A Review - Part 5

My last day on the road… I called Brigitte and she sounded horrible. A nasty cold or virus had beset my bride which made me want to get home even more. Now when we spoke I was in Golden, BC and had pretty much said I would be staying there for the night. I refueled the van, bought a snack and a coffee and sat on the bench outside the store for a few minutes. After recalculating my travel time with a pen and paper then confirming it with the GPS I soon left Golden. Now when Brigitte reads this she will find out I carried on through the night and a few hours later I bedded down for some rest at a weigh scale just west of Calgary.

I awoke early enough and started on my way arriving in Red Deer at about 830 and had some breakfast. I was to meet up with Katlyn and do some field work with her and see this bridge she seemed to like to photograph. I had time to check out a few things in Red Deer and soon was on the road to join Katlyn at Big Valley.

We arrived and she recommended we head to the bridge first. This is an older steel arched bridge that supports one lane of traffic. It towers above the river and it was a treat to work around it and try to capture some of the angles. The sight that I liked the most (bridge pictures later…) was the view along the valley. Steep banks along one side that had been cut through the softer sandstone rock and what appeared to be a calm river flowing through. But the current under the surface was anything but calm.

We headed back to Big Valley and watched as the old steam locomotive brought in the excursion train. Apparently the train had just been robbed back in the hills by six gun toting bandits on horse back. Yes this is a tourist attraction but having seen these kinds of robberies on old western movies I think it would be kind of cool to witness it first hand. I was also treated to the historic value of Big Valley when I was able to walk through the skeletal remains of an old roundhouse. The concrete base to the turntable is still there and so are the service pits and walls but the support beams and roof are long gone. This is definitely worth a trip back to explore further. Thank you Kat for showing me this bit of history.

I felt the need to continue and set the GPS for home. I was soon on Highway 7 headed back toward home and it didn’t seem to take long and I was back in Saskatchewan and soon a few miles from home. I arrived home a good 24 hours early and was a bit happier when I felt the passionate hug of my bride. If it was not for her support this journey would not have happened. She was ill and I needed to be there.