Life aboard is pretty relaxing – with a routine of swim, eat, chat, nap, and repeat at least twice per day. To shake things up a bit, we took the skiff out for an ice cream at Murphy’s Point Provincial Park on Sunday afternoon ($2 for a giant scoop), and went for a row around the harbour on Monday morning.

Thank-you John and Claire – it was delightful to visit you on your floating cottage. What a wonderful way to spend a weekend

Our morning view.

Scott reading the paper.

Claire out for a row.

Becky has an aunt with MS, and we both know people with the disease, so this is a cause close to our hearts. In addition to funding research, the MS Society of Canada provides support and services to help those living with this disease, their families and caregivers.

In order to participate, we both must raise a minimum of $250. We would greatly appreciate it if you could help with a donation.  Any amount helps. You can donate online by clicking our fundraising links below. An electronic tax receipt for your donation will be sent to you by e-mail.

• Donate to Scott’s ride
• Donate to Becky’s ride

If you are not comfortable donating online, get in touch with us, and we can arrange a donation by cash or cheque.

We made a stop by the main Nortel campus to get a few photos while it was still Nortel. It has been a landmark in our lives, so we thought it an appropriate photo opportunity on our way through. Becky was surprised by the lack of activity – we saw about five people the entire time we were there.

Us with the Nortel tower in the background.

Our final stop before arriving home was to pick up our storage locker key and our mail from the last year. This meant that we were riding through a part of town we would normal not bike around. The streets were busy and construction slowed traffic, but the mid-day drivers seemed nice enough.

We arrived home to a warm reception from our friends Kevin and Ali. They biked to our house to meet us, and Kevin took some amazing photos of us as we made our final pedal strokes down the street.

Arriving home

When we opened our door, and were quite puzzled to find a bunch of food in the fridge. Then we checked the cupboards, and found even more food. Eventually we figured out that our neighbours had stocked our fridge and cupboards with enough food for several days. Thanks so much Pete and Darlene – you guys are amazing!

A fridge full of food! We have such amazing neighbours.

63 km, 3h 50 min, Arnprior to Ottawa

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Becky was  mentally struggling during the ride. Being on the side roads away from traffic was nice, but it was also rather boring and the grey skies added to her glumness, making every pedal stroke a challenge. Shortly after an early lunch stop, we were pulled over by a lady with a camera. It turned out she was a reporter for the local Cobden newsletter. She interviewed us and then gave us some homemade apple sauce and tomatoes fresh from her garden. Her kindness put us both in a much better mood, and made the rest of the ride pleasant, despite the cold grey day.

Riding down through the Ottawa Valley, we saw that it is not only the centre of political power in Canada (the home of the Federal Government), it also has a variety of different sources of electrical power. As we followed the Ottawa River, we passed several hydro-electric dams, the site of Canada’s first nuclear power plant (Deep River) where the precursor to the CANDU reactor was developed, and the current nuclear plant at Chalk River. It was the source of a large percentage of the world’s medical isotopes, but has been shut down due to safety problems – an overview of the problems.

A bit later, we rode past what is claimed will be Canada’s largest solar power farm. We we don’t quite understand why prime farm land in the Ottawa valley was used for a solar power farm. We didn’t think we were exactly in a sun-belt, but apparently West Carleton is quite sunny!

Farming solar energy in the Ottawa valley.

Our last evening before arriving at home was spent visiting our friend Susan, her daughter, and her two dogs. Scott joined Susan as she taught a yoga class that night at her new yoga studio, Hollow Tree Yoga. It is a beautiful studio, and the first dedicated space for yoga in Arnprior. He enjoyed his first yoga class in years – it felt good to be doing something different from our usual morning yoga routine.

Susan and her two dogs Jerome and Hamish. Yes, Hamish is a giant dog!

106 km, 5h 50 min, Pembroke to Susan’s house south of Arnprior

Beautiful view looking down the Ottawa Valley.

See the matching signs?

Nuclear power in Deep River – the trees have all grown in and up such that the scenic lookout isn’t that scenic any more.

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Nice shoulders on Quebec roads.

The one disadvantage to riding along the Quebec side was that the roads were not flat. At times the hills were just as bad at the hills around Lake Superior. They made the ride more interesting, often providing pretty glimpses of the Lake, but also slowed us down and ensured that we were tired by the end of the day. Our first day after Barrie’s place we had hoped to ride 120 km, but only made 98 km. With the shorter distances and decreasing daylight hours, we soon realized that our goal of arriving home on September 15 was no longer realistic. We officially re-forecast our arrival home for September 16th.

Beautiful views of Lake Temiskaming. In the north, there were farms along the shore, but further south the landscape was wooded, similar to Gatineau Park across the river from Ottawa.

We spent one night in Quebec at the beautiful Bannik Campground in Ville-Marie near Fort Temiskaming ($26). The campsites were set in a nice treed area, the showers were clean and warm, and they had laundry facilities.

The continued ride along Lake Temiskaming reminded us very much of riding the along the Gatineau Parkway just across the Ottawa River from home. The hills certainly reminded us of Gatineau, and reinforced that we would not be getting home on Monday as originally planned.

By 5:30 pm, we pulled into the town of Temiskaming at the southern tip of the lake and did a final re-supply – fresh bread and fruit. Our plan for the next day was to take the shortcut along highway 533 directly to Mattawa, saving us 80 km and avoiding North Bay. We first heard warning about the “back-roadness” of this highway from Isabelle at Barrie’s place. In Temiskaming a cottager also warned about the road. Both commented on the narrow road, limited sight-lines and crazy drivers, so we were a bit concerned what we were getting ourselves into.

With the warning of the road, and no campground nearby, we decided to ride out to the rest area near the intersection of highway 101 and 533. This would allow us to tackle highway 533 on Sunday morning and hopefully avoid the worst of the traffic. The rest area turned out to have a nice creek/river flowing next to it and a treed area behind it, allowing us to rinse the sweat and road grunge off our bodies and set up camp with a little bit of privacy. Other than being a bit too close to the road, it was a perfect free camping spot.

Becky went for a quick dip along the shore of the river without incident, but when Scott went for his dip, he was surprised by a car pulling in, and driving toward him. At this point he was standing completely naked in the river, balancing on one foot and attempting to dry off. Fortunately, it was after dark, and the river bank was high enough he could duck below it. The car parked well away, and he was able to finish drying off without further issues.

Making breakfast at the rest area near the intersection of highways 101 and 533.

Our strategy of riding highway 533 on a Sunday morning worked out perfectly. It was indeed a “back-road” in that the quality of the tarmac was a significant downgrade from highway 101. In most places there was no yellow line, and the shoulders were made of loose sand and big rocks. On the plus side, there was very little traffic, and the route was very pretty, giving us many glimpses of small lakes through the mature forest. It had lots of ups and downs, only letting us average 15 km/hr, so by the time we arrived in Mattawa, we were ready for lunch, and to be back on a better road.

At Mattawa we rejoined highway 17, and would remain on highway 17 until Pembroke, where we could get off of it for good. The traffic was quite a bit lighter and more polite than we feared, making for a pleasant ride. Our map showed several towns on highway 17 that turned out to just be a few houses or resorts and had no services (Deux Rivieres and Bissett Creek). We unfortunately passed these as Becky was craving her afternoon ice cream break. Just as we had given up hope, a gas station / convenience store appeared in Stonecliffe and ensured Becky did not miss her day’s dose of ice cream.

We stayed at the Morning Mist Resort ($21) in Stonecliffe. They were definitely more accustomed to RVs than tents, but were very friendly and welcoming. Their sites were huge and they had a nice covered picnic shelter where we could plug in our laptops and check email while cooking breakfast .

As Becky was taking down the tent, she lifted the tent by the poles and shook out the dirt from the bottom of the tent. This was our normal routine, but just as she was about to put  the tent down, she heard a CRACK! The tent was now looking quite lopsided. After further investigation, she discovered that one of the poles had snapped at the join. Quickly she removed the tent releasing any pressure on the rest of the poles. Fortunately, Scott was able to make a temporary repair using one of the hose-clamps he has been carrying. It is nice that we weren’t carrying the hose clamps the entire trip for nothing! We don’t recommend this as a permanent fix as the clamp has rough edges that could cause a rip in the fly – but it was good enough for our one remaining night of camping.

 
Broken and temporarily repaired tent pole.

We had an easy day riding into Pembroke. From here, we would be riding the back-roads home – no more highways. Pembroke was also our last night camping. We stayed at the municipal Riverside Campground ($21) which had adequate facilities – it felt more like camping in a sports fields than a campground. We were glad for access to a table in the laundry room, as it started to rain just as Becky was preparing dinner. After dinner, as Becky was sitting in the tent with lightening and rain all around, she was reminded of our journey around Lake Ontario last June. It was appropriate that our last night in the tent would be so similar to our first!

113 km, 7h 20 min, Bannik Campground, Quebec to rest area

125 km, 8h, Ouest-Duhamel rest area to Stonecliffe

84 km, 4h 30 min, Stonecliffe to Pembroke

We saw these crosses all along the Quebec shore of Lake Temiskaming. We’ve never seen crosses like this before, but we assume that the ladder, hammer and pliers are a reference to the tools used to crucify Jesus. Can anyone confirm?

Lunch by a small lake East of Lake Temiskaming along highway 101 in Quebec.

Welcome back to Ontario!

Our first sight of the Ottawa River. Almost home!

Railway bridge across the Ottawa River.

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Lots of loose gravel on these roads.

After a thorough examination, Scott was diagnosed with a few scrapes on his knee, a small chunk out of the palm of one hand, a bruised butt, and very bruised pride! Fortunately both he and his bike survived, however the seat got another dent from the handlebars, the front sprocket and chain tube filled with sand and the utility bar cracked – good thing we don’t regularly ride at night, since he now has no place to attach his front light.

Our advice: slow down descending hills when the gravel might be loose!

Scott’s scratched up knee – ouch!

After a brief cleanup of bike and rider, we were on our way again. Fortunately the rest of the day was much less eventful. We crossed into Quebec, Scott said goodbye to his faithful utility bar at the Notre Dame du Nord tourist info, and we ended the day at La Bannik; a nice (if expensive) full-service campground near Fort Temiscamingue.

Goodbye utility bar!

98 km, 6h 50min, Kenabeek to Bennik Campground in Ouest-Duhamel

We’re certainly in farm country again – look at the roads, all straight lines and right angles.

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We had planned to camp at the rest area near Swan Lake; however, just before the rest area a campground appeared. In Timmins we decided to splurge for campgrounds for our last few days in Ontario, so with the prospect of a warm shower, we opted for the Swan Lake Campground ($22). The owners were very friendly, and the facilities were quite nice. One of them explained that they were not listed in the Ontario Campground book because it would cost them over $400 to register. We found the book to be useless as very few campgrounds are actually listed in it!

We are now back into farm land.

The next day, we had arranged to spend the night at Warmshowers host Barrie’s “log house” in Kenabeek. We had no idea what to expect, and were delighted when Barrie rode out to meet us. He led us through various farm roads onto a ridge, then into the middle of a beautiful forest.

Barrie lives in a beautiful log home surrounded by forest, with a small stream running out the back. The house is off-grid, so power is provided either by his hydro generator – when the stream has enough water – or by a backup diesel generator. He has running water which comes from the stream and he gets his drinking water from a natural spring elsewhere on the property. When we arrived, his hot water heater was broken (and had been for several years), so if we wanted a hot shower, we were out of luck. Fortunately, we were more than happy to exchange that hot shower for a swim in a small lake nearby. We all hopped into his old VW van and drove down the road following some narrow pathways – that only a local could navigate – to be presented with the most beautifully picturesque small lake, completely surrounded by forest. We only wish one of us had thought to bring a camera! We thoroughly enjoyed a swim in the silky smooth water.

A small peek inside Barrie’s home.

South wall of the house.

