Day 16 – Gull Lake, SK (May 17, 2015)
I got up and cleaned up camp while it was snowing lightly. Nature couldn’t really decide whether to rain or snow so I ended up with a bit of both. It was miserable!
I was on my bike by about 6:20am and worked my way through the drizzle to the restaurant and the gas station on the Transcanada. I was disappointed to discover that it didn’t open until 7am so I found refuge in the lobby of an old run down motel.
When the restaurant eventually opened I struck up a conversation with a talkative Korean waiter. He was an electrical engineer who quit his job to work in a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. He explained but I couldn’t quite figure it out! He mentioned that he had traveled across Korea and back on his bicycle and complained about chaffing. (luckily I’m probably too skinny to have his problems)
It was a miserable day; cold, windy and wet. The forecast called for a low of -3 which would put my sleeping bag to the test. I decided, given the wind it would too risky to count on making my destination at Swift Current. Instead I initially decided to stop a Tompkins. Tompkins resembles a town out of a western movie. I had lunch at a diner that appeared to be the “respectable” town hangout. Then at 3pm made my way down to the hotel. The hotel had better days. In any respectable city it would have been torn down. There was an old pub down stairs and a sorry looking bar maid that also looked after the hotel. Her kids apparently had been sleeping in rooms 1, 2 and 3 so she was forced to give me the suite.
I settled in, took a shower, and was taking precautions from bed bugs when the electricity went out and I decided that the next town may be a better bet.
So I thanked the lady, packed up my things and took off for Gull Lake 24km East. As it turned out the electricity had gone out in a large area of Saskatchewan and Gull Lake didn’t have power either. The town was only marginally better but I was happier in a small motel room. Because there was no electricity the restaurants were closed and I had mixed nuts and beef jerky in my cold room before hitting the hay.