June 2, 2014

Happiness is relenting winds, glimpses of the sun after a few days of wet and overcast skies, crossing another provincial border, making it out of the oilfields to pasturelands and wheat fields. Happiness is the realization that it takes very little to feel like you’re cycling on top of the the world again. Today was a day for happiness.

I have been getting off the TransCanada highway, whenever there exist reasonable alternatives, in order to see more of the rural or off-the-beaten-track Canadiana. The seemingly unending wheat fields and accompanying grain elevators out of Moose Jaw and I suppose even the oilfields past Weyburn are worth it. The last few days on the Redcoat Trail, a Mountie thoroughfare in the past, allowed me to see a variety of relatively backcountry small towns. Typically there is a CO-OP gas station and convenience store on the highway, Main Street runs perpendicular with half a dozen shops on either side, and the rest town clustered closely around. Most of the streets are a mixture of gravel and dirt which stands out especially for how muddy everything gets with a couple of days in the rain. However crazy cycling across the country may be, in these muddy towns I really stand out on my bike. That is to say I really feel out of place in these towns, clearly a city boy who took a wrong turn somewhere. There is no question that I’m as out of place here in a country of large 4×4 trucks as my bike on those muddy roads and potholes. It’s easy to forgot how clean little towns feel when all the main intersections and parking lots are paved over.

Road Report: 157km
The highway is excellent until Redvers where the shoulder crumbles and then completely disappears at the Manitoba border. The truck traffic does begin to dissipate as you leave the oilfields so lack of shoulder works. Once in awhile you do have to pull onto the loose gravel shoulder when faced with trucks oncoming and passing.