Arrival Time 5:30 A.M. Jasper, Alberta

Smithers, B.C.
July 5, ’80

Well, here I am, in a dry room, wet, and waiting for the train
departure that will take me across B.C. to Jasper, Alberta, some 490
miles. In Jasper I will get off the train and bicycle down the
Canadian Rockies to Banff, 300 miles south. I'm looking forward to
that ride, but even more, I'm looking forward to leaving this rain behind.

When I packed up my gear, and left the falling down barn, I walked
out into a heavy drizzle. I carried my bike back across the cow dung
and through the tall, wet, grass. Soaking wet, and back on the
highway, I had already made up my mind to check out a train ride as
soon as possible. Three days of wet wilderness biking had taken
everything out of me. After arriving in Smithers, the first question I
asked was "What's the weather report?" The ticket guy responded, "More
of the same." But then he added, "You should have been here three days
ago. It was absolutely gorgeous."

I spent the rest of the morning, after buying my ticket, cleaning my
bike and getting groceries. Arrival time in Jasper was 5:30 a.m. Even
though the train was running an hour late already, it would still get
into Jasper before the stores opened in the morning, and I didn't want
to wait around to buy supplies. I found shipping my bike easy. Whereas
back in Ottawa I had to "package my bike," out here I just put a
name tag on the handlebar. The baggage guy lifted it fully loaded into
the boxcar and that was that. Everything was looking good except the
weather. If it stayed that way, the shear beauty of the parks would
have to become my sunshine.