After waking up at about 8am, the extra time spent dealing with insects and wandering over to fetch food had me leaving closer to 10:30 than the 10am departure time I would have expected from my waking time while camping. Not having picked up breakfast foods on my way out of Kenora, I breakfasted on some of the peanut brittle that Gavin had sent me, dipped in the spreadable chocolate that Graydon had sent.
I got a late start today, having not only gone to the post office to pick up my mail (and fill out/write up and send off some other mail) but also dipped into the public library to use the internet for nearly an hour. By the time I was properly on the road it was close to 1:15pm, and the sun and heat were sufficiently intense that I considered taking siesta breaks for the next few days around the solstice.
Waking up, breaking camp, and getting ready to go, I had a pleasant surprise: The fellow who owned the ranch across the road from my campsite was just on his way in/out for a morning visit, and being a friendly person, decided to invite me into town for breakfast. Apparently, about a week earlier, he'd also taken a long-distance pedesrian from France (pulling a wagon with his provisions since last summer) walker out for breakfast, and said pedestrian had made the local paper.
After waking up at 9am, I was still in something of a not-riding headspace, so I prepared myself a new sheet of paper with important details from my notebook for the next few days (a habit I'd been refining since a little under a week into the ride; important details including phone numbers to call ahead for accomodations, grocery lists, etc.) I also made a few minor repairs on the bike, and decided (my host in Winnipeg not having a pressure gauge on his foot pump) to pick up a portable tire pressure gauge at MEC (like I'd been meaning to since I got my pump in Vancouver).
I woke up at around 7am, fed myself, made a somewhat better fix to the front rack, straightening them out, tightening the U-bolts so they'd hold better, messing with the pannier clips so that they'd be better balanced, and not quite so inclined to throw the racks out of alignment, and refreshing some of the duct tape. Then I packed everything up, and was on my way at around 10:30am.
Having stayed up later than planned on the 1st making journal updates, I overslept a bit, and after swinging by Canadian Tire to pick up a Manitoba road atlas, I wasn't really going until about noon. Once again, the substantial headwinds had returned, so it was back to slow, difficult slogging.
I got up, and was able to start on my way at around 9:30am. Much to my delight, the highway disrepair running from Peebles to Kipling appeared to end at Kipling, and I was able to enjoy some more nice roads.. at least most of the time.
Finally! Glorious, glorious tailwinds. I got a late start, having overslept, eaten a substantial breakfast, before dealing with problems with my bank card (it turns out that the post-dated paycheque that was deposited effective the 22nd had a 10 day hold on it. I had expected that with a post-dated item, they'd start to clear it early and get it a shorter-than-usual hold, rather than a longer-than-usual hold). Regardless, I was able to hit the road by noon.
There was another early start today, since the Moose Jaw host is the single father of a son who's old enough to take care of himself (and get himself to school, etc.) if left home alone, but young enough for it to seem prudent not to leave him alone with near-strangers in the house. Since he had to leave for work at around 6:20am, that's when we hit the road.
I got an early start in, and rode on for about 20km before deciding that, while I wasn't going to be able to make Regina, I'd still make Moose Jaw with ample spare time, so when I came to Mortlach and saw it to be a well-serviced town, I decided to take a quick internet break, check the weather, and do other such relaxing things.
