Day 98 - 8th September, Cardston - Mountain View - Waterton National Park, 37.42 miles

Chladné ráno, hmla, že by sa dala krájať. Kemp opúšťame skoro ráno a kým nám otvoria obchod využívame internet v informačnom centre. Po nákupe a raňajkách sa hmla trocha trhá a my vidíme niečo ako naozajstné hory. Čim sme bližšie tým je jasnejšie a hory sa tiahnu od severu na juh a vyplňujú celý horizont pred nami. Hory pred nami, préria za nami. “Rokies“ zo začiatku trocha pripomínajú naše Roháče, ale iba zo začiatku... Keď sme prišli bližšie museli sme skonštatovať, že Skalnaté vrchy sú kategória sama o sebe. Celému horizontu dominovala Chief Mountain (hora Náčelník?), posvätný to kopec pre miestnych domorodcov, vyzeral ako obrovský stĺp. Ako sme sa postupne blížili k Rokies, pribúdalo kopčekov, posledné zbytky prérie a pastvín sme nechávali kdesi dole za sebou. Tesne pred národným parkom Waterton sa cez nás prehnala apokalypticky vyzerajúca búrka, okrem trocha dažďa to však nič moc nebolo. Vstupné do parku bolo riadne drahé (v porovnaní s USA), 7.8$ na osobu za deň. Od brány nás čakala šialene húsenkovitá cyklocesta, do samotného Watertonu to bolo ešte 10 km, kemp bol tiež dosť drahý, najlacnejšia varianta bola za 22.5$, ale zato sme zaspávali medzi ozajstnými horami. Po viac ako roku bez hôr to bol dobrý pocit.

Foggy, cold morning, left camp early, than sitting before visitor center using their internet, speak with my mum for a while, working on blog a little and waiting until grocery store will be open. Finally we found out the magic of buying bulk food. Clouds slowly disappeared and unbelievable we saw something like real mountains... Our first thoughts were something like "Hey, they look same as ours mountains back at home" only difference was that they were from the north horizon to the south. Than we got closer, biking through last pieces of prairie, taking many pictures (especially Chief Mountain was spectacular). Well, Rocky Mountains are not as our mountains, not at all, not as Alps, well, they are Rockies, that's special category...
As we went closer and closer, they grew bigger, steeper, it was hard to not look at them, so majestic, awesome, beautiful. It's hard to describe, you have to see it (at least on our pictures...)
Before we got to Waterton National Park we had to bike through small storm, so our arrival was a little adventure. Entrance fee was 7,8 $ per person/day. We decided to stay here only for one day. From entrance to NP it was 10 km on crazy bike trail (something like roads in Pennsylvania) to Waterton Village. One night in camp was for 22,5 $ per night (the cheapest option). We slept near the Upper Waterton Lake surrounded by real mountains. So finally we did it, we are really in Rocky Mountains :-)

Pictures:
Getting closer
Small storm ahead
Waterton National Park

Day 97 - 7th September, Lethbridge-Magrath-Cardston, 53.62 miles

Ráno je zamračené a daždivé, trávime ho plánovaním našej ďalšej cesty a klábosením s Caroline & Chris o všetkom možnom. Opäť raz prechádzame cez Lethbridge. Obloha je oloveno šedá, polia naokolo hnedé, bezvetrie a pomerne chladno. Vyzerá to každú chvíľu na dážď, ale máme šťastie a ostávame v suchu. V Magrath Baška konečne má možnosť sa porozprávať so svojimi rodičmi cez Skype. Zdolávame zopár kopcov, očakávajúc, že už každú chvíľu musíme uvidieť Skalisté vrchy, ale mraky všetko skrývajú. Spíme v kempe v Cardstone. Blízko je indiánska rezervácia, indiáni vôbec nevyzerajú vznešeno, čo sme tu videli boli skôr alkoholické trosky (väčšina pôvodných obyvateľov má obrovské problémy s drogami a alkoholom).

