No Treeses, Only Breezes

After Manitoba proved to be overly friendly, we thanked our hosts and hostesses the Bleicherts and the Augusts, and aimed for Saskatchewan. Leaving Brandon, we were about 120kms from the border and despite the heavy head winds, we drudged slowly towards the hard to spell, easy to draw province of Saskatchewan. As evening approached we noticed the wind was dying down and our progress had picked up. The land was boringly flat, but our speed was quick for the first time all day, so we decided we would capitalize on the easy riding and committed to riding in the dark. We stopped at a gas station to grab a snack and set up our lights and such on the bikes. As we pulled into the spot we met a fellow whose car had broken down earlier in the day. He was trying to buy a used car from the sales lot across from the gas station. His car broke down on the way to a folk festival where he was supposed to be selling drums he makes by hand, Ear to the Ground drums. He seemed like a nice fellow but when we entered the gas station and were roaming around in search of some grub, the lady behind the counter asked us if we could stick around until the store closed because she was creeped out by this poor stranded guy. Trying to ease her worries we decided that we could use a bit of a rest and agreed to stick around. We had about 40 minutes to kill according to her so we grabbed a pack of hot dogs and prepared for a microwaved treat. We had a plethora of buns that we acquired from a grocery store earlier that day. (Apparently they throw out bags and bags of food at those grocery stores, but not on our watch!). So with all our fixings ready and a couple of ketchup packets to boot, we waited as the delicious aroma filled the store. As the store attendant caught a whiff of the dogs, she commented on how hungry she was. So we offered her a dog to which she willingly accepted. Unable to hold back her desire for the delicious dog, she opened the microwave, (that had just microblasted our dogs for about 5 minutes on high), and shoved one into her mouth. With that no holds barred attitude she had to have burned every inch of her mouth! Surprised by her antics, Skye and I had a quiet chuckle over her hasty consumption of the dog. All of a sudden, after asking us to keep her company, she decided it was time for us to leave. She seemed to get worried that someone might drive by and wonder why there was two bikers still in the store. So even though it wasn't quite closing time she asked us to leave. So, mildly confused, we left the store and finished our delicious dog treats.

It was now dark, but with our lights flashing, we decided to hit the wide shoulder that we had recently acquired and attempt to reach the Sask. border. As we were walking our bikes to the road we joked about how crappy it would be to get a flat out on the road in the dark. We hopped on our bikes and didn't get 30ft before we realized that Skye's tire was already flat! So, a quick repair was needed. Upon further inspection of the tire and quick pump up, it appeared the tire was holding air just fine. So we hit the road again. The biking wasn't the greatest as it was hard to see, but knowing the border wasn't too far off, the motivation to get to Sask was pretty high, so we trucked onward. As we peddled, we realized that the tire was slowly losing air. We stopped to repump it a couple of times but decided to call it quits at the edge of Manitoba, at their tourist bureau. Seeing all the other big rigs sleeping and campers resting, we decided a tent would be accepted. We set up shop in the dark and were excited to hit the hay and get to Sask the next day. Lucky for us, it rained all night. Our trusty tent was having some trust problems and decided to leak inwards. The last time we had leaks, Skye was the victim, but this time it was my turn. It was a wet sleep, but luckily it was plenty warm. Come morning, we headed into the bureau because of the continuing crappy weather and the friendly lady running the place let us eat breakfast inside. It was still raining, but we decided to tackle the crappy weather regardless. It was a horrible day, full of winds and rains, and it weathered us pretty rough. After a long, slow, wet, and cold day of biking, we decided to use one of our lifelines and grabbed a motel. It was a somewhat annoying ordeal, but a warm bed and a sauna made it worthwhile. We woke up at the Whitewood Inn and had full intentions of getting to Regina in two days, but once we hit the road we never thought we could make it. But then something amazing happened. The wind actually changed directions. After a terribly slow afternoon ride, we stopped for some lunch in a little town picnic area. After we ate we realized the wind had died down and was actually pushing us for once! With this new found support we blazed onward and started making some serious ground quickly. We passed town after town and realized that if we kept trucking we could actually make the 180km trip in one day instead of two! Luckily for us we cruised into Regina just in time to check into the hostel before it closed for the night at 11:00pm.

