Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Thanks so much. Yes we were on a mission as you know. Also was 1 degree in Calgary when we rode thru and so we are happy to be across the rockies. Yes my father in law set that up as a SURPRISE!

https://cfjctoday.com/article/637634/kamloops-couple-complete-six-year-84-country-odyssey

Trying to get the rest of the RR done ASAP.

Sara

We woke to a rain storm, but on the satellite it was going to pass by noon. When we set out at 1130 it was already pretty much stopped raining. The oil light on the 650 was briefly flashing on start up yesterday, but the dip stick level was good?!. Today after 2 days sitting the light was on for longer. We rode over to the Coop and rechecked the oil and at a flatter location it was low and we added 250 cc. The light was still flashing very briefly on at start up only.




We continued north and then west on the 41 for the 378 km to Kindersley.





It was warmer today at 16, but the cloud cover continued until 4 pm. We stopped south of Saskatoon for gas and to check the oil again and it was apparently good.





We stopped for a snack in Rosetown at 4 and this was when the sun was finally out and it was now 26.







We had 85 km to Kindersley. Checking the oil again it was still an issue and in the end we added another 250 cc. There are a few hotels here and we checked into one on the main drag. The bike is running better, but the oil thing is stressful. It is burning a bit for sure with the huge mileage and I think we got fooled by the level of the dip stick. We are wondering if the guys in Malaysia did not reinstall the oil pan/gasket properly after it was repaired.

This morning it is 10 degrees and after warming the bike we topped it up with another 250 ccc and the oil light is no longer flashing at start up. That said we had also put 250 cc in the 800 and were happy there was a Walmart just up the road to get another liter. We have 1200 km to go and as long as we keep the oil topped up we are sure we can make it home. But today it is just 321 km to Brooks Alberta.




We continued west on the 7 to the Alberta border after 63 km and it changes to the 9.






We then turned south on the 36 just before Hanna. It hits the TransCanada just 10 km west of Brooks.

We got there at 3 after 321 km. There are a lot of hotel choices here. but we settled on a small motel with a kitchenette. They are calling for snow later this week, but it is still 4-5 degrees at night now.





We rode north to the 544 and then east to the Dinosaur Provincial park. This is an active dig site for Tyrell archaeologists. It is a chilly 9 degrees this afternoon and we are happy to head back to the motel and snuggle in for the rest of the day.

We had a nice late start today so it would warm up a bit and was 11 when we left for Calgary at 10.



We got on the TransCanada west until Gleichen and then veered south towards High River. There are several First nations settlements, but no where for lunch and so we diverted back to the highway at Strathmore on the #1 to hit the Husky Station for a hearty meal. We then rode south off the 1 on the 24 to arrived to Kevin and Lisa by 130.










We had a great evening with them and Carrie as well. The guys regaled us with the trials and tribulation of their second attempt to get to Mongolia. Last year their group of 5 dropped to 2 by the time we met them on the way to Almaty.



Kevin had a need on collision in Greece, they were denied Iran Visas and had to reroute across the Caspian to Turkmenistan, Kevin’s brothers bike was having several issues and he and another guy retreated to the EU from Baku, the 1 day sea crossing of the Caspian turned into a 3 day nightmare and they had 2 days on their Turkmen visa left when they arrived, the other Kevin lost his passport and TVIP in the desert in Turkmenistan and was kept captive in an Ashgabat hotel for 6 weeks and was finally deported without his bike 6 weeks later, then Kevin broke his fibula in Kyrgyzstan and had to dump his bike at KTM in Almaty where we finally met them.



This year there was a nightmare of bike repairs including shipping of cylinders to Canada for repair. This delayed their departure 2 weeks from Almaty. Then a week later the engine was seized on the side of the road in Russia and they trailered it to a garage and left it there.



Poor Carrie was then on his own to get to Vladivostok and without time or a travel companion to ride in Mongolia. His bike left on a sea can for Vancouver this week. We are feeling pretty lucky that we all made it on our planned route with all 4 bikes.

