Tuxford to Regina. DAY: 89.04km. ODO: 2,459km. AVS: 17.6km/h. MXS: 38.0km/h. ATM: 5:03.

I woke up at 5:00am, as all of those lovely birds that I am so fond of were all chattering up a storm. However, as I was awake, I did notice two White-tailed Deer standing twelve feet away from my tent. They hung around for about ten minutes before moving on. Then, I got more sleep.
However, I was up again at 8:00, and I got packing. Though I am constantly getting more efficient at packing up all my stuff, I’m not getting any faster at it, and I still wasn’t on the road until 10:00. There were still no park staff on site (must be a union shop), so I didn’t have to pay for the past two days.

I was heading southeast to Regina. Unfortunately, the wind was coming from the southeast, just my luck. The wind had much less strength than previous days, but once you et moving into it, it still seems pretty strong. On the way to the Trans-Canada junction, I spotted a Marbled Godwit looking for food on a stubbly field.

I was quite lucky with the rain once again. As I was slogging down the Trans-Canada, about 30km west of Regina (you can see downtown Regina from 35km away), there were sheets of rain coming down about a mile to the south, but it was still a mix of sun and cloud where I was. About 10km from Regina, I got hit with just a few drops, but it started pouring behind me (no doubt onto the other cyclists from BC that I had passed). I checked into my hostel at 5:00pm, just as it started to pour. Beat it again!

I stopped for lunch today at “Chubby’s Bar and Grill”, in the town of Belle Plaines. In these small towns, wherever I stop for lunch, they always have a TV playing, and they all seem to be tuned to the same channel – some CTV station. The show that is always on is some sort of talk show cum self-help program, hosted by a woman who looks vaguely like a young Marlo Thomas. Today’s topic was on sleeping problems, and they had some kind of expert on that was explaining sleep issues from all sorts of perspectives. At one point, he said that he was accustomed to seeing numerous patients who do not know that caffeine causes sleeplessness if consumed in the evening. What kind of moron can grow to adulthood without learning a thing like that? If these are the kind of twits that are sucking up the heath care dollars, maybe a little privatisation is a good idea. If they have to pay $35 to ask a doctor a stupid question, maybe they’ll use their brains a little.

And as long as I’m on a good rant – the commercials on daytime television! There was one ad, one of those ones that shows someone in some “lifestyle activity”, with a voiceover explaining why this product is perfect for his or her activity. This one showed a guy climbing a Kilimanjaro-like peak in burning noon-day sun, and his commentary was all about how he needed a good, strong antiperspirant that could handle the job. There were lots of camera shots up the guys’ armpit, etc. Who the hell cares what you smell like when you’re doing something like that? Need to smell nice just in case you run into Prince Charles and Camilla out on some precipice? Give me a break!

As long as I’m in complaining mode, let’s talk about these guys (I have yet to see a woman driving one, though I’m sure it must happen) in giant motorhomes that have every convenience of home. What kind of mileage do these things get? It can’t be very good if they can justify burning the extra fuel to tow their Grand Cherokee behind them! It’s this sort of resource wasting that really burns me. The parodist in me is tempted to continue my trip across the country with a small tricycle tied to the back of my bike.