After our swim we enjoyed a narrated walk through the woods. The forest on Barrie’s property had burned almost completely in 1920 and was allowed to grow back naturally. After the fire, it began as almost 100% jack pine, but is now about 20% jack pine with a mix of other species. The jack pine is a determinant tree with an 80-90 year lifespan, so as the older trees die they are replaced by different – indeterminant – tree varieties.  In a natural forest the jack pine only grows after a large fire, but forest companies seed with jack pine in their “managed forests” because it grows quickly and can be harvested in only 60-80 years.

To end a perfectly delightful afternoon, we enjoyed some of the best squash soup we have ever had. Barrie’s friend Dada (an Ananda Marga monk)  made the soup using vegetables from Barrie’s huge organic garden. We were also joined by Isabelle, a cycling friend of Barrie’s. A wonderful evening of conversation and yummy food.

In the morning, we were able to do our regular yoga routine in the main room of Barrie’s house. He has hosted yoga retreats here, and he and Dada each do their own morning yoga practice, so the house was used it <grin>. Breakfast was a wonderful meal of quinoa and ground nuts, made exactly how we liked it (because we each mixed our own). Becky really enjoyed the Eastern Ontario taste of real maple syrup – we must be getting close to home! Becky was also delighted when Barrie offered her some coffee and he pulled out her favourite Kicking Horse Kick Ass coffee. Unfortunately, the coffee was whole bean and the coffee grinder required power. This problem was quickly sorted by walking with the coffee grinder up to the garage to start the diesel generator.  Perhaps a bit much just to grind some coffee, but it made Becky very happy.  She can’t think of a better way to start the day than good food and yummy coffee.

114 km, 6h 50 minutes, Timmins to Swan Lake Campground
92 km, 6h, Swan Lake Campground to Kenabeek

Squash and pumpkins bring fall colour to Scott’s loaded bike.

Barrie, Becky, and Dada in front of a bright barrel of winter squash.

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Welcome to Timmins! It is appropriate that the backdrop to the sign is an industrial plant, if not a mine. This is the Grant Forest Products Oriented Strand Board mill, which has been closed since 2006 due to a contract dispute.

Timmins is a gold mining town through-and-through. As the price of gold fluctuates, so does the job market in Timmins. Whenever there is a significant increase in the price of gold, older mines are re-visited as it becomes economical to recover the smaller pieces of gold. The people in town are accustomed to mines opening, closing, and moving. They recently moved the golf course in order to re-mine the land underneath it, since it had been built on the tailings of a previous mine. They have moved many homes as the land underneath them became a valuable source of gold. It is the nature of a mining town, that the mines – which equate to jobs and the livelihood of the town – dictate the shape of the community.

Timmins is also proud to be the birthplace and former home of Shania Twain (before she got famous and moved to Switzerland). To honour her success and in the hopes of bringing tourists to Timmins, the town built the beautiful Shania Twain Interpretation Centre in front of the Timmins Gold Mine Tour. Unfortunately, the Centre was built on land that is now suffering from sink-holes due to the underground mining. It is also scheduled to be re-mined. It is somewhat appropriate that you must drive through an open pit mine in order to visit the Shania Twain Centre. Apparently, it does not draw the large number of tourists the town had hoped. When we drove by, the parking lot only had one car in it – the Shania Twain Centre SUV!

The empty Shania Twain Centre parking lot.

From our perspective, the Gold Mine Tour sounded much more interesting. The “gig” with that tour, is that they dress you up in old fashioned mining outfits before taking you down into an old mine shaft. It would be worth it just to wear the clothes and get some fun photos!

Tailings from one of the active gold mines.

The picturesque McIntyre Headframe, a landmark that defines Timmins. The wreath on the headframe was made by a metal-working class at the high school.  When Becky first saw the headframe, she thought it was a grain elevator!

Scott and Becky with the statue of Mr. Schumacher. Mr. Schumacher was a philanthropist and philosopher. To this day, his estate gives Christmas gifts to all the kids at the Schumacher school.

The Porcupine (a suburb of Timmins) Miner’s Memorial. This is beside what was a lovely park with ball diamonds, which was dug up a few years ago by an Australian syndicate looking to re-mine the tailings. That was par for the course, but unfortunately there was no money put in escrow for rebuilding the site after the mining, and the syndicate found nothing of value, so just gave up and left. It’s now a weed-filled field. Hopefully Timmins City Council won’t make that mistake again.

The Hollinger Mine tour, behind the Shania Twain Centre. Unfortunately, the tour was not running on the days we were in town.

Becky with Charles and Mary. Thanks so much for such a wonderful welcome in Timmins!

Not so nice gravel road.

Beautiful scenery on a nice sunny day – makes up for the road conditions!

We had not really planned on crossing back into the Arctic Watershed on this journey, so we were taken by surprise when the sign appeared shortly after the Shoals Provincial Park. On our day of lasts we had thought we were finished with all this divide stuff – but alas, we crossed back into the Arctic watershed, and now are guaranteed at least one more divide when we cross back into the Atlantic Watershed in order to follow the Ottawa River home.

Wild camping for three nights with Martin and Nadine filled us with confidence in our abilities. We spent the afternoon doing laundry and stocking up in Wawa, then proceeded to head out of town with the plan of finding a nice quiet camping spot for the night.

When the rest area on the map did not appear, we pulled over onto a boat launch at the Eastern end of Lake Wawa and made dinner. It was picturesque and relaxing, but also too close to the road for camping – especially on a Friday night.

Further down the road, we found a side road that opened onto a gravel pit that was surrounded by trees and ATV pathways. We chose a spot above the pit along one of the sides. It provided us with a view of the gravel pit and surrounding areas, however the area was rather rocky – so we thank the Thermarest Gods that our sleeping pads work well when spread over gravel. Becky did not want to camp in the pit because it felt too much like being inside a fish bowl.

Having picked a spot for camping, we were off to the treed area looking for a place to hang our food. This turned out to be much more painful and stressful than either of us liked. After over an hour of tossing random things into trees and not being able to get a clear line, Becky suggested we just leave the food 100 meters away from us in the middle of the gravel pit – it was late, and our attempts at hanging were not improving with fatigue and darkness. On the walk back to the tent, it occurred to Scott that we could just hang the food over the edge of the gravel pit. Well D’uh! We should have thought of that much sooner. The process turned out to be rather simple and was easily achieved by Scott while Becky set up the tent. We certainly should have thought of “hanging” from the ground level well before considering hanging from a tree.

It was well after dark by the time we crawled into the tent. With our food safely stowed and us camped well off the highway, one would think we were in for a peaceful night. And we were, until 4 a.m. when some random folks on ATVs came thundering into the center of the gravel pit (glad we were not camped down there). They must have caught sight of our food bags with their headlights and upon further inspection saw our tent. We heard:

“Is that a tent?” “Wow”
“Those must be cables over there, we shouldn’t f**k with them”

We’re guessing that the reflective patches of our food bags caught their eyes, appearing to hang in mid-air over the side of the gravel pit. We’re glad that discouraged them from riding that edge, since the path went right past our tent.

After a couple of loops around the pit, off they went. We heard the bumble bee sounds of distant ATVs a couple more times before things were quiet for the rest of the night.

We awoke to a crazy layer of fog, which made it impossible to see the bottom of the gravel pit. The fog meant we couldn’t get a quick start in the morning, as the roads would not be safe. In addition, it meant that everything was wet. Rather than pack up and run, Becky went berry picking – she had noticed a bunch of raspberry and blueberry bushes near the entrance to the gravel pit. For breakfast we enjoyed a feast of fresh berries atop our hearty oatmeal.

Making breakfast on a foggy morning.

Wonderful fresh berries.

Our lunch stop lined up nicely with Potholes Provincial Park, a tiny day-use nature reserve with parking, pit toilets and a trail to the potholes. It was a lovely place to stop for lunch – the trail was rideable for the first 300m, so we walked the last bit and had a lovely lunch beside the burbling creek and the water-carved potholes which give the park its name.

That night, we pulled into Shoals Provincial Park with the plan of just having dinner there. However, our dinner preparation took longer than planned and the lake was nice and warm, so we changed our plans and set up camp at the park. Again hanging our food became a challenge. At the park there were many more trees that presented much better options than in the gravel pit (the brush under the trees was cleared, making it much easier to wrap the line around trees); however, our two tree approach was proving to be not nearly as simple as we first thought (we must have been lucky the first two times we tried it). One issue was that we really did not have a long enough rope – we’re missing the three meters we left stuck in the tree near Thunder Bay! Eventually, we did manage to get the food hung between two trees, but not nearly as high up as it should have been (within reach of Scott if he stretched). Fortunately, we were in a provincial park and didn’t see any “habituated bear” warnings, so did not worry too much about it.

Sunset at the Shoals Provincial Park.

For our final night before arriving in Timmins, we decided to camp at a park rather than wild camp. The whole act of hanging our food was causing us both too much stress and frustration at the end of the day. We headed toward the Ivanhoe Lake Provincial Park but came across the Red Pine Lodge first. They had a beautiful campsite right on the water. It was on the edge of a trailer park with a fair bit of activity, so there was no worry about food storage – we could just leave the bags in our vestibule for the night. After a wonderful hot shower (our first since Aug 31, so it felt rather luxurious), we crawled into our tents and promptly fell fast asleep.

Woodpecker at the Red Pine Lodge campground. 

86 km, 5h 45min – Gravel Pit to The Shoals provincial park
141 km, 7h 45 min – Shoals Provincial Park to Red Lodge campground at Ivanhoe Lake
117 km – 6h 30 min to Timmins

Scott enjoying a beautiful day.

Becky preparing to climb another hill.

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Our beautiful lunch picnic spot.

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed some of Lake Superior – we used (boiled) lake water to make our noodles. We also took that opportunity to dry out our wet tent and tarp since our camping spot didn’t have any morning sun. Just as we were finishing lunch and getting ready to go, a couple of other touring cyclists pulled up. Martin and Nadine have been on the road for 6 years, and are into the last 9-months of a round-the-world bicycle and canoe tour. They have cycled over 85,000 kilometers and spent several months canoeing in various parts of the world. Very adventurous!

Scott chatting with Martin and Nadine.

Since we were heading the same direction, we hopped back on our bikes and enjoyed several hours of conversation. After many days on the road, it’s wonderful to have new people to talk to for a while. When we came upon the Tourist Info Centre in Schreiber and discovered free wifi, Scott and Martin immediately sat down to do their daily Internet tasks. At one point there were all four of us sitting on a bench – Martin and Nadine sharing their laptop and us with ours. We must have made a truely geeky sight. After a brief break, we were back on the road.

Since we were having such a great time together, we decided join forces for a few days while our paths intersected. Given their long journey and ultra low budget, Martin and Nadine almost always wild camp. We would wild camp for one night now and then, but generally we stayed in campgrounds when they presented themselves. Wild camping is definitely cheaper, but requires a little more organization and forethought (at least for us). We normally don’t carry enough water to wild camp, so we needed to plan ahead. Camping with others would make it easier for us, but going for so many days without a campground (and shower) would also be a stretch (especially for Becky).

When wild camping, water is our most critical resource. Unfortunately, in Schreiber, Scott got distracted by the Internet and forgot to fill his water bladder – leaving us without enough water for cleaning. We were OK for cooking, but would not have enough to wipe the salt off of us at the end of the day. For Becky, this is critical, which meant that we had to find a wild camping site with access to water for cleaning. A trick we were reminded of later was to carry some baby wipes, for those times when water isn’t readily available and cleaning is necessary. The wipes are also handy for cleaning up dishes when water is limited.

Fortunately, a river with a pullout appeared just as we were contemplating where to camp for the night. A couple in a car had pulled onto the trail just before we pulled in and they too were looking for a spot to put up their tent for the night. It turned out that following the road brought us to a nice clearing where we could all set up our tents and there was a path leading down to the river (a little steep, but still accessible).

While the girls set up tents and prepared dinner, the boys went to find trees to hang food for the night. Scott and Martin compared methods – giving us one more way to hang food, which required only one tree and less line.

Martin, Nadine, and Scott enjoying breakfast at our campsite.

