Amazingly, the WiFi started to work at the Budget Host Motel last night after we arrived back from our late night Mexican dinner and after having spent 2 and a half hours blogging in the Grand Rapids Burger King... The bright side of completing the blog in the Burger King was that we returned on bike to our hotel at about 10:30PM (in the rain) and got to bed early allowing us to get a full 8 hours of sleep. We awoke refreshed and ready for a big day. We have learned that a full night's sleep is critical to our physical restoration each day. After breakfast at Dottie's - apparently the local hangout for retirees - we got away at about 10AM happy to be assisted by a light tailwind out of the Northwest.

Shortly after leaving Grand Rapids, we passed the 3,000 kilometre mark on our trip! We stopped to mark this milestone with a high five and then got back on our way as a bigger milestone lay in our path today...

Around the 50 km mark, we saw a cyclist coming the other direction down the highway - which had changed from a divided highway to a two-lane highway after Grand Rapids. We waved and asked him where he was headed to which he replied "Vancouver".  He crossed the highway to chat and we learned that his name was Joachim Ostertag. He was riding from Owen Sound Ontario to Vancouver to support his "Change the Cycle" project to help end violence against women (see his website: www.changethecycletour.org). We enjoyed a nice break and as we were getting ready to part, he commented that it was too bad that we were riding against the wind?!? We were surprised by this comment as we had been helped out be a tailwind for a couple of hours. Unfortunately, he was right as we lost the tailwind for the rest of the day. Luckily, however, the ensuing head/cross wind was very light.

We met Joachim in an interesting stretch of the road where a dead forest standing in a marsh lined the road to the south. This continued for 4 or 5 kms, after which we reached our lunch destination - Floodwood MN. We speculate that the forest must have been flooded at some point which killed the trees, leading to the town's name "Floodwood". Instead of stopping for lunch in the fast food spots lining the highway, we prefer to explore these towns and were happy to find a nice little old-time restaurant just at the end of Main Street.

Following lunch, we had only 3 kms to ride until we reached the 3,050.25 km point - which is exactly half way across our adventure!

Reaching this point of the trip gave us both a boost as any fears that we might not have been able to complete the trip have been largely dispelled. We celebrated with another high five and by calling our wives to share this with them. We both feel like Horseshoe Bay was a long time ago, however, at the same time it seems like it has gone very quickly.

After passing this milestone (coincidentally at the midpoint of today's ride) we made quick time to Duluth. Cam felt like he reached a breakthrough today as he found today's ride to be his best ride of the trip so far, with the accumulated miles that he has done starting to pay off. The terrain became much more rolling today with many climbs and descents. This is often very difficult riding as you are often climbing hills. In spite of this, Cam found that he felt like he was in control of his ride, instead of the hills, wind and miles being in control of him - which was very encouraging. He also found the landscape to be very beautiful and truly found the joy in the journey today.

We found a room at the Country Inn & Suites near the airport after a great deal of searching on the internet and phone during lunch. We had heard from many people that Duluth is an awesome city. It seems that this is a broadly held view as we learned that every hotel room is generally booked on summer weekends within 150 miles of Duluth as it is such a popular place to visit.  We were very happy to get our room and celebrated with dinner at the Outback Steakhouse next door and by taking in the movie "The Heat" which we had intended to see last night in Grand Rapids before the WiFi situation slowed us down...

Ride Details:
- Distance:                124.0 kms
- Riding time:            5 hours, 21 minutes
- Average speed:      23.2 kms/hour
- Wind:                      1st half: Northwest (light). 2nd half: Northeast (light)
- Cumulative:            3,111 kms

Tomorrow's Destination:     Ashland, WI - 115.4 kms

For more ride details, see Strava and for more photos from today's ride, see the Photo Gallery.

When the alarm woke us at 8:30 this morning, Cam looked out the window and saw a cloudy sky and rain falling. This is about the last thing you want to see on a bike trip! Nevertheless we headed for breakfast, and by the time we had finished an excellent meal, the skies had cleared and we packed up with a bit more enthusiasm. Overall we were very impressed by the friendliness and excellent customer service offered by the staff and the quality and cleanliness of the alcohol-free facilities at the Palace Casino Hotel. It was great value for our money and an excellent example of a well managed Native commercial property.  Because we had a relatively short day, we didn't hit the road until around 11:00 AM, heading for Grand Rapids MN. (Interestingly, it turns out there are several cities with this name, including one in Michigan.)

