Day 21 - Swift Current to Chaplin

Hello Again,

We had a slow morning and left fairly late - just after 10am. We ate as much as we could at the continental breakfast, packed up, and were on the road again. We were hoping the headwind would go away but it was still there. Thankfully, it was a lot better than two days ago but it was still there and prevented any impressive speeds. The weather all day was overcast with the occasional glimpse of blue skies - we managed to escape any rain.

Its a cows heaven.(Dedicated to Jess who wanted more cow pictures)

We were starting to notice the bike was pretty sluggish. After some quick investigating we discovered the culprit - the rear tire! The tire we replaced in Calgary had already worn through, we were not impressed at all. The first rear tire lasted from Vancouver to Calgary this one only lasted a couple hundred kilometers. We bought an extra tire in Calgary since we assumed the front tire would soon wear through so we put that one on the rear tire.

The rear tire!

We got the tire changed and we were soon on our way. Our most exciting stop of the day was at Reed Lake. It had a lookout tower (which really comes in handy in the prairies) and a bunch of plaques with information about the lake and surrounding wildlife. We had some snacks, read a few of the signs, and talked to a family that stopped in.

Patricia in the lookout tower

We spotted a tandem in the lookout tower.

Right outside of Chaplin we saw lots of white dirt which we created several theories as to what it was.

Pile of white stuff near a lake.

More white stuff and a factory across the road.

The town sign for Chaplin gave away what the white stuff was - salt! The lake here is very high in saline so the plant in town somehow processes the water to extract the salt. When we got to town our first task was to find food! None of the towns roads were paved and we dodged potholes on our way to the grocery store - we're getting pretty good at sniffing out where the stores are in small towns without a map. The grocery store was pretty sparse and expensive so we only bought snacks(read: doritos) and stuff for sandwiches for tomorrow. We then had dinner at the towns hotel. Dinner was yummy and well priced  - I got the soup and sandwich special and Patricia got sausage on a bun.

Chaplin!

After we ate we headed to the towns campsite. It was completely deserted and pretty run down but it worked and we were soon in the tent and sound asleep.

-Chris and Patricia

Day 20 - Our First Rest Day in Swift Current, SK

Well, after checking the weather and contemplating our last few really tough days, Christopher and I decided that a full day of rest was in order. My knee and ankle have been bothering me the last few days, and I'd been taking Ibuprofin for the pain but we decided that taking it easy for a day was a good idea. So yesterday, we slept in (until 6:45am!!) and Chris went to Tim Hortons for coffee while I stayed in bed for an extra hour. We stayed in the room and watched TV while we drank our coffee and ate our breakfast, and later talked to my parents on Skype! It was really good to hear them and see them at the same time, though it took a while to figure out the microphones. After we talked to them, Chris and I checked out and moved all our stuff next door, to a bigger place with an indoor pool and hot tub, and a continental breakfast! It only cost a couple dollars more, and with the appetites Christopher and I have since this trip started, we definitely get our money's worth in continental breakfasts.

So after we moved all of our stuff next door, we basically watched TV and updated the blog for the early afternoon. It was about 1:30 when I finally convinced Chris to get his bathing suit on and come swimming with me! So we walked over to the building that included the pool and hot tub (it was just across the parking lot from our room), but by the time we got over there we were freezing, and opted for the hot tub. I stayed in the hot tub the whole time we were in there, and Chris tried out the pool for a little while but after about 45 minutes, we were bored and decided to head back to the room. We each had a shower, and the afternoon consisted mainly of us watching Criminal Minds and surfing the web. Totally exciting.

We ate a couple frozen dinners and noodle bowls that we had bought at the grocery store, and after supper Pat and Betty picked us up for the RCMP Musical Ride. That was a really neat show - the RCMP officers all ride black horses, and do all these neat formations. I couldn't believe how smart those horses were. There was at least one horse though who was not having it that day, you could tell he had a little attitude going and he definitely gave his rider a hard time - it was cute. I'd include some pictures, but unfortunately Chris forgot the memory card for the camera in the laptop, so we won't be able to retrieve our pictures until we get home and use a USB cord.

After that, Pat and Betty took us to Tim Hortons. We had coffee and chatted, and it was really nice. The then took us back to our room, where Christopher and I watched a little bit of TV before going to sleep.

Overall not a very exciting day, but it was exactly what we needed. Chris and I needed a day to boost our morale after the rough days we've been having, and yesterday did just that. Hopefully now we're prepared for some full days of riding

- Patricia and Chris

Day 19 - Gull Lake to Swift Current

Hello Again,

We awoke early today and the wind was blowing really hard already. It kept shaking the tent which makes the condensation on the inside of the tent form into drops and fall on us. We started packing up around 5:45 in hopes of beating the rain forecast for this afternoon. While we were packing up a man drove up to our site and talked for a bit - he was the owner or employee of the park. After talking for a bit he told us not to worry about paying for the site! Unfortunately, we had already put the money in the slot in the office. It was only ten dollars and it was a nice little campground so we weren't to broken up about it.

Shot of the campsite

Different Angle

Tent kite!

We were on the road around 7am and the wind was blowing like crazy when got out of the town and onto the highway. Unfortunately it was a headwind and a little bit of a crosswind. The 60km into Swift Current felt like hundreds. We were in our easiest few gears all day and just put our heads down and kept on pedaling. The wind seemed to get stronger as the day went on and it would frequently gust which made it nearly impossible to drive in a straight line. What should have been an easy two hours to bike the 60km into Swift Current ended up taking over five hours. Our average speed was a whopping 11.59km/h - far lower than our toughest day in the mountains! It was a tough day not only physically but mentally too.