Our second night together was spent camping just outside Neys Provincial Park. Rather than hanging our food on two separate trees, the boys setup our food to be hung from the same line (with two pulleys and pull lines, but only one base line). This required only finding one “ideal” tree – much less painful.

All our food bags hung on the same tree. Probably a total of 30-35 kg!

For our third night, we decided to stop a little earlier and find a nice location near a lake. Thanks to Scott’s GPS, we were able to find a road with a small patch of lake access about 1.5km down the road. There was no sign of the lake from the road, so without the GPS we likely would never have found it. We saw no signs of life as we set up, so we were able to enjoy skinny dipping in the lake, but later we heard ATVs in the distance – hopefully we didn’t give them too much of a show. The next morning some cottage owners passed us by as we were drying our tents out on the road. Fortunately we could move them quickly!

The view over our little lake in the morning.

Becky giving Scott a haircut.

Martin carries a battery-powered beard trimmer for haircutting, and Becky and Nadine both used it to provide much-needed haircuts.

At Wawa we sadly had to say goodbye. We were heading east to Timmins, but Martin and Nadine had an invite to Interbike in Las Vegas where they were to showing off their well-worn Vaude panniers at the Vaude booth. We wish them well, and hope we will be able to visit one day, wherever they end up.

If an opportunity to camp with other cycle tourists presents itself, we would definitely recommend it – even if it is only for one night. Each time we camped with others, we made great new friends and we learned and shared several new tips and tricks. Everyone does things differently, and not everything works for everyone, but there is always something new to learn.

Becky still can’t believe we did not think of this one ourselves. Martin and Nadine had the same 14-speed Rolhoff hubs we did. They added two chain rings in the front and just manually changed them based upon the terrain. We could have saved much pain and been able to ride a little faster if we had thought to just add the second chain ring. This is definitely a modification we will make when we get home!

89 km, 6h 10 min – Gravel River to Steele River
112 km, 7h 20 min – Steele River to White Lake
96 km, 5:50 White Lake to McCormick Lake
42 km, 3h 15 min McCormick Lake to Gravel Pit (between Wawa and Hawk Junction) – near Ghost Lake

Becky sitting on top of a picnic table at a not very nice rest area. This rest area did not even have outhouses. It was just a pull out on the side of the road with a picnic table and garbage can – which sadly many people chose not to use!

A beautiful view of Lake Superior.

A beautiful and huge mushroom. When walking through the woods at night, these mushrooms stand out so much that they almost glow!

Nice rest area for a dinner stop. Scott was originally attracted by the bikes on the pole. The rest area is provided by the town of Manitouwadge, a former gold mining town reinventing itself as a tourist destination.

Riding a little later at night than we usually like to. Notice how our triangle signs seem to glow in the dark!

Becky and Nadine making breakfast on our second morning.

A nice posed shot – no we don’t normally ride three abreast!

White River – home of the bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh.

Notice how we all have mirrors?

Approaching Wawa.

Becky and Nadine sitting under the Wawa goose.

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On the Thunder Bay – Nipigon section, there are a few segments where the road is in terrible condition and the shoulders are pretty much nonexistent, but we suspect those will be fixed by next year. There are many segments with new pavement and adequate (4 feet) or wide (greater than 6 feet) shoulders. At Nipigon, highway 11 and 17 split, with highway 17 following Lake Superior and highway 11 heading directly East (and a little North). Once we passed this point, the traffic on highway 17 was greatly reduced, giving us nice windows of time without any vehicles in view.

We stopped to see the Terry Fox monument just East of Thunder Bay. Becky was a little disappointed as she was led to believe there was an 8 meter tall Terry Fox – the moment is bigger than real life, but not that big! Having seen the monument and taken the requisite pictures, we were back on highway 11/17. At this point, it was truly awful, with no shoulders and really rough roads. Fortunately, we were able to detour quickly to a coastal road (Lakeshore Drive) which was beautiful, mostly flat, had nice shoulders, and no traffic.

When we got back on highway 11/17, we met a couple who were walking down Yonge Street; that is, they were walking the entire length of Yonge Street from Lake Ontario in Toronto to Rainy River (all 1900 kilometers of it). Given where they were (just outside of Thunder Bay heading West, they must have been at it for the whole summer. When asked why, there answer was pretty much similar to ours “why not?”. We never did catch their names, but wish them well on the rest of their journey.

We stopped for the first night at Wolf River Park ($20), a beautiful campground in a bight of Wolf River, such that they had River on three sides of the park. We had a nice walk in site right on the river, which felt like we were all alone – except for the sounds of trucks driving by on the highway and the occasional train – seems you can never escape the freight trains in Canada! A chipmunk also reminded us to keep our food bags closed when we’re away from camp, even for a few minutes

Mr. Chipmunk, demonstrating that we should keep our bags closed

For the second night we stopped at the Gravel River Motel ($15). They mentioned camping on the sign out front so we asked. It seems like the campsites behind the hotel are almost never used. They have a shower hut with a nice hot water shower, and a pit toilet, although the restaurant is not too far to walk. The campsites are overgrown with an amazing variety of mushrooms. We have included some pictures below – anyone know which ones are edible? (We didn’t so we had to pass on the fresh mushroom stir fry – maybe next time).

102 km, 6h – Thunder Bay to Wolf River
85 km, 5 h – Wolf River to Gravel River

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Scott acting as ‘rail meat’ on Mongoose

Becky relaxing after her race, with the Sleeping Giant in the background

Unfortunate, the weather took a turn for the worse and we ended up with two solid days of rain. So rather than suffer through riding in the rain (with a nasty headwind too), we opted for additional rest days. We are lucky to have such great friends: Suzanne, Karl, and the girls (Linnea and Mila) who hosted us throughout our stay in Thunder Bay, and happily let us stay the extra time. It was great to visit as well as relax. With Becky eagerly volunteering to cook since she had access to a real kitchen, we can definitely tell that we’re ready to be home soon.

Suzanne, Mila, Becky, Linnea and Karl

Ingredients:
3-4 eggs
1/2 onion (yellow sweet is best, purple also works well)
1 small zucchini (optional)
1 teaspoon curry powder
Salt
Olive oil

Directions:
1. Chop onion into small pieces.
2. Add onion, olive oil, salt, and curry powder to the frying pan. The
amount of oil you need depends upon whether or not you have a no-stick pan.
Be a little generous with the amount, as it makes the onion sweeter.
3. Chop zucchini into 1 cm squares – and set aside.
4. Start cooking the onions – if you can simmer on your stove, then cook
them slowly, to bring out the sweetness.
5. When the onions are clear, add zucchini and fry for 2 minutes.
6. Crack eggs directly into frying pan, then quickly stir to scramble them.
7. Keep stirring as the eggs cook to prevent burning. Cook until they are
the texture you like.
8. Enjoy.

Feeds two hungry cyclists in combination with oatmeal.

Our other last for the day is time zones. Today, we entered the Eastern Time Zone. We will no longer be needing to lose an hours sleep when we feel we need it the most – like just before riding a 140 km day!

Our route into Thunder Bay brought us by Kakabeka Falls, nicknamed ‘The Niagara of the North’. While Scott was viewing the (very impressive) waterfall, Becky answered many questions about our bikes and our journey. While stopped at the park, we also used their nice shaded lawn for some afternoon yoga before hopping back on our bikes and continuing to Thunder Bay. We also decided that we weren’t vehicles, and thus didn’t need to purchase two $5 parking passes.

Kakabeka Falls.

Becky describing our bikes and our journey to passer’s by at Kakabeka Falls park.

In Thunder Bay, we are staying with a friend from church, Suzanne, and her family. It is wonderful to be welcomed into a family and have a roof over our heads once again. We are looking forward to a night or two of rest in a comfy bed, as well as visiting, relaxing and resupplying.

So far Canada has been a wonderful adventure. We only wish we had more time so we could ride a little slower and spend more time visiting the various places along the way. We are definitely feeling the effects of long riding days, and hope the brief rest in Thunder Bay will recharge us for the last push to get home.

145 km, 7h – Huronian Lake Rest Area to Thunder Bay

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By 6:45 pm, we pulled into the Bunnell campground at Atikokan. We must have
looked confused, since a friendly couple called over to us to offer a site
beside theirs. Just a patch of grass and a picnic table, but it was all we
needed. Later, we discovered that up to three tents were allowed per site,
so we decided to share a site with Wendy and Peter. This made for a very
cheap camping night, at only $5, including free firewood and nice hot
showers.

This also gave us a chance to visit with Wendy, Peter and their friendly
springer spaniel Casey. They had just returned from a 19 day trek into
Quetico Provincial Park, which sounds spectacular. Lots of little lakes,
fishing and beautiful solitude. Another inspirational couple; they retired
early and are spending much of their time in the wilderness of Canada and
the U.S.

As dusk approached and dishes needed doing, the mosquitoes came out in
force. This was the worst bought of mosquitoes we have experienced since
Labrador. Fortunately, we had the mosquito head nets.

We were slow moving when we awoke, and a heavy dew left everything quite
wet. We still try to avoid packing up the tent and tarp wet, which
definitely slows us down on a damp and overcast day. Our plan was for a
long ride, leaving only a short relaxing ride into Thunder Bay the next day,
but this wasn’t in the cards. A strong headwind and rolling hills made for a
very slow day.

Before lunch, we crossed paths with an Albertan couple riding a tandem.
Wendy and Andy were out for an afternoon ride, enjoying the quiet road and
pretty scenery. After sharing a few trip stories, we learned that there was
a restaurant up ahead that had free Wireless Internet. We had not
anticipated any services on the road, so the restaurant was a nice
bonus, and Internet meant we could let the people with which we are staying
in Thunder Bay know when to expect us. Of course Internet is always a time
sink, so we had a longer lunch break than originally planned.

With the slow going and clouds threatening to release some wet stuff on us,
we opted to pull into the Rest Area at Huronian Lake. It turned out to be a
nice little rest area – certainly adequate for camping for the night – and
the lake was not too cold, such that we enjoyed a quick dip to rinse the
road grunge off of us.

After dinner, we decided that we would try a new method for hanging food. In
the past, we haven’t had a lot of luck figuring out how to hang it high
enough – rarely succeeding in getting it more than 6 feet off the ground.
Finding a tree with a horizontal branch which is strong enough to hold our
food, cooking gear and toiletries, and is at the correct height always
proves problematic.

In our latest method, if you can find trees the right distance apart, the
branch height is almost immaterial. Here
is how we did it.

What you need:
2 pieces of line long enough that one line will go up one tree to the height
you need, across to the second tree, and back down, plus have enough spare
for tying down. So, let’s say the hanging height is 4 meters, and the trees
are 8 meters apart, you would then need at least 4×2+8=16 meters of line.

1 pulley wide enough to fit the line. (In a pinch, a loop tied in the rope
will work, but the pulley makes things much easier when dealing with heavy
bags).

1 square shaped rock about 2 inches across – in a pinch a round rock with
do.

The procedure:

1. Identify two trees between which you wish to hang food. Ideal trees are
about 2 meters apart and have solid branches 4-5 meters high.

2. Take one line (line A) and tie the rock around one end of it.
Caution: If you don’t tie the line to the rock solidly, the rock will
slip out of the line when tossed – possibly ending up in the middle of the
woods or worse hitting something you don’t want to hit. Trust us!
Rather than a large rock, we also tried to use a mesh bag full of
smaller rocks. This worked well for the tossing portion of the procedure;
however, the bag was easily caught on branches. In the end, it jammed on a
branch 5 meters in the air, and we were forced to abandon it along with
several feet of our precious rope!

3. Coil line A ensuring there are no knots or snags in the line.

4. Stand on the non-rock end of line A, so it doesn’t get away from you.

5. Using your line-rock throwing skills, toss the rock end of the line over
the branch of the first tree (tree A).
This will take some practice to perfect. Again, trust us!

6. Use the weight of the rock to ease the rock end of the line back to the
ground. You should have both ends of the line in your hand with the bight
looped over the branch. Untie the rock.

