2013 Calgary Trip Day 9 Sunday August 11

Today's segment of the Calgary trip is between
Golden, BC and Calgary, AB
This was planned for 166 miles down the east slope of the Canadian Rockies.

Places Visited Along The Way, Photos, and Notes
We explored the famous resort areas of Banf and Lake Louise and then arrive in Calgary.
We have crossed the Rockies although Calgary is still at 3,500 feet elevation.
As I wrote yesterday, Golden (B) has two exits off the highway.
The west exit is the town center, the east is where
Days Inn Golden is located
So we had to head back west in order to top off the fuel tank
On the way we took a photo of the British Columbia Visitor Center for my ABC's

Heading east again, just outside of Golden, this is where I had to find a place
 to turn around yesterday after I overshot the hotel
The road between Golden and Lake Louise is similar to that leading up to Golden
Mostly two lanes and pavement needing some work in places
They are doing quite a bit of construction and someday...

However, the scenery is so beautiful, one does not mind all that much

In places, natural springs come out of nowhere and cascade down the rock face

Everywhere there was water as the road followed rivers and lakes

And there are trains everywhere, most very long.
It took us about two minutes to pass this guy and we were heading in opposite directions

The parking lot at Lake Louise was absolutely filled
We found a spot at the end of a couple rows and were soon joined by several other bikes.
The two red bikes parked behind us are people from Brazil

The lake itself is magnificent.  Truly living up to its reputation

The highway between Lake Louise and Calgary is terrific again
Just like between Vancouver and Kamloops it is 4 lane divided all the way
What a pleasure.  Now if they could just get that middle section...

Banff was crowded.  There was almost nowhere to park
Remember that I have no reverse gear and legging the bike
backwards with a trailer is very difficult
Parking at the curb almost demands an end space or two adjacent spots



I found a place that had parking for RV's
This was perfect.  With pull-through spaces I could get in and out easily

The parking ticket when I returned said "RV's only" and will cost $55

Soon we were out of the mountains and onto the flat lands approaching Calgary (B)

As we hit the city limits off to the right were some familiar structures:
ski jump towers and winter sports facilities like luge tracks
Calgary held the Winter Olympics in 1988 and again in 2010

Before we got to Calgary, we fueled up in a town about 60 some miles away
Unfortunately, I forgot to write down the address of the hotel in Calgary
I wanted to program it into the GPS.
Not knowing the address, searching for a hotel so far away would give a list of hundreds
I remembered that it is near (5 miles) to one of the two HD dealers in town.
One closes at 4 on Sundays and the other is only open Monday - Saturday
But, which one?  I flipped coin and told the GPS to take me to one of them

Downtown Calgary and the spaghetti freeways and expressways
 

I lucked out and we arrived at Kane`s Harley-Davidson about
a half hour before closing.


From here, being close, I did a general search for the Days Inn - Calgary South
and it took us right to it.


Our Route Today

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