Today we had a early, short , 80 mile ride to get to Calgary. Stopping only to drop off our bags and bikes at the Hampton Inn.  This would be lodging for tonite.  Then it was a one block walk to get to a transit station, where we hopped a train to the downtown area for the big parade.  An hour and a half parade that
had over 170 entries.  Lots of cowboys and horses, along with decent sized floats and marching  bands.
Some from as far away as Australia and England.  Did I mention horses, lots & lots of them followed periodically by street sweepers, a welcome relief!  Calgary is a modern city of over one million people.
It shows signs of big city life such as , bad traffic, pan handlers and grafitti .  But nothing bad enough to take away a pleasureable visit for those wanting to see it.

  The festival itself is held on the Stampede fairgrounds.  This area has a lot of holdover from the winter Olympics in 1988.  The size of the park is much larger than Milwaukee's and houses many large permanent
buildings, including the Saddledome.  One of our must sees was the chuck wagon races.  Four horse wagons competing against each other around an oval track.  That was fun!  Plenty to see and do.  We stayed until about 10:30 and grabbed a train back to our hotel.  It was a long hot day and we were burnt out.  Midday we ran back to the hotel to check in and they were nice enough to provide water so we could give OUR HORSES  a much deserved bath.

  Tommorow we start heading west again, onward ho!
Mark

Notes;
-Thanks for the comments, we enjoy the laughs
-Longhorn cattle are amazing
-We're excited about seeing family next Sat.








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