Distance: 112.55
Time: 4:30
Elevation Gain : 190m
Temperature: 13 - 23 C
Weather: Cloudy with some spitting rain at the end of the ride
Flats : 0 Total Flats 2
Bathroom Rating: 1-4
We woke up to overcast sky and packed up to head out. The riders were able to backtrack down to the bridge from the campsite rather than going uphill 1 km and able to go over the closed side of the bridge which was under repair…which was good as there wasn’t much room on the other side. Got over the bridge and had a climb out of the Old Man River Valley. That was about our only climbing for the day.
Getting out of Lethbridge was interesting as there was no shoulder…so for some of it we were riding on the small cement side. It wasn't fun! But as soon as we got out of Lethbridge we had amazing shoulders all the way to Bow Island.
We had a short stop in Taber, at Ricardo’s, a nice little Mexican/Italian/Thai restaurant.
Reading the review of the Restaurant…it was mainly 5 stars but it also had a lot about the owners backstory. Interesting read. Ricardo's is Recommended for sure.
On the road after lunch we were lucky to have little or no winds. Flat flat flat. Beautiful vistas!
We arrived in Bow Island…and still wonder why they call it Bow Island. We never found out.
We arrived and Greg had everything set up. He even walked down to Hwy 3 and talked to “Frank” The local Watermelon and fruit stand. His watermelons were $24 to $26!
Needless to say Greg didn’t buy one. Frank was very informative. Nancy was wondering what the tents in the field along the way were for. Frank told Greg that it was for Beehives. That makes sense and we are going with that until someone else tells us different.
Soon after we arrived at the campsite the rains started. Stayed in a Community Park Campground which had showers…Nancy Bathroom Rating is 1 but Mike says 4 (2 ply) and I say 3.5.
Dinner was Nancy and Dave…Chicken, potatoes and asparagus. She only cooked up one bunch…so I was wondering why we only had 5 pieces each….darn.
Heidi did some work on rerouting us…as we made a big decision in Lethbridge. Some of us were getting very tired and finding that the 130+ km were going to be too much. We decided that Hwy 3 was beautiful with wide shoulders and we would stay on it. We also heard about Hwy 1 having nice shoulders for the 3-400 km that we would have to travers. So after dinner we all started the rerouting procedures…and shortening our days to under 120ish. We figure that by the time we leave Manitoba we might be 3-4 day behind our planned schedule. What were we thinking?? We are not in our 20’s anymore. haha. Time will tell if we have to take the Gaspe off our itinerary. :(
There was no camping at the border so we decided to ride to Walsh…just before the Saskatchewan Border…Greg would meet us there and we would drive into Saskatchewan to the nearest campsite for the night and then Greg will drive us back to Walsh to start the next day. The rest of the route to be decided as we go.
Bedtime was earlyish. Plan was to leave at 8ish to try to beat the afternoon headwinds tomorrow.
As Promised Here is a sampling of Greg’s Day
Up at 6:30
Put on Water for Coffee
Bathroom time
Back to trailer…make coffee
Coffee conversation and Breakfast.
Organize the trailer pack up and ready.
Drove to Taber…found a spot to park on side road.
Did about half hour of phone calls and emails for Goodbugs.
Texted Heidi that I was at Smiths….(Smitty’s)
She said get your ass to the Loft. A coffee place.
Met the riders at the Loft and it was vetoed so went to Ricardos.
Had coffee.
Walked back to trailer and went to Bow Island.
Easy back in at Community Park
Totally set up the trailer so those privileged bike riders did not lift a finger.
Checked out bathrooms
Walked back to visit Frank at Hwy 3.
Frank finds old horse drawn carriages and wagons, restores them and resells them.
He also has a fruit stand.
Started to spit so headed back to trailer
Waited patiently for riders and tracked Heidi on FindMe.
They arrived…snacks…talk…then waited for dinner.
Cleaned up dinner dishes with Mike…as it was his day to clean up.
Listened to planning…as we totally changed routes.
Bed and book and asleep.
Enjoy Life
Heidi and Greg
Enjoy Life
Heidi and Greg
3 comments:
Greg, it sounds like you are able to actually enjoy some of the local flavour and points of interest. Beats spending the day riding behind Dave after he's eaten whatever it was he was ingesting for lunch.
Enjoying! and I too had wondered about a day in the life of Greg, so good to have that added in! Keep on keeping on! Was that faster than planned through Alberta? Seems quick!
Yes, Greg. We want to hear more from you :)
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