Someone told me long ago there’s a calm before the storm,
I know; it’s been comin’ for some time.
When its over, so they say, it’ll rain a sunny day,
I know; shinin’ down like water.
Chorus:
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain
Comin’ down on a sunny day?
-CCR - "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"
Regina - REST DAY
1882 kms / 1162 miles biked to date
I woke up to the feeling of sun shining down on my tent which was a nice change to the previous evening when we ran from the laundry facilities at the campground to our tents in a valiant escape from the rain. Unfortunately however the sun shining down on my tent lasted all of 5 minutes (from about 7:05 – 7:10) and by the time I poked my head out and emerged from my tent the raindrops had started to fall and the wind had begun to pick up. The campground was actually quite a nice one with a great ‘communal area’ with a tv – so strange to see television again and catch up with world news..!
Brendan soon emerged as well and we decided to walk into Regina to (1) hit a Tim Hortons and (2) run some errands. A group of people headed to the casino (taking advantage of the free shuttle service) however, BC and I, being hard-core walking Londoners, decided to brave the “light shower” and walk down to Tim Hortons. It was only a 2 kilometer walk and we figured we would only get a ‘damp soaking’. About 3 minutes into the walk the wind picked up and the heavens opened to release the water which came down horizontally and in sheets. We were drenched in about 4 minutes… I started to panic as the water started to seep through my socks and into my running shoes. Yick.
Brendan soon emerged as well and we decided to walk into Regina to (1) hit a Tim Hortons and (2) run some errands. A group of people headed to the casino (taking advantage of the free shuttle service) however, BC and I, being hard-core walking Londoners, decided to brave the “light shower” and walk down to Tim Hortons. It was only a 2 kilometer walk and we figured we would only get a ‘damp soaking’. About 3 minutes into the walk the wind picked up and the heavens opened to release the water which came down horizontally and in sheets. We were drenched in about 4 minutes… I started to panic as the water started to seep through my socks and into my running shoes. Yick.
We decided to take a short cut through a Winnebago sales lot and discovered that Regina is underlain by a thick, thick, later of sticky glue-like hea
vy grey clay. The surface area covered by my Nikes went from ‘human footprint size’ to ‘overgrown saskwatch-sized’ footprint as the clay stuck to our soles. After about 3 steps my feet were so heavy I could hardly walk. As you can imagine, we looked pretty rough plodding into Tim Hortons soaking wet and with gigantic, clay covered feet. Lucky Regina is not the fashion capital of Canada and we seemed to fit right in... Plus, the biggest country festival in Canada (??) called, "The Craven Festival" (the country version of Woodstock / Glastonbury) was in full swing so there were a lot of muddy coffee drinkers that morning.
Staring into our coffee cups, Brendan and I devoured our bagels and donuts and contemplated how on earth we were going to check out and make the most of Regina in such dire weather. There was a girl sitting next to our table and she overheard our conversation and offered to give us a lift to the mall about 5 kms away – a total life-saver..!! We gratefully piled into the car headed to a mall and ran some errands (post, haircut, food) and then hopped on a bus into downtown Regina – hee haw..!
I regret to say that we did not experience Regina in all of its potential glory as the rain did not let up for the rest of the day. Brendan and I managed to dodge some of the rain by hiding out in local coffee shops reading the Globe, exploring more malls, libraries, bookstores and several bus shelters. It was a very, VERY wet and windy afternoon and by the time my feet did dry out it was nearly time to have dinner.
We took a bus to ‘Rock Creek’, a restaurant about 2kms from our campsite and in the middle of the ‘metropolis of WalMart / strip-mall city’ which had been recommended to us by one of the locals. There we found a perfect place at the bar and indulged in a fantastic burger and a very, very much needed glass of delicious meaty red wine. It was a perfect way to end the blustery, cold day. There had been an air of ‘the inevitable’ about the day as we knew that we had over 900kms to cover over the coming 6 days – including days of 172 and 169 kms… Given that we were already tired we did the best we could to relish and soak up our final few hours of being ‘saddle free’. I have never appreciated ‘free time’ so much and felt that in spite of the crappy weather we’d definitely made the most of the way.
vy grey clay. The surface area covered by my Nikes went from ‘human footprint size’ to ‘overgrown saskwatch-sized’ footprint as the clay stuck to our soles. After about 3 steps my feet were so heavy I could hardly walk. As you can imagine, we looked pretty rough plodding into Tim Hortons soaking wet and with gigantic, clay covered feet. Lucky Regina is not the fashion capital of Canada and we seemed to fit right in... Plus, the biggest country festival in Canada (??) called, "The Craven Festival" (the country version of Woodstock / Glastonbury) was in full swing so there were a lot of muddy coffee drinkers that morning.Staring into our coffee cups, Brendan and I devoured our bagels and donuts and contemplated how on earth we were going to check out and make the most of Regina in such dire weather. There was a girl sitting next to our table and she overheard our conversation and offered to give us a lift to the mall about 5 kms away – a total life-saver..!! We gratefully piled into the car headed to a mall and ran some errands (post, haircut, food) and then hopped on a bus into downtown Regina – hee haw..!
I regret to say that we did not experience Regina in all of its potential glory as the rain did not let up for the rest of the day. Brendan and I managed to dodge some of the rain by hiding out in local coffee shops reading the Globe, exploring more malls, libraries, bookstores and several bus shelters. It was a very, VERY wet and windy afternoon and by the time my feet did dry out it was nearly time to have dinner.
We took a bus to ‘Rock Creek’, a restaurant about 2kms from our campsite and in the middle of the ‘metropolis of WalMart / strip-mall city’ which had been recommended to us by one of the locals. There we found a perfect place at the bar and indulged in a fantastic burger and a very, very much needed glass of delicious meaty red wine. It was a perfect way to end the blustery, cold day. There had been an air of ‘the inevitable’ about the day as we knew that we had over 900kms to cover over the coming 6 days – including days of 172 and 169 kms… Given that we were already tired we did the best we could to relish and soak up our final few hours of being ‘saddle free’. I have never appreciated ‘free time’ so much and felt that in spite of the crappy weather we’d definitely made the most of the way.
A slow and relaxing walk back to the campground was in order and the second we arrived at ‘tent city’ the heavens opened once again to let loose yet another prairie storm – this one I managed to avoid by diving into my tent and into the warm reaches of my sleeping bag. Fingers crossed that the rain would let up for the following day 131km journey to Neudorf..!
We had a long, long 6 days ahead... over 900kms from Regina to our next rest day in Kenora...!!
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