7. Secure the ends someplace so you don’t lose them.
Trust us!

8. Repeat steps 2-7 with the second line (line B) and second tree (tree B).

9. Tie one end of line A to one end of line B, using a smooth knot (a reef
knot works well).

10. Tie a bight (loop) into line A on the same side you tied A to B and
secure the pulley to the bight. The placement of this knot should be such
that it ends up in the middle of the two trees when the line is tightened.

11. Take the free end of line B and run it through the pulley.

12. Hold on to the free end of line B and gently pull on the middle of
line B such that it feeds line A from tree A to tree B. Keep pulling until
the knot is at ground level. Note that as you do this the pulley will rise
out of reach, hence the need to be holding onto line B through the pulley.

13. Untie the knot between ropes A and B. You should now have rope A strung
between the two trees, and rope B fed through the pulley with both ends on
the ground.

14. Adjust rope A to ensure the pulley is in the middle of the two trees.
Securely fasten both ends of the line to the attached tree trunk. (A few
wraps and some half-hitches usually works well).

15. Secure food to one end of the line B, and use the other end to raise it
between the trees.
If your food bags are heavy, this can be a challenge. Our approach has
been to have Scott stand under the bags and push them up while Becky keeps
the line tight. Once the bags are above Scott’s head, he comes and helps
Becky raise them to the top. We are carrying 35-40 lbs (15-18 kg) of food
and related stuff.

16. Secure line B to a tree.

17. Fall asleep, secure in the knowledge that your food is safe. (Unless
you’re in Yellowstone Park, where the bears know to chew through lines until
the food falls to the ground).

If you look really close, you can see the bags hung nice and high in the air.

Rainy Lake cottage to Atikokan – 117 km, 6h40 min
Atikokan to Huronian Lake Rest Area – 75 km, 4h 30 min

Download GPS Track in GPX format

We quickly rode into Fort Frances and started the many chores on our list: get stove fuel at Canadian Tire, veggies at the farmers market, do laundry, find Internet and update blog, and stop at Safeway for some groceries. Our quick set of chores took us 5 hours (oops).

We did get to the Farmer’s Market for some yummy vegetables and elk sausage, and also bought our first basket of Ontario Peaches for the season. Local produce is so much yummier than the stuff we get most of the time.

Small but sufficient farmer’s market in Fort Frances.

It was mostly as a result of our extended Internet time that we left Fort Francis at 4 pm. We had hoped to make it to the first set of listed campgrounds 70 km away, but we were not riding that fast. Time was ticking and Becky was getting hungry. We decided to stop at a spot on the side of the road with lake access and make dinner. We would then ride a little further up the road and find ourselves a spot to camp for the night. While we were enjoying dinner, a car pulled up with a couple in it and the gentleman asked: “Are you planning to camp there tonight?” Our first thought was that this was someone from the area who didn’t want cyclists around, but after a brief discussion of our plans, he invited us to stay at his cabin for the night.

Becky making dinner by the side of the road near Rainy Lake.

View from our dinner spot on the side of the road near Rainy Lake

Now, when complete strangers pull over in their car and make such a generous offer, you have very little time to size up the situation. Are they scary people? Are they mad or just a little crazy for inviting random cyclists home for the night? Looking at the time, it didn’t take Becky more than two seconds to accept their offer. After all, taking advantage of such offers is something we promised ourselves we would do if we could and a night at a cottage certainly sounded more appealing then wild camping, with the added bonus of getting to meet some of the locals.

We finish our dinner, clean up, repack, and we are off to Ed and Colleen’s cottage on Rainy Lake. When we arrive, we were given a room inside (such an extra delight to have a bed for the night). After a brief discussion, we happily join in the evening cottage tradition – enjoy a bottle of beer while watching the sunset, then change into swimming gear and head for the sauna. We got ourselves nice and toasty warm in the sauna and then cooled off quite quickly with a jump into Rainy Lake – which is normally warmer at this time of year, but this year the weather hasn’t been too great – then repeat 3 or 4 times. This must be the best way ever to end a day of cycling!

The sauna building on the lake at Ed and Colleen’s cottage on Rainy Lake.

We had a lovely time getting to know Ed and Colleen, and are very grateful that they took a chance (or took pity) on a couple of wayward cyclists. For reference to other cyclists – they aren’t crazy axe murders looking for fresh meat and for anyone thinking of stopping to talk to two crazy recumbent cyclists having dinner on the side of the road – neither are we.

Becky, Colleen, and Ed on the deck at their cottage on Rainy Lake.

70 km, 4 hr Devlin to Rainy Lake cottage

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By 1 pm, the rain seemed to have lighted up and we hoped it would stop for the day. We packed up and hopped on our bikes. Within an hour, the rain picked up again and didn’t stop for the rest of the day. As we approached Sioux Narrows, the rain lighted up, so we opted for camping at the overpriced provincial park ($27.25). Fortunately, they had a dryer, so we immediately headed to the comfort station to dry out our wet weather gear and take a warm shower.

Clean, warm, and dry, we headed out to the day use area in search of a picnic shelter so that we could make dinner without standing in the rain. The picnic shelter turned out to be huge, with six tables and a nice empty table-free space. The campground was almost deserted – we saw only three other occupied sites when we were at the comfort station. Knowing the park was empty, we hoped they would allow us to set up our tent under the picnic shelter rather than moving back up the hill to a formal site.

Our stuff all sprawled out in the picnic shelter at Sioux Narrows Provincial Park.

Upon entering the picnic shelter, Scott noticed an owl in the tree – at first he thought it was fake, but then it moved. Becky was fascinated by it. It didn’t seem to be bothered by us, so we setup our dinner preparations on the far side of the shelter. At one point, a chipmunk came running through the shelter towards the owl. We expected the owl would have dinner as well, as it swooped down on the chipmunk. Fortunately for the chipmunk, it dodged the attack and froze half way up a tree. Later we watched the owl catch and eat some tiny field mice. Becky found it fascinating, since this was the first owl she’d seen in the wild. It was definitely habituated to people.

Our friendly neighbourhood owl at Sioux Narrows Provincial Park.

The campground attendant drove by and told us we could indeed stay under the picnic shelter if we wished. As long as the wind didn’t come from the south we would be well sheltered. We spent the night nice and dry under the shelter with the fly off the tent listening to a constant drumbeat of rain. By about 3 am, the rain finally stopped and the skies cleared.

With a nice sunny day, we were able to dry out most of our gear before starting out for the day. The hills were rolling but the wind was mostly at our backs, making for a pleasant day on the bikes. We stopped at the side of the road for lunch – a brief miscommunication as Scott had hoped to pull into a boat launch and enjoy lunch by a lake but failed to communicate that with Becky who was protein starved at the time and just needed food (oh well).

After making slow progress in the morning, the hills leveled out and our average speed increased significantly. Our map showed many small towns after Nestor Falls, but we soon discovered there are no services between Nestor Falls and Emo. We had hoped to camp in Emo, but there were no official campgrounds, so we stopped for pie – which turned into a stop for dinner. At dinner we learned that the nearest official campground was on the far side of Fort Frances. Just before we left the restaurant a nice gentleman came out and told us that we could camp at the Devlin ball diamond if we were not going to make it to Fort Frances.

We had high hopes of making it to Fort Frances on departure, but the sun soon told us we needed to change plans. When we saw the ball diamond in Devlin, we pulled in. There was a nice place to setup underneath the concession stand so we would be covered for the night, and they had several picnic tables. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were locked, so we had to use the nature option. There was also no water available, so Scott ran back to the local convenience store and purchased a 4L jug of water ($2). All-in-all a good day’s ride and a comfy and free place to sleep.

60 km, 3h 45 min – Longbow Lake to Sioux Narrows
129 km, 7h – Sioux Narrows to Devlin

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We have discovered that camping in Ontario is ridiculously expensive – I suppose we should have known, as we recalled it being expensive, but did not remember it being this bad! The list price on the Provincial Campground website ranges from $35 down to a mere $27 per night! These are basic campsites without RV services. So tonight only, we splurged and forked out $32 for a campsite at Redden’s trailer park – fortunately, it is a nice site near the lake and down a hill from the highway, so we should not be hearing traffic all night. As a bonus, the campground store is also an LCBO (Ontario liquor store), so we were able to have a cold beer with dinner.

Pretty view of Longbow Lake from the beach at our campsite.

As Becky was purchasing her after dinner snack, she ran into another touring cyclist, Matt – who turned out to be one of a group of 3 cyclists going the other direction and heading to Vancouver for the winter. We shared tips and tricks about the road ahead and passed along our Alberta / Saskatchewan map. Unfortunately, the campground here only allows one tent per site, and it was full, so we wished them well, and they headed on to Kenora. Good luck and safe journey to Jessica, Robbie and Matt!

Jessica, Matt, and Robbie

43 km, 3 h – Clearwater Bay to Longbow Lake

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By the time we got on our bikes and left, the weather was looking rather threatening. Within 10 minutes of leaving a drizzle started – so we donned our wet weather gear and kept on peddling. Unfortunately, the rain held all afternoon. We stopped in Anola for lunch and to warm up a bit; in addition to the wet, the temperature was only 14 degrees making any thought of stopping a chilling idea. After talking to the folks in the restaurant about what services lie ahead, we decided to head north up highway 12 towards highway 44 and the town of Beausejour, which was only 30 km away – rather than riding 60+ km further in the wet.

Just as we pulled out from lunch, we spotted another touring cyclist in the distance. He was on Highway 15, and moving fast, so even if we had been going that way, we likely wouldn’t have caught him. With a mental shrug for lost opportunities, we headed north. A minute later, we saw a bicycle approaching in our mirrors – the cyclist had spotted us and decided to come and visit. We were soon happily chatting away with Dharma and his dog Rowan. Dharma had left from Vancouver Island with Rowan and his B.O.B. trailer a few months back, and is headed for the east coast. In the downpour, we felt pretty overdressed in our full raingear – by comparison, he seemed quite comfortable in a t-shirt and sleeveless vest. We had fun sharing stories of our rides, but in Beausejour he wanted to press on, and we had had enough for the day.

In Beausejour, we checked into the small Motor Hotel for the night ($70) with hopes of drying out a little. There is another hotel in town – the Superior Hotel – but the cheapest rate they would give us was $94 plus tax, which was a quite a bit more than we were willing to pay if we could possibly avoid it. The reaction of the lady at the hotel was quite comical, if a bit annoying at the time:
Lady: You’re all wet! What will you do with all those wet clothes?
Scott: Hang them to dry?
Lady: Don’t get the carpets all wet!
Scott: We can look for another place to stay if you wish.
Lady: No, that’s OK
At this point we figured our wet, muddy bikes were going be a big deal, but she never said anything about them. She later lent us her kettle, and was quite friendly in her brusque way, so we’re guessing she’s just like that…

The next day started with a pocket of sun – we could see clouds both in front and behind us. We quickly got organized and were riding by 9:15 am (early for us). Helped by a nice tailwind and good roads, we made it to Whitemouth just as the clouds gobbled up the sun. Whitemouth has a great little bakery and coffee shop with super friendly people. We enjoyed a first lunch of cabbage rolls just like Becky’s Mom makes, and yummy cinnamon buns.

Our next stop was Rennie for a second lunch and a break from the cold. When the sun left us, the temperature dropped down to 14 degrees. Manitoba certainly is not experiencing a typical summer. In Rennie Becky heard a garbled story about a cyclist ahead of us who had been shot at. We wondered if something had happened to Dharma?

Welcome to Rennie Manitoba.

Shortly after Rennie the highway turned into Whiteshell Provincial Park. The road quality degraded almost instantly and the traffic went away – no more trucks passing us. There was also a shift from farm land into Canadian Shield country with lots of small picturesque lakes. Halfway between Rennie and West Hawk Lake, the sun came out making the scenery that much more enjoyable. With the Shield we also got hills – and Highway 44 being a minor road at this point, some of the hills were rather steep; however, they were all pretty short so we could enjoy the rolling hills as a nice change from the flattish prairies.

