Cycle Canada, Day 23, May 27/06

May 27/06, Saturday                                                     Day 23                  2072 Km's

Neepawa Motel, Neepawa, Manitoba                                                         123 Km's                             ~ 6:05 Hrs

Drizzle this morning as we got up and packed. Doug said it poured last night but I slept through it. Almost slept through the morning too. We were late getting up and it was almost 10:00 before we rolled down the road; an hour unheard of in camping.

Both of my knees had been clicking as I walked around the campsite and both ached as we started down the road. They warmed up quickly and we caught a tailwind and, after a while, a downhill from Riding Mountain. We had a couple of 10 minute runs at speeds of 35+ and rarely dropped below 25. Even with the last 1.5 Hrs (after Minadosa) of the day being with strong crosswinds we still covered 120 Km's in 6 hours.

Stopped in Onanole for lunch and internet access. I sent a bulk mail and a couple of personals. Doug found out that his last cartoon didn't make the paper because the e-mail quality had been so bad. The waitress didn't charge us for the web use so I left her a good tip.

We're hard-shelling tonight. Good thing. There's wind, rain and lightning outside.

The owner here, Bob, is a pretty funny guy and a people person too. We asked about using his laundry facilities and he offered to do the work. He washed and dried, ironed and folded our clothes then wouldn't take any money for it. Compare Mr. EZ-Wal.

About 170 Km to Winnipeg. Doug e-mailed Chris.

At Onanole I got a smell of the two of us. We had dried our clothes yesterday afternoon without washing them then at the campsite we'd basically smoked them over the fire to dry them out the second time. While riding I hadn't noticed the smell but once stopped and in a confined area...what a reek!

The drizzle had stopped by the time we stopped for lunch. After the park the land undulated a bit and the air warmed up. Some of my equipment had been deteriorating. I'd pounded my gel seat into submission days before and the terry cloth bits had come off the inside of my helmet. The seat wasn't a problem but today the missing terry cloth allowed a lot of sweat to run into my eyes. I had to stop 2 or 3 times to mop my face and squeeze the sweat out of the soft helmet foam. On days after this I would wear a Tanzanian flag as a bandana.

At the motel we had a bit of trouble with the shower faucet and wound up doing a temporary fix with some medical tape. Bob said that it was fair exchange for the laundry.