Whitecourt Archives - Iron Roamer

Usually I like to state the highlight of the day. Well …. today it is the lowlight of the day, getting food poisoning in Calgary, Alberta.

I left Whitecourt under partly cloudy skies. Of course Mr. Rain had to sprinkle a few drops on me to say Hi.

There are a couple of countrysides I think are so amazing. One is the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania. The other from Rocky Mountain House to Calgary. It consists of rolling hills of farms and ranches. I love the area.

In Calgary I attempted to book a dorm at the University of Calgary. However, they were full. But they have a place called Hotel Alma. The hotel is sort of a combination hotel and dorm. My room consists of two rooms with a common washroom and kitchen area. They told me they would not put anyone in the other room. Brent and I had stayed in a similar configuration at the dorms at the University of Alaska.

I highly recommend Hotel Alma for an inexpensive stay in Calgary. Bonus is that besides a TV and free WiFi, they have free North American phone calling. On the downside is that you have to pay $10 per day for parking.

Food Poisoning

After I settle in to the hotel room I decided to look for a place to eat. The only cheap place I could see was the Dairy Queen by McMahon Stadium, and close to the University. They had a “special” of 2 cheeseburgers for $4.75. That’s what I ordered.

After I ate them I got an ice cream cone and left to walk back to the hotel. Within minutes I felt sick. Minutes later I felt like throwing up. I managed to stumble my way back to my room. For the next three hours I was throwing up hamburger. Finally I seemed to bring it all up. Exhausted and weak, I fell asleep on the bed.

It’s not only in Mexico or Africa where you can get food poisoning 🙂

Route for August 1, 2016

Today’s ride from Fort St. John to Whitecourt can be characterized by one word – rain.

After leaving southern British Columbia, rain has been my constant companion. I can only remember 2 days where it didn’t rain. Fortunately, those were the two days it took to go from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Prudhoe Bay. Those were two great days!

I left Fort St. John and it was just cloudy. It didn’t take long before the rain came. With the exception of two short periods, it rained all day. To put it bluntly, it was miserable.

I had planned on tenting in Whitecourt to save some money. I suppose I still could have, but setting up in the rain and having it rain all night after a day of riding in the rain was not something I wanted to do. This time comfort won out over saving money.

I looked around Whitecourt and picked the Ritz. No, not that chain of Ritzs. This was the Ritz Motor Inn. It looked like it would be the cheapest of the bunch of hotels I saw. Again cheap is relative. It cost $91 for the night. The bonus part was that this included a full breakfast. The room was actually quite nice.

I set out unloading all my stuff. Both my panniers leak water 🙁 I need to pack things in waterproof dry bags so they don’t get wet at the bottom. After I unpacked I soaked up the water in the panniers. There was about a cup in one and a half cup in the other. I am not sure what the problem is exactly. I inspected the one pannier and there is a bend in it that may collect water. And the silicone lining is wearing and broken in parts. When I stop for an extended period of time I will see if I can fix it. The other potential reason is that I am packing the panniers to full thereby leaving a small gap at the lid that the water leaks through. I need to see if there are other things to get rid of.

Anyways …. after a day of rain I deserved some warm comfort food. That meant lasagna in the Ritz lounge. Felt good. And it felt good to crawl into a warm bed.

Calgary Food Poisoning

Food Poisoning

Route for August 1, 2016

Rain

Route for July 31, 2016