Cross Canada Tour
Day 15 - June 22nd - Caron to Milestone
138 Kms
A tough struggle today, headwinds all day, mild at first then gradually increasing to about 40 Kms this afternoon. I spent a couple of hours poking around Moose Jaw and lived to regret it later as the winds got worse!
I did have my second breakfast in Moose Jaw though and then committed myself into making it to Milestone, as there are no other decent facilities before then. However, it turned out to be a bit further than I thought, and of course the headwinds made it seem twice as far! I'd rather ride hills and mountains than struggle into headwinds all day - at least after an uphill there's always that nice easy ride downhill. With headwinds you are constantly on the pedals, non-stop, if you do stop you almost go backwards!
I left the TC just after Moose Jaw and rode Highway 39 southeast. Highway 39 is also known as the Can-Am Highway. The road was quite good, not overly busy and with a reasonable shoulder - just that damn headwind, I hope that the winds abate overnight!
Anyhow, I got to this little village of Milestone much later than I figured, so I'm eating out tonight at the local diner. Also, the campground is a disgrace - all overgrown with weeds and long grass plus teeming with mozzies. I got bit about twenty times while just in the process of putting up my tent. There's no picnic tables and the water smells like it comes from the sewer. I bought a gallon jug of water at the local store - $5.00! But I didn't want to chance even filtering and treating the local goo. There was a shower, of sorts, as the campground is next to the local community swimming pool, so at least I could clean up - with that same smelly water! Oh well, I'll turn in early to keep out of the mozzies' way and start out early for Weyburn in the morning. There must be a better site there! It's a relatively short ride to Weyburn (about 60 Kms), so I'll call that my rest day, unless it's so nice there that I'll linger an extra day - we'll see?
Back to last night, The kind lady who offered me a beer was camping with her friend, they are both residents of Regina, but one of the ladies, Judy, is originally from New Zealand - another place that I hope to cycle-tour. So I peppered her with all kinds of questions while I sipped my beer, quite enjoyable, I must say!
I gave up on the bungee and gopher thing, it was getting too confusing between counting and hurling insults to the wind!
The roller coaster road became much flatter today. Even on the TC before Moose Jaw it was evident that the landscape was much flatter. I can literally (to quote the Who) see for miles and miles! My new game now is to guess how far it is to the next grain elevator, I'm not very good at it yet, but I've got lots of time (and road) to get it perfected!
Day 16 - June 23rd - Milestone to Weyburn
65 Kms
Well, me and the mozzies woke up almost to the same conditions as yesterday evening. I donned my raingear to protect me from the hordes and packed up speedily - whilst swatting diligently! I found a picnic table in a nearby park to cook up my oatmeal etc., and even managed not to make myself known to the mozzies while I ate.
Once on the road, the easterly wind was still blowing at 30 Kms and the sky was ominously overcast. Regardless, I pressed on, then after 15 Kms the rain started, but stopped after about a half-hour. I found a restaurant open at Yellow Grass and pulled in for the regulation second breakfast. Whilst I was vacuuming in my food, the skies really opened up! I hung around, chatted with the farmers (who were glad to see the rain after the drought conditions that the area had suffered recently), until the rain petered out a bit, then set off bucking the headwind again. That wind is really wearing; every time a large truck passed in the opposite direction, I'd almost get stopped by the truck's backdraught. The rain basically held off until I was about 10Kms from Weyburn, then it poured down again for about the final 8Kms!
So wisely I decided to call it a draw at Weyburn and treat myself to a bug free room in a motel. I picked a Motel 6 because it had a guest laundry and a lot of my stuff is due for reacquainting with cleanliness! The motel is very pleasant and at only $45.00, quite a bargain compared to some of the fleabags that I've stayed in. I arrived in Weyburn at 12:30 p.m., so I had plenty of time to clean up, tour the town, do the local museum and then enjoy my room with TV etc. Weyburn is a nice place, a small to medium sized town with quite a few amenities, definitely one of the better places that I've stopped in. The weather channel (I hope they're right) is predicting thunderstorms for this evening and (Yeah!) westerly winds tomorrow for this region.
Road-wise, not much to report, the shoulder wasn't too bad for the most part and traffic was light on 39. I'll pick up Highway 13 tomorrow, the Red Coat Trail, to as far as I can handle!
