to Turtleford, SK

July 24th: I slept late this morning. Some campgrounds have metered showers so Be Prepared, as they say in Brownies and Guides. Also washed some clothes in there, and dried them at the picnic table because the clay from the trail hung in clumps off the pants, tank, tee and socks of my 'cycling costume'. So I'm wearing my only pair of shorts for the first time on this trip. I haven't worn them cycling because of the skin exposure to the sun. I usually forget to apply sun-block a second time later in the day.
Last few nights has left very little condensation on the tent. Must be getting warmer, especially now that I'm heading southward. Makes it easier and quicker for leaving in the am. While the clothes and tent are drying this morning, I start to write in my journal pages.

Just met Walter, a tree removal man. He came over and sat for a couple of hours. He's diabetic. Swears by co q 10. Says it builds heart muscle back up, which the older body doesn't do naturally, and since using that and 800 units of Vit. E daily, he has been able to cut his insulin back to 17%. He may avoid having an amputation, and it may extend his lifespan considerably. He convinced his sister to start taking it when she was tired and listless all the time, and now she has energy to burn. He left to go for lunch at the restaurant next door saying that he eats only at restaurants now because when he works he earns $500/day.
He came back later with a slingshot from the hardware store. He used to have one when he was a kid (like Sampson's which you swing around before letting go) made like the biblical ones only out of a bike's inner tube, and it shot pretty true. This one is a pull type. He's visiting his friend in the trailer next to my site and is from Lloydminster. I find him fascinating to listen to.
I told him that I was bitten 2 weeks ago on my first night in Smoky Lake by what I thought was probably a spider in the middle of the night in my tent. I didn't feel anything until I woke up, though. My bottom lip swelled up so fat that it was shiny as though I was using vaseline on it. It pained constantly, and still burns or just tingles so much that it's sometimes hard to get to sleep at night. During the day, I favour it but forget about it a lot. The swelling has gone down now but there are two white puncture marks there, just as though I have been bitten by a snake.
I was really surprised when Walter said that he thinks it may have been a Spruce Beetle that bit me. Later, I begin to wonder if maybe it has laid an egg in there, and a larvae is eating away at me until pupation, the way a Warble Fly will do.
Want to leave earlier, but my bike is now my clothes-line. As soon as the tent dried I put it in its bag to protect it from sun damage.

Larre Memorial Park, St. Walburg
Caroline Clock plays beautiful tunes every hour and one bar of music every quarter hour. I stop in this park to have yogurt before leaving at 2 pm - really really late - and now I'm off.

Headed for Turtleford from St. Walburg. Hot and sunny now. Will see how much further I can go. Need a library to update blog on a computer.


It's so friendly in Sask. and the countryside is extraordinarily beautiful this far north with rolling hills and the gold of canola fields in bloom. Going down those hills is a great break, and I coast them. But I have to cycle up first.

This part of the TransCan.Trail is called the Spruce Lake trail.
It still has the steel railroad ties lying on top with the rails intact...totally inaccessible...no possibility of actually cycling ON the trail but the highway goes along beside for miles and miles and is so much smoother anyway. It's another 90 km to North Battleford.

Near Spruce Lake, I happen upon a small lake and notice a humungous beaver dam which must be 8 feet high. Ducks are swimming and quacking, a Red-tailed Hawk skirts the terrain above, bullfrogs are croaking although it's a bit late for their mating if I were still in Ontario, and there are wonderful fluffy white cumulous clouds making interesting shapes overhead. It must be half an hour before I feel I must continue on.

This is the village of Turtleford, 30 km south of St. Walburg. It has a giant green man-made turtle by the Hwy. 26. Supper in a Chinese restaurant again, pioneers all, I'm told.
At the Turtleford campsite, I met Amanda, a tall, lanky, lovely looking native girl, 17 years old and a newcomer to town. Amanda's family moved here from Turner Lake, 5 hrs. north of Meadow Lake, only 2 months ago. Turtleford has only one school, she says, grades 1 - 12. It seems I'm only one in campground except for her, and remain so. The campground is also the ball diamond and she's here getting some solitude, and reading. She leaves on a really little bike, although she herself is a senior teen who looks like an Olympic runner.
The site is not 100 feet from a secondary highway, and no one else comes in so I can spread out, and pitch the tent in the middle of a big soft lawn.
Big rigs go by often throughout the first part of the night, but I finally fall asleep. I've lock my bike just in case.
I'm awakened by the most ungodly screams of coyotes running, seemingly, up the middle of the road. On the prairies, you can hear for miles, and I hear them in the distance running towards me, screaming in very high-pitched yells, sounding like there's at least 6-8 of them, getting close so fast, and then right beside me. They don't stop, though I've uncapped the bearspray and am waiting. They go past my tent, thank goodness, still this ghastly screaming like they've experienced some horrific trauma (and maybe they have). All along the road, dogs are barking at them as they run past for what sounds like maybe 2 or 3 miles. No sleeping for quite a while. As I lie here, I make plans finally to have my lip looked at in the morning and plan ti go to the hospital for sure.
Maybe I should get a trailer for the bike. Could take Mr. T for rides in it, too, when I get back to Ontario. Need new helmet. This one has pieces falling off. Legs getting stronger, I think. Can feel lots of muscle. It's lovely on the road. Very few bike shops in Sask., though. Never do find one.

Hi, Luuc! Everything going well. Enjoy the good eateries this summer. Love, K