| | Two words are all that are needed to describe today's ride - "Tail" and "Wind". Ken opened the door of their room at the Imperial Inn at about 8:30AM and said that there was a nice west wind. Cam replied that he would believe it when he sees it, always sensitive to creating expectations that might not pan out. However, once they hit the road at about 9:45AM, they realized that they were experiencing dream riding conditions. |
The wind was howling out of the west and was directly behind their backs enabling them to ride between 30 and 50 kms/hour at various times. There are days when they don't have enough low gears on the bike (such as climbing mountain passes). Today they could have used more high gears, as they couldn't peddle fast enough to keep up once the speed reaches around 45 km/hr.
Cam's uncle - Vern Olson! Cam called his Uncle Vern at 10AM to confirm where they might meet this morning. Vern was driving from Swift Current Saskatchewan to Calgary, and they had planned to stop for a chat when their paths crossed. Cam was hoping that they might be able to meet for coffee at one of the two towns along the way, Irvine or Walsh, however, when he called Vern he said that he didn't think that they would be able to make it to either town before Vern passed by in his car. However, the winds had a different idea and before they knew it they had made the 30 kms to Irvine and were scanning the edge of town from the highway for a place to have coffee. Just as they did, Cam noticed Vern's white Chevy Impala pull to a stop across the highway and the boys did a little cross-country through the ditch to the other side of the highway. Once again, timing was perfect!
Main Street - Irvine AB
Coffee at the Irvine General Store Vern is Dad to Lori, who you will recall was our Angel of the Day on Day 3 when her and her husband Ernie arrived with water just before we made the assault on the summit of the Coquihalla. He is heading to Calgary to visit his kids but took time to treat us to coffee and cookies at the Irvine General Store - or we should say that he treated us to cookies as we learned that the Ladies Society of Irvine had treated us to coffee in honour of Father's Day. The Ladies Society filled most of the coffee shop when we first arrived and must have liked the looks of us! Vern is also letting us use his condo in Swift Current when we pass through tomorrow night - so Uncle Vern, you are our Angel of the Day! Thank you so much!
The very cool Irvine General Store - notice the Alberta Treasury Branch wicket at the back right!
Awesome Roast Beef Sandwich Louise! We thought that this day was going to be a very slow news day, however, it has turned out to be one of our best days yet. We made it the 94 kms to the turnoff to our destination - Maple Creek - in about 3 hours and decided that we didn't want to take the 16 km detour into Maple Creek and back tomorrow morning. The Visitor Information Centre gave us some options that we chewed on over a delicious lunch served to us by Louise, the most excellent hostess at the 1 & 21 Cafe, and decided to continue another 24 kms on the TransCanada to the Piapot Saloon and Guest House. This seemed to us to be a bit of risk, but also an adventure. Cam had earlier told Ken about his only recollection of Piapot being a rest stop with a game of lawn darts in the ditch in front of an abandoned gas station.
 Piapot Guesthouse & Saloon |  |  Glenn, the owner, and Jessica |
The Piapot Guesthouse and Saloon has turned out to be a most unexpected delight for the boys. Glenn Bonnett, originally from Ottawa and most recently from Calgary, bought it 5 years ago on a whim after driving through and seeing it in shambles having been closed for 2 years. He took some pictures, and made the decision the next day to purchase it - leaving a lucrative job in information technology consulting to move east for a "lifestyle" job. Along with the Saloon, Glenn manages a number of ventures from Piapot including photography, IT consulting, clothing manufacturing and sales and real estate. In explaining his lifestyle change, Glenn said he had wondered "Why work for 50 weeks in a stressful environment to get away to spend 2 weeks in a stress-free environment, when you can live 50 weeks in a stress-free environment and go to the stressful environment only when you want to or need to?" Cam and Ken could relate to Glenn's perspectives as they enjoyed the evening in the Saloon watching the Saskatchewan Roughriders in pre-season play.
Life in the Piapot Guesthouse and Saloon...!
The boys seemed to be the only ones interested in the football game as small-town life was going on around them. As they shared the evening with the locals, they learned much about Piapot life...
- Tony and Joe negotiated the breeding rights for a hog at the table next to them.
- Tony then agreed to get some drill pipe to Roy to use for a Texas gate.
- Joe's wife Berni had moved from Abbotsford to marry Joe.
- Jessica visited her mother Berni in Piapot and liked it so she moved from BC and took a job at the Saloon a month and a half ago.
- Roy brought his friend Robert into the Saloon for the evening and was having a very good time with everyone, including us. He remembers back when Garth owned the place before it was bought by Glenn...
- Erckle, a rodeo cowboy, chatted all night with Roy and Tony, but had to be home by 9 as his wife is out of town.
- Adam, Berni's son, and Jessica's brother, moved from Chilliwack today, and is excited to be heading to Lloyd to begin work on the rigs.
- Roy's neighbour recently passed away of a massive heart attack with no warning and Roy dug his grave by hand with a shovel, but commented that next time, he's going to use a backhoe...
We had wondered in earlier blogs about the dying life of small-town Canada, however, this evening seemed to be proof that there is still a lot of small-town life (and death...) going on, at least in Piapot Saskatchewan!
Ride Details:
- Distance: 122.1 kms
- Riding time: 4 hours, 32 minutes
- Average Speed: 26.9 kms/hour
- Wind: West (strong!)
For more ride details, see Strava and for more ride photos, see the Photo Gallery.
- Tony and Joe negotiated the breeding rights for a hog at the table next to them.
- Tony then agreed to get some drill pipe to Roy to use for a Texas gate.
- Joe's wife Berni had moved from Abbotsford to marry Joe.
- Jessica visited her mother Berni in Piapot and liked it so she moved from BC and took a job at the Saloon a month and a half ago.
- Roy brought his friend Robert into the Saloon for the evening and was having a very good time with everyone, including us. He remembers back when Garth owned the place before it was bought by Glenn...
- Erckle, a rodeo cowboy, chatted all night with Roy and Tony, but had to be home by 9 as his wife is out of town.
- Adam, Berni's son, and Jessica's brother, moved from Chilliwack today, and is excited to be heading to Lloyd to begin work on the rigs.
- Roy's neighbour recently passed away of a massive heart attack with no warning and Roy dug his grave by hand with a shovel, but commented that next time, he's going to use a backhoe...
We had wondered in earlier blogs about the dying life of small-town Canada, however, this evening seemed to be proof that there is still a lot of small-town life (and death...) going on, at least in Piapot Saskatchewan!
Ride Details:
- Distance: 122.1 kms
- Riding time: 4 hours, 32 minutes
- Average Speed: 26.9 kms/hour
- Wind: West (strong!)
For more ride details, see Strava and for more ride photos, see the Photo Gallery.