Julia on a bike

« At last, we meet! » After battling a sideways wind on Trans-Canada Highway 1 for over an hour the day before, I finally arrive at Larry and Deb’s, who welcome me back as a member of their family. And for a couple whose lives are worthy of an Arthur Penn film (whose filmography I encourage you to check out), that’s an understatement.

Larry, originally from Vancouver, did the 400 knocks from the age of 12 to 30, an age he never thought he’d reach. Deb, a native of the Ottawa region, endured many restrictions: custody of her younger siblings, imposed curfews, and all the other injunctions associated with her status as a girl and then a young woman. It came as something of a shock to her parents when she announced that she was marrying Larry, whom they had never heard of before. The date was set three weeks later, in the West. « I was 23, he was 29. We were good together, simple as that. We had the wedding in Vancouver, and because we hadn’t told anyone so much in advance, most our friends couldn’t attend, Larry didn’t have a best man. He went out looking for someone he didn’t know, but he found an old acquaintance! »

Six years later, Larry and Deb set sail for the center of the province before settling in Alberta. They had just had a son and wanted to escape some bad influences. Brooks is a small town where they could invest in a large property and make the necessary alterations to suit their tastes. And a huge garage to store their motorcycles. Like many motorcyclists of his generation, Larry began riding dirt bikes at an early age, before obtaining his license. Or rather, to go to a licensing office and get one. Sweet old times. Deb preferred to remain a passenger, crossing the country with her husband for many years.

Four years ago, the couple registered on the bunk-a-biker website. « Sharing our experiences, listening to the adventures of people who come here for a day or two, is our way of continuing to travel, » explained Deb. And because they know the region inside out, Larry and Deb make great guides. Here’s how it works.

As I crossed the Prairies, I heard several times « Don’t go to Brooks, there’s nothing to do« . Surprise! Once again, the assessment is wrong and unfounded, and my hosts are contributing to my cultural enrichment. The medium-sized town is a prime example of the province’s economic and cultural transformation. In Alberta, the oil and gas industry is king. However, it is closely followed by agriculture, which represents a major challenge, given the scarcity of water resources compared to Manitoba or Ontario. In 1912, the authorities turned their attention to building an aqueduct to make the land to the east of the city suitable for farming. The project was led by the Canada Pacific Railway. Two years later, the aqueduct rose over 3 kilometers into the air. Although the structure was replaced in 1979 by an irrigation system less vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, it has nonetheless remained a true technical feat and has becoming a National Historic Monument in 1983.

I also discovered Dinosaur Provincial Park, located in the heart of the Badlands and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. Thanks to archaeological excavations begun in the late 19th century and still ongoing, over 450 dinosaur skeletons have been found. They represent some fifty different species, making it the most important vestige of the age of reptiles. The largest collection is on display at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Drumheller, but many museums around the world have acquired fossils from this archaeological site.


So, while Brooks sometimes suffers from bad publicity due to its beef industry and Canada’s No. 2 slaughterhouse, it’s nonetheless an interesting point of entry for discovering Alberta’s cultural richness. And if you decide to make a stop here, don’t miss the hotel-restaurant in Patricia, a small, unspoiled village just a few kilometers away that will take you back to the days where saloons were almost like the heart of towns.