Today: 92km

To date: 1,344km

To go: 6,456km

My first night stealth camping was a success!! No one came and kicked us out.  We packed up then went back to the proper campground area to use the facilities and make breakfast – oatmeal of course!

Riding with Alex is not technically “riding with” Alex – he goes about double my speed – so we immediately split up and don’t see much of each other unless he takes a break.  Today was sweltering – in the 30s for sure.  The only plus side of this is that the bugs are kept at bay – they are smart and stay out of the sun…. unfortunately for us, no escape – no trees, no streams, no towns, no signs….. just one little oasis – a truck stop!  We stopped for lunch – I had a roast beef sandwich with poutine – have I mentioned I crave poutine like mad?  I cannot wait until Quebec! It will be dangerous ;)  We brought our food to the back of the building hoping to find some shade – we did, and we also found a group of nice local men offering us all sorts of things – showers, run through the sprinklers, vitamins, even a free room at a hotel in Medicine Hat …..   we did not take then up on any offers – we were later told the hotel has bed bugs, so we steered clear of that.

The last 30km to Redcliff was really hard for me.  The heat was intense and I swear we were going uphill.  My knee was starting to twinge near the end – so I was really glad when Alex suggested camping here rather than going the further 10km to Medicine Hat.  We were standing outside of a closed visitor info centre when a woman whose name i cannot remember but i keep thinking its Maureen but you know how it is – probably nothing even close….. Patty maybe?…..   away she asked if we needed anything – campgrounds – restaurants.  She was lovely – a really good sign this was a good little town.  The next good sign was at the campground – a man came over to say hello and explained that his whole family are the rest of the people there -a huge family reunion!  Anyway he said if we pitched out tent on the grass we could be in and out without anyone noticing – ie.  a free night.   We set up, locked out bikes together and to a tree then took off to town – food & beer – Alex likes (needs?) his after riding beer.  We found a pub which didn’t serve food and a restaurant that didn’t serve beer – but luckily we could take the food over to the pub – so it all worked out well.   I had my eye on the soft serve ice cream at the diner for dessert…. German Chocolate Cake!  Delicious!

Categories: Across Canada, Alberta, Biking

Tags: across canada, Bicycling, biking, Camping, Cycling, long distance, redcliff, self-supported, surly long haul trucker, Touring, transcanada