Go figure – we are some 2,000km inland and there are seagulls and pelicans around here.
Other weird facts from today: we rode along a piece of blue string outside Wetaskiwin that answered the age-old question of how long it is (more than 4km) and we could actually out-cycle a thunderstorm.
As has been the pattern, the morning was exquisite. Low, gold light across our shoulders as we rode through the empty streets of Red Deer and Blackfalds, and on through Lacombe County. The last of these treated us particularly well with a lovely trail that kept us off that pesky Highway 2A and wound through wheatfields, lakes and gorgeous horse farms (headwinds notwithstanding).
And it wouldn’t be the Trans Canada Epic with Gill and Bron without a bit of “find the trail” (we were actually on it but confused by the absence of any actual trail underfoot) so for a few kilometres we may have been better off on the mountain bikes.
We were joined for lunch at the very Western Ranchers Castle in Ponoka by Jen’s son’s partner Ali, who is doing her medical internship here. The restaurant is near the town’s impressive – but empty – Stampede Grounds. This is the first year since 1936 that the town has not hosted its famed rodeo.
Soon after Ponoka we joined Highway 2A for almost 30km to Wetaskiwin, with a gathering storm behind us. The road passes through Maskwacis, which serves Ermineskin and Samson Cree First Nations, as well as Louis Bull First Nation and Montana First Nation. Just near the Four Nations hockey arena here, a board marks the life of Cree leader Maskipeton.
Not long after Maskwacis we noticed a blue twine lying next to the road. It continued for more than four unexplained kilometres – as incongruous as the seagulls in the Canadian Tire parking in Wetaskiwin and the pelican that flew overhead in Ponoka. Who knows …
And, that thunderstorm caught up with us after the (very good) early dinner in the Castle Restaurant.
Today’s distance: 98km
Total distance: 2,265km
#TheGreatTrail
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Trans Canada Epic 