I started out from Bethune's ball diamond in the morning by 6 am but had to pack my tent wet. It didn't rain last night but I was fairly comfortable in spite of a wet sleeping bag, by using the tarp. I put it under my sleeping bag like a blanket. There was considerable wetness on it underneath - sweat, I guess - but it didn't premeate the s. bag itself, thank goodness.
No restaurant in the hamlet so I eat part of an energy bar before leaving and drink the last of my Power drink. I prefer Gatorade but can't often get it this far north or this far from a big city.
"In Bethune 5:50am. Regina. That way!"
The ball diamond is at the far end of the hamlet, away from the highway, but next door to a cow farm. Two distinct cows mooed back and forth all night, and all morning, as if they were talking to each other but each knew only one word in cow, each with their own distinctive way of saying 'moo'.
As I pitched the tent last night, an electrical storm descended, but didn't actually reach Bethune, but must have been pretty close. I was working as fast as I could to get the tent up and my stuff inside before the rain, and it was almost dark. It was hard to see everything. I always took the bear spray in with me at night, and the bike light...LED, luckily as it never wore out. I was uncomfortably uneasy, not because of the lightning, but because there was a bar not far away, and cars going up and down that back road that the ball diamond was on, occasionally, for hours.
Usually by noon you'd find me sitting by the side of the highway, and me taking turns holding the tarp and then the tent up so that they fly in the wind, drying out. Sometimes the wind is so strong that, like a kite, it never touches the ground. On those days, I clip them together so one doesn't get away on me.
I start out early in the hopes that I can get 3 hours in before the wind picks up which is usually 9 am. Usually 10 am in Ontario. That way, if it's going to be in my face, again, I will at least get 30 miles in of relatively easy riding.
I am still on the highway called The Louis Riel Trail, to Regina. It's Sunday, so only one vehicle in 15 minutes, average. Great! The road to myself. And the wind is at my back, and stays that way for the rest of the trip. What Luck!
Lots of people wave in this area, esp. the few truckers - Sunday, you see.
Lumsden is down at the bottom of a deep river valley and there is a TransCanadaTrail sign at the top. I coast down slowly as I'm afraid of losing control and going over the side. The hill is steep. In Riverview Park, at the bottom, I drink the Gatorade I was able to get from a gas station across the road. It's beautiful here, and I plug in my phone, and spread my clothes and sleeping bag out on the 2 picnic tables to dry. Then I sit down at the corner of one and write in my journal.
There are a few campers, and a horrible washroom but I use it anyway. A man stops me near the washroom and chats. They are building a new washroom facility soon. I hate to be rude but I have to excuse myself. The washroom floor is 2 inches deep in water. There must be a leak somewhere, and I hear women exclaim as they come and go. It really is awful.
Lumsden is in the lovely Qu'Appelle Valley. I've been following the valley for 2 days and many miles, and knew it would eventually take me into a valley too deep to cycle out of. I prepare mentally for another long uphill walk but I wonder, hopefully, if I can find the TCTrl, maybe it will leave the valley in a gradual uphill way.
I dry my stuff out there while waiting for the phone to re-charge, and then remount to hunt for the ever elusive TransCan.Trail. I find it, and it's a hard-packed sandy trail maybe 20 feet above the Qu'Appelle River among trees and scrub and wildflowers. Such a lovely ride until only 1 mile into the ride, the trail simply ends at a barricade by the highway. I know I can hunt for it across the highway, but it's too complicated to find the route across - (a four-lane/bridge/overpasses) so I opt for continued highway riding, instead, the rest of the way to Regina.
My heart's gone out of the TransCanadaTrail part of this venture. I know I'm on my way home, one way or another. And it's sunny & warm which definitely boosts my spirits.
On reaching Regina, I'm cycling on a 4 lane with a grassy medium in between.
As I pass a weigh-scale station, closed, I pull in for a rest and head down a slope into the long grass to be under a poplar tree. There are several. I lie down on my little fleecy and fall fast asleep with the traffic flowing by. I wonder what they think about seeing my packed bicycle, and me asleep nearby. The bike is locked, but that doesn't mean I'd be safe. Actually, in the prairies, I find I was quite safe all through the trip. I even stopped locking my bike except near big cities.
In Regina, I found a Joey's Seafood for an early supper, and an air-conditioned break. Across the street is a Zeller's so went in there, too, and found a bigger fleece blanket that I dearly need for cold nights. A quilt would be far too big and bulky to carry but the other fleecy (Mr. T's) is just too small for me.
On looking back, I can't believe how in Saskatoon and Regina, I cycled from north to south ends on their expressway. Gives me the shivers now thinking about it now. Regina's is called The Loop, and it was like a big circle, and took me right to the TransCanadaHighway finally. I didn't get a motel in town because it would be too expensive, but I knew I needed one as I needed to soak in a hot bath despite the heat of the day.
52 miles today. I'm in a motel, had a light meal and then rented a room for only $45 and well worth the 2 hot baths I've had. It's about l0 km east Regina. So, it's only 340 miles to Winnipeg now! (550 km?)
The winds today were pushing me - may the wind be always at your back. Bonus!!! It was Wonderful!
The air conditioner is not working in the motel room. There's a huge parking lot out there for the big rigs so the temperature in here with today's sun beating down must be 95 degrees at least and my legs will not carry me back to the office to complain. The other rooms are filled anyway. I have turned on the air conditioner's fan and if I lie on the bed near it's southern edge I can get enough light breeze maybe to sleep but it is screaming, too. It will be so hard to sleep tonight - as bad as my worst night camping out, I bet.
Josie just called and let me know about that dreadful murder by stabbing and decapitation on a Greyhound bus. Portage La Prairie is not too far from here. I calculate that he may have made his first stab about the time the bus was even with Piet and Lorelie's place - the Spruce Woods Prov. Park area. As exhausted as I am, there is no way I can fall asleep as I keep thinking about this. Think of the terrible trauma that the people and bus driver who witnessed it must be undergoing. Josie says they are taking therapy for it now. I cycle and don't buy newspapers to read at night as I just pitch the tent, and pitch myself into it. The passengers banded together at the bus door to keep him from getting out of the bus after it stopped and he brought the young victim's head up front for them all to see. They will never get completely over that for as long as they live. I feel as deeply for them as I do for the poor young man.
It must have been this that the coffee group in the Dundurn restaurant were discussing the morning I stopped in for breakfast after leaving Blackstrap Prov. Park. All I heard was a fellow saying 'He had to have known the guy to have gotten into such a rage to have stabbed him that many times.'
I thought it was a local murder but didn't butt in and ask.
I believe that it would have to be a person with multiple personalities. That condition is caused, I believe, by terrible abuse when a child is young as a means of coping with the abuse. Time will see. He is being kept in the Portage jail until after the court case.
Until this, I had felt so safe. Tonight, for the first time, I feel scared.
It was well past midnight before I finally drifted off to sleep. In the tent, I can be asleep by 9:30.
Text message: Hi, Luuc, Karen here. The restaurant special tonight served liver and onions! Too bad you have to miss it. Sure am glad I did.
[From Josie... I talked to Mom on the phone tonight... she is wondering if there is anyone interested in driving to Kenora to get her in a week? ha ha ha. As long as the wind doesn't turn around again, she thinks she'll be in Kenora in a week. But she can take greyhound home... or wait... maybe Via Rail would be the better option?]
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