Day 20 - Kindersley to Rosetown

85.1 km - Total so far 1,694.69 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5099516

• Before we tell you about our day, we just want to thank you so much for helping us out. Within 10 minutes of the post, Ginette (Hélène's sister) had found us a bike shop in Regina. As I looked at my emails at lunch today, I noted that Yvette (friend from work - LSEC) had contacted the bike shop in Regina and spoken to Todd. We are trying to determine how soon we can be in Regina before we give the bike shop a call. We can't forget to thank Helen and Millon who gave us the answer about the two magnificent creatures in the picture, that turned out to be North American Proghorns. Had it not been for the cars, we could have gotten awesome pictures of them laying down. I just checked my emails and discovered that Sylvie has also found us a another bike shop. Again thank you so much for your help.

• We were warned as we arrived in Kindersley that there was a thunder storm warning in effect. Just in case we staked down the tent with the help of the new mallet we just bought. We are sure glad we did. At about 10:30 it started to rain, then came the thunder and lightning. Quite the show I have to tell you. After the sound effects stopped, the wind picked up and that lasted most of the night. At times the wind got under the tent and lifted the floor at our feet. We did not get much sleep last night.

• After a McD breakfast we hit the road. For the first time on this trip we started with the wind to our left rear. Not the tail wind we had read about but a nice treat for once but we took advantage of it nevertheless. We rode like two kids (well extremely mature teenagers) out for fun and just gobbled up the kilometers. What immediately surprised us was how different the scenery was compared to the day before. Nice green rolling terrain with some climbs, a lot more farm homes, pastures, grain elevators and yes the ever present silos. 

A rare trio of grain elevators

No depanneurs but quite a few of these in the countryside

We believe this to be a silo breeding farm located in Fiske. Teenage silos to the left and the younger silos to the right

• About 10ish, we decided to take a chance and venture into Fiske. The sign on the highway indicated that meals were available. We found the only cafe to be closed. Asking one of the locals, we were directed to the curling rink. In the curling rink, we found a few of the locals having coffee and chatting. Hélène and I each grabbed a coffee and sat at the table closest to the window. I picked the choice seat, directly under the TV shelf. As most of the locals left only Sandra and Eleanor remained behind. We had a great old chat telling the ladies about our trip to date and some of the experiences we had. In turn, they told us about Fiske (population 100 and that has been constant for 100 years) and how busy the curling rink is in the winter with children and families. Sandra mentioned spotting Sheara cycling on the road near Fiske, the night before. We understand that Fikse may have the only one sheet artificial ice curling rink in the world. We also learned that Kindersley was an oil town. This would explain why most of the trucks in the campground this morning were gone by the time left. We could have stayed and chatted some more but we had to get back on the bikes and our destination for the night, Rosetown. As we left, Eleanor invited us to come back next year. Ladies, we might just do that. Thanks again for the wonderful hospitality.

The sheet of ice in Fiske. If you look closely you can see a twoonie

The curling rink and "the" place to be seen and heard in Fiske 

What else but the grain elevator in Fiske

Hélène in her office in Rosetown

• What Hélène and I will remember most about this trip, are the connections we have made and will continue to make until we get home, be they on the road or right here through our blog.  

52.88 miles - Total so far 1,053.03 miles