Day 21 - Wind at My Back

That storm last night was apparently a hurricane near by. Tree branches were strewn all over the church yard. I'm fortunate any of the larger ones didn't crush my poor tent. Praise Xenu. It was still very windy tho so I used that as an excuse to read my book a little more before I headed off. When I did leave and get back to the TCH the wind was at my back. I felt pretty stupid for not leaving earlier to take full advantage.

I was able to maintain a nice 30 to 40 km speed for quite a while. At one point I came close to 70 kph, breaking my previous personal best. The land was rarely anything but flat and everything once again was farms. I spotted the trains in the distance a few times. Seems we are never too far apart since Vancouver.

My 100 km goal came easily and it was only about 6 pm. I pushed on as the sun got closer to the horizon. I was getting a lot of bugs in the face and stuck on my arms. I've swallowed countless flies at this point. I remember the first one that went in my mouth, I stopped immediately and tried to puke him up. Eventually I got sick of stopping or even trying to spit them out. Now I just drink a bit of water to get them down and thank 'em for the free calorie or two.

I was getting tired by 130 km but there was nothing but farms around and big rolls of hay along the roads. I considered pushing some together for a wall of privacy against the highway but a sign popped up saying a town was not far off. Suffield was the name and it was a tiny little town. No churches to camp on that I could find, and a dingy little RV yard wanted $15 (no thanks).

I found their community center and poked in to inquire about camping on their premise. The place was decently furnished, had a wide screen TV,  pool table, big kitchen, dining hall, and some computers to use. I couldn't find anyone. I figured they just left it open and eventually somebody came by to lock it. I went back outside to eat a sub I bought, but decided I'd rather heat it up. I went back and the door was locked! I'm pretty sure whoever had locked up hadn't shut the door properly...

Anyhow, I set my tent up in the most bushy covered corner of the property and will rest for the night if the trains don't toot their crazy horns too much. Tomorrow is Medicine Hat where I hope to buy a handlebar bag. I should be able to enter Saskatchewan as well!