June 24, 2015
The Prairie Slayer ....: Day 22 - Kindersley to Outlook Saskatchewan
Some folks might have noticed a post in the guest book intimating that I am notoriously associated with late starts. At first I was a bit taken aback by this but upon reflection on this mornings events, I'm willing to concede that it's true.
We wanted to be on the road at 9 am and its about an hour drive from the farm to Kindersley. We were all up in plenty of time, packed, fed and ready to go, when at 8:30 Kirsten interupted my eloquent description of two really intresting presentations by world renowned economists Hans Rosling (200 countries in 200 years - You Tube) and Richard Wilkinson (How Economic Inequality Harms Socities (TED Talks). Ok, it wasn't an eloquent description, it was more of a rant, but I really think these two pesentations give folks a lot to think about. I'd urge you to have a look at them, Rosling first.
Everyone was relieved when Kirsten finally got me shut up and out the door. We started cycling at 10:01. To those who ski with me, this is a familiar time.
East towards Rosetown on highway 7. For the most part the road and shoulders were in good condition and we made good time to Rosetown, again helped by a decent tailwind. We pulled into town to look for a place to have lunch and the choice was The Bar and Grill or Mah's Restaurant. We opted for Mah's. So far since leaving Calgary it's pretty clear that when towns were sprouting up here the Chinese immigrants had a lock on the restatuarnt business, and they've been doing something right over the years. Without them folks in small towns in Alberta and Saskatchewan would starve.
Fed and watered we headed east on highway 15, a loooooong very straight section of highway that several hundred kilometers later would put us near Yorkton. That's a few days away and the goal today was just another 80 km down the road to Outlook and the campsite / park beside the south Saskatchewan River. We were told that Hwy 15 was in pretty poor condition the day before by some truckers in Oyen, and again at Alsask. We checked the Sask government highway website and it looked like there was a lot of construction on it but all after Outlook.
The country here does fit the 'Prairie" sterotype, to the extent it exists. Straight roads. Very flat. Big farms and very few towns. However we had a decent tailwind and were moving along at a consistent 27 - 33 km/hr pace without much effort.
We pulled into Milden to get cold drinks, it's the only town with any services between Rosetown and Outlook. The 'services' were convienienty laid out. Post office, hotel, bar, liquor store, gocery store, and more or less community hall, all in one place, literally.
Drinks procureed we sat on the veranda in the shade and traded stories with some of the local ladies. On hearing our story, they were certainly in the 50% camp that thinks we are crazy (hence crazy guy on a bike).
Once back on the road we were cruising along at our ~30 km/hr pace when Kirsten heard someone calling from behind. We slowed up a bit and saw two other cyclists approaching. Jen and Juan Pablo had seen us some way back and were trying to catch us. Turns out they were cycling from Calgary, where they had been going to University, to Winnipeg, where Jen is from (Juan Pablo s from Mexico). They were planning on staying in Outlook too, so we agreed we'd meet up at the campsite. We got the Prairie Slayer spooled back up to 30 km/hr and rolled on into Outlook. I had never been to Outlook before but I had heard from my Sask relatives that the park and campsite by the river was really good. They were right!
The South Saskathewean river is flowing north through here, pretty slowly, towards Saskatoon. There are several sand bars that form some nice beaches alnong the river and the water is pretty warm. I'm going to regress to my river theme here. Since leaving Calgary we've no longer been following real river systems, but the man made asphalt type. However if we had thrown a stick into the Bow River where it starts at Bow Lake, back in the Rockies and the high altitude mark of our trip, it would eventually flow by us here in Outlook. Pretty cool thought.
We got camp set up, get off to the grocery store in Outlook and got some food for supper together, and COLD beer at the Outlook hotel off sales! When we got back to camp, Jen and Juan Pablo had arrived and were setting up camp.
We had a really realxing night swapping stories and taking in the beautiful peaceful surroundings. There were no mosquitos until the sun went down but then they came out with avengence. That was a sign to head to bed.
Tomorrows plan is to head to Raymore along Hwy 15. A BIG day of ~180 km with ~60 km stretches with no towns or even farms, and with continued warnings from the locals that the highway is in really rough shape! We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I'll finish my comments on the day with a great big thank you to Deb and Ian for picking us up in Kindersley and bringing us back to the farm. It was great to get together again even for a short time.
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610 km in 4 days on the tandem ..... hence 'The Prairie Slayer' .... Also sounds like something you would call some of the massive pick up trucks you see around here.
Song of the Day:
Jockey Full of Bourbon by Tom Waits ..... Just a really cool song. No great theme for the day
Historical Monument of the Day
This one's personal...... Hillcrest Farm, the McLeod farm where we woke up this morning.
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Today's ride: 165 km (102 miles)
Total: 2,039 km (1,266 miles)
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