Anyways, enough complaining about the wind...we finally made it to Swift Current where we took our first pictures of our days ride. Our original plan was to restock food in Swift Current and continue on to one of the next towns. We were exhausted so we started biking around the city looking for a motel. We left the Trans Canada and followed signs for the city centre. Turns out all of the motels are near the highway so we headed back to the Trans Canada and headed further east. We stopped at a few motels and chose the cheapest one.

Made it!

I want to be in the picture too!

While Patricia was inside the motel checking in a lady approached me and asked if I was from Ontario. My brain wasn't working at full speed after today's ride so I just hmm'd and haa'd while I tried to figure out how she knew where I was from. She then said her and her husband were related to Patricia! Turns out they had seen our blog on facebook and had been following our progress so when they saw a tandem bike while passing on the highway they turned around to see if it was us - quite the coincidence. She was running errands so we told her our room number and we made plans to meet up later.

We then went and got groceries and settled into our room. A little while later Betty(whom we met earlier) and her husband Pat knocked on our door. We talked for a bit then they offered to take us out for Chinese food - an offer we certainly couldn't refuse after today's ride. We rode in their van and we were surprisingly excited to ride in a motorized vehicle - the first time since we left Vancouver. Dinner was delicious and we both ate too much(it was a buffet) - thanks guys! They drove us back our room and we watched TV and relxed while we let our stomachs digest all the food.

We decided that tomorrow is going to be a rest day! It will be our first rest day that wasn't forced on us by bad weather so we're pretty excited. The rest of our night was pretty uneventful - Patricia went to bed early and I stayed up pretty late watching TV.

Oh, and a quick aside: JD whom we met a while back emailed us the picture of him, Mark and us at Rogers Pass. He took it with the timer on his camera so we could all get in the shot...it turned out really good, here it is:

L to R: Mark, JD, Chris, Patricia

Signing off,
Chris and Patricia.

Day 18 - Maple Creek to Gull Lake

Hey All,

We had a pretty slow morning but, our plan was for a fairly easy day to Gull Lake which is only about 80km away. The motel had a basic continental breakfast but it was surprisingly good. We both ate lots and had a few cups of coffee. Then we packed up all of our stuff which was scattered around the room - its surprising how messy we can make a room with so little stuff.

Packing up all our stuff.

Our gears have been slowly getting worse and worse and were due for some adjustments so we spent a few minutes adjusting them and we were on our way by around 11. Maple Creek is about 8km south of the Trans Canada so we had to bike 8km north to get back on the Trans Canada. We stopped a few times to make more adjustments to our gears and soon made it to the Trans Canada and began heading east. The sky was overcast and gloomy for the first couple hours and later in the afternoon it cleared up and was pretty sunny. The wind was blowing directly at us which made for tough pedaling and a really slow pace.

Can of soup for lunch.

We stopped for a break when we noticed some cows in the field across the road:

Cows?

What are they doing?

Awwww, they're smooching!

Zoom in...

Truck driving by and ruining our photo shoot.

Woah!

Well the frisky cows gave us a pretty good laugh and we temporarily forgot about the relentless headwind.

The skies are clearing!

My road!

Antelopes chilling in a field

Made it!

We finally made it to Gull Lake and stopped for a quick shot of the town sign. We followed signs for Gull Lake campground and we soon found it - it was only a few blocks off of the highway. The campground wasn't anything fancy but it was one of our favourite ones of the trip. It had maybe 30 sites, washrooms, showers, and drinking water. It had no staff though and you just put our money through a slot in the building when you leave. Oh, and for a tent it was only $10 a night! We decided to bike back into town to get some food.

Downtown Gull Lake wasn't too far from the campground so it didn't take long to get there. The grocery store was closed so we picked up some snacks and granola bars for tomorrow at a convenience store(expensive). We then went to a restaurant for dinner since we had both been craving pizza all day. We had an order of fries while we waited for the pizza. When the pizza arrived both our jaws dropped because it was so big! We could only eat about 1/3 of the pizza and got the rest to go. Oh, and while we were eating we saw a few people go in the grocery store(guess it was open after all!).

Om nom nom

Now that we were stuffed we headed back to the campsite and set up. We checked the weather and it was supposed to start raining around 3 the next day. So, we went to bed early so we could get up early and hopefully beat the rain.

-C&P

Day 17 - Eagle Valley Camground to Maple Creek Motor Inn

Hello Again,

This morning we woke up pretty early and were glad it wasn't raining. The skies all around us looked really dark so we packed up quite quick and were soon on our way. The headwind from yesterday was still as bad as ever after a couple minutes of biking it started pouring. Today was alot colder than yesterday and both of our hands and feet were freezing cold. We saw a gas station with a restaurant so we decided to warm up there and form a plan of action for the day. Well, the restaurant was still under renovations but the owner invited us in from the rain, gave us each a cup of coffee, and gave us a phone book and phone to call some motels and see what was open.

There really wasn't anything we could find along the highway until Swift Current which is a full days ride away. We took the advice of the man who owned the restaurant and decided to head south to the town of Maple Creek - it was about 8km south of where we were. We talked with the guy in the restaurant some more and were soon on our way. We don't usually like to go so far out of our way and in fact this is probably the furthest we've been from the trans Canada highway the whole trip but, there really wasn't much between where we were and Swift Current and we didn't want to be in the middle of nowhere and freezing cold. So, it was a pretty quick ride into Maple Creek now that we weren't going directly into the wind. We biked all around the town and eventually found a nice little motel right near downtown.

We checked in and since it was early enough and the lady running the place was nice enough we got a free continental breakfast. We then went and got groceries and a few beers. The motel also had free DVDs to watch so we just relaxed all day watching movies and TV.

Hopefully tomorrows weather is a little better.

-Chris & Patricia