The prevailing westerly winds were prevailing once again (yahoo!) and we made excellent time riding through the Chippewa National Forest. As we crossed the Mississippi River (for the second time), it started spitting (note that the Mississippi is more of a stream than a river at this point). The intensity of the rain increased rapidly, and we were glad to see the small village of Ball Club (really!) appear in the distance. We sought refuge from a complete downpour in a small general store along the highway, where we met Judy. She had lived in Ball Club for 25 years before she bought the store 13 years ago, and incidentally doesn't know the origin of the town's unusual name. It used to operate as a Bar and Supper Club, but Judy found that people just don't seem to have time for proper "suppers" anymore, so now she sells groceries, liquor, and some gas, primarily to the locals, who are mostly Native Americans. It was interesting talking with her as we dried out and warmed up. After finishing our food and hot beverages, we set out again under sunny skies.

We did encounter a few more rain showers, but with the assistance of a moderate wind, we arrived in Grand Rapids at 3:45PM. We stopped at a Burger King with Wifi to look for lodging, where Cam was touched by a random act of kindness... A young fella won a free Whopper meal at a charity-sponsored game on the counter. The game required that you drop a quarter into water, and catch it on one of 4 small ledges. The young man skillfully caught it and was waiting for the manager, but the quarter fell off, so Cam vouched that he had done it, and he received his free meal. Later, as we sat looking for a hotel, this young man came over and kindly offered the free meal to Cam as he had already eaten and wouldn't be able to use it. We hereby name him as our Angel of the Day. Unfortunately, we didn't get his name, but we did get a picture. Thank you so much for this kind gesture - we greatly enjoyed the Whopper Meal while we wrote this blog entry!

Choosing a motel can be tricky - we usually want to stay fairly close to our route, as well as near eating places. Tonight we decided based entirely on "location", choosing the Budget Host Inn, as it was just off the Highway #2. The sign in front said "Free Wifi", but after checking in and showering we discovered we were unable to connect to the Internet, despite extensive efforts by the front desk clerk and Cam. We decided that having the word "Budget" in the name should be a red flag from now on (although it hurts Cam to admit to this...!)

Ride Details:
- Distance:                96.0 kms
- Riding time:           4 hours, 2 minutes
- Avg speed:             23.8 kms/hour
- Wind:                      Northwest (moderate)
- Cumulative:           2,987.0 kms

Tomorrow's Destination:    Duluth, MN - 133.4 kms

For more ride details see Strava and for more ride photos, see our Photo Gallery.

To finish our visit to Chateau Batcheller in style, Barry cooked us a delicious breakfast of steak and eggs. We are pretty sure that this will not be on the counter in any of the continental breakfasts served at our 2 star hotels for the rest of the trip. We are worried that the rest day hangover following the treatment given to us by the Batchellers might just last through much of the rest of the trip.... We are forever grateful to Barry and Julien for this.

We left the house for the 1:45 hour trip back to Fosston at 9AM and were back on the road at 11:02AM. On Tuesday, the Batchellers had picked us up just West of Fosston and there was debate between Barry and Cam as to the distance from Fosston, with Barry suggesting 10 miles, and Cam 4 kms. This was the first time in our working history that Cam was right and Barry was wrong as we measured it at about 4.8 kms.

In Fosston, we stopped for some quick tweaks on the bikes. The guys at Northern Pacific Bicycle Shop in Fargo, ND had given both bikes "performance tune ups" and so they were riding well, but we had to adjust a few things. Cam reflected on the unbudgeted bike repair costs that were accumulating with every trip he made to a bike shop. To date, he has required the following:
- 2 new chains
- 2 new pedals
- 3 new spokes
- 1 new rear tire
- 5 new tubes
- new handelbar tape
- 1 new bottom crank bracket
- 1 new bike computer

Ken, on the other hand has required 1 new tube, new cables, and a new chain. Clearly there is some difference between Ken and Cam that must be behind this distinction. Cam, however, can't put his finger on what that difference might be....?!?!

