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Published: June 25th 2007
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Mud Mud Mud!!!
Monday, 25 June 2007
Yesterday we drove from Moose Jaw to Regina. It’s not very far away, but we had taken pretty much everything out from the van, partly to assess what we had, plus to keep it from sliding around as we drove around. So it took a bit of time to get everything “in place” & where it was wanted in the van.
Upon arriving in Regina we WERE able to check into our hotel early, and then we went to lunch at a nearby place called “Burger Baron” which advertises itself as having been voted the “best burgers in Regina (or maybe Saskatchewan)”. Well, their onion rings were pretty good, as were the “tater tots”, but the burgers were eminently forgettable - almost made the clown’s burgers look good!
It was nice to have a bit of time to settle into our rooms at the hotel, work on the blog stuff - it was SO nice to have ready wireless access, etc. and get ready for Monday.
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Today we drove to Lumsden, from which I planned to follow the Trans Canada Trail westward back towards Nicolle Flats riding
again on Silver. A fellow at the town office gave me a map & fairly clear instructions as to how to go. Bob & Panna were going to walk around in a local field, then, while I was gone cycling, they were going to return to Buffalo Pound PP from the other direction, so Bob could retrieve his lure from the tree. As far as I was intending to go, he would have had plenty of time to do so.
Funnily enough, although I had good directions to follow for once I was OUT of town, I guess I wasn’t 100% clear on how to GET out of town. I followed what was pretty obviously the trail - had the signs, etc, and then wound up on a street, where, without signs to direct me, I followed my instincts & turned left. Followed a nice road, up a hill, through a residential community, saw some churches, wondered what they were doing out in the “boonies”, and then I waw Casper, and Bob & Panna getting ready to leave after their walk. I’d driven in a large, scenic circle!
So, knowing I had been correct until I reached that
street, I retraced my steps & this time I turned right there. And, YAY, there were some TCT signs attached to fence posts along the road. I had almost thought they were indicating the trail going off the road, but found myself in some farmer’s cultivated field, so I turned around & went back to the road. I was to go right at a fork (there were actually two, so I had some double-checking to do at the 2nd one), then left at a “T” intersection, which actually went straight through, but the driveway said “private property, no trespassing”. Also by that time there were again some TCT signs, which had not been visible since that fork to the right, so I really was feeling pretty good that I was on the right road.
Unfortunately I had gotten caught in rain when I was on that particular stretch of road. It wouldn't have been so bad, except I turned left onto a road which had a base under the gravel made out of clay, which stuck to my tires as if it were glued on! Gunked up EVERYTHING, including my shoes once I got off the bike & had to walk it up a long, steep hill. There was a good centimetre (½") or more of a combination of mud & gravel “glued” to my tires & shoes. Had to break down & call Bob to pick me up (fortunately cell phones do work there) & then he almost had a rough time to find me! I was at the top of a hill, across the road from a lovely cattle pasture, with the cows & calves, standing in the front yard of a very nice-looking abandoned stone house, no windows no doors. Catching all the wind - if I’d been biking it would have been fine, but there was no way to escape it, and I had not exactly planned for the wet, cool, windy weather. (And it was the one day I forgot to bring my camera, so I don't have a photo of it all, darn!)
At least I was able to put the time waiting to use, scraped off what I could of the mud/gravel mix from the tires, frame, and brakes - if for no other reason than to keep my hands from being too cold. Guess it’s the “West Indian blood” in me, or so I say. And poor Bob had to keep phoning me to double check my directions for how to get to where I was - again, thank g-d for cell phones! Oh, yes, and he never did have the time to go retrieve his lure - guess I owe him one, big time.
Once Bob got to me, I decided that was it for biking that day. Had barely covered 1/3 of my distance, I but decided to balance it out with a longish dog-walk with Panna once we returned to Regina, where they do have a very nice system of multi-purpose paths.
DAY 6: Lumsden west - 22.6 km, in 1:39 hours, ave. speed 13.3 km/hr, max. speed 31.6 km/hr on the bike, 6 km walk with Panna upon return to the hotel
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abbynormal18
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Hey Leah!!!! Good to hear you're well on your way. Though a bit circuitous, and brown. Happy Canada Day! You're certainly out and about in it (Canada, that is) lj