Le Tour Section Three Rest in Calgary

I have just finished the second section of the tour across Canada and am staying with Helen and Dianne in Calgary. They have been extremely hospitable, and that is an understatement. They welcomed us with open arms and had warm pizza from their favorite pizzeria waiting for us in their cute home ten minutes from downtown Calgary. The pizza was delicious and our new friend Helen and opened up to me about also being a Chocolate lover and offered me three different flavors of Hagen Daz ice cream. Good thing fat burns well being on a bicycle twenty four seven. The next morning I took a rest day and explored Calgary, I was really impressed with the city and the Calgarian stereotype Vancouverites have labelled them was very off and incorrect. I was impressed by the ethnic diversity in the city, the variety of healthy athletic looking young people, the cosmopolitan atmosphere and how friendly people were to us travellers.

I picked up some great tarte au citron, passion fruit tarts and chocolate hazelnut cakes from a bakery called "Eiffel Tower Bakery,"for dinner with our hosts and friends Ron and Sheryll who also lived in Calgary. We were spoiled with a nice outdoor barbecue on a sunny evening in beautiful Calgary. We had some famous Alberta strip loin steaks and new potatoes with a great salad. The dinner was really pleasant and we were spoiled.

Here's a great recipe Dianne gave me for hot cereal; Combine all these ingredients
2 cups large flake oats, 3/4 of a cup oat bran, 3/4 of a cup sliced almonds, 1/2 of a cup shelled unsalted sunflower seeds, 2 tablespoons wheat germ. Store in a Tupperware container in the fridge take 1/2 of a cup and add 1 cup water microwave for 2 and 3/4 minutes. That's it, this is really easy to make and is a good source of carbohydrates. I added milk, honey, and raisins to mine.

The next morning we headed out of Calgary to Bassano Alberta, it was a very hot day and we were preparing to take on the flatlands. We arrived in Bassano around six and found a restaurant called Harry's Chinese, Pizza, and Canadian food. Just after scarfing down some Chinese cuisine in my Spandex, which again didn't blend in small town Alberta I went outside and had a chat with a member of a local road crew. He was quite curious about our trip and had similar experiences throughout the day as myself, such as slaving away on hot asphalt. He really showed us some respect for riding in the heat and offered a donation to our cause. After we were talking other members of the crew came running out of the restaurant and offered us donations. That was awesome, I was amazed at their generosity and would like to thank them again.

We found a great campsite in town and I picked up some milk from the gas station for breakfast the next morning. We rode 173.5 Kms and enjoyed the dusty, hot bad lands of Alberta.