Barry had pointed out during breakfast that it looked like a strong wind from the Northwest. We were very glad when we reached the starting point that this wind continued as we set out. To our delight, this wind continued through the day and it looks from the weather forecasts should be around for a few more days! We believe that we paid our dues with difficult winds over most of the riding days since Regina and are clearly due for some tailwinds...

At the 40 km point was a very nice town called Bagley, where we had one of our best lunches of the trip so far. The Coach's Corner Cafe was a throwback to the 1950's - which is when each of the waitresses working the floor must have started working there. This turned out to be an awesome thing, however, as the Special of the Day was straight from Gramma's kitchen - meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn and toast - all for the tidy sum of $6.25! This was followed by apple crisp with ice cream for $2.25. An amazing lunch to power us the rest of the day, all well within Cam's lunch budget!

We were interested to visit Bemidji, MN the hometown of Joel Otto, a key member of the 1989 Stanley Cup Champion Calgary Flames. Not knowing anything about the town, we thought that there might be a sign announcing that it was his hometown. We quickly noticed, however, that Bemidji is quite a large city and we saw no such sign... We were fortunate, however, to see Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox - symbols of Bemidji created in 1937 by the local rotary club to commemorate the lumberjacking history of the area.  We also learned that Lake Bemidji is the headwaters of the Mississippi River which flows out of the south end of the lake.

Cass Lake, our destination for the night, is located next to an Ojibwe Indian Reservation, and the primary hotel in the area is the Palace Casino Hotel. We arrived about 5PM, just outrunning a major rainstorm that hit shortly after we reached our room. The price was right, particularly after signing up for the casino's "Players Card". The card saved us 20% on the hotel and gave us discounts at the buffet - which turned out to be surprisingly good! We are feeling great - well-rested, well-fed and well-psyched with a few days of tailwinds ahead (knock wood!). An early night to bed, and a short 86 km ride tomorrow, will contribute further to our overall state of wellness!

"This is why we do this" is a phrase that we have both used on our annual bike trips during particularly memorably stretches of riding. The phrase came up again today - and is how we feel as we wind things down today...

"This is why we do this!"

Ride Details:
- Distance:                  103.7 kms
- Riding Time:            4 hours, 5 minutes
- Average Speed:       25.4 kms/hour
- Wind:                        West North West (Strong!)
- Cumulative:            2,891 kms

Tomorrow's Destination:    Grand Rapids, MN - 85.9 kms

For more ride details see Strava and for more pictures from today see our Photo Gallery.

Today we took a much needed rest day. Barry and Julien Batcheller spoiled us completely and for this we are totally grateful and indebted to you. You are again our Angels of the Day  - thanks so much!

For photos of our awesome rest day, see our Photo Gallery.

Tomorrow's Destination:        Cass Lake, MN - 100 kms.

After a very long day, and a late night getting the blog completed, we were eager to get going on our last riding day before a rest day in Minnesota. With a short night's sleep, and a quick breakfast at McD's, we hit the road at about 8:45 AM for a 118 km ride to Fosston MN, where we were set to meet Barry and Julien Batcheller. Barry was a member of the Board of Directors at Hemisphere GPS where Cam had worked for 13 years. He had generously offered to host them at his house on Lida Lake for a day of rest and relaxation. The target meeting time in Fosston was 4PM at the Dairy Queen, so we had to ride at an average speed of about 20 kms/hour to get there on time.

After battling a West wind almost all of yesterday, we looked forward to having the wind at our backs. However, as Cam checked the forecast, it showed a Southeast wind throughout the day. After starting through the prairies with such good luck, it looked like we weren't going to be helped by the wind again today. This was disappointing as it would hurt our speed, but "we signed up for this"...

