Flat Tire - Day 6

Thursday, August 7th - Day 6 

What a day! Mike and I hit the road on our bikes about 6:45 AM. We had a fantastic ride going and were at 13 miles when I heard a noise: clang clang clang (I thought what kind of pavement was I hitting?). I stopped and saw nothing out of whack, so I went ahead another 5 feet - same noise - I got off my bike and there it was...a FLAT TIRE (our first ever)! I yelled at Mike to stop and he came back. What an experience. We got a new tube out and took the back wheel off and took out the old tube (glad Mike was there because I wasn’t sure how to change it - even though we had a lesson from Cyclova).

We got the old tube in and tried to inflate it with the pumps we had on our bikes to no avail. In trying to do this we think we broke the stem on each pump…grrrrrr...we looked around and didn’t see much….after all we are out in the middle of nowhere somewhat short of Saskatoon.

We spotted a building down the road. We walked there and it was a metal fab business with a few guys working there. We walked over with our bikes and asked for help. They were SUPER.they couldn’t fill the tire because of the hook up…the closest help was 13 miles away at the campgrounds where we left and Tim was hopefully still there. We had a regular pump there that we thought would work but had no way to get there. The guys (Frank and Russ) said they’d call their delivery service who might be there in an hour to take us back to the campground. For a price! Then (5 minutes later), out walked a guy from the office. He said, “come on guys I’ll take you”. It appears Russ asked him to help us. He loaded us, and our bikes, in his pickup. He drove us 30 km back to the campground and would take nothing for the ride. His name was Rees Davies and he was an angel. Please pray a word of thanks to Frank, Russ and Rees. They saved the day. We were able to fill the tire back at camp but were stumped about the pumps we had on our bikes (more later). We lost about 3 hours on this calamity, but finally hit the road again and went another 34 miles and then walked 8. We were bushed and could do no more.  

We saw some fantastic scenery however everything seemed uphill (increased elevation) and the wind was in our face. We found another campground and are now settled for the night. No wifi till tomorrow.

On a final note as were biking down the freeway a young man (11 years old) name Jaden was on a dirt bike (1 speed) pulled out next to Mike and rode with us the last 10 miles. He rides about 18 miles a day to his father’s job. WOW. He made Mike push it to keep up with him. OH BOY!

Interesting notes:

1.  Showers. We stayed in our second campground and asked about showers. They said yes, but unfortunately it cost $.25 a minute. We skipped showers but Mike was beginning to smell.  

Next campsite had showers and they were a dollar (a looney in Canada). I went down to the showers with 2 looneys in my hand. Stepped in shower. There was no hot/cold or on/off faucets. So I put a looney in and the shower came on. Thank goodness it was a good stream and was the right temperature and it lasted long enough before it shut off. Last campground we were in had FREE showers: YES! We all showered and the strange odors have gone away.

PS:  There is a shower in the motor home, but if you’re bigger than Makayla (my granddaughter) who weighs about 60 lbs., you do not fit!

2.  Odometers. Frank put odometers on our bikes that tells us what the temperature is (usually in the 60’s in the morning and it shows up to the 90’s in the afternoon) and how many miles that we travelled for the day; our average speed and the max speed we travelled during the trip. It is awesome; especially when everything here is in Celsius which we don’t understand. Also all the distances here are in kilometers. 

3.  Muscle Strength: we think we are getting stronger (in fact Mike said the muscles on his knees are getting bigger). My shorts are getting too small and Mike even wore his bike underwear without the outer pants. Oh boy!

4.  Dinner: We had a salad and that was all we ate. We are now having a glass of wine (me) and a cigar (Mike and me). We’ve even talked Tim (a non drinker) had a beer.

5.  Stuck: We got gas (very expensive here - $2.17/litre) and when we pulled out of the station Tim got us stuck on our trailer hitch while pulling out of the station…grrrrrrr...we backed up and finally got out!

6.  Getting to know each other. Tim Bradwell our chief fix it guy was a Marine (in Vietnam) in the 60’s and now lives across from the old Bone Lake store. He’s lived there since 1979. We’ve been neighbors (a mile apart) for over 20 years and never met each. Love thy Neighbor. As I’ve said it’s difficult when you don’t even know your neighbor. PS: He’s an active member at Bone Lake Lutheran. His wife, Nancy, said she was happy to see Tim go with us for a month. We’re beginning to understand why: Just kidding; he’s great!

7.  The highways! We’ve been on Hwy 16 mostly. It’s mostly a 4 lane freeway. We are on the shoulders. Kinda scary. I counted the cars today that passed us (on our side of the freeway) and they average about 25 a mile which equally about one every 15 seconds. Thank God most have given us a wide berth. I think they’re thinking we are Canadian Mountie Bike Patrol? Plus our bright shirts stand out — thank you Frank for them! We came into a valley over a river and we hit about 22 MPH going down and then there was a bridge at the bottom where our shoulder dropped to about 2 feet on the side. When we hit the bridge it began with rumble strips…I thought it was over…fortunately we made it over and then had to go way up hill for over a mile riding out of the valley. It makes me exhausted even thinking about it.

We have many pictures to send and when someone explains to me how to I will.

Love you all.

God Bless us all.

Please Pray for us!  Please!

~Chuck