A key lesson that has sunk in over the course of this trip is to always be ready to revise expectations. Usually, this applies to the terrain we're covering and how hard or easy we "expect" the ride to be when we set out (tip: there are no 'easy' days). But today we made some major changes to our route plan into Winnipeg and we are pretty happy with them.
We started the morning with a delicious breakfast prepared by Emily before saying goodbye to our fantastic hosts. Even as we started riding we were unsure of exactly where we would end up this evening and whether or not the roads we planned to take would be open. As anyone who has seen the news in the last month knows, the flooding experienced in Saskatchewan and Manitoba this year has been devastating. People have lost their homes or incurred significant damages, while farmers are struggling to sustain their livelihoods in the face of washed out fields. To a much lesser concern, this also means a number of local roads and highways have been closed due to flooding.
When we were in Moose Jaw we learned that highway 1 was closed for a portion between Regina and Winnipeg but we weren't certain of the start and end points. We weren't too concerned because we had already planned to get off highway 1 at Qu'Appelle to then head north to highway 16 and follow it eastward. This was mostly because the transcanada is well known to be horrendously bad for cyclists traveling through Winnipeg, at least until recently. Also in Moose Jaw, one of the CardiAction members told us the shoulders on highway 1 have recently been repaved through Manitoba. The news of improved pavement planted a seed: why not highway 1? But we remained set on our original plan.
About 60km into today's ride came the moment to decide our path for the next few days as we set into Qu'Appelle for lunch, fortuitously on the lawn of the town's info centre. While there, we met Harvey, possibly the most informative centre worker ever. He told us that highway 1 had been closed around Wolseley for five days but had just reopened this morning --and that if he were cycling he'd take highway 1. It turns out highway 35, which we would have been riding up to 16 has no shoulders and the route would add an extra day of travel. After some deliberation and chatting with Harvey we decided to go with our instincts and stick to highway 1. We came away with some great advice and he even donated $10 to the Cardiac Health Foundation. (See today's photo of the still partially submerged stretch of highway just west of Wolseley. All of the fields and campgrounds in the area are flooded as well.)
This route change also means we will be visiting different communities than planned. Tonight we're in Glenfell and tomorrow we will pass over into Manitoba to camp in Elkhorn, then Brandon, next Portage before arriving in Winnipeg on June 28. We've managed to bank some extra days in the schedule and we're thinking we'll divvy them up through north Ontario since the riding will get tougher and we'll have plenty of exciting events with Cardiac Rehab Centres.
In other exciting news, we have surpassed our 2000km mark and are a quarter-way through the trip. It feels great to have covered such a large stretch but hard to believe that we still have nearly 6000km to go!
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