Ghost Towns and Diversions

It’s been a while since I’ve done a good post, I have been investing my time into catching up on statistics pages, finishing off a few reviews and for the most part not computing. I’ve been enjoying the riding immensely lately, it feels like I’ve left on the tour just in the past 2 weeks – the rest really helped and I’m able to tackle daily issues without stress taking me out. I’m also employing new tactics that I mentioned in a previous post – limiting my distance to 100km a day – I’ve gone over a few times and under a few times strictly due to the fact that there have been towns nearby – however it’s given me a lot of time at night to relax & recharge as opposed to just setting up the tent after riding and going straight to bed. I’m also getting a good set of food along the way, towns dot the landscape every 20km in Saskatchewan and I’m sure to find a local that will point me to an area to get nourishment.

The remnants of the town of Chinook

After leaving Drumheller I headed east and went through a cluster of once thriving farm towns which have now evolved (devolved?) into full on ghost towns. Main street signs galore offer a glimpse of times past, with decaying buildings boarded up, faded signs, and not a person in sight. Most of the towns on Highway 9 in Alberta must have had only max 20 people in each of the communities, with little amenities. It was perfect however to stop for lunch, or even stop for the night. One night, I stayed in Youngstown, in a community park – which has sort of been my tactic for the past little bit as opposed to hiking in the bush (there are none in the prairies!). This park offered a covered area for cooking, a water spout, and seperate bathrooms for men and women, so it was nice to clean up in private before heading off to bed at the early hour of 8:30pm. I was in a little bit of a weird funk and didn’t want to communicate with people online or via cellular so hid in the tent and continued reading a book until I heard an engine in the distance followed by a loud cracking sound/boom. Yup, someone fired a gun into the park and then tore off – it sounded like a shot gun. It wasn’t long after I heard sirens pull up and my cover was blown with 2 mounties wanting to have a chat with me. I came out of the tent half clothed, explained what I heard, what I was up to, and they asked if it was me firing the gun! I had a chuckle, nope sorry. I gave them my information, and they were off, and I could finally get back to the page turner. I stuffed some earplugs in in case there were going to be more disruptions and slept soundly for almost 9 hours.

Alsask Ghost Subdivisions

I’ve been getting up at 7am as well lately, which is probably adding to my early end times throughout the day, getting me back to normal as opposed to my leave at 2pm ride to 11pm routine I was pulling off a few months back. Weather has been cooperating with me as of late (sort of) and I’ve been laughing and grinning when a cloud or storms are approaching, not worried as I would have normally been before during other parts of the tour, shrugging it off as all a part of the experience. When I crossed into Saskatchewan a huge storm was forecast for the night, and I took upon myself to stop and ride it out at the local Highway 7 diner – which served me some of the best roadside food I’ve ever had (dinner & breakfast!). The border town ‘Alsask’ where the diner was located was truly a bizarre experience, almost creepy. Pulling in, is an old run down recreation centre (still hosting swimming lessons for the 127 residents) and then a lot of nothing. Streets and neighbourhoods were all laid out, culdesacs and clover leafs in place with power run to each of the lots, however all the driveways had been overgrown by brush and weeds. Old playgrounds stood rusting away falling apart with each cold winter that passes. What it actually looked like was the town was picked up and moved to another area of the province almost out of some sort of post apocalyptic sci-fi. I rode around and found the town centre, with all buildings up for sale, showing record of a post office, antique store, hotel, saloon, and a tonne of curbside signs displaying what used to be standing in the area 100 years before.

I did a bit of research and found that the town was a NORAD base in the 1900′s and was closed a few decades ago. The waitress at the diner told me that her duplex that she bought 3 years ago was had for $7,000, putting ideas into my mind of taking over a ghost town at one point and turning it into a homestead for myself and close friends. One day?

Carrying on the next morning I went through other small communities in Western Saskatchewan, sun searing my skin forcing my face to twist into a perma-grin. I made the choice to stop for the night in Fiske, a small community that showed nothing on Wikipedia, but as I find out has the cleanest water in the area, so communities all around come to fill up. Each resident can dig only a few feet down into the ground to access the spring, a bonus for those working in agriculture. I hung out at the local tavern for a few hours chatting with locals answering a few of their questions, listening to their views of what was going to happen later on in the night from the forecast of major storms headed our way. The farmer’s also piped in and told me that their crops are suffering, and are now throwing in the towel for things like lentils are they are starting to rot due to the massive amount of rain that has been hitting the area over the past few months. Again, I had to refer to the news article I read the day before I left on my trip that stated Canada was to have the warmest summer on record with the exception of Newfoundland. Funny.

The evening became pretty excellent, as I ended up with Hutterite’s wining and dining me, answering my questions of a colony of people that I did not quite understand properly. I threw some left field questions out into the open and they were answered immediately and without any uncomfortable moments. Whatever floats people’s boat I suppose, who are we to say what people should and shouldn’t be doing. They seem to be doing quite well with minimal technology, living off the land for their food, and keeping a tight knit community for other Hutterites. It was a late night, but I was ready to go on the road at 8:30am the morning after.

