Ken's "Smurf style" helmet rain cover. "Happy Birthday Ken - for your Birthday, and for each of our Father's Days, I will join you on the longest ride that either of us have ever done in our history...".
"Sounds good!" Ken said, "let's do it..."
And so began our long and very exhausting day. The theme of the day was Rains and Trains. We were dripping wet by about 8:30AM as we rode the 6 kms from Uncle Vern's place to Humpty's, including a 10 minute wait for a train! This slowed us down, but not nearly as much as the under-staffed Humpty's restaurant, filled with happy families celebrating Father's Day! It was 10AM before we were able to hit the road for our longest day - we were just a little worried that we might be arriving in Moose Jaw around midnight if the winds weren't in our favour...
"Sounds good!" Ken said, "let's do it..."
And so began our long and very exhausting day. The theme of the day was Rains and Trains. We were dripping wet by about 8:30AM as we rode the 6 kms from Uncle Vern's place to Humpty's, including a 10 minute wait for a train! This slowed us down, but not nearly as much as the under-staffed Humpty's restaurant, filled with happy families celebrating Father's Day! It was 10AM before we were able to hit the road for our longest day - we were just a little worried that we might be arriving in Moose Jaw around midnight if the winds weren't in our favour...
 Birthday and Father's Day breakfast at Humpty's |  Birthday lunch at the Chaplin 1-19 Diner. "Don't worry that the fries are black, our oil is really old, but they still taste good"...true story! |  A birthday rainbow! |
The weather didn't cooperate as we got snow in Chaplin SK as you can see in this picture. Just kidding, that's salt from the salt lake at Chaplin, however, the weather wasn't cooperating as we rode in rain for about 40% of the day, and the wind shifted from the west to being North-North-West. However, this was much better than blowing into our face, so we won't complain. (Editorial Correction: An astute reader has advised that this is Sodium Sulfate, not salt. Thank you Marion!)
Arriving... We were in the saddles for about 8 hours today and arrived in Moose Jaw just after 7PM - both very glad to be done for the day. We have checked into the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa in Moose Jaw and are truly ready for a rest day tomorrow. The toughest thing about a day this long isn't the riding, but rather the rear end. While our derriere's are getting in shape, it is very challenging to stay comfortable for that long and both of us were very ready to dismount by the time that we reached the hotel!
With such a long day behind us, and a rest day ahead of us, we are ready to start our rest, so this is a bit of an abbreviated blog entry today. We both need to take full advantage of the therapeutic powers of the Mineral Spa and are looking forward to visiting the Moose Jaw Tunnels - built by Chinese immigrants and allegedly used by Al Capone during prohibition.
Ken enjoys a birthday soak in the Temple Garden Mineral Spa...
Ride Details:
- Distance: 181.8 kms
- Riding time: 7 hours, 52 minutes
- Average speed: 23.1 kms/hour
- Wind: North-North-West
See more ride details on Strava. We will be posting more riding pictures from today in our Photo Gallery tomorrow.
Note that Cam (and Ken) are in third place for Canada in the Strava Junedoggle Challenge, only 86 kms behind the leader. Cheer us on as we go for first place by June 30th!
- Distance: 181.8 kms
- Riding time: 7 hours, 52 minutes
- Average speed: 23.1 kms/hour
- Wind: North-North-West
See more ride details on Strava. We will be posting more riding pictures from today in our Photo Gallery tomorrow.
Note that Cam (and Ken) are in third place for Canada in the Strava Junedoggle Challenge, only 86 kms behind the leader. Cheer us on as we go for first place by June 30th!
