Moving swiftly along to Swift Current: And an epic game of Blind Goat

May 29, 2016

By great good fortune neither of our tents were trampled overnight and by morning the bulls had departed to the other side of the field, leaving us to pack up in peace. It was a nice morning too, and the wind was once again kind to us as we set off across the seemingly infinite plains. To pass the time, and because the shoulder of the highway was as wide as a lane and really very safe, I stuck in my headphones and listened to episode after episode of the very funny panel show ‘Would I Lie To You?” that I had downloaded. As I chuckled out loud to the comedy, Vivian, with nothing to entertain herself, eyed me jealously.

We made a stop at the small town of Tompkins and went to look for the library so that I could ~~download more episodes~~ talk to Dea. Alas it was a very small and sleepy town and the library only opened for a few hours a week, and unfortunately not at the time that we had arrived. So we headed back out to the highway, after a brief stop to ask for water from a very nice old local man.

As we rejoined the highway we noticed two touring bikes leaning up against the gas station that was situated at the turn and we went to investigate. Inside we found the two tourers and were a little surprised that they were two men of about 70 years. Ben and Walter were seasoned cross-Canada cyclist. One was completing the ride for his fifth time, the other his seventh. Vivian and I were both pretty astonished about that. This road was definitely not one I would like to cycle seven times.

They were going the same way as us, but any hopes of expanding our troop of cyclists was soon dashed when they revealed that they were averaging 130 kilometers all the way across. I was impressed by the speed at which many people we met were able to cycle across this huge country - John Burt who passed us in Banff was already over 800km ahead of us in Winnipeg by now!

Vivian and I left first, but it wasn’t long before these septuagenarians zoomed past us and disappeared off to the horizon. As I watched them shrink into dots I began to wonder about the plot of this sequel. Me rushing across the whole of Canada gallantly to get back to Dea as fast as I possibly could would surely seem a whole lot more heroic if there weren’t all these old people overtaking me and doing basically the same thing much faster.

I was also irritated to see the guys cycling out in the highway despite the great big, wide, asphalt, debris-free shoulder (although it looks like there is no traffic, of course there were plenty of big trucks that had to swerve out around them) Pretty silly if you ask me

We made a brief stop at this motel to use wifi and met the nice owner. They'd just opened the motel and it wasn't going too well. Not only was it in the middle of nowhere, it was also right next to a railway line and the trains made a tremendous noise as they passed

Another break as we inched our way across the prairies

A nice tailwind pushed us along and we made good time to the town of Swift Current, where Vivian had organized a warm showers host for us for the night. Our hosts were a surprisingly young couple named Sheldon and Jennifer who were only about my age and yet had two boys, 12-year-old Hayden and 7-year-old Lanni, as well as proper jobs and a house. It was really interesting to see how different my life could have been. Of course they were wonderful people and because of their location hosted cross-Canada cyclists all the time. They didn’t have much space inside and, understandably, could only offer us their yard, where I pitched my tent and Vivian slept in a tree house.

Vivian and I offered to cook dinner to say thank-you, and we were really surprised to hear that we were the first guests that had done so, despite Sheldon and Jennifer hosting literally hundreds of other cyclists. Over the food I asked the kids what they wanted to do when they grew up. Lanni quickly answered that he wanted to own and run a campground. Hayden, the older boy, had a serious face as he revealed, “I want to be an engineer… or a shoe shop owner.”

Hayden and Lanni also told us we were their favorite guests (though they probably say that to everyone) because not only did we cook, but we also played games with them. Both Vivian and myself could be described as somewhat young-at-heart, so it wasn’t really like we needed a second invitation to join in with the games. After a soccer match in which I realized I cannot outrun a 7-year-old, we moved to the trampoline, where we played a truly epic game of ‘Blind Goat.’If you don’t know how to play Blind Goat, may I recommend that you find a young child and a trampoline because it is great fun*.

*Please note that I accept no responsibility for any legal issues that may arise from you following that advice.

Today's ride: 111 km (69 miles)
Total: 50,660 km (31,460 miles)

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