It seems our trip has been delayed - we've made it to our destination at last, however it seems Greyhound has lost our bike trailer, which was packed with a good amount of our gear, including tools, clothes, spokes, spare tires and tubes, and lots of other stuff - so we are stranded in Vancouver until this is resolved.
Sorry we haven't updated the last couple days, but we've been running low on battery power. So last you've heard from us, we were just entering the Prairies - nothing new to report there, the picture pretty much covers that whole stretch of the trip. We did have some excitement once we got to Brandon, MB when this sketchy looking guy was accused of stealing a girl's wallet.. Chris and I are on the fence however, as to whether or not we believe her - she was the only one that saw anything, and the circumstances just seemed fishy. Regardless, the police showed up and checked the bus for the wallet (which was never recovered)and the man was allowed to stay for the rest of the trip.
That was pretty much our only substantial excitement until we got to the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan, where the road was completely flooded over!! We had to switch lanes and drive through a few inches of water(as seen below), which was kind of neat. Everyone had to sit really still so the bus didn't lean over enough to let water in the luggage compartment(That was the bus drivers joke).
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| Flooded Road Beach |
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| Draining the water |
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| Sandbags |
Later, we made a stop in Indian Head, SK where (fun fact) the show "Little Mosque on the Prairies" is based. I've never seen the show, but it was cool to find out.
Saskatchewan was also home to another great milestone of our trip, which I refer to as the "Great Food Massacre". We reached Regina and had a short stop there for dinner, which was fantastic because I was STARVING! Chris and I walked around for what seemed like ages tryign to find a grocery store, since eating out for every meal was starting to get quite expensive. We finally found a Chinese grocery store, however all we bought was bananas and oranges since there wasn't much else we recognized. We decided that we still needed something small for dinner, and found a Tim Hortons, but it was lined up out the door... not a problem, except that neither of us have a watch, and we didn't want to miss our bus. So we walk back to the terminal, which had a little cafe and settled on getting something there. Chris ordered a Jumbo Chili Dog, and I ordered chicken strips (yumm!). Chris's hot dog came pretty quickly, so he went to keep an eye open for our bus while I waited for mine... and waited, and waited... they anounced that our bus was bording, and Chris came back looking for me so I asked the woman at the counter how long my chicken would be. Turns out, the chef never even started them - it was the end of his shift, so he just left. I got my money back and we ran to the bus. We made it, but I never did get dinner. Chris (being the fantastic boyfriend that he is) offered me half of his Chili dog, which we quickly discovered was not a chili dog at all - it got switched, and they made him a cheese dog instead (just a hotdog with shredded processed cheese on top). Overall, not a good food experience in Regina.
All along, the trip picked up and dropped off many interesting people, but I thought it would be fun to give you guys some of the highlights as to the crazies we shared our bus with. I already discussed the potential theif, who remained creepy and sketchy throughout the ride. There was also burnt hair lady, who got caught smoking something in the bathroom twice that STRONGLY stunk like burning hair... ew... and she was never actually kicked off, though the bus driver did break the bathroom door so she couldn't go back in - and then there was this little senile old man, who had been on the bus all along since Toronto - he spoke French, and talked to himself a bit, and seemed pretty confused a lot of the time, but he was totally harmless and seemed friendly enough. Well we made a quick break to drop off some people, and this poor old man was escorted off the bus by three RCMP officers - not one, but three... because the little old man who can't walk very well without assistance is apparently this much of a threat - the bus driver came and talked to the people around him, basically just saying that he needed a break and wouldn't be continuing the trip because he was talking to himself and whatnot.. which made little sense to me, since burning hair lady and the potential theif were allowed to stay, not to mention this guy who would occassionally start doing random karate/ kung-fu moves, and elaborate stretches at the bus terminal... poor old man. Lastly, there was a girl in Kamloops, BC who was just a pain in a behind - she was asing around the terminal for money and to use peoples' phones, not to much avail - she then tried to convince the bus driver to let her on the bus without a ticket - not super successful. She eventually borrowed a phone from a guy on our bus, but before she finished her conversation a woman from the terminal started talking to her - and eventually told the bus driver she could come on the bus as long as she behaved. Wierd! So she steps up, and proceeds to ask the busdriver for money - doesn't work so she wants to get off the bus. he opens the door, she leaves. Two seconds later, she is back - wants to come on the bus again. He opens the door, lets her on - he still won't give her money, so she leaves again and the bus driver takes off. What a waste of time.
Clearly its been an iteresting trip thus far, and we haven't even started biking yet! The wildlife has been fun to watch, so far we've seen two live moose, one dead moose, a fox with a rabbit in his mouth, a mama black bear with two cubs and a couple groundhogs. Cute :)
So that covers the last few days - stay tuned for more on the missing trailer, and hopefully the beginning of our bike ride.
