It was a cold cloudy morning again (around 10 degrees). It seemed like it hadn’t rained over night but the outside of our tent still hadn’t dried from the rain the day before. The outside cover was also quite wet on the inside from condensation because of the cold night.
The weather forecast was calling for rain beginning in the afternoon. Also it was one of the coldest mornings to eat breakfast outside so we ate as quickly as we could, packed up, and hit the road.
Unfortunately, as soon as we got back on the highway, within 200m from the campground, we got our first flat tire of the trip. Our back tires had worn so much that even the ‘puncture proof’ tires with the kevlar strip couldn’t help us anymore. And we only had another 70km to Regina!
Katherine changed the tube herself, but it was not a fun event in the cold and windy weather. It was a tail wind but when you are stopped trying to fix a flat it doesn’t help at all! The tire was really hard to get back on but we somehow managed after accidentally ripping the first tube. Thankfully all was well for the rest of the ride to Regina.
Despite the 30~40 min delay in the morning (we had to go back and wash our hands in warm water at the gas station), we managed to avoid any major rain and the tail wind helped us get to Regina with relative ease. At one point we were going a steady 40km/h! Winds usually blow from the east when there is foul weather.
There were sections of Hwy 1 that didn’t have a great pavement (on the shoulder of course) but the shoulder was still very wide. Traffic was starting to get quite heavy as we got closer to Regina, so we took some side roads when they started to become available. We got a few droplets of rain so we just donned our rain gear and kept it on.
We quickly stopped at the tourist office to get some information. The closet campground to the city was right next door but we decided we would stay a little closer to town and indoors to try to hide and recover from the weather (it was supposed to rain a lot later in the day). We hit Regina’s suburbia with the box stores, which is always an area unfriendly to bikes. We went to the coffee shop that had wifi so we could priceline a hotel for our stay in Regina. We had a hard time getting a good deal but managed to get a place right downtown. It was one of those days where we really needed to get inside and recover!
We then went to the huge Super Store nearby and loaded up on our depleted supplies. The store was so big and despite the many check outs, the line ups were very long. Despite the long lineups the lady at the counter seemed like she was forced to try to sell a giant tube of toothpaste to every customer. Didn’t seem like the best business tactic. After an hour at the store we were able to start heading towards the downtown area.
We avoided Hwy 1 as the wide shoulder had disappeared at this point. We took the backroads and despite some challenging intersections we managed to arrive at our hotel. After checking in, we found out to our delight, they had a wonderful whirlpool, pool, and sauna. As we were enjoying ourselves in their little oasis, it started to rain outside. We were very glad we had decided to splurge a little that night.
We are staying here tomorrow night as well as we wait for our back tires to arrive. We may need to stay another night (depending on when they arrive) in which case we’ll have to try to find cheaper accommodation else where. After Regina our next stops are in Moose Jaw, where there are underground tunnels that Mark (who we met in Wawa recommended), and then another couple days to Swift Current!
Trip Around The World 
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