We made pretty good time for the first couple of hours, averaging about 19 kms/hour in spite of the wind. We decided to take a rest at the 25% mark (30 kms) and then to push forward to lunch at Mentor MN, at the 85 km mark. By doing this, we hoped to minimize the breaks and felt that we could make it to Fosston on time. However, when we pulled into Crookston - which looked like a very nice town - a train in our path came to a complete stop, delaying us about 15 minutes. Once back on the road, we texted Barry that our estimated time of arrival (ETA) was now going to be 4:30PM.

We love a blue sky and sun, but the combination of hot sun, 30 degree heat (celcius), a south wind, and 9 straight very long riding days was truly wearing on us. Cam and Ken both agreed that their stamina was waning significantly, and they seriously needed a day of rest.

When we reached lunch in Mentor, we were beat and were quite sure that we wouldn't make it to Fosston on time. We finished lunch at 3:00PM and hit the road once again. We found that we were re-charged by the lunch - and lots of cold water and drinks - and we made good time, giving us a chance to be there on time.  However, Cam had told Barry that if we weren't at the DQ by 4:30 to drive West until he found us. He found us about 4 kms from Fosston - ready to be chauffeured to our lodging! (If it wasn't for that darn train we would have made it)

We are so grateful that Barry and Julien are giving us this royal treat right at the mid-point of our adventure. We shared a lot of stories and laughs on the 125 km drive to their lake house, and more during a wonderful steak dinner that will serve to restore our tired legs. They have a beautiful home on Lake Lida, Minnesota - which is our first Five Star accommodations on the trip!  Thank you Barry and Julien - you are our combo Angels/Heros of The Day (and Tomorrow!).

Ride Details:
- Distance:                    113.5 kms
- Riding Time:               6 hours, 6 minutes
- Average Speed:          18.2 kms/hour
- Wind:                           South (moderate)
- Cumulative:                2,787.3 kms

Tomorrow:                    We rest...

For more ride photos, see our Photo Gallery.

The 7:00 AM wake up signaled the start of something big. Normally we sleep later, but today's ride was going to be a long one, without the benefit of the tailwind that had assisted us on our 182 km day in Saskatchewan. The West wind that blew us to Morris the day before was still blowing, meaning we would be dealing with a cross-wind as we headed south to Grand Forks.

We started off under blue skies, and before long the temperature began rising, and our pace was consistently under 20 km/hr, an indication that the 167 km ride was going to make for a long day. Cam was excited to have been contacted the prior day by his cousin - Kirsten Langness - who lives in Moorehead, MN and was hoping to meet us in Grand Forks for dinner with her family. We had given a wide range of arrival times from 4PM to 9 PM depending on how the weather treated us and the cross-wind made it clear that it would be later in that range....

We made pretty good time to the US Border, about one-quarter of the way to Grand Forks, and Cam texted Kirsten that we were estimating an arrival time of 7PM.

The border crossing was uneventful, but by 12:45 we were still some distance from our planned lunch stop in Drayton, ND, and the heat was beginning to take it's toll.

It was at that point that our Hero of the Day appeared out of nowhere, slowing down beside us and calling from her truck "Would you like some ice cold Gatorade!" (To which Ken's internal reaction was "Is the Pope Catholic?") Sheila and her husband were returning to North Carolina after picking up an antique car in Winnipeg. After we enthusiastically responded in the affirmative, they pulled over and Sheila produced two large bottles of chilled Gatorade along with a bag of apples, some cookies and a whole box of snack crackers urging us to take as many as we could carry! Ken asked this kind stranger "are you an angel?" It truly is amazing to us to see this kind of random act of kindness and we really hope that Sheila checks out our blog (we gave her our card with all the details) so that we can tell her once again how much we appreciated this. Thank you so much Sheila!

We finally arrived in the town of Drayton around 2:30, and after picking up some supplies in the local grocery store (prices are cheap here!), grabbed some lunch at the "sketchy" looking Lounge Restaurant. The "menu" we were shown included the microwave minutes each item required!

By 3:30PM we were back on the road with 75 kms to go and Cam had updated his cousin with an estimated arrival time to 8:00 to 8:30PM. The temperature had reached 29 degrees, and it, together with the cross-wind made for an incredibly difficult afternoon/evening.  We made good use of the many overpasses located along the I-29 highway, stopping for "shade breaks" on several occasions. Ken drew inspiration from something Cam had said earlier in the day, "if this was easy, everyone would be doing it".