We stopped in West Hawk Lake for our requisite afternoon soft ice cream break to discover that Dharma was at the restaurant. He had just finished up a meal and was about to hop back on his bike – so it was nice to have caught up to him. Apparently, he had been shot at by a passing car – he figures it was likely paintballs they were shooting. He was delayed a little in Rennie when he called the police and gave a brief statement. Unfortunately, he did not have a license plate number, so there was not much the police could do. It was a late model, dark green Japanese sedan, but there are a lot of those.

Dharma joined us for our journey across the border into Ontario. We took pictures at the first Welcome to Ontario sign – which wasn’t that impressive. At the visitor information center (which closed at 5 pm grrrr) there was a much nicer sign, so we paused again for another set of photos.

Dharma, Becky, and Scott being welcomed to Ontario.

A nicer welcome to Ontario sign.

We had thought there might be a campground in Clearwater Bay, but were sadly disappointed. There was an seasonal RV park with resort type structures on the lake, and a trailer park which required reservations – neither of which looked good for tenting. We continued up the road to the Clearwater Bay Market (a truck stop) and inquired there about tenting. The manager there said we were welcome to tent either near the gazebo or in the septic field – we chose the septic field as it was nice and flat and well protected from traffic and lights. In hindsight, it also meant that the tent was wet, as not too surprisingly the field had an underground water source! Oops. Fortunately, with our entry into Ontario, the weather improved dramatically – much warmer in the morning, with the sun making an appearance.

75 km, 4h – Winnipeg to Beausejour
150, 7h 30m – Beausejour Manitoba to Clearwater Bay Ontario

Download GPS Track in GPX format

On Saturday, we were treated to a wonderful lunch and visit with Fred and Diana (Diana is Scott’s first cousin once removed) and a great dinner with Scott’s Uncle Terry. It was nice to visit, and hear stories about their travels while sharing pictures and stories about our journey.

Fred, Scott, and Dianna

Uncle Terry and Scott

It rained pretty much the entire time we were in Winnipeg, so we were extra happy to have a home to live in (thanks Donna and Tony). It was also very neat to see where Katrina got her super cheery personality and tenacity. Although it took some searching, we certainly did find some great examples of “Friendly Manitoba”.

On our way to Diana and Fred’s for lunch, we detoured to Grant’s Old Mill, a Winnipeg historic site where Scott remembered buying grain and flour as a child. We picked up some stone chopped oats and barley for our morning oatmeal, but skipped the mill tour and free hotdogs in favour of Diana’s delicious lunch.

Oatmeal is our breakfast staple, and we think we have now perfected the recipe, so we decided to share it.

Ingredients:
1 pound of whole rolled oats
1/2 pound of rolled barley (looks just like the oats) – just add more oats if you can’t find the barley
1 cup of coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 to 1/2 cup hemp seeds
1/4 to 1/2 cup cinnamon
3/4 to 1 cup brown sugar
1 to 1 1/2 cup whole almonds
1 tablespoon sea salt

Directions:
1. Place whole almonds into two bags (zip locks work well). Take hammer or other hard object and break up the almonds – I find a hammer and a cement floor work well. If no hammer available, whole almonds are OK too
2. Add almonds plus all ingredients above into a large bowl and mix.
3. Distribute oatmeal into six containers (I use zip lock freezer bags – medium size). Each container serves 2 hungry cyclists first thing in the morning.

Cooking directions:
1. In an insulated pot, add one packet of oatmeal and boiling water to cover 1 cm.
2. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
3. Serve into bowls.
4. Add your choice of milk (cow, soy, rice, almond,…)
5. Add a large spoonful of peanut butter or almond butter and stir.
6. Enjoy.

Note 1: You could also boil the oatmeal for 2-3 minutes instead of letting it sit.
Note 2: We use regular oats, because we like the texture. If you use quick or instant oats, then you can just add milk immediately after stirring the boiling water – no need to heat or let stand.

Our conclusion is that this must be the ONLY place in Canada where weather forecasts are mostly accurate, as everyone seems to be in disbelief that a storm could occur if it wasn’t in the forecast. Fortunately, the weather held until we finished setting up the tent and making dinner. As we were showering and cleaning up the rain started and with it thunder and lightning that continued throughout the night and into the morning. Our days ride was only a short haul into Winnipeg, so we waited until the rain stopped and sun came out to dry off our tent before packing up and hitting the road.

We chose to ride Highway 1 into Winnipeg because it was shorter and the wind forecast was favourable; unfortunately, forecast and actual turned out to disagree and all day we had a head wind instead of a tailwind. Outside of Brandon, Highway 1 is 4-lanes, but does not have any shoulders. For the most part, we were able to take a lane and cars and trucks passed us in the left lane. Once or twice when we saw that both lanes were occupied, we hopped onto the shoulder which involved a small drop and some loose gravel – the shoulder was definitely not ride-able for any sustained amount of time. The 50 km mostly parallel road through Carberry (provincial road 351) gave us a chance to get off the Trans-Canada and find a nice bakery for lunch. The folks there were really friendly and amused by our funny looking bikes.

Scott inspecting our first sighting of Hemp on highway 351.

Once provincial road 351 re-joined the Trans-Canada, we were delighted to find wide shoulders that lasted until the Yellowhead Highway joined the Trans Canada just outside of Portage La Prairie. Unfortunately, the shoulder ended at a terrible spot – too far out of Portage La Prairie such that there were no alternate routes, but close enough to experience a significant increase in traffic. Fortunately, these conditions only lasted for 10 km. We had expected to find a campground West of Portage La Prairie, but unfortunately there weren’t any. We were also not able to find a campground in Portage (we didn’t look that hard), so we were tired by the time we approached Millers campground, 10 km East of Portage La Prairie.

Millers campground was a nice treed campground with a swimming pool ($18.50 for an unserviced site). We were surprised that they had a pool but showers were $1 – certainly encouraging people to use the pool to get rinsed off rather than the shower. The drinking water was also very heavily chlorinated, such that it smelled like swimming pool water!

The next morning dawned wet, so we turned over and went back to sleep. By 9 am the rain finally stopped and the sun came out, such that we could eat breakfast whilst setting the tent out to dry. The ride into Winnipeg was on beautiful newly paved shoulders, right up until highway 1 turns into Portage Avenue, which is also OK for cycling. Our biggest challenge when entering a city is keeping our attention on the road, as there are so many things to distract us after so long on small roads and in small towns.

Coming into Winnipeg we saw something that was even funnier looking than us – someone riding a large unicycle. He must have been riding at least 25 km/hr as it took us quite awhile to catch up to him and pass him. Unfortunately, he was riding on a service road on the other side of the highway, so we didn’t get a chance to meet.

When we arrived at Katrina’s parent’s house (We met Kat and Mike – in Malaysia and then again in Bangkok), we were welcomed by her parents Donna and Tony. Thursday night was family dinner night, where many members of the extended family came for supper – a great opportunity to meet many of the clan. It was so neat to meet Kat’s family, and they have been so wonderful to us, welcoming us into their home as if we were family ourselves.

Shilo to Millers Campground – 10 E of Portage La Prairie – 136 km, 7h 15 min
Millers Campground to Winnipeg – 73 km, 3h 15 min

Download GPS Track in GPX format

A mining machine display at the Potash Museum

Potash tailings dominating the skyline

Just before entering Manitoba we saw a herd of bison. Manitoba uses the bison on its coat of arms and on highway signs – but we have yet to see Bison in Manitoba!

We were welcomed to Manitoba in both official languages! (Manitoba has a significant Francophone population)

For our first night in Manitoba we stayed at the Pool and Park campground ($15) on highway 16 (the Yellowhead) just outside of Binscarth. Upon entering the Yellowhead we were immediately unimpressed. The Yellowhead is part of the Trans-Canada highway system, but at Binscarth it was single lane with absolutely no shoulders. We had originally planned to ride highway 16 down to Minnadosa, but without shoulders or a passing lane, it just isn’t a safe place for bikes – so we altered our route and headed towards Rivers instead. We lasted a grand total of 2.5 km on the Yellowhead!

After our first night in Manitoba it occurred to us, that within the last year, we have lived at least 1 day in every timezone! Not many people can say that, as at least one of the time zones as we crossed the Pacific Ocean didn’t have anyone living permanently in it.

Our second day’s ride involved much more southing, which unfortunately meant more wind in our face. The minor roads have very little traffic and are generally in better condition than the roads in Saskatchewan; however, they are often a rough chip-seal that is very noisy for cars and slow for bicycles. The minor highways also had no shoulders, but when you can count the cars that pass you in an hour on two fingers, it isn’t really a concern.

Immediately after turning off of highway 16 onto highway 41 we saw a small model building. Upon closer inspection, it was a model made out of cement and had a plaque indicating that it was a memorial to an old school house which used to sit on the land that is now a farm.

Further along the road, after climbing a small hill, we looked west and were surprised that we could see the Esterhazy potash mine in the distance – it was 42 km away! It certainly dominated the landscape.

The western part of Manitoba where we are riding is not particularly flat. We found ourselves frequently climbing hills to get a great view of the surrounding farmland and descending into ancient river valleys, which were much lusher than the surrounding areas. Unfortunately, these valleys also often had a horrid stink associated with them. It seems that valleys are a good place for pig or cattle farms. We are definitely noticing more of the horrid smells associated with factory-scale animal farming in Manitoba than we noticed in either Alberta or Saskatchewan.

We arrived in Oak River at 6 pm and hoped to find camping there, but no such luck. They are in the process of building a small community campground, but nothing is in place yet. We talked briefly to some locals, but soon realized that it wasn’t going to work out, so we hopped back on the bikes and continued our slog down to Rivers Provincial Park. We have found that the people of Manitoba are much more reserved and sometimes even defensive compared to those in Saskatchewan. The drivers of cars often ignore our waves, where in Saskatchewan they often initiated the waves. The license plates for Manitoba says “Friendly Manitoba”, but the friendliness seems to be more of a goal for Manitobans rather than a reality – of course this is an over generalization, and we are meeting many wonderful, friendly people – it is just that the average person we interact with in grocery stores or on the road aren’t as openly friendly as those we cross paths with in Saskatchewan.

By 8 pm, we pulled into Rivers Provincial Park, which is located on a reservoir called Lake Wahtopanah. The campground was nicely treed and rather pretty, and the bugs were not too irritating. The lake appears to be a favourite destination for folks with power boats that like tubing and water skiing, as well as a few people fishing. Fortunately, the sun was setting at we arrived, so we were spared the constant buzzing of boats zipping up and down the narrow lake. Unfortunately, the campground was too close to a pig or cattle farm. Overnight the wind was calm, so we didn’t notice it much, but in the morning it was absolutely horrid – so bad that Becky had a hard time eating. We met some folks that planned to spend a week long vacation camped at this park and were amazed that they did not seem to notice or be bothered by the smells. We can only guess that after a while you get numbed to it.

After two long days, we were happy that the ride from Rivers to Shilo was only 70 kilometers. It was another hot day – it seems we are in the middle of Manitoba’s first real hot streak of the summer. Everyone keeps telling us that it is first real days of summer they have had this year and most people are happy for the heat.

We took a lunch break in Brandon, which turned into several hours of eating, getting some groceries, checking email, and enjoying a great soft ice cream cone. Each time we stopped, someone approached us to ask about our bikes and our trip. For the first time in Manitoba, we saw some of the friendliness that we know is out there. It seems that people are shy at first, but once they start talking we end up have more interesting and deeper conversation than we have had in other places.

After our extended break in Brandon, we hopped back on the bikes and headed out to the army base at Shilo (CFB Shilo). We had a great whirlwind visit with Becky’s cousin Stephen and his wife and daughter (Heather and Isabelle). Since Stephen is one of the few long-term army soldiers who has only been to Afghanistan once, he is expecting to be called for a second tour of duty sometime within the next year. Most of the people he works with have been two or three times already. We were surprised to learn that Canada sends 17 year old soldiers (new recruits whose parents signed the waiver allowing them to enlist so young) on tours of duty to Afghanistan – it is tough to imagine sending such young kids to war.