After a decent sleep in the hostel we swung down to the supermarket and grabbed a bunch of food for breakfast. With full bellies we hit the road again. We had a good day but as per usual the wind was crappy until the evening. We rocked into Moose Jaw for supper but didn't stay long. Called the "friendly city" Moose Jaw provided us with some of the most negative people of the trip. The fellows we chatted with had nothing but awful news to tell us, but like water off a ducks back, we didn't let it hold us down. As we were hitting the road again we spotted two other bikers stopping for supper but figured we'd bump into them later. Skye had another run in with glass but we continued on until a storm forced us to call it quits outside a town called Caronport. As we rolled up to a gas station we noticed a patch of grass that seemed suitable for tenting. Also we spotted another tent already set up and figured we'd be able to join them. Upon further inspection we realized we recognized the tent and the corresponding motorcycle beside it. Figuring it was too coincidental we decided we had to investigate who owned this tent and bike. Turns out it was our pal Frank whom we met earlier in the trip in northern Ontario in White River (the home of Winnie the Pooh). We bugged him out of his tent and surprised him then we chatted about how his trip out west had been. He had already been to Vancouver and was on his way back home. We chatted about our trips and then hit the hay. Frank was kind enough to buy us some breakfast in the morning and was really into the whole pay it forward idea. He was telling us about all the nice people who have helped him out along the way and figured he had to pass it along. So this means Skye and I are going to have a large pay it forward IOU by the end of this trip!

After breakfast we suited up and made our way to the highway when we bumped into the two bikers from the previous night. Joanna and Kyle, from the Toronto area, were sharing in our East-to-West, uphill, into the wind version of the cross canada bike trip. since they were just stopping for breakfast we exchanged numbers and parted ways planning to meet up in Swift Current for the night and camp together. It was 150kms away but it would put us in a good place to make it to Calgary for Friday. We biked hard despite a number of battles (with the hills in the prairies that they don't tell you about) but made it into Swift Current and found a nice location across from a Canadian Tire to camp. Our biking companions were behind us and rolled in late but were unable to find our dime of a camping find. We met up after breakfast the next morning and realized they had settled for a spot on the other side of the Canadian Tire. We swung by the local bike shop and got Skye and extra tire then headed out. We biked into Gull Lake and had some lunch and then moved out. Our new biking friends were biking with us when we had a couple of bike issues in a row. First Skye had a flat and then I had a weird front tire malfunction that we were able to frankenstein a quick fix for. These slowed us down and we were now behind schedule. It was getting dark and we were still no where near a suitable area to camp. If you've never been, the prairies have some places that have absolutely no trees around or any other shelter for that matter. So we trekked on into the dark. Lucky for us it started to rain and cooled us down to a numbing few degrees. We biked on and on and finally reached a little town near Maple Creek and were lucky enough to grab a motel. We shared the room with our new friends, had a couple of pops, munched on some chips, and then chatted about our trips while playing some crib and some memory. Because of our socializing we slept in mega late and were woken up by them kicking us out of the motel. We headed out quickly and had breakfast down the road. As we left for a day of biking we separated from our new friends, crossed the Saskatchewan border, and entered Alberta.

It was a good day for biking and we cruised up through Medicine Hat, which was beautiful, and stopped for supper at a Sobey's. We met some nice folks who happened to be into motocross type racing. They were into racing quads and both the husband and wife, as well as the kids, were all competing. We biked after dinner and made it up to Suffield and decided to call it quits for the night. We scoped out a spot behind a sketchy gas station but decided to set up the tent across the street by a radio tower. Noticing it was close to the tracks we decided we would deal with it, assuming that trains are a lost form of transportation. News flash: trains are not a dead form of transportation in the prairies. We woke up countless times at night fearing that the train was actually going to drive right through the tent. Needless to say Im never sleeping beside train tracks again.

240kms from Calgary, we realized we were still two days out of the city. We decided to try and tackle a bike day the first one to leave the second day more enjoyable. So with a little determination in us we set out. We had a decent day biking but were still amazed at how hilly (especially uphilly) it was towards Calgary. Not to mention boring. Between Medicine Hat and Calgary the coolest thing that happened was us becoming victim to a bird of prey. As we cycled by a field this hawk began swooping down at us. We decided that stopping to fight it would be a bad idea. It could go two ways. One: the hawk is so vicious that it attacks us successfully and we have our eyes gauged out. Or Two: we successfully disarm the falcon (probably witht he guitar) and get arrested for poaching. We opted for a new plan which consisted of speeding up and getting out of the bird's hair (or feathers). Other then that the scenery was not much to look at. We set up shop the first night at quite possibly the dirtiest gas station near Gleichen and Cluny. We tried to avoid the garbage but it was an overwhelming task as the place was littered with it (pun intended). We woke up and had a full litre of milk and an entire box of Nesquik cereal. Delicious. We cruised towards Calgary and desparatingly tried to contact some of our friends in Calgary to potentially meet us outside of the city. Our dear friend Marika was so nice that she came and picked us up way outside of town between Chestermere and Strathmore. Our somewhat travel challenged friends Greg and Jess were unable to fulfil the task, but we still love them. Those two are making up for their local travel challenges by heading to South Korea and continuing to broaden their international traveling experience. Enjoy it you crazy kids! And so, we're spending some time in Clagary resting our weery legs. Skye's achilles sounds like a creeky door. So we will spend about a week here in Calgary before tackling the mountains and then straight to Vancouver in hopes of catching our buddies Kipp, Tom, and Mary before they head back to school. For now, rest and relaxation.