We managed to grind out the final miles of the day with the help of frequent shade breaks and constant "rear-end" breaks and took the exit ramp to the Grand Forks restaurant where we had agreed to meet Kirsten and her family. As we neared the top of the ramp, we saw a USA welcoming party - the whole Langness family!!! It totally surprised us and blew us away that they would drive an hour and a half to meet with us, and greet us in this way - what an awesome family!

After Jeff supplied multiple bottles of ice-cold water from the cooler in their van (we each consumed two complete bottles on the spot!), they then treated us to dinner at the most excellent Speedway Steakhouse (where Kirsten and Cam learned that they share the Olson taste for spicy and each ordered the "Nacho Mama Burger"). To top the whole evening off, Kirsten produced a plate of amazing chocolate chip cookies for our late night hotel dessert and snacks for tomorrow! After devouring several of the cookies, we can understand why Olson and Kaelen told us their favorite place to eat is "Mama's Kitchen" - and listed off a number of dishes that Kirsten makes that they said were amazing! It was truly a treat for us to spend the evening with you guys, and we are so thankful! You are our official Angels of the Day!

Ride Details:
- Distance:                168.0 kms
- Riding time:            9 hours, 13 minutes (our longest ever!)
- Average speed:      18.2 kms
- Wind:                       West South West (moderate)
- Cumulative:            2,674 kms

Tomorrow's Destination:     Fosston, MN - 118 kms.

For more ride details see Strava and for more ride photos see our Photo Gallery.

"This is what we signed up for" has become a common utterance from both Cam and Ken over the last three weeks. It was uttered a few times again today - one of the toughest days that we've had yet. Through this phrase, we mean that climbs, rain and headwinds are a part of this cross-county adventure and so we can't let them get us down, rather we just need to accept them and ride through them. Cam found it a little hard to agree with Ken that we should "embrace" them, but they both agreed that "this is what we signed up for"!

Our ride today consisted of a 20 km ride east, then a 70 km ride south, followed by a 45 km ride east to Morris, Manitoba. A strong southeast wind was a challenge as they headed east, and an even bigger challenge when they left the TransCanada Highway and started south on Manitoba Highway 13. As they rode, Ken asked whether Cam preferred rain or wind? It was an easy answer and Cam quickly replied "Rain". Ken said "correct answer". One of the things they have learned is that a strong wind hurts you more often than it helps you. It hurts when it is coming directly at you, or when it comes from either side as a cross-wind. In fact, only about one-third of winds are beneficial - when they are from behind. Winds from any other direction are not helpful.

After struggling against the wind and averaging about 15 km/hour for about 2.5 hours they had only covered about 40 kms. At this point, they saw the trees down the road disappear in a low white cloud. Ken said "something is coming this way...". They didn't have rain gear on, nor had they put the rain covers over the pannier bags, so they quickly scrambled to prepare for the onslaught. The wall of rain and wind hit them in no time at all. As they struggled to get the rain gear in place, water was streaming off of them and by the time they had finished, they were completely soaked! Ken literally had to pour the water out of his shoe before he could put it back on. The one upside to riding in this rain was that the wind had lessened slightly. By the time they arrived in Carman after 69 kilometers of riding, the rain had stopped and a few blue patches could be seen in the southern sky.

There weren't a lot of options for lunch in Carman, but the Chicken Chef restaurant proved to be an excellent choice. In fact this location was the original location for this chain of 35 restaurants in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, founded in 1978.

After lunch it was back to fighting headwinds, which had picked up again. The rain started up again as well, and the shoulder of the road was not paved, leaving only a narrow strip of pavement to ride on to the right of the white line. Then, as they approached the end of the south leg of the ride, something remarkable happened - the rain stopped and the wind shifted to the west! While west cross-wind proved very challenging, before they knew it they had made the 90 degree turn and were heading for Morris on Manitoba Highway 23, sailing along at 30 - 35 kms per hour! They arrived just before 6:00PM, tired but thrilled with the dramatic turn of events.