It was 6 degrees when we left Kevin this morning for the short ride to Dan’s childhood haunt Peter’s drive in for burgers and milkshakes when it is 8 degrees?! Trevor was working nearby and joined us and then set us up at his place for the evening. For dinner we all met at a local Uzbek restaurant for dinner.








We have a detour from our trip for the next 2 days we are flying to Vancouver for and event and then arriving back to Calgary. It is a good thing as snow is forecast for the weekend and it is supposed to warm up Monday for our last 700 km!!!


It was a quick 90 min to Vancouver. The rental car for 2 days was cheaper than a taxi to Sara’s dad’s and back!

The flight back is another quick 90 min and Trevor picked us up. We headed into the city for a bit of a walk along the river and then went to pick up Guðmundur.


You might remember him as the rider from Iceland that we knew on line, but met randomly on the way to Ushguli Georgia and then again in Ulan Ude Russia. He saw our post about Peter’s drive in with Trevor and messaged us that he will arrive today to Calgary on his way back from Alaska. He is shipping his bike from there to Frankfurt on Tuesday. We had a nice dinner out and heard all about his trip.









We have check out the forecast today and as we are trying to “thread the needle” to get thru the Rockies with the best conditions it looks like tomorrow is the day. This means today we will ride to see a few folks even thought it is 3 degrees and drizzling.

We set out west on the #1 first to Bowness to see Dan’s Aunt Annamieka . We had learned that his Uncle was very sick when we were in Toronto and decided to speed out trip to try and see him. He unfortunately passed away just after we left Toronto towards Calgary. We were sad to miss him, but still happy to be able to visit with the family.






It is now 2 degrees and we rode further west to the #22 and then south to Bragg Creek and west again to Pridis. On the way here it was 1.5 degrees!!



We arrived to the home of Blaine and Lenka who had a nice wood fire stove stoked up for us. Blaine we first met in Banos Ecuador in 2013 and then again in Ushuaia in 2014. He has been to SA and even Ushuaia several times and the last in 2017 with Lenka. It was so nice to finally meet her. She even knows Orvar as they were on the Stahlratte together in 2013. She prepared us a very delicious lunch and Blaine talked with “word gusts” up to 15 words per second. Actually we had a great time hearing telling and listening to each others stories.

It is now 430 pm and about 2 degrees. We have a back track to the 22 and then the Springbank road to the home of Dan’s aunt and uncle Ruth and Gordon. They warmly welcomed us with an open garage to park the bike and a delicious meal. We had a lovely evening to visit them.

Looking at the weather, the highway cams, and pavement thermometers along our route today look like it will be optimal as predicted. This is a 24 hour window of warmer weather.



Setting out from Springbank it was 6 degrees, but it warmed up to 8 by the time we got to the Banff National Park.

At the Alberta 93 we “connected the lines” when we passed under the Icefields Parkway overpass.











Canada-13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr


Happy Dance!!!

It was a bit colder between Banff and lake Louise down to 4, but when we got stopped for 30 min for blasting near 15 km from Field it was 3.5 and we had to do some jumping jacks. In total we had 4 traffic delayed for construction of the twinning of the highway and today this cost us over an hour.

We made it to Golden to the Husky for lunch and it was 12 degrees. We are now on the down hill in the Rockies with temps 10-12 all the way to Revelstoke.
















In Revi we found a decent place and it is 600 m from our favorite bar with a great steak dinner.

Congratulations,

It must be a great feeling to complete a mission like this in closing the lines.

What’s next

Congratulations! So happy for you two. That must have been a great moment when you crossed the lines. Well done.

Most excellent! Congrat's on your most enjoyable adventure.

Thanks for taking the time to write this up and adding the beautiful pictures, very enjoyable reading!

Congratulations Sara and Dan for you accomplishing this milestone ride.
Very curious to hear what you’re next endeavour will be.

Jeff

Thanks it was an epic moment to cross the Icefield Parkway road for sure! We are home for a bit to spend time with Dan's dad who has some health issues. We are not sure when we will be back on the next adventure, but Africa and the Karakorum are high on the list. Sara