Melville Sask to Binscarth Manitoba, 146 km, 7 h
Binscarth to Rivers, 145 km, 7h 40 min
Rivers to Shilo, 71 km, 4h 20 min

Our first view of the Assiniboine River. It winds through western Manitoba to join the Red River at “The Forks” in Winnipeg.

Giant Paterson Grains elevator in Binscarth, bigger than most others we’ve seen

The first field of sunflowers we’ve seen

Steven, Isabella and Becky in Shilo

Download GPS Track in GPX format

Our chosen route through Saskatchewan has brought us through many small towns – all with exceptionally friendly people. Just the other day Becky was walking to the laundromat (about 3 blocks from the hotel) with two grocery bags full of wet laundry, and a gentleman in a pickup stopped and asked if she needed a ride. We wouldn’t see that in Ottawa!

We left Watrous on a joyfully sunny day – although the wind was definitely slowing us down. It was one of those days when the clouds were just right (like on the Simpsons) such that all your pictures look great. To add to the sunny skies, the flax was in full bloom. Twice Becky was confused – she commented to Scott we should take a break up near the lake, only to discover it wasn’t a lake, rather a field of flax! Then later in the day she thought she was seeing flax when it turned out to actually be water.

At one point we passed a pond with four large birds that looked an awful lot like pelicans! When we stopped to take a picture, they flew away. We were amazed at just how big they were – especially in comparison to the ducks with which they were sharing a pond. A bit of Internet research later turned up the White Pelican, the only pelican native to Canada. It turns out Saskatchewan has more than half of Canada’s breeding population, and until 1987 they were a threatened species. We feel lucky to have seen them. Throughout our ride in the flat lands – the prairies and the flats of BC between the Coastal Mountains and Rocky Mountains – we have observed hawks with smaller birds flying around them and sometimes even landing on them. At first we thought this was some weird symbiotic relationship between the hawk and a red-wing blackbird, but we confirmed that what we were seeing was hawks with fledglings. They are very amusing to watch as they fly over us and the fledglings try to catch a ride on mom’s back!

White Pelicans

When we turned off onto highway 15, and stopped for a snack, Dave from the Last Mountain Times (a local newspaper) stopped to take our photo and ask a few questions about our bikes.

When we pulled into Raymore, we went in search of the two campsites listed on their municipal website. We have found that municipal websites can be a very handy resource for learning where there are small town campsites, that are never listed in Google Local or any of the provincial accommodation guides. Raymore had two campsites, one next to the Memorial Park and one near the sports fields. We noticed that the Memorial Park campground backed directly onto the train tracks and the Cargill grain elevator, promising a noisy night, so we went in search of the one near the sports fields – which also mentioned showers. We found the campsites, but the shower building was locked and there was no indication of life. Needing groceries, we headed to the grocery store to ensure we had enough provisions for the night and delaying our decision on where to camp. In the grocery store, Becky asked about camping in town, and the lady in line after her offered to make a quick phone call regarding the sports field campground. Half an hour later, the person from the town hall office drove up to the campsite and gave us the key to the shower building. For $10 we had our own private showers, and a safe place to store food and our bikes for the night. The campsite was basic and did not have any picnic tables, but we were able to use the wood storage container (an old freezer) as a table for cooking. We were glad for the place to store our food, as several times in the night a skunk came near our campsite – a not to subtle reminder that even though we are not in bear country any longer, there are other threats to our food supply.

The next day the skies threatened rain all day and the temperature dropped. We were actually rather cold riding. We also felt like we were riding uphill and into the wind all day. Our progress was slow. We stopped in at the Broken Spoke Café in Kelliher for a snack – yummy perogies and sausage. We were extra delighted to learn they had free wifi, so our brief snack turned into a 3-hour break. According to the Kelliher website, Kelliher is “situated on the highest point of land along the CNR Mainline from Winnipeg to Saskatoon”. No wonder we felt like we were riding uphill – we were!

We pulled into Ituna at around 8 pm, hungry and with threatening skies. We decided to check out the “hotel” which was situated above the bar. Becky went inside to see only a few men sitting in the bar drinking. When she enquired of the bartender regarding a room, his reply was not overly friendly or particularly helpful. She did learn that rooms were $45 per night, but he was not certain if they even had one available. It all seems a little shady to her, so she decided this was not a viable option. We would check out our first Saskatchewan District and Regional Park. Before we had a chance to leave town, we were greeted by a women jogging and then two other men – all asking about our bikes and our trip. The friendly conversation cheered us up after Becky’s reception in the bar. After chatting for 15 minutes, with the weather threatening, we finally made our out of town and found the park.

The park turned out to have a nice sports area with outdoor swimming pool, soccer fields, and baseball diamonds. There were several campsites and picnic areas protected nicely by trees. They also had a nice picnic shelter, with all the tables removed. The place was almost empty – with only one fifth-wheel trailer which looked to be a permanent fixture. Given the forthcoming rains, we setup the tent under the shelter and also moved a picnic table into the shelter, so we had a nice dry place for dinner and our tent. The showers for the pool were left open for campers, so we also had nice hot showers – although you had to hold the button down to keep the water flowing. All-in-all, the Ituna District and Regional park is rather nice. We are not certain how much it cost, as there was no indication of price or how to pay and no one came by to check us in.

The down-pouring rains started shortly after we crawled into the tent, and were on and off all night long. In the morning, we opted to go to town and grab breakfast at a restaurant before making the journey to Melville – a much larger town with more services. After a delightful breakfast, and answering many questions of the restaurant patrons who were brave enough to ask us – we packed up and headed out towards Melville. The rain had been waxing and waning all morning, but once we got on our bikes it never let up. The rain poured down and the wind hit us full force from the front – fortunately the ride from Ituna to Melville was mostly downhill, such that we were still able to average 18 km/hr.

We pulled into Melville and rode around to get our bearings. Then we found the Bakery and Coffee Shop and hobbled in dripping wet. The folks there were very friendly and allowed us to place our dripping wet weather gear in the back near the ovens where it had some chance of drying out while we enjoyed hot chocolates and sandwiches made with fresh bakery bread. Even though it was only 2 pm, it was clear that we wouldn’t be riding any more for the day. We decided to find a hotel for the night – before doing that, we stopped by the Co-op to get some groceries. Typical of small town Saskatchewan, someone at the Co-op recommended the best hotel in town to us. We are staying at the Melsask Motel, where $44 after tax gets us a nice clean room – albeit a little small when you cram the bikes in – with fridge, microwave, access to a gas BBQ, working heat, and Internet. We love small town Saskatchewan prices! When the rains continued the next morning, we decided to take an extra day to rest up and get caught up with our blog posts.

Watrous to Raymore 100 km, 5h 30 min – headwind but picturesque day
Raymore to Ituna 92 km, 5h 50 min – headwind and threatening skies
Ituna to Melville 62 km, 3h 30 min – very wet

Fields of flax in bloom that from a distance appear to be lakes.

Scott riding through the prairies on a picture perfect day!   Funny looking cow – looks to us like a cow-buffalo cross. We have seen a few of these in different places – any idea what they are?

A not so smooth chipseal road on a picture perfect day.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

The Yellowhead had nice shoulders for riding, but it didn’t take long for Scott to get annoyed with all the traffic. He was definitely looking forward to when we would turn off the main highway and re-enter the world of smaller, less trafficked highways. The main benefit to riding on highway 16 is that all the small towns on the map actually exist and most of them have some form of services (unlike on the minor roads) – usually a motel, gas station, and corner store.

We stopped for the night at the Painted Rock campground, 7 km west of Colonsay. They had really nice free hot showers (tenting sites $17.50). The sign indicated there was a store with some basic foods; however, this turned out to not be the case, fortunately, we were carrying dinner and breakfast. It is a nice place to camp, but if you are planning to stop there, make sure you have enough food with you or be willing to ride into Colonsay to stock up and then backtrack.

The next morning, we had a short ride along the Yellowhead before we turned onto Highway 2 towards Watrous. We soon passed a Potash mine where the tailings actually looked like mountains behind the plant. From the mine all the way into Young (about 20 km) there were rail cars sitting on the track – we later discovered they were grain cars, likely in storage until harvest time. We were to see many more kilometers of resting grain rail cars.

One interesting aspect of traveling on the smaller highways is the traffic with which you share the road. Several times a day we are passed by “wide loads”. Mostly they are new grain storage silos, but occassional they are more interesting. At one point we needed to move completely off the road to allow a house to get by!

A REALLY wide load!

Just past Young, we stopped for a snack and were greeted by Jenn and her daughter Jillian – friends from Ottawa who moved to Regina last summer. They went on ahead and waited for us in Watrous. Just as they were leaving, Becky could see scary clouds in her rearview mirror. We needed to get moving or we would be caught out in the rain. Fortunately, the wind was at our backs so the ride into Watrous was fast. About 10 km outside of Watrous, Scott pointed out the clouds to the North – we could see the formation of several funnels dipping below the layer of dark clouds. Becky snapped a few photos while pedaling at 30 km/hr (very fast for us). We managed to get to the restaurant only shortly after Jenn and Jillian (15 minutes before our ETA).

Ack, funnel clouds forming in the distance.

After lunch, we rode over to the Sunset Motel and booked ourselves a room for the night ($65). A bit of an indulgence, but this gave us a place to leave our bikes, so we could hop into Jenn’s car and go check out the Mineral Baths in at Manitou Beach – the largest indoor mineral baths in Canada. We first heard of these Mineral Baths via a comment left on our blog – thanks Brian. The water was not as warm as we would have liked (we were reminded our of the mineral baths in Iluca Turkey), but the baths were certainly entertaining. The mineral content was so high that you were buoyant, almost to the same extent as the Dead Sea. You could walk off the edge in the deep end and not sink. Unfortunately, the salt content also irritated some of Jillian’s and Becky’s tender parts – so our soak did not last too long.

Ancient Spirals to Paint Rock Campground Colonsay – 73 km, 4h 15 min
Painted Rock to Watrous, 62 km, 3 hours

A grain train car with a field of blooming flax in the background.

Looking into a sea of blue – flax blooming in the background under a rail car.

Becky, Jillian, and Jenn hiding behind a hedge.

Scott and Becky in front of some fancy new grain trucks and the Watrous grain elevator.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

On our drive around the farm, we learned to recognize canola (the bright yellow flowers, which are actually a weed to the organic farmers, since most are GMO), wheat, barley (which looks like fuzzy wheat), and flax. The flax is especially beautiful in the mornings while it is still in bloom. The flowers are a deep blue that make the fields look like lakes from a distance.

Our departure from Kerrobert was later than we had hoped, but we don’t regret for a second the time we spent there. After our tour of the farm, Clem gave us a ride back into town where we stopped at the Bakery for a wonderful lunch – sandwiches on homemade bread and fruit smoothies. When we stepped up to the cash to pay, we discovered that Lois had paid for our lunch! Thanks Lois! Fortified for our ride, we hopped on our bikes and began the slog to Biggar. It turned out to be slog as the wind was directly against us and the road was still in pretty bad shape – the road was nice for about 10 km outside of Kerrobert but then quickly degrade to the grooved and potholed highway that was more typical of highway 51.

We had been warned about deep valley (called a coulis/coolie by the locals), which is an ancient river valley (there was no river anymore), between Kerrobert and Biggar. Unfortunately, the wind slowed us down so we couldn’t enjoy too much of the downhill. The climb was not minor, but with fresh memories of Sunwapta pass, we did not find it too taxing.

Scott riding into the prairie valley.

We arrived in Biggar and enjoyed their amusing welcome sign “New York is Big, but this is Biggar”. There are two campgrounds in Biggar – a private one and a city campground. We found the private one first as it was right at the highway 51 intersection. It was an OK campsite, but a bit expensive for what you got ($20). The sign said “Shower” not “Showers” and they were not kidding. They had a small trailer with a single bathroom (toilet and shower). Fortunately, there were only a few campers, so we did not run into conflicts too often.

