Bugs in the Bonnet and the Teeth

No bugs in my teeth - that's one of the reasons for the visor - no protein-on-the-wing for me. I feel badly for the bugs - at least they die quickly. This dragon fly died on my bike's air intake - can you imagine something this big smacking you in the face?


One of the many reasons to wipe down your bike at the end of the day is that an accumulation of dead bugs attracts the live ones who are hoping for a morsel or two for lunch. This little fellow didn't find anything of interest on my bike, but he found something on my helmet. Now I know that I'm not just imagining things when I feel the brush of a wing on my face - I watched this guy crawl into and inspect each of my helmet's intakes.



My saddle-up-and-go routine now includes a helmet check before I put it on - you never know what you might be bringing along with you for the next hundred miles.

farewell to the prairies

The prairie winds rule in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Having grown up in California near the ocean, I find it difficult to relate to the prairies. The open land of the prairie - few trees, no elevations is rather frightening to me. It isn't the huge open sky that I find strange - in fact, that is one of major draws away from cities. It is the lack of contrast in the land - I'm more comfortable in the high desert, in the mountains or near the ocean. Of course there is contrast in prairie land - for example we saw groups of cows cooling off in the small ponds that are scattered about - it is just a different type of beauty in the land than I'm accustomed to.

Hence my delight to discover that Alberta has "bad lands" (mauvaise terres a traverser) - and a Dinosaur Provincial Park in Brooks, Alberta. I should say "the" Dinosaur park - this is the site of the great Canadian dinosaur rush of the famous dinosaur skeleton rush in the early 1900's. Best to do the walking tours early in the day - it gets hot. Be sure to take the "bus" tour - to protect the fossils and the formations and the plant life, humans are kept under control by allowing them to visit the park from the confines of a little bus driven by a well-informed park guide.

Heard in the parking lot where we shucked our riding costumes for civilian clothes to walk around and take the bus tour: (the speaker is a hot, tired mom responding to a whiny, cranky kid) "When you go to Dinosaur Provincial Park, you don't just sit on your ass...(you hike the trails)". The interpretive center is an excellent place for kids (and adults) - lots of interactive displays and things to touch (beaver pelt feels much nicer than pronghorn pelt).

The tour takes you to formations (hoo doos, spires, and partially excavated fossil remains) you won't see on the walking trails. When we finished the bus tour I was melt-down hot. Standing next to the bikes getting ready to suit up again, I poured a bottle of water on my head to cool down. Why is it that when men see me do this they smile and watch but non-rider women always look away?

We are staying in Brooks, Alberta tonight - it was a full day trip to visit the park. If the gods of travel continue to be kind to us, we will reach Victoria island, British Columbia in a few days. We are mindful of the BC forest fires and are hoping that the smoke won't force us south of the border earlier than we planned.

Thunder Bay and Kakabeka Falls, Ontario

Before you visit Thunder Bay, Ontario, be sure to read chapter five, "Sleeping Giant", in Beauty Tips from Moose Jaw by Will Ferguson. Two cities have merged, Fort William and Port Arthur. Like many corporate mergers, the result is awkward. We enjoyed an architectural stroll around "church hill" - there's St. Paul's Anglican, St. Andrew's, Trinity United (the Methodists and Protestants), and Baptist church, and one funeral parlor - the funeral parlor is ecumenical, they don't care where you came from, they'll see you eventually. We wanted to have lunch "down town". The merged city has done a great job of preserving history in museums but they haven't quite figured out how to develop the downtown area into an inviting space. There were gulls screeching and circling overhead as we changed out of our riding gear and into normal street clothes. The streets were empty except for a few odd folks, including a twenty-something young man in ratty clothing with a consumptive cough leading black dog towards a dumpster. Had we stumbled in on a Hitchcock movie? No, we had arrived in Thunder Bay on a civic holiday - everything was closed.

The Kakabeka Falls are a short distance out of Thunder Bay - I recommend a side trip, or a planned stop.


The Legend of Princess Greenmantle

The text of this entry is taken from the sign on the viewing platform for the falls.

Ogama Eagle, the powerful Chief of the Ojibwa Indians in the Thunder Bay region, had one child - a daughter named Greenmantle. The princess was tall and graceful, with dark eyes and jet black hair. This child of the woodland was much loved by her people and renowned as a dancer.

When Greenmantle had passed her seventeenth summer, the traditional Ojibwa territory along the shore of Lake Superior was invaded by the neighboring Sioux. The enemy warriors captured Greenmantle and held her captive in their camp on Dog Mountain. After a time, the Sioux forced her to guide them down the Kaministiquia (river) so that they might launch a surprise attack on an unsuspecting Ojibwa camp.

Pretending to betray her people, Greenmantle led the war canoes down river, toward Kakabeka Falls. Skillfully, she paddled her lead canoe through the turbulent white-water, with the Sioux in breathless pursuit. She was determined to foil the enemy's plans, even at the cost of her own life. Just as Greenmantle was about to enter the swirling waters above the falls, she swerved toward the west bank, leaped from her canoe and swam to shore. This unexpected maneuver so caught the Sioux flotilla by surprise, they were quickly drawn into the rapids. Many were swept over the falls to jagged rocks below.

Greenmantle fled in triumph down the portage trail to alert her people and the Ojibwa were able to hold back the remain Sioux forces. A last battle was fought on Welcome Islands, near Thunder Bay, where the Sioux were decisively defeated.

Another version of the legend states that Greenmantle, too, perished over the falls when she tricked the Sioux. Her spirit, it is said, lingers in the mist as a rainbow, while the voices of the angry Sioux cry continuously from the roaring waters below.

When Europeans first arrived in the Lake Superior area, it was occupied by the Objibwa. The life and lore of these native peoples inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "the Song of Hiawatha". Similar romantic legends were woven around well-known landmarks by other travelers - the story more often told about the Kakabeka Falls is that of the Ojibwa Princess Greenmantle.