DAY 24: OUTLOOK TO DAVIDSON, 94 KM

25 June 2007

Today we were meant to go to Craik, another 30 km east of Davidson. But the wind just wasn't on our side. After having a rather long breakfast part 1 in the restaurant in Outlook (we usually make our own, but we were straight out of food), we finally hit the road. My legs were absolutely beat from the past several days of cycling, and the morning's ride was slow. The last 15 km into Kenaston was a huge struggle. The head wind was so strong that we were only going about 13 km/h, despite pushing as hard as we possibly could. Breakfast part 2 never tasted so good, as we were both so hungry and tired. We ended up sitting in the restaurant for quite a while. We were joined by a guy who had hitchhiked to Kenaston--where he had just sold his house--today to check his mail. Apparently he's in the process of publishing an autobiography about his recovery from alcoholism.

Although the weather was still horrible, we hit the road. However, my leg started bugging me a few kilometres into the ride, so we decided to just call it a day at the next decent town. That town was Davidson, and it was really quite nice. We arrived there soaking wet, as it had started to pour about 15 km before our arrival. We immediately went to the local restaurant, half hoping that someone would maybe invite us to spend the night in a warm house. That didn't happen, but we did get lucky--we met Elmer, an elderly organic farmer who had many interesting things to tell us. Apparently very few farmers in Saskatchewan are willing to go organic, so Elmer started a farm where he shows farmers how it's done, and conducts agricultural research. Elmer also writes for the local paper, and said he'd put our little story in! When he was leaving, he gave us $20 to pay for our meal. What a pleasure to have met him!

We had decided that we'd stay in a motel when the weather was still really bad; although it had cleared up by the time we left the restaurant, we stayed in an inn anyway, since we had our minds set on it. It was nice to have some proper showers and just relax and watch TV for once. Tomorrow, we'll be doing some laundry in the morning, and then heading for Regina, if the winds are on our side.