canada to rt. 41.
Along rt. 2 we paced a train for
several miles. The train was right next to the highway doing about 62 to 65
mph. That was neat to see. Pam waved at
the engineer and he blew the horn for her. She was thrilled, of course.
On 232 through Montana we got
side tracked because of some road construction. Fortunately it was only about a
half mile detour. On a gravel road through some field. 
why us?
why us?
About 2 hours before we got to
the detour sight, there had been an electrical storm in the area. It had
started a few fires in the fields along the highway.
We crossed into Canada at the
border crossing. Things went smoothly through immigration. It
consisted of the border guards lightly questioning each of us, then motioning
us on. We must not be on the Canadian terrorist watch list. American side may
be a different story.
The ride north on 41 was a very
neat ride, through some very long, lonely countryside.
We decided to stop at Elkwater
provincial park for the night. 
This proved to be
another interesting night. What's the old saying? Red sky at night Sailors
delight. Supposed to be an indicator for the next day. It's not an indicator of
the coming night apparently. 
This is the clouds moving in. Sometime after
dinner the wind picked up and the clouds started rolling in. We weren't worried
about rain, the tents could handle that. A little rain is NOT what we got.
Before we turned in for the night, the lightening started. It was really
putting on a professional quality display. About midnight the rain started, the
wind increased to a severe level, lightening was all around. We we're holding
the tent walls from the inside. Then the hail started. Up to ¾ in. balls of
hail were pelting us it seemed from everywhere. Pam was worried the hail would
penetrate the tent. Jim was worried it might damage the bike. Jim has his
priorities straight. About 10 minutes into this display of power, it tore the
rain fly from the roof of my tent. At this point the rain inside is almost as
bad as outside. Fortunately I had enough stuff in the tent to absorb all that
water.....bedding, clothes, me. I managed to get outside and put the fly back
on and prevent a flood, but not the mess. Managed to get hit by hail several
times during this fiasco. Not the most fun day so far.
We did however
survive, quite well actually. Just had to dry out a little.
This proved to be
another interesting night. What's the old saying? Red sky at night Sailors
delight. Supposed to be an indicator for the next day. It's not an indicator of
the coming night apparently. This is the clouds moving in. Sometime after
dinner the wind picked up and the clouds started rolling in. We weren't worried
about rain, the tents could handle that. A little rain is NOT what we got.
Before we turned in for the night, the lightening started. It was really
putting on a professional quality display. About midnight the rain started, the
wind increased to a severe level, lightening was all around. We we're holding
the tent walls from the inside. Then the hail started. Up to ¾ in. balls of
hail were pelting us it seemed from everywhere. Pam was worried the hail would
penetrate the tent. Jim was worried it might damage the bike. Jim has his
priorities straight. About 10 minutes into this display of power, it tore the
rain fly from the roof of my tent. At this point the rain inside is almost as
bad as outside. Fortunately I had enough stuff in the tent to absorb all that
water.....bedding, clothes, me. I managed to get outside and put the fly back
on and prevent a flood, but not the mess. Managed to get hit by hail several
times during this fiasco. Not the most fun day so far.We did however
survive, quite well actually. Just had to dry out a little.
Both Jim and Doug had a lot of
water UNDER their tents, but none came in. All in all, an interesting night.
Until next time.......Mileage
will be totaled soon. We're keeping a total, just not sure what it is for this
leg.
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