After checking in at the Morris Stampede Inn (formerly a Super 8) and a delicious caesar salad and pizza meal at Santa Lucia Pizza, the boys began to mentally prepare for tomorrow's challenge - a 167 km ride to Grand Forks N.D.

Ride Details:
- Distance:             137.7 kms
- Riding time:        6 hours, 45 minutes
- Avg speed:          20.4 kms (First 85 kms - 15 kms/hour; Last 45 kms - 33 kms/hour)
- Wind:                   First 75 kms - South-East (Strong); Last 55 kms - West (Strong)
- Cumulative:        2,505.8 kms

Tomorrow's Destination:    Grand Forks, ND, USA - 167 kms.

For more ride details see Strava and for more ride pictures see our Photo Gallery.

Ken rode alongside Cam and said "This is a gut check!". "Yes, today has been a grind" was Cam's reply. It was 6PM and there was still about 20 kms to go to reach Portage la Prairie - but it felt like it could be 100. A few kilometres later, the asphalt shoulder disappeared, replaced by soft dirt and gravel to make the final few miles even more challenging.

The breakfast at the Super 8 was excellent and filled them with the fuel they would need for a ride they expected to be about 130 kms to Portage la Prairie. They had to take an unplanned detour into Brandon, which is about 5 kilometres south of the TransCanada Highway to visit the A&L Get Active Cycle Shop. Cam's rear tire was very near retirement with it's primary tread having been worn through by the very rough shoulders ridden the last few days in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. This was the cause for Cam's flat yesterday as a stone had broken through the tread and punctured the tube. As he was repairing the tire, Cam noticed that a spoke had also broken and gone missing (?!?) and so he needed that repaired as well. Ken wanted to practice some preventative maintenance by rotating his tires before they got to the point of Cam's rear tire. He was also adding the optional "cadence" feature to his Garmin cycle computer as Cam hadn't stopped talking about it since he got cadence...

Gord, Clinton and Tyler at A&L received the boys with smiles and cleared their schedule to start the work for them. They were back on the road by 10:45AM, ahead of their expected departure of 11AM. A huge thank you to A&L for your excellent work getting us back in the saddle! You are our Heros of the Day!

Ken went into paternal mode after meeting these kids and wanted to be sure that they were letting their parents know that they were okay. It is a little unsettling for us to imagine our kids doing something like this and we hope for the best for each of them.

Another few kilometres down the road, Ken fell behind and began to inspect his front wheel from above. Cam slowed down and asked if something was wrong, to which Ken replied that he had a flat front tire... Cam let out a whoop and a "finally"! He wasn't happy that misfortune had befallen his buddy, but felt that maybe there was some fairness in the world given that he has had 5 flats, 2 broken spokes, a new tire, 2 new brake pads, and a new chain - whereas Ken is riding all the same equipment he landed in Vancouver with! He was beginning to think that Ken wasn't riding hard enough.

Ken immediately thought that there must have been a problem with the tire rotation completed earlier in the morning, but soon found the culprit - a long sliver of metal impaled in his tire. Although he is less practiced at changing tubes than Cam, he did an expert job and we were back on the road within a short time.

As they started riding again, they remarked that it was nice to be riding with a blue sky as they had ridden primarily in overcast skies since the first 3 or 4 days in BC. They soon regretted this as the temperature moved quickly to 27 degrees with high humidity - something neither Cam nor Ken are accustomed to. At 55 kms, they were ready to take a lunch break at the Robin's Nest in Carberry MB, and between the two of them quickly downed two full jugs of water - the heat and humidity was taking it out on them!

Although they procrastinated through lunch, they got back on the bikes at about 2:30PM with a target to ride 38 kms, take a break, then ride the final 38 kms into Portage la Prairie. They started riding and found that the winds were increasing with the afternoon heat, and what had been a nice cooling breeze turned into a pretty forceful cross-wind from the South. They resumed their drafting routine, each doing 5 kms in the lead and then swapping positions. Cam has found that they generally ride at a pretty good pace doing a cadence of about 80 - 85 RPM's, and Ken's new cadence unit confirmed that he was doing a similar pace. However, with the crosswind and the humidity, they began to wear out well before their target of 38 kms. As they turned a corner about 25 kms later, Ken thought he saw a mirage in the distance - a Co-op gas station and Subway located near Austin. Both agreed that they needed an early break and so they stopped again for cold drinks and some time out of the saddle.

