Day 66: Wynyard to Churchbridge

August 9, 2010

Today was a good day for cycling. It was clear with a good tailwind.

I stopped in at the visitor centre in Foam Lake. They bill themselves as 'The Best Place in the World to Live'. I am uncertain about that, but it looks like a nice place to visit anyways. There is a campground right by the visitor centre and it is within walking distance of town. However, wanting to take advantage of the tailwind, I kept going and ended up in Churchbridge.

There is a monument in Churchbridge with an oversize one dollar coin. The designer of the coin which celebrates the 125th anniversary of Canada was designed by an artist from Churchbridge (a cousin of one of the ladies who collect money for the campground).

I made a minor mistake today. I arrived at the campground and set up. I did not go straight to town to buy groceries, but relaxed a bit instead. When I arrived in town at 6:10 PM the grocery store was closed. I will have to be more careful about that in the future. However, I was able to purchase some food at the local gas station.

I stayed at the Churchbridge Campground ($17). It is a nice place with decent bathroom and showers and just a couple kilometres to town.

The forecast is for rain overnight and showers or thunderstorms with headwinds tomorrow. Perhaps sub-optimal weather. I should cross over to Manitoba tomorrow (with a new time zone) and hope to make it to Shoal Lake (115 km). If the forecast is wrong, I could go a bit further.

I am getting close to Winnipeg and have started a list of items I need to purchase there - new chain, soap dish, dehydrated meals, snacks and a new mirror. The most worrisome is the mirror. I wear a mirror that attaches to my glasses. I was able to repair it with crazy glue (second only to duct tape for a handyman), but I don't expect it to last. I find the mirror to be my most valuable piece of safety equipment.

End point:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=50.89314,-101.89502&ll=50.89314,-101.89502&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

The railway parallels the Yellowhead for long stretches.

A design for the one dollar coin was created by an artist in Churchbridge. A monument was put up in recognition of this.

Today's ride: 205 km (127 miles)
Total: 7,926 km (4,922 miles)

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