Morning with Caroline & Chris talking about everything, planning our next steps. It's cloudy, rainy day. Luckily we didn't get any rain when we left Lethbridge, biked While day on Hwy #5  through another farm land, with small hills and canyons. Sky was dark farm fields brown and yellow, no wind...Finally about noon, the clouds slowly disappeared and for a while was sunny again. In Magrath Baška finally had opportunity to speak with her family through Skype. To Cardston we climbed one hill (still no view of Rockies, probably because of clouds) than enjoyed nice downhill. Tent in Cardston, town full of the aboriginal people sneaking around liquor store  :-(

Day 96 - 6th September, Taber - Lethbridge, 44.92 miles

Ráno nakupujeme niečo pod zub, potom raňajkujeme v parku, stretávame Cliffa, učiteľa na dôchodku a celkom dobre si pokecáme. Cestou z Taberu do Lethbridge sa pretekáme s oblakmi a dažďom. V Lethbridge sa motáme hore dole, asi tri krát prechádzame centrom, naháňame cykloobchod a wifi, ale nakoniec zdarne kupujeme nové reťaze na biky, Baške nový stojan, bo jeden to starých sa len tak zničoho nič zlomil. Píšeme email SJ a okukávame najdlhší železničný most na svete (taký ten typicky typ “a lá divoký západ“ s množstvom pilierov) klenúci sa ponad rieku starého muža. Potom, keď už sa konečne chceme vytrepať von z Lethbridge nás zastavujú obchody a potreba ešte niečo dokúpiť a dať si večeru. Pred zúfalým bicyklovaním do tmy nás zachraňujú Caroline & Chris, manželia, ktorí sa zastavujú na kus reči. Takže sa opäť vraciame späť do mesta a spíme na ich záhrade.

Morning shopping, than breakfast in the Taber's city park, good discussion with Cliff, retired teacher which we met in the park. Rode to Lethbridge was a competition with rain. In Lethbridge we were looking for bike shop, after we got in the middle of town we met one outdoor family and they showed us were is some bike shop. Only problem was that it was on the other end of the city. So we returned, bought new chains, I changed chain on Baška's bike, then we saw old style railroad bridge (longest bridge of this type in the word) through the huge Old Man River canyon and wrote some emails to SJ. Than, finally following Scenic Drive S. with nice views into canyon, we got on the Hwy #5 and were on the way out of the town but stopped for some grocery. There we met nice couple (Caroline & Chris), they were very excited about our trip, but also concerned where are we going, now when the night is close. And because they were really awesome after short discussion they invited us to they house. We were really glad, it was dark already and nearest camp miles away. So we returned back to Lethbridge and spent night in Caroline & Chris's backyard.

Day 95 - 5th September, Bow Island-Taber, 38.43 miles

Doobedie je venované očiste našich tiel, šiat a duší. Ja robím menšiu údržbu na taškách (zatiaľ jediné čo s nimi bolo treba spraviť bolo dotiahnuť trochu šróby, inak Ortlieb nemá jedinú chybičku). Kemp v Bow Islande je fajn. Na obed vyrážame do riadnej horúčavy a protivetru. Sledujeme trojku, v mestečku Burdett si varíme pravé falošne čili, čítame Harryho Pottera a schováme sa pred spaľujúcou horúčavou. V ďalšom mestečku/dedine (Grassy Lake) si dávame zmrzlinu v niečom ako amishkej reštaurácii a Baška, keď ide nabrať vodu, zisťuje, že krčmy a ich osadenstvo je všade vo svete rovnaké. Zvyšok cesty do Taberu je proti pravému, nefalšovanému protivetru. Baška nachádza na krajnici Iphone. Má rozmlátený displej, ale stále funguje. Tak námatkovo vyberám nejakých ľudí z kontaktov a na druhý pokus sa mi podarí dovolať chlapíkovi (taxikár Tim), čo pozná majiteľa mobilu. Je z Taberu, takže keď tam za chvíľu (skoro hodinu) dorazíme, dohadujeme si s ním stretnutie pred Safeway a mobil šťastné vraciame. Vraj ho chlapík položil na strechu auta a zabudol naň. Prespávame na záhrade u Timovej známej - Mel. Akurát začína jemne pršať (naozajstný dážď), tak sa to celkom hodí. Mel má veľmi vlezlú mačku, stále nám chce vliať do stanu.

The morning was filled by cleaning our bodies, cloths and souls. I did some maintenance on panniers (only a check screws, we didn't have any problems with Ortlieb so far) and bikes (oiled a chain). It was clear day with very strong wind against us. So very soon we stopped in small village of Burdett, to cooked something like chilly for lunch. Because of very hot weather we got ice cream in another town. Our way to Taber was really challenging because of strong wind. Baška found iPhone,a little bit broken but still functional, so I tried a few contacts and very soon we found guy name Tim which knew owner of that iPhone. We met in Taber and we returned it to it's happy owner. Than Tim's customer (Tim is taxi driver) Mel let us tent in her backyard. It was good timing, when we got there it started to rain. Mel's cat was very interested in our tent, luckily it doesn't have claws.

