Crooked Lake to Binscarth, 128km: Hi Manitoba, how’s it going? :)

Today I would be going through time once again into the grand lands of Manitoba. The most physically challenging aspects of the day were the climbs out of the Qu’Appelle and Assiniboine River Valleys.

That morning Louise and I left together and it was such a quiet, beautiful morning. We cycled side by side which did not happen that often because of busy traffic. It was a nice feeling to be cycling on quiet roads in a river valley.

Today we saw a region that contained large potash mines, which was neat to see. I could see trucks driving along the tops of what appeared to be mounds of potash.

During our journey, Louise and I stopped to take star-jump pictures on the railroad tracks, it was amusing :)

At Esterhazy we had the option of avoiding Route 478 because there was a 10km stretch where there was rough pavement and unpaved sections. However, to avoid this stretch would mean a 128km day would turn into a 159km day. With that knowledge, Louise and I decided to take the plunge and chance the rough, unpaved sections of Route 478. Bud was not lying about the state of Route 478 in any means. With a 700x25 wheel, the road was slightly scary because my wheels were slipping and sliding, but it was not a busy road and it was kind of fun making sure I would not fall flat on my side. While Louise and I were challenging the road, Irene met up with us. Bob was not with her because he remained behind to help Mike with his flat tire. I was quite impressed because she was gunning it along the road. It was amazing to see her with such speed because I considered her to be one of the slower riders. She seemed so thrilled and excited to be so going fast, it was great :) When we reached Manitoba, we went through time, going into the future one hour :) The three of us took turns taking pictures at the sign welcoming us to Manitoba. Three down, seven more to go! :)

After that we cycled in and out Assiniboine River Valley to get to Binscarth. At camp I bought an ice cream to celebrate my success at making it thus far. I was even more excited to have made it to Manitoba because my sister lived in Portage la Prairie, where I would be in two days :)