Day 15 – Calgary to Carbon (T.D.: 116km; S.T.: 5h46min)

Up early and feeling refreshed after a blissful rest day. We were on the road by 8:30am, and our first task was to climb up and around Nose Hill, the comically-named mound that sits in the north end of Calgary. From there it was east on Country Hills Boulevard (that’s a lot of hills already for a prairie city – maybe Calgary’s not considered a prairie city?!) for about 30km. We were thankful that it was early on a Saturday morning, as traffic wasn’t too thick yet – though it was certainly present (unlike the shoulders - haha, joking mom (not really joking – can Moms read the parantheses that are in parantheses? (I hope not))).

After these 30 kilometres were completed, we were alerted to our next turn off by a most informative sign (see photo). Having been alerted to the importance of this intersection, we consulted our directions, duly turned left, and continued north for another 30 kilometres into a small town called Beiseker. Along the way, we passed another small town called Irricana, where there was a sign that read “Giant Grasshoppers – This Way”. It is to my great disappointment and eternal regret that we did not follow this sign. What were we thinking? Anyway, there were no giant grasshoppers in Beiseker, again to my great disappointment.

There was a train car, however, in the shade of which we sat, had lunch and talked to some of the locals. Two young Beisekerites, Mackenzie and Stephanie told us a bit about the town, and then an older man – we’ll call him John the Baptist – told us a bit about everything else.

After an ice cream, we left our friends in Beiseker and continued along the long straight road to Carbon. Now, you might say that biking on long straight roads is easy, and I might not disagree with you, but at least one danger lurks on these prairie highways and it is not to be trifled with, let me assure you. It rears its head when you least expect it, when you have let your guard down, when your faith in the quality of the Alberta highway shoulders has allowed your eyes to wander to the tranquil scenery around you; then as you dreamily cruise past the golden canola fields, it strikes: Kablammo! And where should you find yourself but planted into the rear fender of your riding partner, who, moments before, had decided to stop and take a picture of said canola fields, and now, on the ground with limbs akimbo, is cursing you for your lack of attention.

Yes, my friends, somewhere outside of Beiseker, we had our first collision with each other. I say first, because not 2 hours later did we have our second. What magic is this? These prairies cast strange spells, I say.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured either time, and our bikes seemed to withstand the impact quite remarkably. Better than our pride, even.

Thankfully, no one was around to witness it.

Somewhat more attentive and alert, we were able to carry on to the little town of Carbon, where my Aunt Cathy and Uncle Ken were waiting for us. They had driven down from Edmonton to camp with us for the night, and informed us that Cousins Mike and Louise, as well as Louise’s boyfriend Brian were on their way as well! Oh happy day! It was a real treat to have these folks all make the trek down, and made our experience in Carbon an extremely memorable one. As they were able to pack a few more luxury items into their cars than we could onto our bikes, we had a very comfortable and delicious evening, replete with plank salmon, three different types of salad, two kinds of bread, and even a bottle of Como Sur (not to mention the margaritas).

And what’s more, what’s more – we had s’mores! Around a campfire! It was awesome, with a capital H – Hawesome. Thank you thank you thank you Cathy and Ken for bringing and making dinner – what a treat!

Some yahoos in the site next to us even set off a round of fireworks in a nearby ballfield, which provided some most fitting punctuation to a wonderful, celebratory visit.

Stats:

Av. Spd.: 20.1km/h

Mx. Spd.: 45.7km/h

Deer spotted (regular deer, not spotted deer): 6

Number of sunscreen bottles destroyed by unfortunate construction zone mishaps: 1

Embarrassing collisions: 2

Cellphones lost: 1 (during the second collision)

Cellphones recovered: 1 (thanks to Brian’s help, who drove us back to the collision site – good thing we had stopped to take a picture, so the collision site was easy to find)

Margaritas consumed: What? Margaritas!? What a treat!

S’mores consumed: I LOVE S’MORES