Day 94 - 4th September, Walsh-Dunmore-Bow Island, 67.38 miles

Dnes sme opustili vyprahlé kanadské badlands, Transkanadskú diaľnicu č.1 a aj posledné zvyšky prérie. Veľmi rýchlo sa chladné zamračené ráno zmenilo na horúci deň s modrou oblohou. Opúšťajúc diaľnici, v mestečku Dunmore, zažili sme menší šok, po pár dňoch vo vysušenej prérii tu zrazu všetci mali okolo domov sýto zelené trávniky, zavlažovanie veselo míňalo hektolitre vody len aby sa niekto potom mohol preháňať po trávniku s kosačkou a nasekanú trávu vyhodiť. Za Dunmore sme vliezli do ďalšej zapolenej agrikultúrnej púšte, sledujúc lesklý asfalt “diaľnice“ č. 3. Kúpili sme si zmrzlinu od miestnej verzie Amish-ov, boli fakt podivný. Navečer sa nekonečné planiny trochu zvlnili, polia na chvíľu vystriedali pasienky, raz sme dokonca videli bizóny. Posledný zjazd do Bow Islandu už bol za tmy, pozorovali sme farmárov ako sa za hviezdnatej noci preháňajú po poliach s kombajnmi.

Cloudy morning, no drinking water in Walsh, this was our last day on Hwy #1 and also last day in the prairie. Very soon was sunny & hot again and in Dunmore we left dry badlands for good. It was shock, a little bit, because everything before Dunmore was dry, yellowish, brownish but then we passed through this town with huge bright green lawns, sprinklers wasting water around tiny houses with big backyards with nothing else than grass... Now we were in the very intensive agriculture land following Hwy #3, farm fields were even more endless than in North Dakota, getting water from vast network of St. Mary River irrigation canals. It was still very hot so we bought ice cream in the restaurant own by strange local religion group (we forgot their name), they were really strange... In the evening plains changed a little to huge waves/hills, after each hill I expected that we have to see Rocky Mountains, but still no luck. Last hill before Bow Island we saw pasture with buffaloes, than the sun hid underground and we rode our last downhill in the dark watching farmers harvesting their crop under stellated sky.

Day 93 - 3rd September, Beverley-Gull Lake-Maple Creek-Walsh, 100.21 miles

Dnes sme sa zobudili do riadne silného vetra, ale keďže nám konečne fúkal do chrbta, dnešný deň bol pre nás jedným z najlepších. Okolitou prériou sme doslova leteli, pred obedom sme mali už vyše 80 km. Krajina bola úchvatná, samá préria, kravy, v diaľke sa zelenali kopce Cypress Hills Interprovincial Parku, fascinujúce pre domácich lebo tam sú lesy. Popoludní a od mesta Maple Creek začala byť préria poriadne vyprahlá, ešte aj vodu na pumpe sme si museli kúpiť... Večer sme dorazili do Welshu a novej provincie - Alberta.

Day when we were faster than lightning :-) Whole day is strong east wind, very strong and it is pushing as forward so fast and biking is so easy today. Now I understood why all people bike from the west to the east, if they have wind like this every second day... Now we were in the best prairie which you can see from Hwy #1. Land was finally too dry for agriculture, so there were mostly pastures around us. Also a couple of lakes, a few really big, most of them salty. And the ocean of grass in every direction. Before the lunch we already had about 50 miles. On our left side we could see the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, quite curious here because they are covered by real pine woods. After Maple Creek we entered to the dry badlands with no water at all. Even at the gas station we had to bought it, one battle/one dollar. So the rest of afternoon we biked on nearly abandoned Hwy#1, ground squirrels looking at us next to the road, groundhogs burrows and many different species of grass everywhere, a few cows, hills, hawks soaring above us, coyote trying to catch a wild goose... Spirit of this place was still strong. After we passed thought small mountain range pass and enjoyed nice and long downhill we came to the flat lands again and to the new province - Alberta. Night we spent in front of closed visitor centre in Walsh, using their free internet.

Day 92 - 2nd September, Morse-Swift Current-Beverley, 49.29 miles

Vyrážame za včas rána, chvíľu pozeráme po operencoch na Reed Lake. Je tam kvantum čajok, nejaké hvizdáky, more bahniakov, kačíc ...
Dnes bolo extra teplo, vietor protivný, skoro všade iba pšenica, ťažko sa šliapalo do pedálov. Videli sme líšku, stretli zopár miestnych cyklistov. Vo Swift Current som spravil gigantický nákup a trochu sme pohovorili s našimi cez skype. Ešte mierne schladenie sa v DQ... A boli sme späť v tej vyhni. Opäť sme zvážili svoje biky. Baškina Rosie má 60 kg a moja Makéta 70 kg... Spíme na malom rest placi kúsok za Swift Currentom. Všetko je vypadnuté, ale aj tak robíme oheň a dorážame nás pancake mix.