With 50 kms to go, they started out again, agreeing to take it easy over the final stretch. The cross-wind was still strong, and turned a little more from the East. They watched as a serious rain storm passed them just to the North - fortunate to miss the weather. However, they were running out of gas. Ken rode alongside Cam and said "This is a gut check!". "Yes, today has been a grind" was Cam's reply. It was 6PM and there was still about 20 kms to go to reach Portage la Prairie - but it felt like it could be 100. They arrived at their hotel at 7:15PM - exhausted...

A delicious meal of the house specialty ribs at Bill's Sticky Fingers restaurant served to replenish the fuel tanks. After a good nights rest they'll be ready to hit the road again.

We are so relieved to hear the worst of the flooding appears to be over in Southern Alberta! Ken's family was able to return to their home today, and no flooding damage occured.

Ride Details
- Distance:               138.2 kms
- Riding time:          6 hours, 35 minutes
- Average speed:    21.1 kms/hour
- Wind:                    South East (Moderate to strong)
- Cumulative:          2,368.1 kms

Tomorrow's destination - Morris, MB - 135 kms

For more ride details see Strava and our Photo Gallery for more photos from today.

The alarm went off way too early this morning, but the smell of breakfast cooking in the kitchen soon got us up and going for the day. Thanks Raul and Kathy for getting our day off to a great start! The eggs, bacon, ham and hashbrowns was just what the doctor ordered for a big day of riding. After several weeks of restaurant food, it was great to have two home cooked meals in a row.

Before we knew it we were at the Manitoba border...

Ken needs to work on his French before we get to Quebec!

The riding conditions were fantastic this morning - a nice tailwind and cloud cover to keep the temperature comfortable. We rode almost 70 kms before stopping in Virden for lunch. The only hiccup was we forgot about the time change at the border, which set us back an hour. (Our riding friend David reminded us of this when we ran into him once again just before lunch!)

If you are ever in this part of the country you should know that Virden and the surrounding area is a cellular "black hole" for Telus customers. It was a strange feeling to be without all the info we rely on from our phones over a couple of hours on the TransCanada highway. Fortunately the Virden Subway had complementary WiFi, so we were able to reconnect with the home base.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, except for a live Garter snake sighting, until about 10 kms from Brandon when Cam had...

We checked into the Super 8 in Brandon, on the recommendation of several people, and were very impressed The hotel recently re-opened after a fire a few years ago, and everything is new and very nicely furnished. We shared the details of our trip (including the website) with the friendly young lady at the front desk named AJ, who gave us the best customer service we've had on the trip so far. She went out of her way to help us with a number of things, including finding a bike shop to fix Cam's rear wheel which somehow lost a spoke. Later that night she astounded us, by leaving a note under our door saying our she had personally covered the cost of our room for the night! Her generosity and compassion for the cause is truly humbling! Thank you AJ - you are our Hero of the Day!

Sometimes after riding all day we can't bear the thought of getting on the bikes again to go for supper, so tonight we ending up walking 2 Km's to the Beef and Barrel restaurant recommend by Cam's Aunt Kay and Uncle Myron. As Ken handed our waitress one of our cards, a lady and her husband at the only other occupied table approached Ken and asked him for one of our cards as well. We soon discovered that Rev. Paul Stade and his wife Lynda were good friends of Corina from El Jordan in Bolivia!  They are serving at the First Baptist Church in Brandon, and had heard about our trip from an email Corina had sent out. What are the chances we would run in to them at a tiny restaurant in Brandon? It's becoming very clear to us that God is at work in all the details of our trip! And to top it off, they gave us a ride back to our hotel! Thanks again Paul and Lynda!