Notice how it's not attached to the bike?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t even able to perform a pedal revolution before I heard a crunching and twanging sound, with my chainring freely spinning. Thinking I broke my chain I got off the bike and found something worse – My derailleur had bent and got caught in my rear wheel and ripped right off! The same thing happened to the crew I was riding with from Yukon to the Northwest Territories (5 times?) and I cursed a little bit, knowing I was as good as done for riding for the day with no bike store in town, and no way to fix this catastrophe. I wheeled my bike up to the road and stuck my thumb out, talking to a few locals who came out with phone books so I could call into the next town to see if a bike repair shop existed. It was bleak, the sports store sold their bikes to someone else a few months earlier, and that new person was at “work” when I called to speak to him. I stuck my big thumb out on the road and it wasn’t a few minutes before a 18 wheeler pulled up loaded with tomatoes telling me to get on in and go for a ride.

The driver, another Dave, cheers’ed me with his coffee cup and cranked the stereo loud in his Kenworth blasting Charlie Daniels’ ‘Devil went down to Georgia’ in the great sounding roomy cab. We talked for an hour and a half as he took me into the city of Saskatoon, somewhere I wasn’t planning on going, but wasn’t going to complain about the ride into a major city centre that had more than one bike store capable of supplying me with a new drivetrain. I learned a bit about how truckers operate, and realized I’m living a bit of their lives, with a lot of time to stew in your own juices, laugh to your own jokes, and crank the music. He dropped me off at a Petro-Pass cardlock while he unloaded his tomatoes and came back to pick me up driving me very close to the Bike Doctor where I could get sorted. Unfortunately, I had given him some bad directions to get back out to the highway and he couldn’t get across the bridge in front of him causing an 18 car line up behind him with irate drivers screaming at him with obscenities. I helped him out by directing traffic while he pulled off some pretty fantastic maneuvres to get out of the conundrum and bid him adios, thankful that he was able to practice this random act of kindness. I hoped that the last few minutes of our encounter didn’t fog his total experience with me as it had visibly shaken him towards the end, and I wondered if he regretted picking me up from that fiasco.

The Bike Doctor mechanics sorted me out in less than a half an hour, and found that my rear dropout was bent almost 45 degrees, causing the major meltdown. I had to replace the derailleur and the chain to the tune of $225, a kick in the pants towards my budget, especially since I had made up my mind a few days earlier to not put any more money into my drivetrain until I reach the end of Canada so that I can swap it out for an internally geared hub system ($$$), which requires no maintenance and would eliminate further problems.

Solar Power on the Handlebar bag

A friend from Winnipeg stepped up and set me up with one of his friends so that I could stay in the city for the night, and it turned out to be a great experience with the 3 residents of the house they shared. They cooked me a wonderful dinner, breakfast, and many beers were shared and lots of laughs telling some pretty hilarious stories. I was happy to have a rest day with only 10km ridden that day and performed the charge-o-rama of all my components for today’s journey.

I met a cyclist ‘Jamie’ who lived in the same town I grew up in who was on a tour of Southern BC and Alberta and was enroute to loop back through the rockies, and head into Prince George. He had a nice bicycle setup and liked his gadgets as much as I did. He had a personal alarm for his bike similar that squawked like a car siren, and had an interesting solar panel device that charged his multiple GPS devices, cellular phone, and MP3 player. I’ve been looking for a solution to keep my components charged and was planning on generating power via my front wheel, but am going to research into what he was using and give it a whirl once I get to Winnipeg to see if it will suit my needs. Apparently there is a solar panel available for a bit of coin that will charge a laptop, something a front hub generator would not be able to do.. Gadgets, I love ‘em.

Unexpected visit to Saskatoon

When I woke this morning it was pouring rain, coming down in buckets causing a bit of concern for my gear, specifically my hands as I’ve suffered in the past with wet fingers. I made the decision that I would stop at a grocery store and pick up some dish gloves to cover my hands, but as soon as I put on my rain gear the sky cleared and I headed out of town skipping the stop. It wasn’t long before the rain came, with thunder and lightning cracking only a second apart and rain coming down in sheets sending cars off the highways into the ditches. I stopped every 20km at the little towns to warm up, get coffee, and ran into some great travelers and locals who donated a little to my cause in various ways, putting a smile on my face. Little things I just can’t write online..

I planned on doing 140km tonight so that it would make for an easy day heading into Regina, the capital city of Saskatchewan tomorrow, however my plans were foiled by a flat tire with my front wheel. It’s the first one I’ve had in over 12,000km on that tire, so I’m pretty happy with that statistic, and pulled into the town of Davidson and fixed it in front of a pub before coming in here to sample their Steak Sandwich special and a few beers. I found a little gazebo that will provide me with dry shelter tonight making sure I don’t have to pack up a soggy tent in my panniers causing frustation in the future.

All in all I’m glad I got a chance to visit Saskatoon, go through the wonky weather, and have the experiences I am having. I’m in a great mood, great shape, and looking forward to the future. The only thing I am missing is more video, which I’m having trouble getting started to record more segments of my journey.

I’m looking for a place to stay in Regina on Saturday and Sunday (08/13 + 08/14). My attempts to use Couchsurfing.org and Warmshowers.org have been unfruitful. If you know anyone who can provide a well mannered housetrained cyclist with a place to call home for 2 days it would be appreciated, please send me info via the Contact page!