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Deane and Norm's Motorcycle Trip to Northwest Territories & Nunavut | |
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August 18 - Manning, AB - Plamondon, AB - 345 Miles |
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Well, our short stay in Northwest Territories was over too soon, and now we start east across Alberta and Saskatchewan, to get to Manitoba. Today started out with rain when we got up, making the loading of the motorcycles a little wet, but we carry small folding umbrellas for this very purpose so it wasn't bad. By the time we started riding, the rain had moderated to light drizzle, and before long we had just very light sprinkles once in a while. By late afternoon it was beautiful again. Our ride once again went through a variety of large fields of wheat and canola, with tree-lined borders, and small forests in some places. All the crops were still in varying shades of green, so it was beautiful. We met two more enthusiastic Gold Wingers today, the first was Ron Trudeau, with whom we had a good chat when we stopped for coffee in the little town of McLennan, Alberta. The second was Ray Stern, whom we met in his town of Slave Lake. Both of these Wingers had taken trips into the US and in various parts of Canada, so we had lots to talk about. As Norm and I had lunch later, I learned to my chagrin that I hadn't caught Ray's position on his business card. He is the Mayor of the town. I would have liked to acknowledge that. Anyway, the town of Slave Lake has a great guy for its mayor. (By the way, there are several "Slave Lakes", the "Great" one in NWT, a "Lesser" one in Alberta, and some other places, including this town's name. It has to do with the early Europeans interpreting the local native people's tribal name which sounded like "Slavey". Somehow that got shortened to "Slave"; but it doesn't mean a person in slavery. Now for the "Wildlife Report" We saw two deer, at two separate times, along the side of the road. Ray Stern told us of a stretch of road that had not only lots of deer, but also lots of moose. The time of day for them to be out, of course, is dusk to dark, and Ray said that he drove this stretch last night, and saw the eyes of at least 40 animals as he went along. So, we were extra cautious. Then Deane saw a "Blue Cow", which Norm missed. (It was a metal cow silhouette, painted blue, at the entrance road to a farm.) Hey, it isn't everybody who sees a "Blue Cow" while out riding Tomorrow we'll keep heading east across Alberta, so it will be fun again. |
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