Nice fresh morning, doing a little bid of birdwatching, on the Reed Lake are thousands of birds, mostly gulls. Very soon is hot again, clear sky. Wheat fields are more common today, pastures or prairie less. We saw a nice fox, hiding in the grass next to the road. Met some local bikers, Hwy  #1 is probably only usable road for biking here. Wind wasn't so good as yesterday, temperature very high, it was hard to bike on the sun without any shade. We passed through Swift Current, city which somebody accidentally drop in the middle of endless prairie (or as some people said "in the middle of nowhere"). I did huge grocery shopping, chat with my family through Skype and we cool down a little at DQ. After my grocery massacre our bikes are heavier than ever. We found weight station, so Baška's bike is 60 kg again, but my is 70 kg. We camped down at the rest area near Swift Current, everything was totally dry here and in the grass were small cactuses. We did really nice fire in one of stoves and finished pancake mix.

Day 91 - 1st September, Caronport-Chaplin-Morse, 62.18 miles

Zobudili sme sa do zamračeného rána, ale veľmi skoro už bolo opäť jasno a modrá obloha. Krajina okolo, pokiaľ nebola zaplevelená poliami, tak pripomínala naozajstnú prériu. Samozrejme, že pozmenenú na pasienky a namiesto bizónov iba s kravami, ale malo to ešte stále niečo zo svojej zašlej slávy. Len keby ten ostnatý drôt všade nebol... Aj keď sa jednalo o takmer arídny biotop, prekvapivo tu bolo plno jazier, mnoho z nich slaných, niektoré vyzerali ako keby boli zamrznuté. V Chapline zo slanej vody ťažili soľ, všetko tam bolo biele.V jazerách sa potuľovalo (okrem kráv) kopec  vtákov, hlavne bahniaky, videli sme aj nejaké šabliarky, hvizdáky, pelikány, čajky, lysky, kačice... Zopárkrát preletelo niečo ako kršiak, videli sme aj nejaké myšiaky a sokoly. Roviny vystriedala pahorkatina, cesta sa pozvoľna kľukatila raz poliami, inokedy zas pasienkami a prériou. Slnko do nás nemilosrdne pražilo po celý deň, blchy štípali (menší konflikt pri obede), občas nás z pol metra ofúkol kamión, skrátka romantika a pohoda skoro už “divokého“ západu.

It was cloudy morning, but very soon it was nice again. Now we entered to the real prairie, well what left. Even that land became much dryer here, there were endless fields with wheat. But pastures with cows (we didn't see any buffaloes) were huge and also endless and looked like real prairie. And there were lakes too, most of them solty, some looked like that they are frozen, but it was only salt crust. Very soon after we started to bike it was cloudless and very hot day. The flatland disappeared and we were biking through small hills and river valleys, around us were only farms and ranches. In Chaplin we had lunch in abandoned campground and I was attract by fleas, don't they spread something like bubonic plague? Well, I didn't see any groundhogs borrows, so it should be fine. Anyway after this incident they didn't bother me again. In Chaplin was factory which made salt from lake's salty water. There were hills of salt around, if we have skies we could go skying. Before Morse, were we tent in small RV campground, we passed some huge lakes with zillions of birds, we saw nearly the same species as in Slovakia, some really rear, here probably quite common. One huge lake was also near Morse, it was evening when we came so tomorrow will be time for some birdwatching.

Day 90 - 31th August, Grand Coulee-Moose Jaw-Caronport, 53.17 miles

Ráno nás čakali kráľovské raňajky v nemeckom štýle, Tereza je pôvodom z nemecka. Prišli aj Mike a jeho žena, rozlúčiť sa s nami (a tiež na raňajky). Cesta do Losej čeľuste (Moose Jaw) bola náročná, fúkal silný protivietor, obloha bola oloveno šedá, vyzeralo to na dážď. Ale mali sme šťastie, zdalo sa, že prší všade naokolo len nie tam, kde sme boli, kým sme prišli do Moose Jaw bolo už skoro pekne a teplo. Cestou, po pravej strane, esme minuli akúsi hroznú továreň s obrovskou haldou, najvyšší to bod široko ďaleko. Typujem, že dym čo z nej čmudil na kilometre ďaleko, musí miestnemu obiliu dodávať extra príchuť. Našťastie pri Moose Jaw začala krajina viac pripomínať prériu, len indiáni a kovboji chýbali. V Moose Jaw sme si iba dali obed, zmrzlinu (v Dairy Queen) a frčali ďalej. Nezastavili sme sa ani v ich slávnych termálnych kúpeľoch, ani sme nenavštívili Al Caponeho slávne tunely. Poobedňajšie bicyklovanie už bolo o niečo lepšie, jednak vietor povolil a počasie sa zlepšilo (na chvíľu). Zastavili sme sa až v Caronporte, kde hľadajúc miesto na spanie, zostali sme cez noc u jedného z miestnych obyvateľov, ktorý nás nechal prespať na svojej záhrade.

