Josie & Orin are salt-of-the-earth Canadians, everyday heroes, the type you rarely read about but who make up the very fabric that makes up the countryside that I have been rediscovering over the last two weeks. They are the ones who value family, friends & a solid community ethic that everything else is based on. Today I return to Vancouver & clean respectability but vow to return to complete my mission across Canada soon.

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Despite covering unto 300km a day I still managed to eat well & even put on weight. Even on the Prairies this meal is known as the famous Jaime Breakfast, named after a Canadian Olympian from Vancouver.

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Imagine those we guide today becoming our guardians tomorrow, the children of this generation who become the leaders of the next: Through the success we have had at www.csli.com & www.unitingtheworld.org by creating & supporting micro-credit projects in Sri Lanka, we have discovered there are radical ways we can impact the quality of those less fortunate but more willing.

I have no doubt that those we have helped in this generation will be our saviours in the next.

This particular journey started at Hope but it is now so much more.

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My luck finally turned. After a great day of cycling on the challenging ‘Highway’ 14 (most under developed countries would be proud to call this a road) I was a breath from success. Within 5 minutes my final tire blew, mosquitos gathered and the skies opened up on me! I guess there could have been worse places.
Nearby good friends Josie & Orrin came to the rescue with typical Prairie hospitality that you havent even never seen before.And I lived to see another day.
As Orin arrived in his pickup the clouds literally cleared, the sun streamed down warmly, and this beautiful double rainbow appeared.

My lesson today: how things can turn for the better oh so quickly.

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2500km on, and despite constant warnings of animals great & small, inclement weather, threatening trails & byways and porential mechanical breakdown, all went brilliantly….until

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Clouds as far as the eye can see…

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CSLI: make 5 star service signs look 5 star

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With the sun in my face & the wind faithfully at my back I covered 300lm today. Almost as though Alberta was running this no-meat cyclist out of town.

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Combine harvesters as common as pickup trucks, bible belts & museums.
And a fascination with acres of manicured lawns in front of homes.

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The winds that blessed me in the Calgary morning turned on me by Red Deer & drove me toward Panoka where I came across this local piece of history. I should have stayed in this lovely town as i ran into driving rain after. Although things never worked out for me & Louis, he would have also approved of the food at Huckleberrys at Wetaskiwin, where I stayed the night.
Special hug for LA & todays ride is in memory of Albie, an original HotCat from NZ.

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