Below is a picture of the gang of 4 after their arrival in Vancouver. We are seated at a coffee house on Granville Island. A covered open air market and more.
We have been here one whole day plus a few hours. It was very warm, 29 degrees C, when we arrived. The train trip, 18 hours, was both very scenic and tedious. We left Vancouver at 8:30 PM. What little daylight was left, about an hour and a half, was mostly Vancouver and suburbs. Then the darkness precluded seeing anything. Imagine that! I, personally, had consumed a small latte in a Chinatown coffee shop before we headed for the train station, only 8 blocks from Chinatown. I knew the latte would keep me awake and it did. I read and played solitaire on the iPad. No wi-fi but they did have electric outlets so I could keep it charged up. Finally around 2 AM I felt tired and stretched out to begin a long time trying to get comfortable and fall asleep to no avail. If I did fall asleep it was for such a short time it didn't qualify as sleep in my mind. Bob returned to the seat across and diagonal from me. The seat arrangement was two facing two, which should explain how I was able to stretch out. I watched the sun come up very slowly. by then we were in an arid, sage brush-filled land. Not at all what I thought BC should look like. And the train always followed a river or a lake. If you recall how a river flows, i.e. not in a straight line, it becomes easier to understand why it takes so long to get from Vancouver to Jasper, 18 hours.
So Bob sits down across from me while I'm reading or playing solitaire and I begin to feel tired again. This time I push the seat next to me back so it is as far back as the one I'm in and lay down across the two seats. I tried to use my left arm for a pillow but that wasn't comfortable. Last I just laid my head down against the seat. Next thing I awake to something and notice Bob is gone, Mike has left his seat, so I check my phone and see it is 6:30 AM. They started serving breakfast in the dining car at 6. I stagger down the aisle noticing as I go, Frank and Geno have both abandoned their seats. I am really feeling rummy and with the motion of the train it is quite challenging to walk the aisles. About 2 cars down from our car is the snack car. I get there and then wonder if I am going the right direction. I stop and ask the train's snack car attendant who verifies I am going the correct direction. I have to go through several sleeper cars before I reach the dining car.
Bob, Geno and Mike are sitting at a table. I occupy the open seat and ask "Where's Frank?" The answer is he is taking a shower. Mike you see has figured out how to get a shower which are only in the sleeper cars and we are coach. He was quite proud of himself being all gleamy and clean. After breakfast, which was quite good, Bob sneaks off to take a shower, too. Geno and I had to put up with the three gleamy and clean amigos until we reached Jasper and there was something else to distract them, like putting our bikes together.
There was more to see on Saturday because it was daylight. Pyramid Falls and Mt. Robson were the two I got pictures of.
Pyramid Falls, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom.
Rugged peaks.
An unknown peak with a glacier to the left.
Mount Robson, 14,900, highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.
Apparently Frank, saw 4 bears too but I had fallen asleep again.
As noted above once we got our baggage including boxed bikes we had to assemble them and attach our panniers before we could eat or go to the hostel. We did eat dinner then off we rode to find the hostel. It is 5 miles out of town and 400 feet above Jasper. It was an 1.8 mile climb and pitched up to 12% once or twice. This with 50-60 pounds of gear on the bike.
All the way up we were attacked and eaten alive by swarms of mosquitoes. We got to the hostel and were still being attacked by swarms while parking our bikes. I dashed inside and inside in the mud room it was just individual mosquitoes dive-bombing. I got to the front desk and then remembered my wallet with id and credit card was still outside on the bike. The mosquitoes hadn't gone away in the 5 minutes I had been inside. I procured my wallet and dashed back inside. Then it was a matter of standing inside a very warm room with sweat running off the forehead plus the kamikaze mosquitos. Eventually it was my turn to register. We were all assigned to the dorm. I had to take a top bunk as all the bottoms had been assigned. I got my special card with my name and bed number and directions to the dorm.
