Souhaila writes

Day 9….

Careful now, superheroes..Into your third province and no break yet?

It was super riding with you through a part of the mountains…flying out I realized just how many more mountains there were to climb..

Climb every mountain….eeew, I might break out into song.

The horse community here is watching your blog in amazement.

Olin is holding on to his dream to ride across Canada on his lightning bolt bike, on the highway. Every day he asks to ride next to the cars. Sheesh..a skateboard seemed the lesser of two evils.

Really, give your bodies a break, you will be in the middle of nowhere until you hit Montreal. So take the time to see some sights, even if it is rocks and trees.

Lots of love from Guelph,

Souhaila

Day 10 Pictures--Taber, Alberta to Maple Creek, Saskatchewan

Alberta morning

Water all around and not a drop to drink

Alberta Alberta

Alberta grain

Goodbye Alberta. Hello Saskatchewan!

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Day 9, June 29--Coleman to Taber

Here we are in Taber, Alberta!  Gordon and Ward rode about 197 km today in the 29 degree blazing heat.  They have a few extra patches of sunburn to show for it, but neither one was concerned about the ride.  They mostly hated the wind in their faces instead of their backs!  There is no humidity so as long as you can stay out of the sun (impossible in this land of very few trees) it doesn't feel that bad.  I think the pictures I uploaded today are a little jumbled, so I will try to give you the scenario of the day here.  We awoke to a brilliant morning of blue sky and the Crow's Nest mountain peak in our faces.  Wow.  Anne, our host, had an enormous breakfast waiting at 7 a.m.  Gordon did manage to eat two of her waffles plus the cinnamon bun!  For the rest of us it was pretty daunting, but delicious.  Ken, our other host, showed us how to "lock on" your ball cap in Taber!  He and Gordon had a mock red-neck fight because Gordon was in his spandex.  He had his new shirt on though--like a lumberjack with a beer bottle on the back!  The riders got away at 7:30 a.m.  and Helen and I were on the road at about 8:15--no breakfast to clean up after!  First stop was in Coleman at the world's biggest piggy bank (I thought Olin would like that photo).  After a very short drive we came to the site of the Frank Slide.  It happened in 1903 but is still a dramatic sight.  We still had mountains all around at that point, but soon we realized they were getting more round, treed and more spread out.  Then soon after that, the land totally flattened out and we were in big ranch country with lots of cattle and horses.  Next came  fields and fields of different grains and seeds.  Lots of canola.  Don't know what else.  We needed Lorne Brett to give us the farming lecture!  The rivers through this part were all swollen from the recent rains and their banks were eroded.  Standing water in some of the fields.  But the roads were just fine.  We stopped and shopped for the usual foodstuffs in \Fort MacLeod.  At this point and heading East, it was very flat and no trees to give shade for a picnic.  We phoned the guys and suggested they stop in Fort MacLeod and get their own lunch.  We then made it to Lethbridge where we had lunch in Henderson Park where there is a Japanese Garden.  It was getting to be the time for Helen's flight so we gave that a pass but it looked lovely. We were so very hot though.  We stopped at an info. booth and were able to find a more peaceful route for the riders through Lethbridge.  After I dropped Helen at the airport for her flight home to Vancouver, I also followed that route which took me parallel to Hwy. 3 on rte. 512 (the jail road) as far as rte. 845 which took me up to Coaldale (thought of Jane Brindley as I was sure there was a farm that looked as if it could have been hers as a child).  Arrived into Taber about 3 p.m.  Booked in to a cheap but clean motel along the strip.  Boy but it's flat in this part of the world!  I unpacked and re-organized and put the beer and wine on ice, then rode back down the highway on my bike to try to meet Ward and Gordon.  They got here about 5.  After cleaning their bikes and their bodies, and ingesting the awful energy food, and drinking tons of water (I'm doing my best, Marlie and Helen!) we all headed out to a lovely Japanese restaurant for sushi.  Now it's bedtime yet again and the men are zonked.  What a lot of changes in topography we've seen today!  Oh, by the way, the picture of the heavy equipment was for my brother, John.  All for now.  I may actually read my book for a few minutes to-night.  There just has been no time.
Until to-morrow.
Madge

Day 9 Pictures