"Don't worry, you won't feel a thing....till I jam this down your throat!"

Well, we are in Lethbridge Canada tonight.  We only went about 50 miles today, because I had issues again.  After another 3 hours in a hospital (yes a Canadian Hospital - you know socialized medicine), I was allowed to go and the doctor said that I am OK to finish the ride into Calgary.  Basically I have had blood in my urine and after the first tests, they thought I had a prostate infection.  After my Doctor at home saw the tests, and the blood returned today, he said I needed to be seen again, and now.  Another round of tests and what the doctor here feels is that the blood is just from the exertion that I have been placing on my body.  He said that there is a possibility that I could have other problem, but that those tests could wait until I got home.  We decided to finish the ride, and we changed our flights and will be home this Saturday.

Dennis

First full day in Canada

The day stated out looking like it could be perfect. We woke up to blue skies and temeratures that were mild. Our road out of Milk River was a 4 lane divided hwy that had a 10 ft. shoulder. We had our regular breakfast consisting of oatmeal and toast, and we hit the road. We started out with a cross wind that really didn’t affect our progress. For the first 8 miles, things seemed to be going splendidly. Then the cross wind became a head wind and picked up speed. We were now going into a 20 mph head wind, and when that happens, the fun just goes right out of the ride. We suddenly went from 18 mph down to a difficult 13 mph. We took a break after 24 miles and were pretty worn out. Back on the bike, we pressed on. The good thing was that this hwy was absolutely perfect. It was smooth and just a slight climb. The other thing that was very noticeable was the lack of traffic on this hwy. We really had the hwy to ourselves, as you would only have a car or truck pass about one every minute.

We finally made it to Lethbrige a bit after noon. We found a good pizza place and took a well deserved break from the road and wind. During lunch, Dennis was still having the same problems that he had the other day, so we went to the local hospital and they did some blood tests and finally cleared him to continue on the trip. We had missed the afternoon part of the ride, so we decided to spend the night here in Lethbridge. This is a very neat town. It’s actually much bigger than we had thought. There is a university here, and it seems like a very cool comunity.

The scenery for today’s ride was pretty boring. I was amazed at how flat the area is. Lots of farming in this area and not much else. After we found our Days Inn, we went exploring for dinner. We found a pretty unique place called Hednotic that served pretty good food. As usual, we ate and then headed back to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow’s ride.

Tomorrow and the next day will both be a bit long. We have decided that we are going to get to Calgary by Friday evening, so we have the next two days to cover about 150 miles, which should not be that much of a problem. Having said that, it seems kind of amazing that we are this close to the end of the journey. We’ll try and soak in the last of the miles and really enjoy the country side.

Ok there are beautiful rides and there are rides just like today’s ride from Conrad, Montana. Today was like riding an endless road.  When you can see the next 6  to 10 miles ahead of you, you can see the ups and downs coming, the first mile looks just like the 70th mile and the wind yes the wind is coming from the north west which just so happens to be the direction we are headed.

On the bright side we can scratch Montana off our list we are now in (Drum roll) Canada. I am sure everyone has heard of the town we are staying in Canada it is Milk River that is right the hopping town of Milk River.  Tonight’s motel is very private out of about 40 rooms we are the only guests., we are next to a farm and ranch implement sales lot and behind us is where farmers can buy agriculture materials in bulk. It is a hopping place.

The great news is we are only about 53 miles south of Lethbridge which looks like a real town.  We are all doing great we have defiantly gotten into biking shape so no one is complaining of aches or pains just ready to get home.

I know this adventure has been a great thing in so many ways but home sounds so sweet right now. We have enjoyed the bonding of being together we truly love one another and with out that I assure you this would have never been accomplished.  We only have three days left of riding then we will be in Calgary.

So God Bless and take Care!

Raleigh

Canada or Bust

We have made it to Canada!!!! We left Conrad Montana this morning pretty early and headed for the boarder. We had pretty good conditions and we were all excited about the ride today. We knocked out our first 22 miles in good order. We had ,mostly sunny skies and a bit of a wind from the west. This part of Montana has lots of rolling hills which means some nice downhills followed by some very long uphills. We actually had one of our steepest climbs today at a 7% grade which is pretty darn steep. Once again, we are in a part of the world that is very desolate but also very beautiful. When you look off into the distance you can see green rolling hills forever and there is also a whole bunch of sky out here.

We broke for lunch at around 11:00 at this pretty cool bar/cafe called Four Corners which is located at the Kevin-Oilmont exit.. This place had just about everything you could want. They had pool tables and electronic darts and of course like most all businesses here in Montana they had several slot machines. We finally got mom off the slots and got back on the road after a pretty good rest and lunch. We had actually planed on this being a short day and staying on the U.S. side of he boarder but we couldn’t find a hotel in any of the towns. So we headed on into Canada after going through customs (which took a very long time).

We have made it to the town of Milk River named aftter the river that runs right through the middle of town. This is a very small town and we were lucky to find a motel in the area, but the South Gate 98 is our home for the night. We just finished dinner at the local golf club where we ate at their grill. This must be a community course because they didn’t ask for our membership number. If we had had more energy we could have bowled a couple of games while at the club house. Golf and bowling…..a pretty good combination.

Tomorrow we are off for Lethbridge which is a pretty good size town. It’s about 60 miles away and we could use a lighter day since we did another 70+ miles today in the wind. We are all getting pretty excited about reaching our goal and making it to Calgary. For so long it seemed like Calgary was just to far away to really make it on bikes, but now we have the goal line in our sites and we are ready to get there and celebrate.

Well we are Soooo close but not there yet, I mean Canada.  we made it to Conrad, Montana today starting south of Great Falls covering better than 75 miles.  We spent better than six and a half hours on the road and it is as if we are in an entirely different state than yesterday.  The ride from White Sulphur Spring to Great Falls was just amazing versus the ride from Great Falls to Conrad reminds me of West Texas.  We fought the wind all day and most of the ride was up hill, making for a tough day.

There is not a lot to comment on the country side other than comparing it to West Texas but much, much colder.  Tonight is supposed to the coldest night on record so it is par for the trip!  Depending on the weather conditions we should be crossing the border tomorrow afternoon it would be a long day but if we push we can do it.

We had another opportunity to go to the hospital today this time for Dennis he had a problem with dehydration and an infection so after a short visit they put him back in riding shape for tomorrow. Keep us in your prayers we are just 5 days from accomplishing our goal of Calgary, Canada and about half way to meeting our goal on donations to the Kidney Foundation.

Take Care and God Bless

Raleigh

After a hard night of partying with the Kool-Aid Man, Dennis found himself dehyrated and visiting a doctor.

Well, it was an interesting day today. I only rode for about 25 miles, whie Raleigh and Bobby went about 75. At lunch I started having some symptoms and ended up going ahead to Conrad Montana to a hospital to get checked out. Turns out that I am dehydrated and have an infection. After an IV and some antibiotics, I was released and they said that I am fine to finish the ride.

We started in Great Falls, and ended in Conrad. The other two did a total of 75 since we started south of Great Falls this morning. The wind was a bear - heading West at first, we were directly into the wind. As we got past Great Falls, the roads turned North and the wind was at our side - a slight improvement. I am not sure that Bobby and Raleigh would have gone all the way to Conrad, but Mom was there at the hospital with me, so they rode to the end. Sorry guys!

Anyway, we are definitely in the home stretch - we will ride Tuesday through Saturday and arrive in Calgary on Saturday instead of Friday. That will keep the daily amounts to under 60 - which works for Bobby’s sciatic nerve and my dehydration both.

Well, we will see you all soon.

Grace and Peace
Dennis