DAY 23: KINDERSLEY TO OUTLOOK, 156 KM

24 June 2007

After such a smooth ride into Kindersley, we figured getting to Outlook would be a breeze. Were we ever wrong! Again, we got up at 4:30 and left by around 6, but this time the conditions weren't so favourable. We had a bit of a headwind, and Saskatchewan hadn't quite flattened out yet. The riding was slow and hard, and it felt like there was always a slight upward slope. Everyone kept telling us how flat Saskatchewan is, saying that it's like a table top, you could watch your dog run away for two weeks, etc. But it's all a lie. Saskatchewan has been fairly flat, but there's always some kind of upward or downward slope, which makes it very challenging if you don't have the wind at your back.

Getting to our rest stop was painful; but the ride afterwards was even worse. The road was really quiet, and the landscape, monotonous. The lack of sleep was really catching up to me, and I was almost falling asleep at the handlebars! It was cloudy, and the gloom made the ride almost unbearable.

Often, when we're 10 to 20 km away from a destination, I start the "finish" of my ride--another rowing parallel--and go as fast as I possibly can, pretending I'm in a race. This time, though, I really needed to force that finish out of myself. The only thing I had left for motivation was finishing the long, miserable ride.

I was absolutely exhausted by the time we reached Outlook, a nice town with a long, red walking bridge overlooking the South Saskatchewan River. Having no propane (still! It's so hard to find the right container), we ate at the town's restaurant and called it a night.

DAY 22: YOUNGSTOWN TO KINDERSLEY, 154 KM

23 June 2007

Today was the fastest, easiest and most fun cycling day of the trip so far. We had decided to get up at 4:30 to get an even earlier start than yesterday. I just love having an excuse to get up at such an early hour--cycling, rowing, anything! We had set off before 6, and ridden 50 km in less than two hours. We were feeling good about ourselves, and decided we'd have a breakfast part 2 in Alsask, an aptly-named town on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

The ride from the 50-km mark to Alsask was ridiculously fast. We had a tail wind, and although we were riding over rolling hills, I'm fairly sure it was mostly downhill. We spent a sizeable amount of time traveling at speeds of 40-50 km/h, and it was amazingly fun! We arrived in the town on Kindersley, SK at just 1:30!

After an unsuccessful search for a proper can of propane and a new pair of gloves (I had stupidly left mine behind in Drumheller), Dan and I searched for a place to eat. We checked out the Red Lion Pub, which we found out didn't serve food. We had some beers there, anyway, and met Erika, her aunt (whose name I can't remember!) and Denille. Erika lives in Toronto in Little Italy, and works in theatre. She offered to get us a pair of tickets to the show she's been working on in the Harbourfront Centre. Yay!

Dan and I grabbed some dinner at another place, and headed for bed. The sun was still shining at 8:30, and a group of teenaged grils right outside of our tent kept us awake with their loud music and gossip. Oh well... we managed to get to sleep, eventually.

DAY 21: DRUMHELLER TO YOUNGSTOWN, 129 KM

22 June 2007

We got up at 5 today in order to set off early and beat the afternoon heat. The morning's ride was beautiful--calm, quiet and cool--but I was quickly becoming bored of the monotonous prairie landscape. We stopped in Hanna for lunch, and it was hot by the time we set off again.

We arrive in Youngstown in the early evening. With a population of 170, Youngstown is the smallest town we've been to on this trip. Its main street consists of a gas station, a run-down hotel, and a general store and laundromat. Across the street from the store was a small field with a few picnic tables, a bathroom and a cooking shelter; it vaguely resembled a campsite. We went into the store to ask about this, and were greeted by Greta, who was working there, as well as Betty and a few other locals who were having coffee inside. Everyone was extremely friendly, and really wanted to make our stay a pleasant one. Since the campsite didn't have showers, Betty offered to take us to her place to get cleaned up. The washing machines in the laundromat were all full when we were there. Not a problem: Greta took our dirty clothing and told us she'd do our laundry and bring it by our campsite when it was finished. We hadn't been grocery shopping in ages, so we bought a few items from the store, and good ol' Greta threw in a free bag of peanuts for us. Such nice people!

We went over to Betty's and had our showers. Betty told us a bit about herself. She had grown up on a farm, moved to Youngstown as a teenager, and lived there since. Her husband of 30 years had passed away only two years ago, and she was grateful for the support of her friends and the Youngstown community.

After our showers, we had some dinner at the local (Chinese) restaurant, as it turned out that we had bought the wrong can of propane in Drumheller, so we couldn't cook. We set up our tent, and went to bed before dark.