Tuesday July 7 Cypress Hills Provincial Park, Alberta

Got up early, looked out the motel window and saw clear skies and wind from the SE, yuk. Luckily light winds so got going early. Winds swirled to southerlies, SW and then WESTERLIES. Pretty soon I was flying just like people said I would. I was doing 39 km/hr on the uphill rollers and 50+ on the downhills listening to the sound of the wind in my spokes and some acoustic guitar on the MP3. I was even flying around Medicine Hat like a bike courier startling the motorists. I did some extra miles in The Hat - first I saw signs say "Historic Clay District" but it was a waste of time - it was in an industrial area, where they made bricks I'm guessing and the roads weren't gravel but broken brick. I'm determined to make this trip flat free so I stayed away. Went back downtown and found a good coffee shop with a roaster inside. The gas street lights in town are indeed gas lights - 5 Coleman mantles in each. Funny, the new headline, Micheal Jackson funeral aside, in Medicine Hat was that council sold a vacant lot next to City Hall to a condo developer for $1.00. Can't imaging that in Vancouver but I guess you gotta make the first one free then hopefully it will catch on. More miles when I took the wrong way to Hwy 1. I went all the way to the NW corner of town only to turn around and go the the SE corner of town on Hwy 1. Yes, that's right, I'm finally on the Trans Canada Hwy 1 - not including the 2 km in Hope where Kevin and I did Hwy 1 West. So after getting pushed east, I turned south to spend the night at Cypress Hills Provincial Park. 35 km south at ~ 14 km/hr along a narrow roadway. The park is something else: trees, likes, beaches, hiking trails, DH ski area, X-country skiing, tons of camping etc. I was considering staying two nights but I don't think there is that much to do unless you are a family with young children or you really wanted to hike without going to the Rockies. Cools off quickly here (at `1200 m elevation) but I think the thunderstorms are all gone - lots of blue skies today.

OD 1532.3 km, 7:16:20, 148.01 km, 20.3 km/hr ave, max 52.1