Day 17 - June 24th - Weyburn to Redvers
165 Kms
Oh how my fortunes change with the wind! I was all done riding today at 2:00 p.m. I only started at 6:45 a.m., and that included time for the second breakfast stop with a quick poke around a couple of towns that I went through. Of course, the wind did change direction overnight, so I've had a nice strong tailwind all day. Early this morning, my odometer turned 2000Kms.
The riding was superb today, with much nicer scenery. The landscape is changing yet again, now there are more stands of trees and the farmhouses are closer together.  The area and all the towns are much more vibrant and seem to be going concerns. It was a refreshing change from the impression that I've received in the previous two or three days, that some of towns that I'd passed through ,were declining. Perhaps the oil wells have something to do with it? This area east of Weyburn is peppered with oil wells, so a lot of the benefits must rub off on the towns' economies. Each of the larger [figuratively] towns that I passed through today - Stoughton, Carlyle, Redvers - all have nice golf courses and well kept towns. The houses are very well kept with yards that are nicely manicured. The campsite, that I'm staying at in Redvers, is part of the recreation complex here; the grass is cut short, the showers are free, the place is clean, the water's good - all for $10.00 too!
Lots of churches in the towns of Saskatchewan, Redvers is a four church town, seems like a lot for a small place, but Moose Jaw had dozens of them! Maybe that should be my grading system, by how many churches a town has?
The road (Highway 13) was pretty good today, although the shoulder was rough in places; not a big deal though as traffic was extremely light. I had about 11 Kms of dirt/gravel road to negotiate between Kisbey and Arcola, which made me glad that I made the tire choice that I had; I had no problem with the irregular surface. The road was being upgraded in that section too, as heavy rains constantly wash away a portion of the roadway. After last nights rains the water at the side of the road was only about two inches below the roadway! I almost had Basil getting the paddles out!
Well I'm only about 20 Kms from the Manitoba border, if the wind keeps its favourable attitude, I should get a good way into it tomorrow. I think that I'll have a time change to contend with too.
Not much wildlife spotted, but boy, those dead skunks sure stink!
Day 18 - June 25th - Redvers, SK to Souris, MB
115 Kms
I woke up this morning to a thick fog, so after a quick breaky I started riding, and was soaked very quickly with the moisture in the air. Then the sun started to show through the haze making the humidity even worse. Even when the fog cleared, it was a very hot and humid day. Today, the winds started from the Northwest (good), then after about 45 Kms I stopped for my second breakfast at Reston, MB. When I left there the wind switched to Northeast (bad).
I did lose my hour too, I'm now on Manitoba time - 2 hours ahead of PST.
Souris is a pleasant town and the community park where I am camped is OK apart from from all the goose poop everywhere. It was hard to find a decent pitch without those curly browny-green things in the way. Anyhow, apparently Souris has Canada's longest swinging bridge, which I'm about to check out after this email stuff.
Earlier, I stopped at a small country store/post office in Delaugh for an ice cream and a cold drink, and discovered that the store had been robbed just last night. The lady owner was, understandingly, pretty upset about the whole thing. While I was there the RCMP showed up to do the fingerprint thing etc. The thieves mostly took cigarettes and some of the postal stuff. Not surprising that they took the smokes, as a pack here, and in Saskatchewan, costs almost $10.00! You don't see many young people smoking though! However, I find it so gross to walk into a store or restaurant where people are smoking; it's quite legal here, unlike in many parts of BC. I guess that they'll wise up eventually.
I had to buy another book today, I finally finished Pierre Berton's "The National Dream," which was about the building, actually more about the political shenanigans, of the CPR. It was a good book to bring along though, as the railway is almost always visible wherever I've been travelling. The book also mentioned our venerable E & N on Vancouver Island, and how it was the carrot on the stick to bring BC into confederation - interesting reading, especially now that our Island railway is so threatened.
The Red Coat Trail continues in Manitoba as Highway 2. The road is in excellent shape, but the shoulder is, well... non - existent! Once again traffic is very sparse, so not many problems encountered. Perhaps as I near Winnipeg, conditions may change?
Last night, after I finished my email, the park in Redvers started filling up in the group picnic area. Turns out the the locals were having a wiener roast evening. They invited me over, so I went over and chatted for while, and phew, managed to skip on the wieners! Anyway, it was a very pleasant hour that I spent with them. What a bunch of go-getters, they have all kinds of community projects on the go and it seems like everybody chips in to help; nice to see!
Well I'd better be off to do the tourist thing and see the famous swinging bridge!
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