16th July 2016 - Jumping Pound AB - Kms to date: 5,288

Kms today: 298

The rain subsided overnight and the bikes were quite dry in the morning so that was a relief. We had breakfast at the motel which was included in the tariff.  Colin insisted on getting a photo of the Big dinosaur that was located on the way into town. 

This big fellow was in the middle of Drumheller.

As soon as that was completed we headed west and north to Sundre where Norman and Elaine Hanna lived. Elaine is Bill Bateman’s sister. We had invited ourselves to lunch and as it was only 180 kms from Drumheller we took it easy. Unfortunately the weather didn’t as it rained on us most of the way. By way of light relief we  caught up with half a dozen vintage cars trundling down the highway. They pulled over to let us past so we pulled over some way ahead and Colin got his camera out and snapped them as they went past us honking their klaxons and waving madly. There was one old couple who really looked the part as they must have been as old as the vehicle they were driving.

Vintage Car on the road from Drumheller.

We got to Sundre at 12pm and found Elaine’s farm 10 kms out of town. She had her son Jim’s daughter Haven and friend Brittany staying with them from Ottawa. Their other son Kurt was also there for lunch. Jim had been to Australia 30 years ago when he was eighteen but couldn’t get work as the backpacker visas hadn’t been invented then. He seemed to have enjoyed himself despite the lack of employment. Elaine put on a great lunch and Colin and I both ate too much. We had a good yarn with Elaine and Norman and they entertained us with stories of life on their beef cattle farm especially the year they had eight feet of snow!!!!


Elaine and Norman Hanna.

Kurt and Jim are in the oil business which is a big employer in Alberta. Kurt worked in Libya in 1984 so we swapped a few stories about our experiences.

Jim, Haven and friend Brittany.

Alan, Elaine, Norman and Kurt.

After lunch we suited up for the ride to Jumping Pound. I was already to go but Colin couldn’t find the key to his motorbike. I had to unsuit to help him find it as I was getting all hot and bothered. Everybody was scouring every piece of furniture and blade of grass for those pesky keys. We were even contemplating lifting the planks from the patio to see if the keys had fallen through a gap. We had basically stripped the place to its bare essential but still no keys. I decided to take control so I demanded that Colin check ALL his pockets again and lo and behold in a zip pocket in his bike jacket sleeve that was especially put there to hold his keys were ..... HIS KEYS. We had spent about three quarters of an hour looking for the keys so I dutifully berated Colin for a similar time on the way to Jumping Pound.
Jumping Pound is about 80kms from Sundre and 40kms due west of Calgary. Mabel found it quite easily and after negotiating 4kms of gravel road and a security gate we arrived at Bill and Pat Bateman’s house at about 5.30pm.

The Bateman Ranch founded by our Grand Uncle John Bateman.

They have a beautiful ranch style house with a fantastic outlook over a lake and the Kananaskis mountains in the distance. Bill barbequed a couple of huge steaks for us and Pat prepared a delicious meal on our arrival. That evening we caught up on all the news of the Batemans of Jumping Pound.

Bill Bateman standing outside the old Bateman hacienda.



A view from the balcony of Bill and Pat's place overlooking the lake with the mountains in the background.



The front entrance of Bill and Pat's house.