Canada 2016 - Herbert to Moose Jaw.....a 3 "T" Day

Tuesday - July 5
Gourmet breakfast #1 from the CO-OP convenience store to start our day.

That big black cloud did catch up with us and we had to don our rain jackets for about 20 minutes.

The grain elevators just seem to be getting bigger every day.

Reed Lake or at least a piece of it.

Disrobing his helmet on the move.

This is a very typical side road, usually called Range Road #### - straight as an arrow for as far as you can see and gravel.

Piles and piles of sodium sulfate near Chaplin. The extensive salt beds in the area were formed by a severe drought 8,000 years ago that caused the post-glacier lakes to evaporate.

The area is also has a very extensive shore bird populations due to the brine shrimp in the salty lakes.

The Nature Centre is right off the highway and a popular stop. Thomas, the tall one, passed us on the road earlier. He and Alvin are part of a 4 person team riding from Calgary to Winnipeg in a race against time. Sylvia is the support driver. They were supposed to be riding with Arvid Loewen, a cyclist from Winnipeg, who is attempting to break his own Transcanada record but he crashed a few days ago and had to start over. These 4 needed to keep going but think Arvid still might catch them.

Brittany gave us a nice tour of the center. She is very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the local birds (but majored in textiles in school).

This gives you a better idea about the extensive lakes in the area. West Chapin Lake is 6-7 times saltier than the ocean and contains about 3 million tons of sodium sulphate.

These little guys decorate a big wire bird on the wall.

We met Kelly, from Australia, while we were eating gourmet breakfast #2, ice cream cones. She started in Vancouver a few weeks ago and has 2 more months to get as far across Canada as she can. We played leap frog several times in the afternoon. We left the Nature Centre at 11:15, having done 26.5 miles so far.

Forgot to mention that we have a 10 mph tailwind again today.

Today, the Land of the Living Sky, is earning it's name.

We stopped to eat our sandwiches in Parkbeg at 12:45 with 44 miles pedaled. The building says Cafe but isn't really open, except for a bathroom accessible from outside, a much appreciated touch of hospitality.

This was our lunch spot view.

We really don't want to catch up with that cloud. The road was really wet when we got that far east but we only got sprinkled on a little bit after Caronport, for about 10 miles.

This was the 4th of 4 that passed us. They looked like monster LEGO pieces. A little later 2 huge bin-like structures went by too.

Almost there. This is a 3 "T" day because the terrain (low rollers or flat), temperature (72F), and tailwind (10-12 mph all day) made it possible for us to go 25 miles farther than we had originally planned to do. We did 78.4 miles at 13 mph average speed, a record for us (or at least for Donna) on loaded touring bikes. And we still got to the motel by 4:30 in time to watch the end of Stage 4 of the Tour de France, which was an exciting photo finish. It was a beautiful day on the prairie!

It was one of those serendipity things that tends to happen on bike tours...while Donna was checking us in, Doug was approached by a man leaving the motel. He asked the usual questions then said "I have a friend who just started riding across to beat his own record." Doug told him about meeting Alvin, Sylvia and Thomas in Chaplin and learning about Arvid. The man said "Would you like a copy of his book?", pulled a signed copy out of his trunk and gave it to us.