Spell of the Wild

We left our great little camp in Swift Current today.  Brendan started out driving and hit rain – oh what fun.  He did a great job.  We dropped Chuck near the point where he stopped yesterday and then Bren and I continued on to Elrose, the town where Chuck was to finish.  The drive wasn’t bad after the short rain.  We found a great dry camp near a huge building that is used to work on school buses.  Since it’s Sunday there is no one around and tomorrow is an official Holiday here (Victoria Day) – so we shouldn’t have to worry about being in the way.

Today is our fourth day in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.  So far I’ve been hard at work doing nothing; catching up on reading and whatnot.  The exception was Thursday the 16th when I shuttled for Grandpa.  He rode 49 miles that day in three legs: 18 miles before lunch, 20 miles after, and another 11 just for good measure.  Grandpa rode the first leg in just under one and a half hours for about a 12 mph average, the second leg was about one hour forty minutes for 12 mph again, and the third leg took just under an hour for 13-14 mph on average.  All in all, 49 miles in about 4 hours of riding time for 12.25 mph for the day.

We went out to a sports bar last night and I had a Rickard’s Red Ale, in addition to the bar’s own brew. It was a pretty solid beer but it was no Killian’s.

Canada is a funny place. I haven’t seen any of their square wheels yet but they can’t hide them forever.

This morning, yet another biker in the campground to chat with over a cup of coffee.  Chris is riding a motorcycle from Vancouver to Regina.  He has a Suzuki, V-Strom, 1000cc that he loves. It has 3 mounted compartments, a barrel bag he places in front and a square bag behind him (sometimes I dream of a powered-cycle; hills, headwinds, aches, pains, etc usually bring these thoughts into focus).  Maybe next time!  Oops, Betty just said NOT to include her on any more mega-trips.

Today we started in Swift Current, only about 2 miles from our campsite.  As in other days this week, I am headed north on Saskatchewan Highway 4.   Traffic is heavier than usual, lotsa trucks.  There is a four foot shoulder and most vehicles give me a wide berth.  A 10 mph quartering head wind out of the NE is most apparent on level  ridges and on downhill runs, when going uphill the wind is mostly blocked by the terrain.  Yesterday’s knee pain is not yet apparent, I deliberately rested a lot last evening.  Sightings today include the usual ducks, a few Canada geese, a large reddish hawk with ruffled feathers on the back and a white spot on the back of its head and a road-runner, Beep-beep.  Large tractors and other farm equipment are starting to prepare fields for spring planting.  Most of these huge tractors have 12 big tires, 3 on each side in the front and same in the rear.  They till a swath about 30 feet wide and when on the highway we all stay well clear.  Toward the end of today’s ride the highway descended abruptly into South Saskatchewan River valley.  I alternated using first the rear then the front brakes to help slow to a somewhat controllable pace.  Later, I checked the odometer for max speed; 37 mph; glad I have new tires.

Actually, I have a new bike.  About 10 days ago, as we visited with Betty’s relatives in Iowa, I was outfitted by Keith and Paul at the Cresco Bike Shop.  These guys helped me choose the type road bike that could best meet the needs of this trip.  I ended up with a Jamis Elite, 105 Shimano gear cluster with low climbing gears.  I like it!  So far I have not needed to use the lowest 2 or 3 gears, I’m saving them for the Rockies.

Betty met me at mile 35 for the day and whisked me back to the RV for tacos.  Brendan & I made sure we left nothing…this makes dishwashing easier  🙂

 Brendan drove me 103 miles south to the Canadian border with Montana.  We got a couple of pictures at the same border monument I had tagged about five years ago.  It was good to be continuing our bike trip to Alaska again.  The terrain is rolling prairie grassland that is mostly converted to mega-wheat fields.  For a few miles I rode along the Canada Grasslands National Park.  We have seen lots of ducks and Canada Geese, also some hawks and coyote droppings.  Road traffic is almost non-existent, no vehicles in the first ten miles of biking.  All traffic, even the big trucks, get in the far left lane when passing me.  The asphalt surface of the narrow road is riddled with potholes, probably a result of frost heaves.  We had been advised that it was not suitable for an RV; good advice.  

Brendan drove about 30 miles north and waited for me at the small town of Val Marie.  We had lunch outside the Grasslands National Park Visitors Center, unfortunately it will not open for the season for two more days.  We enjoyed lunch in their Adirondack chairs, temps were in the high 60s; perfect.

15 May 2013:   (18 miles)  Arrived in Swift Current, Saskatchewan with Betty, Brendan (our grandson) and a bunch of bikes.  Swift Current is about one hundred miles north of the point on the US border which was our ending point several years ago. Our plan is to base out of Swift Current for a few days and Betty or Brendan will drive south and deposit me and a bike to ride north.   By the time we had the RV hooked-up it was mid-afternoon.  Since it was too late to drive to the border, I rode a few miles just south of Swift Current and will skip over this part later.

Chuck went in to check on the RV yesterday.  The service manager showed him the list of employees who work on rigs and their tasks for each very long day.  Then he showed him a list for “Casper”, the ghost worker – this list is for all the people who are waiting to be “worked in”.  So the bottom line for us – it would definitely be after Memorial Day.  Need I say more – we are now in North Dakota and the work will be done someplace along the trip.  Obviously it’s not holding us back.  It’s been very windy the last couple of days.  Broke the arm to a vent which Chuck has been able to fix temporarily.  We spent the night dry camping at a WalMart in Grand Forks, ND and will head to Minot today.  This morning is supposed to be less windy with the wind picking up in the afternoon.  We’re hoping not as bad as yesterday.

Picking Brendan up at the airport went without a hitch.  We are staying in the Minneapolis NW KOA – a beautiful campground and very near the city.  Our hope was to be ready to head to Canada this morning.  However, yesterday we had some problems with the RV and are trying to get Camping World in Rogers to squeeze us in today.  We’ll see how it goes.  If they can’t work us in within a day or two we’ll head out and stop someplace along the way.  We really are going to get started on this trip.  Hopefully all the delays are happening now and later everything will go smoothly.

Interesting weather here in the north.  We had a day in the high 70s.  The trees were budding beautifully, the flowers were poking through the ground, Nancy and I were sitting in the sun, the bluebirds and robins were flitting around, then wham!  Two days of snow with about a foot of accumulated snow.  We are snowed in.  A good reason to shop for a new bike and that’s what Chuck did.  We will now await the arrival of the bike and by then hope the snow is gone for good this summer.  From here we head north through Minneapolis and into Canada.  We’ve made arrangements to pick up our grandson at the airport in Minneapolis and he will accompany us on much of this bike trip through Canada and Alaska.  We hope Susan and the other grandkids can join us as well.   Some of you have expressed an interest in joining in and we hope you will.

We were very fortunate to have someone offer to live in and take care of our home while we are off on this bike trip.  Thanks – it eases the worry.  Chuck hopes to start biking around the 15th of May and will start at the Canada/Montana border north of Malta, Montana.

We’re rolling through Tennessee in the RV towing the Honda and four bikes . Will spend a few days in Indiana and Iowa then off to Canada to resume the ride.