Sunday July 12 Melville

Another character building day. Got up and A and D fed me well again. Didn't get going on the road until almost 8:30. Angus took me out to the NE corner of town and we said our good bye's. I thanked him again for all he and D did for me including the deluxe tour of the city. Got going and while the wind was not directly in my face it sure slowed me down for the entire day. Finally got onto Hwy 10 and the wind was more at my side but still slowed me down. First part of #10 had terrible shoulders then my rear view mirror broke off so I had to stay way over to the right. My CT Syndrome has not gotten better, even bought some aspirin but it doesn't seem to help much. Stopped at Fort Qu'Appelle - there is no fort but interesting nonetheless. It has `2500 population and growing with retirees but with 4 lakes in the valley it has over 20,000 people in the summer. Found a great cafe in the ~1897 HBC building. Great date squares but coffee wasn't hot enough. Thought I'd push on to the nest town, Balcerres where the sigh said it had a campground. I looked all around for it figuring that at a 100 km day with a late start and riding upright with one arm most of the time it would be a good place to stop. Couldn't find it after circling the town so I went to the gas stn to ask - there it was - adequate for 5th wheelers but for me: no picnic table, no shower, no washroom after the gas stn closed and not sure where the water was and the guy wanted $10.00. I left knowing that I now had jto go another 55 km to Melville. It took me until 7:30 to get to town and 8:00 until I found a campsite. The camp ground is the town's baseball/ football area and the showers are the team dressing rooms. Knowing how Angus feels about the town, I stiffed them for the registration fee. It's now after 10:00 and I'm in my tent because it's dark and the mosquitoes are out.

OD 2246.3, 9:27:17 161.93km, 17.1 km/hr ave, 50.9 max