I found the dorm. Geno, Mike and Bob were in beds stationed right at the dorm entrance. My bed was further down the row of bunks. I found the bunk bed and there occupying the bottom bunk was an angel. Her sheet was pulled just over her breasts. She was quite lovely. Now while I had been standing in line waiting to register I had wandered into a room adjacent to the front desk and saw a sign saying private female dorm through a door. My conclusion was this was not a co-ed dorm. So here I am, presented with this lovely image yet she was in the wrong dorm. I explained to her I believed she was in the men's dorm. Mike hears this conversation and comes dashing down the aisle to chastise me for harassing this poor young girl who only wants a good nights sleep and not some dirty old American man telling her she has to move. She was aghast and skeptical at my message. While I was standing there talking with her she saw another female walk by and pointed out to me she was not the only female down here. She got out of bed and no she wasn't naked. She was wearing a strapless night gown. We found the other young female who also was aghast and skeptical because she was down here with her whole family. This second female, teenager, spoke only French. She and I were not communicating then my "angel" begins speaking fluent French and tells her what I am saying. (This is when she became "aghast and skeptical"). "Angel" goes off to find the night manager. They return and the night manager explains the fact this is a co-ed dorm is one of their best kept secrets and I am not the first to be confused. He then asks if I want to stay in my assigned bed. I am OK with it but am concerned if I have offended the young lady. She, too, is OK with staying where she is.
As I putter around putting things away and getting things out I introduce myself. Actually I saw her last name Ouelette and asked her how to say it correctly. Then I tell her my name and ask her what her first name is. "Sophia, I am a Quebecer." Which explains why she spoke French fluently. She spoke English well, too. I continue putting my things away and pulling things out I will need for the night, sometimes repeating the same action as I remember something else in the bag I just put away in the drawer. Sophia is texting or something with her smart phone. After I take my shower and return she has rolled over to go to sleep. I clamber up and down the ladder to my bunk several times wondering if I am bothering her. She said nothing. Once I settled down I was out for the night.
Today we decided to ride into Jasper and see the town. Geno told me the expected high was to be 64 F with possible rain. I added a vest, arm warmers and knee warmers to my wardrobe. I never took anything off during the whole day.
Five of us rode into town. Herb and Jay, who had arrived around 9:30 last night, stayed behind to assemble their bikes. Our first task was to ride through the whole town and scope it out. Once we did scope out the town, which did not take more than 15 minutes we found a restaurant. We ate a good breakfast then went off to find a bike shop and a mountaineering shop where Bob and I bought fuel for our stoves. Geno had a specific item he wanted to get at a bike store so we found the second shop in town then we needed to find a place to hang out while waiting for Herb and Jay to finish breakfast and join up with us. I rode up the side walk looking for a coffee shop with wifi and checking out what was showing at the movie theater. I rode back on the sidewalk to the group. Suggested we check out a bakery and coffee shop just up the street. The bakery turned out to be very popular and was therefore crowded. While we were discussing our next move Geno said he needed to get something at the grocery store which was one block over. There was a walkway connecting the two streets and he disappeared up the walkway. We twiddled our thumbs while awaiting his return. He did so and we began to discuss what we wanted to do next when a young policewoman came dashing up saying "I have been chasing you for two blocks. Did you know you were riding the wrong way on a one way street, riding on the sidewalk and you almost ran over two pedestrians?"
Geno's version was he had almost sweet talked her into not giving him a ticket. Mike and Bob's version was before they intervened she was going to give him a ticket. Bottom line is she gave him a verbal warning and yes we were very good gentlemen bikers from that point on.
We drank coffee in the train station which had a coffee bar, procured a reservation for our third night's stay at a motel in Saskatchewan Crossing, and laughed a lot. Then we went off to look at Jasper Lodge and some small lakes near the lodge. This was a loop leading us back to Jasper where we got more information about our first 3 days of riding to Lake Louise. Then Herb made a reservation at a lodge for our 2nd night out on the way to Lake Louise. Our late lunch or early dinner was next. Then grocery shopping to get us through the evening at the Hostel. Last but not least was the ride and climb back to the hostel.
At the Jasper Lodge & Golf course everyone preparing to take a picture of Elk cow on the loose.
Elk cow's rear end after being chased away from the golf course.
Geno sets his camera for a timed picture. The other 6 are sitting in red and yellow Adirondeck chairs posing.
And this is how you take a picture with an iPhone.
Jasper Lake with lodge smoke stack in back ground.
Annabelle Lake(?)
Distance= 22.4 miles(probably 3-4 miles more as I have to remember to physically push the button to wake the bike computer up), T= 2:03, Mx=28.7 mph, Av= 10.8, El Gain= 1005, ODO= 3002. Stretched, 3x3 neck.
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