Monday, June 14

I like trees! I really do - and even more so since we began this trip. Jesse told us that he was worried about us going through the Plains of Canada because it blows all the time (like real windy). Well, Jesse used to exaggerate once in a while, so I decided not to worry about it. Well, apparently Jesse has grown up because he definitely did not exaggerate. It's windy in the Plains of Canada. So, the reason I like trees is because it breaks up the wind that blows constantly on the plains. Actually, I shouldn't complain too much. We lucked out for half of the time.

We began the day with a strong south wind which was kind of rough. Then we had three hours of absolutely perfect riding weather. Temperature of around 65 degrees and the wind was perfectly at our back - lovely! It was great! Then, we had 2 hours of a north wind which was nasty! Fortunately, with the last 2 hours with the wind, we finally got into at least a few trees on and off (love those trees). The landscape began the same as the last two days - miles and miles of nothing. Then, it finally began to break up with a valley here and there and then it started to look like Iowa and Minnesota with rolling hills and crops. They also have a lot of ranches with cattle. We also noticed in the last two hours a lot of oil derricks. To me, they looked like little harvestore silos except most of them are black. So, you'd have a big field of wheat or a big ranch with these little silos plunked in the middle of everything. I guess Canada needs oil, too.

For my farming friends and family, as I said they have all kinds of stock cows and calves, but what strikes me is that they are every color under the sun. In one herd you have black, white, cream, red, brown, etc. My favorites are the rusty red ones - they're beautiful. Our bed & breakfast host told us they grow wheat, peas, canola and couple other things - no corn or soybeans. For my friends who like flowers - this country is full of lilacs. They use them as windbreaks on just about every farm or house you see - and they're in full bloom here right now.

Speaking of our bed & breakfast last night - they were great people. Very warm and inviting. Had a nice room and the whole upstairs of the house all to ourselves with a little living area and everything. Really nice. Then, she fed us way too much food for breakfast - omelets, fresh fruit, scones - good grief! We got going about 9 a.m. (late for us - but wanted to wait for breakfast) and arrived in Edmonton at 3:30. We made good time today and had a short, easy day. Yeah! It was a nice day! (It also maybe helped my attitude that I slept 10 hours last night.)

We ate tonight at Boston Pizza - we see them all over this neck of the woods and thought we'd give something native to this area a try. I had cajun rice and Duane had chicken parmesan - great food! Yum.

Well, that's about it for now. Hopefully, one of these days I'll be able to write about something other than flat land! Also, we are getting into an area where we may not have internet service at many of our stops. I'll do my best to keep you updated.

Thanks for checking and thanks for the prayers.

Gayle - BOTB