Strong winds blew all night and although I selected a site that was fairly protected by trees it made some noise blowing through the leaves. The rail line right below me woke me up a few times but thankfully I went back to sleep right away each time and the highway traffic behind was non existent all night. No one ever came up to occupy the campsites closest to me either, for which I was grateful. Clouds had rolled in east of me and created an incredible sunrise. I gathered my things quickly and resumed my ride on the highway. The temperature was 62 degrees! Nearly 30 degrees warmer than last night in the National park. This despite being slightly higher in elevation. The route I had planned followed some back roads between the two highways in the valley but the first bridge I came across had private property signs all over it. I didn't want to deal with that so I just went back to the Bow Valley Parkway and rode that into Cochrane. It was narrow with no shoulder but there wasn't any traffic at all. I found an Alberta license plate here! After several miles of blazing fast riding with the strong tailwind from the west, the road improved and I had a good shoulder again. Traffic increased steadily as I got to Cochrane. I briefly stopped at a gas station for a drink and a snack rather than find the grocery store and a park. I still had plenty of water. I rode on a rare William street, without the plural, although I had to go around some construction to get there. There was a big hill to get over and I did it through some wealthy neighborhoods with huge houses and it reminded me of home. On a huge retaining wall built of natural large stones I saw a fox that blended in perfectly with the yellow orange rocks, overlooking the valley. I tried to take a picture but he ran into his home between the rocks before I could get my phone out. I followed some perfectly straight range roads that were quite hilly out of town. Saw many groups of cyclists out enjoying the nice weather. It was pretty easy to get onto the path system of Calgary with minimal fuss. The paths were full of people walking and on bikes. It was slower but I had actually gotten to town before my brother did so I killed a bit of time in a couple of parks. The path system allowed me to stay off the roads entirely until riding to his apartment. I actually was only waiting for a few minutes on the sidewalk and reunited with my brother David. We barely recognized each other, it's been over 7 years since we saw each other last. Too long! It worked out great timing wise and despite all the uncertainty that prevented me from knowing exactly when I would get there, he managed to get the whole week off from work and his girlfriend also has Monday off since it's a holiday here too.