Yellow Blazing

I ran some errands in Swift Current in the morning, trying to find a bicycle tube, and groceries at Safeway. I also wanted to find a spare tire since my replacement from Manitoulin was looking pretty worn.

I made it about 30km to near Webb and I started feeling my tire get pretty bumpy. I took it off and patched some of the very worn spots with US dollars bills. (Money feel like money; money be green.) I also switched it to the front and put my original Schwalbe Marathon in the back. As I was putting the skewer back through the wheel, I found that the nut refused to thread onto it. I took it out and inspected it, and found that I had somehow de-threaded the skewer bolt. I'd never heard of this happening before.

Although I could not get my skewer to bind my wheel to my fork securely, I decide to ride anyways. I was on the side of the highway near Webb, SK, about 20km from Gull Lake, and there didn't seem like any other option. I began pedaling cautiously for Gull Lake, and made it at about 6pm. I asked a guy working at a gas station if there were any bike shops nearby, but he didn't speak English. Another guy overheard my conversation and told me he was driving to Calgary, and had room for my bike, if I wanted a ride. I said no, feeling that it would be unethical to skip ahead ~500km.

I slept in the Gull Lake municipal campground and the next day decided that I would hitchhike to Medicine Hat, AB, which was only 150km ahead, had a large bike shop, and is also where Robin would be that night. After about 30 minutes of thumbing, a guy in a pickup truck named Butch picked me up and told me he could bring me to Medicine Hat.

Butch didn't say much for the first hour of the trip, other than that I was crazy for riding my bicycle all the way from Boston. I asked him what he did for work and he responded, "Pipeline." He told me that today he was hauling supplies, one of which was a power washer. However, when he got the power washer to th desired location, the object to be power washed was not there, so he left and went to a bar and had 'a couple beers.' After that it was 1pm and he didn't want to work anymore, so he decided to go home to Medicine Hat. He also told me that he recently split up with his wife, and that she took his motor home, and that he never loved her but had married her because he felt bad for her. He also has a small, stupid dog, that he loves. He told me that since he was 22, he'd been working on oil rigs until he saved up enough money to buy 'a few pounds of weed', and then quitting for several months. I liked Butch. I like how people approach life when they aren't handed the path of school->university->job->marriage->kids.

We made it to Medicine Hat and I bought the parts to repair my bicycle, and met up with Robin. It would be our last night together for sure this time, as she is headed on a southern route to get to Vancouver Island by 8/15 and I am headed North to get to Alaska by 9/15. We had a great last night together, although the restuarant we went to was lacking in most areas except its food. It was exactly 1 month since we had met on the side of the road near Bruce Mines, Ontario, and we had travelled 2,500km together. I feel like I've made a friend for life.