June 23rd, 2014 – Banff National Park, AB to Kalispell, MT ~375 miles
Like I mentioned previously, we camped at Lake Louise, which is basically inside Banff.
The campground has a moat with only one access road, and the entire site is surrounded with a fence that’s been electrified to make it bearproof. Made me feel safe, that’s for sure.
I’ve only heard of it as a cattle grid, but I guess in Canada it’s called a Texas Gate?
This whole trip was full of me stopping for all kinds of photos, while Bui continued to enjoy the road. 20 days into the trip, he finally decided to stop for a roadside attraction – and I’m so glad he did.
Bui is a former Air Force guy, so when we encountered a museum dealing with ex military planes and bombers, he was like a kid in a candy store.
I became obsessed with all the graphics painted on the signs of combat planes. That means you’re going to have to put up with a couple photos of them here.
This was probably the most absurd one. Love the use of maple leaves to cover her breasts. O Canada!
Bui lookin’ good.
The piece d’resistance of the museum was an AVRO Lancaster Mk X, an absolutely gigantic bomber plane.
Here’s the view from the rear gunner’s seat. From the museum’s information: “No other member of a Lancaster crew experienced the same sense of detachment as did the rear gunner. Suspended in space, the rear gunner suffered from lack of leg room and temperatures that commonly reached -40 degrees F. He was required to stay in his cramped quarters for up to ten hours, constantly searching the night sky for enemy fighters and prepared to direct the aircraft’s evasive action as he brought his four machine guns into action.” Damn.
Walking up the inside of the plane.
A porthole enabled you to stand up and look around from the middle. Check out those exhausts:
Bui insists that Canadian ice cream is better than its American counterpart. I had to test his theory. As you might imagine, we were in some small town, and the owner of the shop said it had been a year since an American bought some ice cream from him. He gave me samples of two flavors I’ve never heard before – garbage can (which is just a little bit of every other flavor thrown into one), and Tiger. I had never heard of the latter, which is orange ice cream with black licorice. It wasn’t for me, but he swears that Canadians love it.
The first BMW 650 scooter I’ve seen in the wild.
Our last few moments in Canada.
Crossed the border back into the US and into a new state for me.
Montana is so beautiful. And despite how big it is, there’s less than 1M people in it.
The state flag had been torn just by heavy wind.
Gorgeous old truck.
One of the highlights of my trip was supposed to be Glacier NP.
Unfortunately, the main road through the park (Going to the Sun) was still closed, even though it was the 3rd week of June. The park had recently received 3 feet of snow, which set the snowplow crews behind schedule.
If we went in the park, we’d only be able to get about 5 miles in before we had to turn around, so we decided to skip it. Guess I have to go back now.
If there was a consolation prize, it was that the road that goes around Glacier NP is pretty fantastic.
When going around a corner, I saw this poor guy.
Picturesque scene of a train crossing a river.
More baby action.
A rare shot of both our bikes together, without any fleshy humans in the way.
Enjoyed some Thai food for dinner with some Moose Drool. I was disappointed that we weren’t able to enjoy Glacier NP, and coming back into the US had definitely lessened the feeling of ‘adventure’. On the plus side, it was looking liked I’d be able to get back to LA in time for what I needed – and we were still getting to ride hundreds of miles a day. Much better than spending the day in the office!
Go back to Day 19:
June 22nd, 2014 – Pouce Coupe, BC to Banff National Park, AB ~500 miles