Day 23 - Rider on the Storm

I retrieved my newly flattened coins from the tracks, tho I couldn't find them all, I now have some wacky looking currency I'm quite happy with. I stopped into the store before leaving Walsh and in the 5 minutes I was in there it had rained and stopped. About to cross another border and the weather rears its soggy head. Go figure.

Saskatchewan, unlike Alberta, had a welcoming sign only a few minutes from town. I had crossed my second province! Time to lay claim to the flat lands ahead of me. So very wrong that thought was...

Not far past the sign is a big stinking hill. I'd actually encounter a few steep ones today. I had to use gears lower then I did in all of Alberta. What the hell, I thought this place was flat! Around me the sky looked like it was plotting something. I could see tendrils of cloud poking down towards the ground in far off spots. It was likely raining in those places.

So I trudged on at a decent pace over rolling lands with the now very familiar suspicious grazing cattle and rolls of hay dotting the land like some giant slob in the sky had spilled his shreddies everywhere. The winds weren't too bad and I'd only been hit with a few fat drops of rain so far.

Around 40 km in I spotted a campsite that had a washer and dryer so I stopped for a bit and got myself and my clothes clean again. By the time that was done it was getting close to 5pm and I'd still have another 60 km to cover to hit my goal. The fellow at the campsite told me they were calling for thunderstorms in the area.

So fresh and so clean I left the site and got a wicked tailwind that pushed me to speeds of 30-50 kph for the next 60 km. The storm was right behind me and I was riding it's front. I stopped a few times to take pictures but the fat raindrops would start landing so I'd have to set off again and stay ahead. On occasion I saw lightning strike in the east from another storm.

Eventually the winds died down and the sun came out for a look. I was 20 km from a nice town called Gull Lake so I pressed on and found a comfy $10 campsite for the evening. I've met 4 other cyclists here that have all gradually grouped up on the way from Vancouver and after sharing some ice cream invited me to ride with them tomorrow morning.

This will be the first time I've ridden with anybody since I can remember and I'm quite excited and happy to rise up early and learn about everybody. On that note I best get to sleep at a reasonable time for a change. Happy cycling!