In the morning, for the first time since we arrived in Saskatchewan, we had an east wind. It was like someone was looking out for us and knew we had a long ride into Saskatoon. The wind pushed us most of the way there, and we averaged over 25 km/hr for the ride into Saskatoon. Arriving in Saskatoon was culture shock. There were so many places to eat that at first we were unable to choose. There Becky saw a Vietnamese restaurant – perfect! Then we saw the sign “closed July 30-Aug 8 for vacation”. Very sad. Now we were fixated on Vietnamese food, which could have been a challenge. A quick search on the GPS showed no other restaurants with “Viet” in the name. We followed the bike path signs toward downtown, and just as we were giving up, the Saigon Palace appeared at the top of the restaurant list. Must be Vietnamese we said. When we arrived, it was called the Royal Thai and served Thai/Lao/Vietnamese food, with an excellent Thai buffet! It was wonderful to get a good fix of ethnic food.

Of course the wonderful east wind that blew us into Saskatoon made the 20 km trek out to Ancient Spirals feel like the ride was uphill all the way. The weather was starting to look threatening, so we pushed through it.

We stayed out at Ancient Spirals Retreat, which was the location of Jodi and Cameron’s wedding and several of the associated events. It is a pretty spot overlooking the Saskatchewan river and many farmers fields. They have a couple of spiral shaped labyrinths – a small one in the back yard and a large one a little further out back. Unfortunately, we never did get a chance to check out the larger one, given that the mosquitoes were still pretty vicious, we think that was for the best.

Between the wedding events and the chores we needed to do, we were kept rather busy during our three days, four nights in Saskatoon. We met some pretty fantastic people and enjoyed our time, but were also glad to get back on the road.

Kerrobert to Biggar, 90 km, 5h 30 min – Headwind and bad roads slowing us down
Biggar to Saskatoon, 126 km, 5h 45 min – East wind pushing us to Saskatoon

All the cows turn to look at us as we ride by – very odd.

Riding into Biggar, Saskatchewan.

Amusing welcome sign.

View from the back yard at Ancient Spirals.

Download GPS Track in GPX format

It was the ride from Rocky Mountain House to Lacombe which first gave me a flavor for the scope of the industry. It seemed every few minutes we would pass by another oil derrick, pumping station or processing plant. Then I started noticing the pipelines. Little signs by the roadside indicated the type of pipeline and owner. We never seemed to be out of sight of one. After a few hours of this, I started to feel like it was all part of one giant machine, and we were ants crawling slowly across. There was farm and ranch land everywhere, surrounding and covering all this infrastructure, but it felt like a thin covering, partially concealing the giant machine.

Processing plant, flare stacks and nearby fields

Every so often, we would get a whiff of petrochemicals, either the complex scent of hydrocarbons or the rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulphide from sour gas. Not exactly pleasant, and protests by locals and farmers against the sour gas wells have been ongoing for years. Lately there have been a number of bombings of sour gas processing equipment and pipelines, especially in British Columbia.

Warning signs for a Sour Gas facility

Derricks and signs for the pipelines under the road

In the ensuing days, we saw more and more, sometimes pipelines, sometimes oil transport trucks, but never out of sight of something for more than a few minutes. Occasionally we came across some new construction, either the scar of a recently constructed pipeline snaking across the fields, or active construction on a new plant or well. Even when we entered Saskatchewan the machine stretched on around us, with storage tanks, steam injection systems and more wellheads and pipelines.

Recently constructed pipeline

Another Sour Gas Facility. The windsock is so workers know which way to run if any of the alarms go off, since un-perfumed Natural Gas is odourless

In Western Saskatchewan, oil and gas exploration and construction is helping to keep the small towns alive, as fewer and fewer farmers are needed to work the land. As part of our farm tour, Clem showed us the nearby oil and gas infrastructure, including a new natural gas-powered generating station, which will be used to power the large Enbridge pumping station as well feed power into the grid for the surrounding area. He also pointed out that crops actually grow better on top of a pipeline, so you can see where the pipeline goes, even years after construction. We had noticed the distinct lines, but assumed they must be due to different crops or recent construction. People have hypothesized that the heat from the pipeline may help get the crops an early start, or the turning over of the earth leaves the soil in better condition.

Natural gas powered electrical generating station under construction

One thing we had not noticed was the underground natural gas storage facilities. These are massive salt cavern formations where gas is pumped underground until it is needed. I wonder how many other bits of this giant machine we missed?

Huge oil storage tanks, much easier to notice than the underground salt caverns

It is a massive amount of infrastructure, all pumping non-renewable resources east and south to the voracious appetites of Eastern Canada and the United States. All this to give us the gasoline to fuel our cars and the natural gas to power our electrical plants and heat our homes. I hesitate to think what the area around the Tar Sands must look like! I found the engineering for this huge machine to be fascinating, but it is also scary to think of all the things which could go wrong.

Even if nothing goes wrong, we’re behaving as if there is a limitless supply of this stuff, and the quantities we’re using are huge. Throughout our travels, we saw how people in other countries – especially the less developed ones – conserve the energy they have (people actually unplug TVs and appliances when they are not in use – they drive small cars and use public transport). Now that we’ve returned to Canada, we see so much waste it is no wonder our energy use and carbon footprint are so high. It is easy to wonder at the lack of sustainability in a typical Canadian lifestyle, and we wonder how our lifestyle will change when we get back home and become “normal” again.

While my husband and I were riding our recumbent bicycles – the funny looking kind where you lay back like in an easy chair only you still need to pedal – around the world and across Canada – that is a different story, which is much too long to tell now – we stopped in a little town in Central Saskatchewan for lunch. Kerrobert, spelled K-E-R-R-O-B-E-R-T but pronounced KRAW-BET, has a booming population of 1001. It was the first “big” town we came across since leaving Alberta and is the center of activity in the area, with a grocery store, bakery slash cafe, hotel, and library. It was the library that drew our attention. You see, it is the library where, no matter how small the town is, anywhere in Canada, you can find computers with access to the Internet. So, it was the library we were seeking when we arrived in Kerrobert.

We rode up to the library on our funny looking recumbent bicycles at 1 pm. Unfortunately the library was not open until 2 pm, so we had to find a way to occupy ourselves for an hour first. We decided to go and find a picnic table and have lunch. As we discussed our options, we were met on the street by the “Walking Lady”. She was an older lady, who said to us “I had a bicycle, but now I walk … I’m going to walk” as she walked away from us.

Seeing us stopped, a gentleman from Compeer – a small town at the Alberta border marked by great towers of hay bales, that we dubbed straw henge – stopped to say hi. He had seen us riding a few times in the last couple of days and commiserated over the poor condition of highway 51 – which is dramatically emphasized when leaving the really nice roads in Alberta. When you reach the border, the road immediately deteriorates – first it changes to unlined chipseal and then to pavement with lane wide pot holes and 15 centimeter grooves – which felt more like riding on a mountain biking trail than a highway – amusing for a while but definitely reduces how far we can ride in a day. He told us that highway 51 was once listed as “the worst highway in Canada” but has since lost that label because it is “under repair” – although we had not seen any evidence of said repair. He encouraged us to write a letter to Bill Boyd, the MLA for the area letting him know our thoughts on the state of that road.

Straw Henge

We still had no lunch, but fortunately another feature in small towns in Saskatchewan (and indeed, across Canada) is the hockey arena – and behind the hockey arena was a nice little park with a picnic table – exactly what we needed to make our lunch. We made a quick noodle soup for lunch and as we were cleaning up the “Walking Lady” came by again. She was still walking, but had lost her way. We pointed her back in the direction of downtown and off she went walking again.

After lunch we made our way back to the library – now the way I say that it sounds like it might have been a journey, but it wasn’t really – it was a small town after all, so our way back to the library was only a trek of a few hundred meters.

Happily, the library was now open – it was a small one room library – kind of what you might expect for a town of 1001 people, but not really accounting for all the folks in the outlying areas that also use the library. We asked about computers and Internet and were pointed to a couple of old and really slow machines – like the kind we used back in the 90′s – just good enough to check email but not much else. They did have wireless, so we tried to connect our computer only to learn that it didn’t work. Now don’t get me wrong, we are grateful for the Canadian Government for the program that ensured that all public libraries in Canada have free Internet access, but it would also be nice if they also occasionally ensured that the computers were updated too – anyway the wireless did not work, so my geeky husband – and I mean that in the most affectionate and loving way – offered to be of service and try to fix the wireless. Unfortunately, after much poking and prodding, we still had no wireless.

Of course, while we were working on the computers people would come into the library – mostly curious kids and mothers with their young children. Each time someone new entered, we overheard – in the hushed library type voice – “Did you see those bikes out there? Cool!” It wasn’t long before my husband was talking to the librarian and a few of the folks visiting the library about our journey cycling across Canada and travelling around the world without airplanes – as I said before, that is a much longer story. Curious about us, the friendly librarian, whom we later learned was named Chandra, invited us to her place for dinner and to spend the night.

My husband came to tell me about the offer of hospitality while I was slowly updating our blog using a library computer. We had to discuss the idea because we wanted to be in Saskatoon on Thursday in preparation for a friend’s wedding and it was already Tuesday. Stopping in Kerrobert would mean the next two days would be long cycling days – but how could we possibly turn down this offer – this was why we were travelling by bicycle – because it gives us the chance to meet real people and take advantage of serendipity when it happens. The whole idea of spending a night in what was likely to be a real farm house was just too cool for us to turn down.

So we hopped on our bikes and headed out to Chandra’s place – now this was a little bit more of a journey, as farm houses are generally out at the farms, which means they are not in town. Once we turned off the main highway, the road turned to dirt which slowed us down. The issue with slowing down on this particular day was that the mosquitoes were ferocious. We couldn’t stop for 5 seconds without being swarmed. Forty-five minutes and 15 kilometers later, we were pulling up to the farm that we hoped to be hers – there were no signs, but it was the only farm anywhere near where we thought she had directed us. Knocking on the door, we were quickly greeted by Chandra’s son and then Chandra and Lois – the assistant librarian, whom we also had briefly met at the library.

We were quickly ushered into the house and safety from the voracious mosquitoes. Upon arrival, we were shown a room that would be ours for the night! We were utterly delighted – you see, we normally sleep in our tent and were expecting a place on the lawn to setup for the night, so a bed was a welcome luxury. Before dinner we enjoyed a warm shower with fluffy cotton towels – a welcome luxury, since is too bulky and doesn’t dry fast enough, but quick-dry microfiber not just does have that same welcome home feeling!

Clean, warm, and content, we sat down around a large wooden table to a wonderful home-cooked meal – a salad made with lettuce and dill from Chandra’s garden, sausage made by a local farmer using his secret recipe, and ice cream with a perfectly tart home-made berry sauce.

Throughout dinner and dessert – which lasted for several hours – we shared stories about our travels and our lives. Chandra, in addition to being the local librarian, is also a busy mother of three boys, and she manages the books for the family’s 2000 acre organic farm. We were fascinated by the farm – neither of us having spent any time on a real farm before. We had visited our local organic CSA but it was more like a large garden – this was a real production farm.

As we chatted, we learned that Lois is a woman of many hats. Not only is she the assistant librarian, she is also the Pastor for the Superb Mennonite Church. Now it isn’t necessarily that the church is superb, although it might be, but that the church is located in the tiny town of Superb, which we thought only had a grain elevator, so we were surprised to learn that it also had a Mennonite church with an active Congregation. However, it doesn’t have a library, which is why Lois was at the library in Kerrobert when we stopped by.

In the morning we awoke to the smell of fresh coffee and a wonderful breakfast of eggs, fruit, and toast. The toast was amazing – Chandra ground the flour herself to make the freshest and fullest home-baked truly whole wheat bread we have ever tasted – it was a special treat to know that the wheat was actually grown on the farm and processed in the kitchen of the farmhouse – one could call it the 3-mile diet!

