It took some time to comb through my pictures to find ones representative of chunks of the trip. Many of these are mine, but I threw some of Tess’ and Capt. Merriweather’s in as well…

This photo was taken in Montana, the most beautiful state as far as I’m concerned. Every corner we turned or hill we crested presented postcard-like scenes. I’m riding on the far left with the pink tires.

This is a picture from the start of one of Rocky’s notorious “nights before the day off.” We’re in the van at Glacier National Park. From the left is me, Brett, Lorig, and half of Tess.

In Calgary we decided to purchase roof racks for the van so that we could be self-contained through the Yukon wilderness. Bredt is making some delicate adjustments here. Calgary apparently uses a Jeffersonian grid for their street arrangement…which means there are at least 4 of every numbered street at different points in the city. I was van leader on the way into Calgary (with John and Tess), the numbering system, the fact that only highways run through Calgary, and Stampede (a huge cowboy festival that caused the normal population of Calgary to swell) gave us some trouble. We learned around 3pm that we had lost all of our riders. Skip, the documentarian, grabbed his camera and jumped in the van with Tess and I as we tried to round up the riders.

We volunteered at the Stampede marathon the morning we left Calgary. Our mission was to ensure the runners had a clear path through the fairgrounds.

I found a penny.

Tess, Brett, Merriweather, and I rode together on the way to Jasper…blue skies, pine lined streets, and mountains ahead.

This is the same day. Andy strongly suggested that Brett and I take a detour from our route to see Lake Louise. We were zamboni and Tess was with us, I convinced her to make the climb with us. Her knee was still healing from the crash in Yellowstone, but she agreed to join us…until an old man walking along the side of the road said, “You’ve got a long way to go.” She turned around and headed toward Jasper, assuring Brett and I that we would catch up to her on the highway. The climb turned out to be pretty steep and long, but it was worth it.

This is the view to my left. The glacier and clouds blend together. We skipped some stones and then headed back down to catch Tess.

We had only been riding a few miles when a white Golf passed us and someone yelled “British Columbia!” I realized the voice was Tess’ and then saw her bike on the roof rack of the car. Turns out she missed a turn, as did Brett and I. Carolyn, the friendly Canadian ranger, had seen the rest of our group at a checkpoint, but saw Tess on another road on her way home from work…in British Columbia days before we were to enter it. They caught us on their way to the checkpoint and put us on the right track.

At the end of the day, we camped at a beautiful site. Brett is the little orange spot at the bottom right. I think he’s gathering skipping stones.

We had topographic maps for our routes in the US to advise us about the climbs for the day…however, Canada was a surprise. Turns out it was better we didn’t know about this climb cause I think my mind would have had the best of me. We had climbed a bit to get to this spot, where mountain goats frolicked about a waterfall.

The road below is where the previous picture was taken…

At the end of the day we found ourselves at the Columbia Icefields campground. Carly, Lorig, Brett, and I braved a mountain stream to walk on the glacier.

You can see the path we took to get to the glacier behind Carly. Turns out that although Chacos are versatile, they may not be the best shoes for ice hiking…

I love Meziadin Lake. It’s my favorite stop for sure. It’s a glacier lake, but it was so warm out, everyone jumped off their bikes and into the water. The rangers said they had never seen so many people swimming in it. To the left is an island. The far shore was home to the best skipping stones I’ve seen.

We had access to the park’s canoe…I’m not really a paddler, I like to be paddled around. Luckily, there are plenty of paddlers on the team. In this picture, Meg had just towed Skip, Paul, Mike, and myself from the island to the shore with the canoe’s rope.

This is the view to the right of the lake. After a few trips in the canoe, I decided to chance bringing my camera along.

Team Friday (sans John who was still rounding up riders)

In Prince George we spent an enchanting day with Richard and Magee. After we cleaned up the teas, juices, and muffins from breakfast, they invited us to draw a square on their table. There were already quite a few squares drawn, I’m particularly fond of this one. I’m pretty sure their daughter, Jessie, wrote it. She was gone on a bike tour while we were there.

We rode next to mountains and lakes nearly the entire time. I still can’t believe how beautiful it’s all been. Tess and Lorig, my two tried and true riding partners are ahead of me here.

The 109 mile day into Yukon would have been impossible for me without Lorig, Tess, Mike, and Brett. We were about 15 miles from our destination here. It was the hardest day for most of us, but also the favorite for most too. Looking at this picture, you’d never guess we had just ridden through hail, or that Tess was stuck in her granny gear, or that we were stopped in the middle of a climb. We were almost there and it was the night before a day off.

I was wary of joining the two teams at the start, but now I can’t imagine why. Here we took a little break to heckle Martina, Suchin, and Mike, who were swimming in the frigid waters below.

I’ve been skipping stones throughout North America. I love it. Brett and Skip are my main partners in crime. We’re supposed to have a skip-off in Anchorage, but no time has been set yet. I’ve been collecting the perfect skipping stones along my journey. Here we’re in Chistochina, an Athabascan community.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I need to wake up some snoozers and start the day. I leave for Austin 1am tonight and will spend the next 12 hours traveling…luckily with friends. Can’t wait to see everyone.