I am emailing from the private home of June and Darby Roy who have been gracious enough to invite all of us into their lovely home west of town. Laundry is drying behind me in the clothes dryer and my belly is so full of delicious food that June has been cooking. The rains have been hard and steady all week and it has given me time to visit and visit I have. On the way into town I met Donna Waldner and her father on the gravel road 15 miles east of town, Actually I flagged them down to ask for directions. Well Donna was out of that old truck and at my side in a second and we just made a connection right away, she came out later that evening with her mother and her two teenage children when I was camped down the road a few miles. Her and June are good friends and it has been a treat to spend time with these women. They are horse healers using healing touch to make incredible changes on injured or sick horses. They worked on Hart and then they worked on my old body. Both Hart and I agree, we are feeling pretty darn good. Now June has made us a Canadian treat called Puffed Wheat Cake and it is made of Puffed Wheat and peanut butter and more butter and sugar and it is to die for. I am gaining to much weight and Hart will complain when I get back on in the morning. The first week in town was spent at the Kinetic Park the fair/rodeo grounds ,event center and agricultural center. I had to go into the city hall and tell the powers that be what a fine facility they had. A blue ribbon facility is what I said. It offered me and my horses a safe clean sheltered place when we rode into town. I stay at many of these centers in the states but this one was exceptionally nice. It offered camping and horse arenas a dog friendly park and a clean new shower facility. Plus a Mennonite historical town and park, a large indoor event building and so much more. It was quite busy the whole time I was there. Thank you to all of the maintenance men and the girls in the office that made my stay at Kinetic Park so enjoyable. I was warm safe and dry as the week of rain and storms set in. I must also say thank you to Ed and Barb Luchenski who helped Emily when when caught a ride via an automobile- into town and had to wait for me to ride in 2 days later. Ed and Barb are what I call “Trail Angels” and they helped Emily by putting her up a couple of nights and then making sure she arrived at the bus depot on time and were so very helpful and kind in every way.
Swift Current is a town full of parks and luscious greenery, very pretty. Emily and I ate at Cafe Central, downtown on main street. Speciality crepes with out of this world flavors kept appearing at our table colorful and decoratively served. Flavors from around the world. Wonderful place to eat. The post office had mail waiting for me and the library had several computers available where Emily and I caught up on our emails. I am of course going to miss Emily but I also understand her decision to not continue with the ride. We really did have many good laughs and long talks but like she said it takes more than curiosity to long ride. But don’t think that Emily is gone. She will continue to assist with the website and she will also continue to work with a group of women from California on a documentary that tells the story of these long rides that I continue to do, continue to love continue to grow and learn from. So I head back out in the morning. Donna is coming over so I will have her and June waving me on with our noses faces north. I will tell you one thing Saskatchewan is premier long riding country. Wide ditches, excuse me, CLEAN wide ditches, green grass and lots of small ponds and creeks, the frosting is the friendly folks that dot the country side.
Until later Happy Trails your lady long rider Bernice Ende