Before we left, we accepted the offer of a tour of the farm, narrated by Chandra’s husband Clem, who does most of the farming, ably assisted by the three boys. Fortunately this was done in the family minivan and not on our bikes or it would have taken us all day – the roads surrounding the farm are all gravel grid access roads, some in better condition than others – and we would have been eaten alive as the mosquitoes were still out in force. We saw the awesome and scary large machines used to seed, till, chop, and process the crops – and were impressed that the boys start driving the machines in their early teens – the cabs are air conditioned, so they spend their time tilling or combining in cool comfort listening to their ipods… until things get clogged up, then they need to hop out into the sweltering heat and fix it. Apparently they learned quickly to drive slowly and avoid problems.

We toured and learned to recognize wheat, barley, and flax – all a little short this year due to the shortage of rain early in the season – but there is still hope that the heads will fill and the crops will still produce at least 50% of their normal growth. We stopped to see the lentils, which were still really small and can be difficult to harvest because they are so low to the ground, and peas – a favourite of ours and fortunately some were just right for picking as a yummy afternoon snack. In the days to come, we would be extra thankful for our tour as we now could recognize the fields of grains as we rode by – the flax being particularly beautiful with its blue blossoms often giving the impression of a lake ahead rather than a field of grain.

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and our bikes, the open road, and Saskatoon were calling us. We said our good-byes but will always remember the generosity of one particular librarian in Kerrobert Saskatchewan!

Major to Kerrobert, 55km, 3h 15 min

Grain elevator in Suberb Saskatchewan.

Scott picking some yummy organic peas.

Clem, Becky, and Chandra in front of a giant tractor.

Becky, Scott, and the family dog giving a demonstration of the bikes.

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The other immediate difference was the road. You could see the provincial boundary based on how the nice road turned to crap once we hit Saskatchewan. One of the locals told us that Highway 51 was once listed as the worst highway in Canada. It no longer has that honour only because it is now “under repair”. Unfortunately however, the repair work was very minimal when we passed. There were places where the road was down to one lane because the other lane had eroded so badly and other places there the grooves were ten to fifteen cm deep. We figure it is likely to cause anything without a high clearance to bottom out.

At least they admit it isn’t a great road.

We had hoped to make it to Kerrobert for our first night in Saskatchewan, but the road conditions and the north wind put an end to that plan. We also got a bit stuck because there were no services along the highway between Consort and Major – and it being a Sunday, most of the stores in Consort were closed. We pulled into Major at 7 pm very short on water. There were a few farmsteads close to the road where we probably could have got some, but we held out hoping for The only thing open in Major was the “OK Kafe” and the attached “OK Tavern”. We stopped into the Kafe and Jerry, the owner, made us a two wonderful hamburgers – perhaps the best burger in Saskatchewan, and certainly the best one we’ve had in ages! His brother owns a feed lot only 3 km from Major and they pasture a few of the best cattle for personal use – and use in the OK Kafe. It was wonderful to taste some real grass-fed beef again.

Another couple who entered the restaurant offered to give us a ride to Kerrobert given the late hour. We declined hoping to find a closer place to camp, and continue with our goal of riding all the way across Canada. Later, Jerry kindly offered a spot in the yard behind the cafe and allowed us to use the showers at the OK Inn (next to the cafe). Given that we were beat and there was no way we could make Kerrobert before dark, we happily accepted his offer. We were delighted at such hospitality our first night in Saskachewan, and enjoyed a delicious breakfast the next morning too.

Jerry and Becky in front of the OK Kafe

If you’re ever passing through Major, stop in and say hi to Jerry – tell him the folks from Ottawa on the funny bikes sent you.

121 km, 6h 45 min – killer north wind and bad road in Sask

One of 6 or 7 “Alberta Commandments” displayed at the border. Others include: “Think Safety – safe driving starts wtih you!”, “Speed fines double when workers present”, “Alberta Checkstop: What are you willing to lose”, “60 kph limit when passing stopped emergency vehicles”

Part of a map of the farms and owners in the Major area. Each square is a quarter-section; a half-mile by a half-mile or 160 acres. Most farmers will farm at least a few quarter-sections, although they may not be adjacent.

The Grain Elevator in Major – a fixture in almost all prairie towns

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The folks at the Bentley bicycle shop.

Riding along highway 12 has turned out to be wonderful. Once the highway turned a little south (just past Alix) the road flattened out, allowing us to pick up our pace considerably. Most of the highway has had a shoulder wide enough for us to ride beside each other, so we spend our days actually talking to one another! In addition, all the drivers have been great – even waiting to pass us when there was no shoulder and we were riding on the road. We wonder if this is because of the local familiarity with slow moving vehicle signs which are also displayed on farm vehicles. So far, there have been enough services nicely spaced to ensure that we haven’t gone hungry or without a campsite (although, be aware many of the grocery stores in the small towns are closed Sundays and some on Mondays too). It does look like the last stretch from Veteran to Saskatchewan might not have too many campsites – we’ll see.

Our first night without Becky’s parents was spent camping at the basic lower campsite at the Mitchener Campground in Lacombe ($15). The attendant allowed us to use the showers in the upper RV campsite; however, it was a fair walk from the lower site. The sites were situated in a depression around a pond and field with very little privacy. Since it was a weekend, the campground was surprisingly busy with lots of kids playing in the field and play structure.

In the morning, we were picked up by a friend of Scott’s from high school, David Jeffery, and brought home for a lovely breakfast. Scott had not seen David since they left high school – so almost 20 years. It was great to visit with him, catch up, and meet his wife and newborn daughter. His parents are also in Lacombe, so we had a brief visit with them before they left for church. It was especially nice to see his mother, since she worked with Scott’s mother for many years before retiring.

Our second night we camped at the Lion’s Club campground ($8) in Stettler. Many small towns in Alberta have some form of community campground. Some even have services for RVs. The one in Stettler had everything including free showers. The campground operated on an honour system with no attendant – you just put your fee in the envelope and put it in the slot. Since we did not have a vehicle, we picked a spot in the overflow area consisting of a field with picnic tables strategically placed to be shaded by some small trees. It was rather pleasant.

Our third night we again camped at a the Lion’s Club campground ($7), this time in Veteran. The small campground had a nice cooking shelter, pit toilets, and full hook-ups for RVs. Half of the campground was filled with fifth-wheel RV trailers who are here for the season. We later learned they are a crew of welders and fitters working for putting in a new pipeline between the Alberta Oilsands and Oklahoma. With the downturn in the economy, there was some question as to how much longer the project would be running. Between that and a number of engineering screw-ups outside their control, they definitely seemed to have a lot of spare time on their hands while they waited for a decision to be made. Since it was Sunday night, it was breakfast night. This seemed strange until they explained. Since they all start work so early, they don’t get an opportunity to eat a large breakfast,
so one night a week they cook up a large breakfast feast instead of normal dinner fare. Our just-add-water rations for the night (Alpineaire beef stroganoff and Natural High BBQ chicken and rice) turned out to be much less appetizing (actually they were exceptionally bad)! Fortunately, they had some leftovers, so Becky enjoyed some pancakes with real maple syrup and some yummy fully salt bacon!

Particularly bad just-add-water dinner.

A great breakfast feast for supper – good thing they had some leftovers!

As the land flattened out, we were struck by the beauty of the deep green fields with the bright yellow accents provided by the fields of canola. At our first sight of the bright yellow fields, Becky was reminded of her family’s semi-annual trek from Kitimat to southern Ontario. The yellow fields will always represent the prairies in her mind. As we have moved east and a little south, we noticed the transition between very deep green with bright yellow accents to brown. The eastern part of central Alberta is experiencing a drought, such that the first hay crop failed and the second is threatening to do the same.

Scott riding infront of a field of canola.

Next to the campground in Veteran is an auction house. Every Monday, cattle are auctioned off. According to the folks we talked with, the drought in Alberta has increased the price of hay by so much, many farmers are actively culling their herds, and selling more cattle than they normally would. Since we arrived on Sunday, we had the pleasure of hearing the cattle to be auctioned off arriving and trumpetting their distress throughout the night. We were both amazed at just how much the cows sound like out of tune trumpets sounding off. Surprisingly enough, we were both still able to get a decent night’s sleep.

Riding into Coronation, an older guy in a pickup with a camper on back and a strong ranch accent, yells out his window to Becky:

“Is that easier than doin’ it regular?”

Becky replies:

“It’s certainly comfortable!”

That one certainly provided us with a chuckle!

We are finding our interactions with Albertans to be mixed. Several times we have entered stores or restaurants to cold expressions, odd stares, and poor service – this usually occurs when we stopped in restaurants or at corner stores in the small towns we are in at lunch time. Yet, when people approach us to talk about our bikes or our trip they are very friendly. To Becky, it almost feels like we are in another country. We are finding that we don’t understand people’s behaviours and often find ourselves leaving towns saying “That was really odd”.

Rocky Mountain House to Lacombe 96 km, 5h 50 min – surprisingly hilly
Lacombe to Stettler 91 km, 5h 30 min – uphill for the first hour out of
Lacombe
Stettler to Veteran 127 km, 6h – very flat and a helpful wind

Cows climbing all over these man-made hills in the middle of the pastur.

Dale trying out Becky’s bike.

One of the TCP guys showing off on his bike.

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In Nordegg we enjoyed a wonderful lunch at the cafe in the museum. They had homemade soups and sandwiches on homemade bread. To top it off, they had home-baked pies with some of the best vanilla ice cream we can remember. Mom and Dad caught up with us at lunch to let us know where we would be staying in Rocky Mountain House – it is definitely handy having someone to scout out the road ahead for you! As Scott described the bus-sized RV towing the Hummer which had passed us earlier in the day, Dad’s response was “Did you see the giant black carbon footprints it left?” We thought nothing of it beyond a cute turn of phrase, but Jon was quite impressed. He helps homeowners and builders make more energy-efficient homes, and seeing Carbon Footprint being used in casual conversation made him very happy.

At Nordegg Jon turned south onto a 170 km logging road to Canmore and we continued on to Rocky Mountain House. It is a slightly strange name, since we couldn’t actually see the Rockies. The name comes from its origin as a fur trading post for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is a pretty little town with all the necessary amenities including a great bike shop – which we were very happy to discover.

When Scott rode Becky’s bike in Kitimat, he noticed that her bike had a tendency to want to go straight. It was like there was a portion of the turning arc where it wasn’t smooth and caused the bike to prefer a straight line. By the time we arrived in Jasper this tendency was even more extreme, and it only got worse as we rode through the Rockies. It became a problem when Becky found it unsettling while carrying an unbalanced load, fortunately she was able to give the extra front pannier back to Scott. After a bit of research we learned that this was called “index steering”.

When we arrived in Rocky Mountain House, Scott pulled apart the headset of Becky’s bike and we discovered that three of the ball bearings in the lower bearing race had shattered (or so we guessed from the metal shards and the missing balls). We did not have the necessary replacement parts, so decided to take a rest day in Rocky Mountain House, and use Mom and Dad’s van to transport the bike to the local bike shop (Rocky Mountain Bike and Board) – we hoped they could either sell us the correct part or do an emergency repair. Fortunately, the guy at the local bike shop took pity on us and managed to fit the repair into his schedule. For $30 of labour and $6 in parts, Becky received a nicely lubed and smooth running headset. When she first got back on the bike, she found that going back to normally responsive steering meant it was a challenge to ride in a straight line!

Becky’s headset with missing bearings.

From Rocky Mountain House, Becky’s parents returned home, having seen us through the Rockies. We were so grateful for their help and all the wonderful meals Mom made – we were definitely well fed. We were also glad to be heading east with enough time that we could still reach Saskatoon in time for Jodi and Cameron’s wedding on August 1st. If we had to carry all our weight through the Rockies, we don’t think we would have made it. On the flip side, we were also glad to be out on our own again. We find that we have more chance encounters with interesting people when our bikes are fully loaded and people wonder if we need help.

Our first Alberta oil rig – and a nice colourful one too.

Staying out of the sun proved to be challenging - notice the shelter mom and dad created with the boat trailer, umbrella, and our nice orange tarp!

135 km, 6h 40 min

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