June 3, 2014.
Day 1 was in British Columbia.
Day 2 & 3 were in Alberta.
Day 4 was in Saskatchewan
Edmonton-Lloydminister-North Battleford-Saskatoon-Regina
VPC had to go to work. Linda had to babysit her grand-daughter all day. Both of them had to leave home early. I would have to leave early also to travel 800 Km through the forecasted rain/shower.
Lucky again. The rain was about 100 Km behind me all day.
High Plain Drifter
I was on my iron horse at the elevation of 500-600m, going almost sky to sky. There was not much to see in Saskatchewan. Lots of bugs came to see me and smashed.
One thing I noticed is that there are not many trees. People must be used to driving their pickup trucks for hours on end without stopping. There are few gas stops, no rest areas at all, no shade to hide in the sun.
Thank goodness my sports/touring bike has a fuel tank of 25L, and has a range of 425 Km. So, if I can refuel once between destinations, I would be OK. e.g., today, I went 850 Km. But I stopped for fuel about 5 times, mostly to rest and stretch and drink water and visit the washroom.
The computer dash board lit up soon after I left Edmonton, indication headlight failures. Both my low beam bulbs are dead. It doesn't affect my riding, because I will only ride in daylight times. I was text-messaging with my bike mechanic in Vancouver ( He is also my patient. ) tonight trying to diagnose the problem. So, I need to replace the two bulbs. I will try to get a service appointment with the dealer in Winnipeg in the next couple of days.
I was in Regina in May 2000, participating in the Canadian National TaeKwonDo Tournament. I was a second degree black belt then.That was an interesting experience. I won 2 bronze medals, received 2 black eyes and a broken ( very flattened ) nose. It was the Victoria Day long weekend, and there was only 1 plastic surgeon in the entire city on call. I waited for 4 hours at the E.R. When the Plastic Surgeon showed up, he said to just leave it for a couple of days, and let the PS in Vancouver reset my nose. I presented my case that I was getting married in 11 days. He softened at my pleading, and said that he could not justify in calling in the staffing to have me in the O.R. with overtime pay. He said he could do me in the E.R., with another M.D. doing the I.V. sedation. He said I would howl in pain, but I would not remember it post-op. He also said that he had never met me before and would not know what my nose used to look like. I told him I used to have a nose like Robert Redford. So it went, a free nose job! I took off my white plaster nose cast 30 minutes before wedding, and wearing lightly tinted glasses for the ceremony and photo-op.
(A side note : During the 4 hours wait at the E.R., there were many injured TaeKwonDo competitors being admitted, mostly lower rank colour belts. They still tried to get up from the wheelchairs/gurneys and bow to me. There are funny moments at everything.)
I am closely monitoring the weather forecast. It seems like it may rain tonight, and brighten up for a few hours tomorrow. I may have the rain chasing me all the way to Winnipeg. :-0