Grinding it out into Gas City a.k.a. Motoring into MEDICINE HAT

SNM Tour 15
 
Grinded out another day, this time on the prairies.  When I announced the tour about a year ago, one of the most frequent questions was - what are you going to do for hours on your bike when you're going through the prairies.......well, pedal and think and sing and pedal and think and sing.  Today was warm and slightly windy (1/2 to my advantage, 1/2 not so much) and you really couldn't ask for much more, except for perhaps a bit more distractions, the ditches were even unusually barren of waste and carnage, very little road kill except for an unfortunate raccoon and traffic was polite and unremarkable. The odd train passed and even they wouldn't blow their horn.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a prairie boy, born and raised and feel very very calm and comfortable with wide open spaces and big blue skies.  So I'm not complaining - there are quite a few days of similar landscape ahead, so I will savour the visual drone and let my imagination have a little fun.  With more technical cycling, ie ups and downs and debris on shoulders etc. you need to pay attention and there is surprisingly little time to actually just allow your mind to "think".  On this terrain, you can afford to let things wander a bit and be more meditative. Feel the rhythm of the pedal stroke and the breathing, do various yoga poses, close your eyes and see how high you can count before you hit gravel or the bewildered driver in the RV behind you starts to honk.  (My record is 357 seconds by the way).

We got through the pleasant odours of Brooks to and made it to Medicine Hat.  Took some shots at the largest Teepee in the world and then set up camp (literally on the side of a golf course), with beautiful sunny skies and calls of "FORE" serenading us as we finished off the day.

Tom claimed he now knew what "hell" was. We didn't think the day was that bad, nor our company.  He was griping that we were almost on a golf course and he didn't have his clubs so this was killing him.  Now we know Tom has an obsession with golf (and Peanuts comic character memorabilia for a bit of really weird trivia...)  Why he loves golf, we aren't sure.  Most people who golf as much as he does actually get better and quite proficient... I rest my case.

Tour sponsors of the day
Glen and Jeanette Richardson Thanks again, without you this tour would be a whole lot smaller and less successful.  (You will read about them a few more times in the future).

Random quotes of the day, which really aren't relevant to today but are just tooo good to pass up

There's one good thing about snow, it makes your lawn look as nice as your neighbor's
Clyde Moore

To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early or be respectable
Oscar Wilde

Now you're probably wondering about the wedding last night - here's a photo of what happened (well only what happened early on... the later photos get a little messy and we're thinking about selling them to the National Enquirer (just kidding Derrick and Bailey) but the conga line down the road and through that person's garden at 3 am was a bit wild we thought.......