The rest of Alberta and half of Saskatchewan

So I'm having a bit of a hard time keeping my days straight now, they kinda start to blend together in my head now, but I'll do my best.

Last Tuesday (June 16th) I left Brooks and was headed to Medicine Hat. I don't recall anything overly eventful from that day, although I think it was pretty hot out. The ride that day was about 110km. As I rode close to the city some relatives of mine (who I had never met) found me on the highway and led me to their home. For a prairie city there sure are more hill there than I expected haha. I spent a day here to rest and learned that I am somehow related to many many people in that town. I was also shown around the town and saw many of the local sites.

I left Medicine Hat on Thursday the 18th. I wasn't fully sure of how far I was going to get that day but with a beautiful tailwind I think I covered about 130km and arrived in Tompkins, Saskatchewan (2 provinces done!) This was a tiny little town with a small grocery store, a restaurant, a bar, and a campgrounds! As I rode into the campground the only other person I saw there was another cyclist from Quebec, so we shared a site for the night and tried to watch the sun go down, but the only tiny little cloud covered it up :P. The train tracks ran right beside the campgrounds but by the time I went to bed I didn't hear a thing :)

On Friday morning I packed up and moved on. The wind wasn't quite as helpful that day, but it was a beautiful sunny day. Again nothing too eventful; managed another 130km, and along the way caught up to my francophone friend (he got up earlier than me). By the end of the day we found ourselves in Herbert, another small town about the same size as Tompkins. We pitched our tents, had dinner and I was eaten alive by mosquitoes. That night there was a little rain, but nothing to bad and I woke up to cloudy skies. Again we left at separate times, although this time it was because I was having troubles with my cell phone and needed to make sure it works. When I finally took off that day it started to trickle a bit, but nothing really. I wasn't sure how far I was planning on going that day. I knew I had about 200km til Regina; I thought maybe 100km today and 100km tomorrow. I arrived in Caronport about 105km out. This town had a college, a motel, it seemed pretty big. So I asked where the nearest campground was- "about 25km East in Moose Jaw." So, back on my bike I got and headed to MooseJaw. I arrived there around 5:30pm, set up camp, had dinner, and a shower. That evening I spoke to a few people camping nearby and told them what my trip was all about, and got few more donations :). Then about 45min after crawling into bed the storm started...My tent was shaking pretty bad and it seemed like the lightening and thunder were almost directly above :S

This morning when I woke up it was still raining. I eventually talked myself into getting up and packing up. It was around this point when I discovered that the last two cyclists I had met were both in this campground as well. After all packing up we all headed out to Regina together. We only had 70km to cover today, but I would definitely say that was the most brutual 70km I have done so far. We had harsh headwinds or crosswinds the entire way. We had rain the majority of the time, and for a moment we even had hail, as well as thunder and lightening. One of the guys got a flat, which I guess gave us an excuse to take shelter in someone's carport. We arrived in Regina around 2:30pm and I was greeted by some more cousins in their warm and dry truck :) I am now much more comfortable having showered, eaten dinner and can watch the rain from inside. Tomorrow is another rest day and hopefully this weather clears up before Tuesday when I'm heading out again