Calgary, Strathmore, Brooks

I have a lot of pictures of a hike I did in Banff, and of the road leaving Banff, but haven't posted them.  I'll just add them in to that post later.  In Banff Pat and I realized we wanted different things out of our trip so we split ways.

I biked to Calgary and stayed with my mom's friend Zoe, her doughter Maya, and her fiance Richard.  They were so lovely and so much fun to be around.  They are all bike people, and other sorts of adventure people- so they are my kind of people.  They had wonderful and inspiring stories to tell.  Zoe showed me some of a blog from a friend of hers' journey, "www.sarahouten.com''- London2London.  She's doing a self propelled trip around the world, while spreading awareness for various charities and organizations.

Richard looked over my bike for me and chatted about food.  That was helpful.

I met a man named Don, who I found on the warm showers network, and he spent about 5 hours with me and my bike looking it over.  What a nice guy.  He tought me so much about bike maintenance and also how to fit my bike to me for the most comfortable ride.  My bike didn't have a lot of maintenance needs, but I was curious about a lot of parts so we played with it.  He gave me new pedals and cages because I wrecked mine when trying to take the pedals off and on to pack it for the flight out to Vancouver.  I realized in Calgary, that I had been biking over the mountains with seizing pedals.   Of course I would be doing extra work and think nothing of it....

Took a rest day in Calgary to play guitar, play with my bike, and get to know Zoe and Maya.

On the morning I was supposed to leave, I enjoyed Zoe's company too much and left way to late to make it to Bassano my next destination.  So I told myself I'd just stop when I got tired, which was Strathmore.  Before Strathmore I passed through Chesteremere and took these photos- the town is by the water so this makes sense:

 Leaving Strathmore, it was super windy and cold.  I stopped at a gas station to get out of the wind.  I asked the cashier if I was being a baby or if it was actually as cold and windy as I thought.  She said if the truck drivers were complaining, which they were, then I was not being a baby.  That was enough encouragement.  Also this guy gave me money to buy beef jerky as a good luck gesture.  That was really funny, and very appreciated.

Camped in Brooks, then headed to Medicine Hat.