Here it was, our last day with Jørgen and Tara in Calgary Alberta. We awoke at 7:00am and were greeted by our smiling hosts in the kitchen.I only hope they weren´t smiling because of our departure today ;-))).Jørgen thought it would be best if we had some of his infamous Calgary porridge before we set off for the prairies. After breakfast we packed the last few things on the bike. Once again, we were packed to the max. The motorcycle seems to be disappearing slowly but surely before our eyes. Luckily we can still make out the seats and handlebars so that's a good sign by any means. We would soon be meeting Jørgen again as he had planned a trip to Denmark and will depart in a few weeks. We took advantage of this fact and gave Jørgen our two Raccoon hats and a book which I was given by my dear friend Sonny who thought I would have time to read it. I did get started on it but dropped it after the second chapter due to the fact that I could not both read the book and write this blog at the same time.Besides, I read a book once. It will just have to wait.We say our farewells to both Jørgen and Tara and thank them for the lovely time they showed us and for their hospitality.I hope we can do the same for them one day in good ol´ Denmark.It´s 9:15 and we both sit up on the bike and slowly back it out of the garage.I can feel that the bike is getting heavier for each day that passes. I´m sure it has nothing to do with the white stripes on Km´s stomach.Jørgen snaps the last couple of pictures of us as we wave goodbye and I give the throttle a bit of gas and we´re on our way.Next full stop… somewhere in Saskatchewan.

We set the gps to seek out a gas station in Calgary before we head on out to the Trans Canada Highway number 1.As we stop in front of the gas pump at the Petro Canada station, I notice a sign that read. Sorry for the inconvenience but we can only serve Octane 87 gasoline. A little annoying as Honda recommends that my bike uses minimum octane 89. Well, it´s better than nothing. We fill up and away we go. Highway number 1 which cuts straight through Calgary, doesn´t look much like a highway.The speed limit is 60 kms/hr on this stretch of road. It is first after we reach the outskirts of Calgary where we can drive 90kms/hr. The sun is shining upon us as we head out for the lonesome prairies. This is what everyone wanted us to experience andwhat I wanted to avoid. I´ve always heard that if look up boring in the dictionary, there is a picture of the Canadian prairie provinces. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised that along the Trans Canada Highway, it's not so flat at all.Okay, the mountains are long gone but there are some rolling hills.After about two hours of driving, we reach the town of Brooks.This is where we will get some gas and then be on our way. To Km´s disappointment, this is not a coffee stop. We pull into the first gas station we meet in town and on each and every gas pump is a little sign which reads… Sorry for the inconvenience but we are all out of gas. Okay, being the first gas station from the highway, this probably happens occasionally. We´ll try the next one. Same story, then the next… Deja vous. This was getting very depressing due to the fact that if we can´t find gas here, we don´t have enough to make it to the next town. And they something's rotten in the state of Denmark.This is Alberta, Canada's largest producer of oil. Where´s the gas ?? I see a couple of bikers down the road and ask them where there might be a place to buy some and they pointed me in the direction of a Shell station about 6kms down the road. I thanked them very much and off we went with fingers, eyes and toes crossed hoping that there is a gas pump at the end of the tunnel. At this point I don´t care about the light, a gas pump will do. As we approach the station we can see some vehicles pumping gas so we hurried to get in line hoping they don´t run dry before it´s our turn. This is so crazy. Not in my wildest dreams did I think we would have trouble finding gas in Canada and especially Alberta. There was another man and his wife on a bike who told me that they were just in the next town back towards Calgary where there was absolutely no gas what so ever. They came back here to tank up. With the tank filled, we head off down the highway once again relieved about not being stuck in the town of Brooks very long. The plan now was to stop every 100kms for gas to make sure this didn´t happen again. This meant a lot of wasted time but rather that then not finding gas. There was gas at all the stations we stopped but only octane 87. Even in the city of Medicine Hat which on their welcome sign read "The gas capital of Canada" had only octane 87.It was like being in a third world country!!!It was now 4pm and we were very close to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. I had hoped we had reached highway 39 which travels southeast fromthere but because of the many stops for gas we decided to end the day in Moose Jaw. We drove around Moose Jaw a little checking out the different motels which were available.Most of them were hotels and we were mostly interested in motels because of the fact we could park our motorcycle just outside the door and keep a better eye on it. We have been quite lazy or daring near the end. We don´t unpack the bike anymore while staying at motels.The stuff on the bike is nothing we really need at the motel anyway. It just takes time to unpack and then pack again in the morning.We decided that if anyone does decide to steal our things, we are insured and we can just buy new. To be on the safe side, I did have an alarm with which we did use while staying at motels.There is a string attached to a pin which is inserted into the alarm.If someone tries to unpack our things, at one point or another, they will pull out the pin which in turn sets off the alarm.At this point in the middle of the night, if needed, I immediately wake up Karen Margrethe and send her outside to deal with the thief.We did find the Dreamland Motel on Athabasca street. It was quite expensive for what we were use too so we decided to look for another one.We ended up returning again only to find the last non smoking room he had available. Unfortunately the last non smoking room smelt of smoke. When we complained about this, he said he could come down and spray the room with an air freshener.We thanked him for his efforts but decided not to take him up on his offer because it would just end up that the room smelled of smoke and some sort of air freshener. I really needed a beer at this point and the hotel owner depressed me even more by telling me that you can´t buy beer in Moose Jaw after 7pm on Sunday. There came another guy on his bike that checked into the room just beside us.He and his wife just split up and he needed to get away. He came from Ontario so he was pretty far from home. He asked me if I knew where he could buy some beer. Now we were two who needed a beer and I really didn´t want to depress him anymore then he was but I had to tell him what I heard about buying beer on Sunday. He decided to go out and have a beer instead. To my luck, he found a bar that sold over the counter.A kind of beer take-away. He bought a couple of beers to bring back to the motel and asked me if I would drink a beer with him.So I'm thinking… does a bear s*** in the woods. Yes I would!!! It did have its price though. Besides being eaten alive by mosquitoes, I had to hear about his sorrowful love life. Tried to convince him that the country is full of wonderful woman. When asked why I went to Denmark to find mine, I quickly finished my beer and went to my room.Hope he is doing better.We awoke at 7am the next morning and packed a few things before heading off along the Trans Canada Highway east towards Highway 39 southeast.We had a quick stop for gas and we were on our way. We were heading towards the town of Weyburnwhere we would hook up with highway 35 directly south towards the United States border once again.Our next adventure would take place in Sturgis, South Dakota.On route we drive through the odd town where we see what seem to be retired people sitting on a bench outside of the local store.Not so sure that I could adapt to the excitement they must experience in their everyday life. We wave to them as we drive by and they wave back. I guess now they have something to talk about around the dinner table tonight.The farther south we travel, the more flat Saskatchewan becomes.This was apparently what everyone was talking about. Down here the roads are straight as a pin all the way down to the horizon. When you reach the horizon, it starts all over. We begin to see oil pumps all over the place.There were more here than we saw in Alberta. We´ve been told that southern Saskatchewan discovered oil at the end of 2007.These oil fields stretch as far down to the US border and then over into North Dakota.It wasn´t long before we would be bidding farewell to the Prairie Province of Saskatchewan.I love the sound of Saskatchewan.Well, we have important things to do now. Won´t be long before we rumble into Sturgis South Dakota. This was going to be great !!!