Well sorry folks, we forgot to take a picture of our campsite last night... don't worry though, it was basically a patch of grass with a picnic table and our little tent.. not too thrilling. Neither Chris nor I had showers last night, because they cost $1.00 per 5 minutes and instead we went to bed nice and early. I have some No Rinse Shampoo from Chris's mum and dad, so I used that this morning - I was surprised by how well it worked! Anyway, we got a late start this morning, I have a nasty cold so Chris let me sleep in until 7:30, and we were on the road by 9ish. Our morning went pretty quickly, we didn't stop too frequently since we had a pretty big day today, and we wanted to put in some serious mileage before it got too hot. The sun was out all morning, and it was really hot - so we figured the more kms we could pump out before lunch, the better.
After about 30km we stopped in Strathmore for lunch, and to get some groceries. Chris went into Sobeys while I waited for the bike, and when he came back we had a delicious lunch consisting of turkey and havarti cheese sandwiches, fruitopia, and some fruit. We also chatted with a Sobeys employee who was taking a smoke break, and was quite excited by our trip.
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| The bike propped up for lunch. |
The view today was pretty much consistent throughout the day - there were tons of rolling hills that just looked on to more rolling hills. The trip was supposed to be all down hill after Calgary, but we're still waiting for that to happen. Most of the hills were pretty small and not the least bit intimidating to pros like Chris and I, but there were a few that were pretty big, and overall it made for an exhausting day.
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| The rolling hills of Western/ Central Alberta |
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We were both feeling pretty sore today in the bottom region, and so by mid-day we were taking fairly frequent breaks. We stopped in this rest area for a quick bathroom break and nap, as pictured below. Unfortunately, Chris is a party pooper and wouldn't allow me to nap for more then a second, as we had to hit the road once more.
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| Patricia attempting to nap at a rest stop |
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Sitting/ lying on the ground was a habit that was quickly broken for me today when, during a water break, I accidentally sat on a red ant colony, and before I knew it I was absolutely covered in red ants. There were literally hundreds of ants crawling all over me, but with some screaming, and frantic brushing off by myself and Chris they were soon all gone - although every once in a while for the rest of the day I'd find a lone ant walking on me somewhere. Overall, not a fun break.
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| After the ant invasion |
Ants aside, the bugs today have been really bad. Every time we stopped for a drink or to stretch, we would soon be overwhelmed by mosquitoes and have to start peddling again. Thais made for much fewer pictures taken then normal. This was also due to the fact that there wasn't much to take pictures of. Where there have been mountains and waterfalls previously, there is now grass. This is shown below.
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| The view today. |
We planned on making it to Brooks today, but that was almost 200km away, and we just didn't have it in us so when we got to Bassano, we decided to stop for the day. We knew there was a campsite just west of the city, but we found a hotel that cost almost the exact same as the camp ground we stayed in last night so we went for it, and checked in. We got some groceries and ate some dinner, did some laundry in the sink of the hotel room, and that's pretty much the extent of our day! Tomorrow is supposed to thunder storm so we may just try to make the 52km into Brooks and try to keep warm and dry, for the big day into Medicine Hat!
We'll keep you updated!!
C&P