In the morning Theresa prepared for us amazing breakfast, very high nutritional and tasty (and because Theresa has roots in Germany, very German's style). Mike with his wife came too, to say goodbyes to us (and for the breakfast :-)) Theresa was really wonderful, she gave us sausages, cucumbers, tomatoes and good instant tea. Mike biked with us for a while, giving us the last advices. Then was time to say him goodbye and we started to fight against the wind. Sky was grey and clouds heavy with rain. But we were lucky and got to Moose Jaws more dry than wet, actually by the time we got there, sky was nearly clear and blue. Land around started to look more like a prairie. We didn't stay here for famous spa or Al Capone's tunnels, just had lunch and visited DQ. Afternoon biking was a little bit better, landscape around  begun to be more diverse and more interesting than endless farm fields of wheat. Also wind wasn't so bad anymore. And we had nice red sunset. In the evening we ends up in Caronport. There was literally nothing except a few houses and gas station (and very, very big church, and school, and playgrounds, and motel...), but no place to tent. But we were lucky again, when we asked one man where we can tent, he let us stay on his backyard. Canadians are cool.

Day 89 - 30th August, White City-Regina-Grand Coulee, 26.92 miles

Kým sa vymotáme z kempu je skoro poludnie (tesne pred odchodom Baška zistila, že má defekt). Fúka silný protivietor, cesta do Reginy je otrasná, ako všetky cesty do veľkých miest, hustá premávka, hluk, prach a shopping centrá. Skúšali sme nájsť nejaký cyklistický obchod, ale nič vhodné sme nenašli. Moje rukavice sa už pomaly rozpadávajú a potreboval by som nové. Aspoň sme našli free wifi a zavolali si s našimi. Inak kým sme sa vymotali z mesta bol už večer a pred nami nekonečné polia a stále vietor do tváre. Čakali sme, že tu budú kempy, veľmi hojné na výhodnej strane Reginy, ale západ bol úplne pustý. Ako sme si to tak pedálovali v ústrety zapadajúcemu slnku, zrazu sa spoza nás vynoril cyklista a hneď sa začal pýtať na našu cestu a tak, keď sme mu povedali, že asi dnes budeme späť v poli,lebo tu nič nie je (najbližšie mesto bolo tak 20 míľ), len tak mimochodom povedal, že jeho priatelia bývajú, hneď túto cez pole na farme, a že či nechceme prespať u nich. No za chvíľu už sme boli na farme, pani domu Tereza, nám ponúkla niečo ako Radler a výborné tyčinky a chcela nám spraviť aj poriadnu večeru, ale my sme sa celkom napráskali v Regine. Mike, tak sa volal onen cyklista, s nami rozoberal plán ďalšej cesty a spolu s Terezou nám dali kopec typov, hlavne na prechod cez Skalisté Vrchy a opäť raz sme sa rozprávali dlho do noci. Prespali sme v ich super luxusnom rodinnom karavane.

Today we started around noon, partly because of flat tire on Baška's bike. Road to Regina was horrible, strong west wind, dust, shopping malls, crazy traffic, as it is usual around big cities. In Regina we tried to find new cyclogloves for me, that old one what I have are falling slowly apart, but without success. We also tried to get map of Alberta, but with same result as with gloves. Luckily we found free wifi, so we could speak with my family. When we got out from town it was evening. Biking against the wind, we were looking for some campgrounds, but there were only farm fields around us, no town or something. West side of Regina is very different from east side where were campgrounds everywhere... Suddenly one biker appeared from behind and after small conversation, when he found out that we don't have any clue where to stay for night, he mentioned that we could oversleep at his friend's house. And, surprisingly, we were just passing around their farm. So we agreed and very soon we hang out with Mike (biker), his wife Charlotte (who came to pick him up) and Theresa (farmer), drinking good beer and eating pretzels. We were talking about our bike trip and Mike with Theresa were giving us some advices for our next journey. We slept in Theresa's trailer, very comfortable and big.