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Published: August 8th 2007
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On to Duck Mountain Provincial Park
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
Today we were re-locating to a condo which is part of the Duck Mountain Lodge for two nights. I was fairly eager to see it, as the website shows a very interesting exterior & it’s right in Duck Mountain PP, on the shore of Madge Lake. Because the ride was expected to be mainly on paved roads I decided to take Blue. It’s the first time I’ve used that bicycle since my little fall, as somehow I find my wrists a bit more stressed with it - more pressure on them, I guess.
So we loaded up Casper with our belongings, checked out of the Yorke Inn, and left behind Yorkton & the commensurate trappings of “civilization” - the Tim Hortons, the Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Canadian Tire stores, etc etc - as we don’t expect to see much of that for several weeks now. Then we drove on Highway 8 to the road where Bob had picked me up on Sunday, and there he threw me out of the van!! Just kidding, we carefully unloaded the bike & the old cow (me!) & then we each went our own
way towards Kamsack & Duck Mountain PP. The hoping was that Bob could check in & get a bit settled before I arrived on the bike.
The bicycle ride was fine, no major issues nor any new significant sightings (after all we’d just been on part of that road yesterday), but it left me a bit short of 60 km, so once we settled in I took a short solo walk along the path closest to the condo to reach my “quota” for the day. Meanwhile, Bob took Panna for her morning walk before he got to Kamsack & then drove on after his lunch to the lodge. There he was told to return in an hour or so to check in, as the room was still being “readied” (official check-in time was 4 PM), so he took Panna to yet another isolated area of Duck Mountain PP, where he was able to let her loose & let her go for a swim in a lake with no “leash police” (you are not supposed to let dogs off leash nor let them go swimming in the provincial parks).
So as it worked out he got checked in &
drove to the condo only a few minutes before I arrived - I’d gone to the main Lodge building & was given directions to Condo #45, which really looked nice from the front - sort of like my cottage, although on a smaller scale. BUT... there was no air-conditioning & no fan for ventilation, no telephone in the unit (there was a pay phone outside), no internet access, no cell phone coverage, and the TV reception was quite limited. It looked like someone had only gotten things going that day, as the fridge had not yet been turned on, and it was bloody hot both inside & out. Plus there were some noisy kids (or adults) in the unit next to us, with what sounded like paper-thin walls - we could hear them charging up & down the stairs & slamming doors left & right. Even Panna got perturbed by the sudden & loud noises.
In addition the furniture was like something my mom’s friends would have had, with dark, velvety upholstery on the sofa & love seat, and white cushions on the dining chairs, which were further covered by plastic - tacky or what?!? Our unit in particular
seemed to be partially set up for wheelchair or handicapped access, as it’s a one-floor unit, while the others are two-stories, and it’s got such features as a raised toilet with a grab bar (so high that my feet dangle when I sit on it!), and a type of bathroom sink which allows for lots of room between the spigot & the sink itself. Yet the handles on the faucet are so difficult to turn it took both hands for me to turn on the cold water. (That is partly because the water seems to be incredibly hard - there is calcified crud at the ends of both the kitchen & bathroom spigots, and we had crud floating in our cups of coffee & tea - yuck!!)
Anyway, we got some dinner & finally the air cooled a bit outdoors & we got settled in for a night in relative isolation.
DAY 14: On the bicycle: 45.9 km, in 2:41 hours, ave. speed 17.0 km/hr, max. speed 31.9 km/hr;
on foot 2.6 km
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Tot: 0.219s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 55; dbt: 0.1855s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
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