Lots to catch up on...

Hi, Larry behind the keyboard this time. Kevin said I had to do the next entry, but did not tell me that he had not been doing any and I have almost a week to catch you all up on. After the bike trouble in Iowa we made it to Sauk Rapids, Minnesota and was received into the household of Tome and Bonnie Benrnhardt, a couple we met on the internet who also are motorcycle adventurers. We stayed 2 nights in their camper, which was much more comfortable than the tents and drier to boot. One great thing that we experienced while there was a steam locomotive excursion train that passed right through their town.

From there we drove to Minot, ND and got a room at the U.S. Air Force base there. It was very comfortable and I was surprised to see how light the sky was at 10 p.m. even though it was still only North Dakota. It was only a short drive from Minot to Portal, ND, where we entered Canada. Needed some Canadian $$ I was able to find an ATM close by and we were ready to roll.
We did have a VERY unusual incident in Saskatewan while trying to avoid a giant rain storm. We stopped in a little wide spot in the road and found a coffee shop. After we had been there for a while one of the customers (who we had chatted up) asked us if we knew where we were? "Saskatchewan??" was our reply. Seems like we landed in a famous Canadian TV comedy setting called "Corner Gas". They were amazed that we had not ever heard of it. It sounded like a clone of the "Northern Exposure" show that American TV had going for a while. The coffee shop we were at was the old police station, and it was also featured in the show. Inside all the walls were covered with signatures and graffiti, so I had to do my own example for all posterity to view. We stayed so long that the owner wanted to close up, but had some leftover lunch that she was going to throw out, so she fed us with it instead. What a cheap day this was!!

The next camping was near Saskatoon, Sas. and it was 36 degrees that night....cold as a well digger's butt! And as soon as we got into the sleeping bags we found out that a railroad spur was just on the other side of the property, and the engineers of the trains must have had a PHD in tooting the train hour as he did it all night long. Thank God we got out of there the next day.

Edmonton, Alberta was next, where we were guests of Joe and Debbie Kramer, more internet friends, and now friends in person also. Such an interesting family, and easy to get to know. Thanks again, Deb and Joe!

Now we are in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, where the "official" start of our adventure lies, even though we have travelled well over 2,000 miles from Indianapolis to get here. Since the weather turned cold and drizzly shortly after we left the Kramer's in Edmonton, Kevin and I decided to opt for a motel room for the night. Tomorrow we will take the obligatory pictures of milepost zero of the Alaska Highway and get on the road.