Cycle Canada, Day 12, May 16/06

May 16/06, Tuesday. Day 12                                                                       1028 Km

Abandon farmhouse ~ 13 Km West of Hanna, Alta.                               ~116 Kms                 ~ 6:15 Hrs

Day started off easy with a downhill and tail wind but neither lasted. Stopped about 8 Km down the road for the worst cup of coffee in the world.

Passed through Drumheller with a 2 hour pause to run errands. No HDV tapes. Doug got a basket for his bike. We took on lots of food and water and headed out. There has been no place to re-provision since leaving Drumheller about 55 Km back. We carried about 7 litres of water and drank most of it. A couple of beers too.

The 55 Km was hard won since most of it was up a gentle slope into a headwind that seemed to make the slope much steeper. Doug seemed to be having a bad psychological time with that and the inability to figure distances but I don't think it's that bad. I know that he's been dreading the thought of the prairies since we started. He's just a bit keyed up.

We chose to go west to east specifically because it's the same direction as the prevailing winds. I know we won't be going into a head wind for 2 weeks. We'll get a few days of good tail winds somewhere along the route.

Had a visit from a cop. He checked ID's and said that we should report into RCMP stations along our route so we could be tracked. I think the internet helps track us anyway.

The worst cup of coffee in the world is available at a gas station near the junction of Highways 9 & 21. We arrived at the coffee shop just as it opened and the first pot of coffee was still brewing. I expected it to be at least adiquate but when I tasted it I knew where the term 'dishwater' came from.

The abandon house was interesting. I think that it has been abandon for only a couple of years. The place it was built was a pretty nice place, as the bald prairies go, between 2 small streams. When I see an abandon farm I sometimes wonder what happened to the builders or the last residents. Sometimes the thought gives me a spooky feeling. This place doubly so because we took a wander through the house and I could see the uses of all of the rooms.

People talk about ghost towns but no one ever talks about ghost farms.