All of our activities today were overshadowed by the events going on back home, where the overflowing rivers have created unprecedented flooding in Calgary and area. Ken's family had to evacuate their home, but thankfully no flood damage has occurred so far.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected in some way by these events. A song that Ken has been listening to over the course of the trip  called Hope Now has become especially meaningful in light of these events going on.  The lyrics to the second verse are:

Ride Details
- Distance:               146.9 kms
- Riding time:          6 hours, 6 minutes
- Average speed:    24.1 kms/hour
- Wind:                    North West (Light to Moderate)
- Cumulative:          2,229.9 kms

Tomorrow's destination - Portage La Prairie - 126.0 kms

For more ride details see Strava and our Photo Gallery for more photos from today.

As Ken pulled back the curtains to check the weather this morning, he saw rain falling and trees swaying in the strong East wind and thought "worst conditions ever!" Fortunately by the time we rolled up to Vicki's Cafe at the Grenfell Esso the rain had stopped. In fact we didn't get any more rain for the rest of the day, for which we were thankful. The wind, on the other hand, blew in our faces for the entire day at speeds similar to what had blown us from Medicine Hat to Moose Jaw a few days earlier. We knew that this was our penance for having been so fortunate in the western half of the province!

In spite of the strong wind, we passed the 2,000 km mark during the morning - a milestone meaning that we have completed one-third of our our journey across Canada!

As we stopped in the town of Broadview for a snack at the one quarter point of the day's ride, we were excited to run into Kyle and David, our two young rider friends from yesterday! Unfortunately, Kyle was having some severe back wheel troubles and had decided to catch the Greyhound bus to Brandon for repairs. First, however, he would have to convince the bus driver to take his un-crated bike - which he was successful in doing. David hadn't started riding yet for the day, and so we invited him to ride with us, which he did for the rest of our day. This was advantageous for both David and ourselves, as it meant a third rider to share in the rotation of breaking the wind. And for David it was much more efficient than riding on his own.

Interestingly, we also ran into our French friends, Marc and Adeline, as we were leaving that same rest stop. After having camped in the yard of a church in Grenfell the night before, they were feeling demoralized by the headwind and were looking for a ride East so that they could use the day as a rest day. Their load is very heavy and we hope that they found a rig large enough for all their gear that could take them somewhere restful! Perhaps we will run into them again down the road?!?

The riding arrangement with David worked beautifully for the rest of the day, and we were able to average 18 kms/hour to Moosomin - better than the 17.6 kms/hour we did yesterday - even though the headwind was far stronger today. After Moosomin, David was planning to continue on to the Manitoba border, another 20 km or so before calling it a day. We were more than ready by this point to call it a day and to join a number of Cam's family who call Moosomin home for dinner and catching up.  We wish David all the best as he completes his cross-Canada adventure!

As we entered Moosomin, Cam saw a familiar face waiting in her car by the side of the exit road. His Aunt Kae Germo had come to welcome us and lead us to our accommodation for the night at Raul and Kathy Germo's (Kathy is Cam's cousin - Kae's daughter). Waiting for us at their place were Kae's husband, Uncle Myron, Kathy and Raul and their kids Naomi (17), Shoshanna (14) and Dominic (4) who was the life of the party and very eager to show us (to our delight) the deluxe hot tub he had just come from! Bonus!!!

Cam's Uncle and Aunt Tim and Rondi Hovdestad arrived soon after and we enjoyed an evening of excellent food and spirited conversation, including some laughs about the time that Cam and Jeff (Kae & Myron's son who met us at the airport in Vancouver) simultaneously fainted while visiting Uncle Tim in the ICU of an Edmonton hospital after a serious accident... Cam awoke just in time to hear a nurse yell "there's two of them!!!".

We had a wonderful evening - it is so nice to be able to share our adventure with family. And we are so appreciative of their warm and generous hospitality. You are all our Heros of the Day!

Ride Details:
- Distance:                99.8 kms
- Riding Time:           5 hours, 34 minutes
- Average Speed:      18.0 kms/hour
- Wind:                      East (strong)
- Cumulative:            2,083.0

Tomorrow's Destination - Brandon, Manitoba - 140 kms

For more ride details, see Stava and for more ride pictures, see our Photo Gallery.