Riders on the Storm

Edmonton flooded today. I know because I drove through it. Today was probably the wettest day of our trip so far, although it lacked the mind-boggling fury of Friday. It rained on us the first few hours of the day, and I discovered a flaw in my rain gear. If you throw enough water at my shoes the moisture will creep around the tongue and flood the boot. So I spent the day with a squishy step. C'est la vie! I deserve a merit badge or something.

We quickly got away from the fields around Edmonton and up into the wooded hills that formed the backdrop for most of the day. The highways we took were cut through the Canadian forest, and while there were many signs warning of moose crossing I never caught sight of any of the hairy beasts. The weather let up shortly before lunch, so I took a moment when we stopped at Whitecourt for lunch to empty as much water as I could from my shoes. Our food options weren't very good. It was mostly chains, but we found a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese buffet on our way out of town. It was mostly edible. We were happy just to have some time to dry off, so the food almost didn't matter! As we rode up the ridges we would catch glimpses of the forest stretching out around us. It was really quite beautiful, and love the chance to explore these forests again.

We reached British Columbia by early afternoon, and entered the Pacific time zone. Dawson's Creek was only half an hour over the border. I was very glad to get my wet boots off! This town is mile zero for the Alaskan Highway, which we'll be following all the way back to the US.