Day 17
Drumheller to Youngstown
Distance: 140 km
Temp: Mild

Youngstown: population 100 and decreasing; we’re sleeping in a community centre tonight, which is basically a basketball court/community hall/square dancing/ hall.
It’s our first night ‘inside’ since the tour started, and some people have already got all cagey about being indoors, and are insisting on sleeping out.

It turns out that it is TDC tradition, of many years back for the community of Youngstown to cook dinner for the riders.
Apparently it started because there is no restaurant or facility in town to support feeding a large group, and when Bud the organizer called the town to enquire about accommodation and food, the person on the other end of the phone offered to host a potluck for all the riders, and hence the tradition started (over 10 years now.)

I am completely incredulous that a bunch of people would get together and cook a huge meal for a group of complete strangers, but apparently this is the attitude of those who live in these small towns; I am fascinated by these small towns and the people who live in them.
While we were winding down from our ride, locals started to trickle into the hall, and greeted each other as if they were all family.
They then proceeded to pull together this massive meal for us, with one table devoted entirely to desserts alone.
We were stunned.

I chatted with a few of them; most of them have been here their entire lives, and grew up on some sort of farm or another.
I apologized for my naive questions; as I have never lived in a small town and had many to ask about what it was like:
Does everyone really know everyone? (Yes)
What if some of the townsfolk don’t like each other? (They fight)
How many kids attend the school? (Grade 1-12, and approximately 66 kids, many bussed from the surrounding areas.)
Did the mad cow problem really affect them (hugely affected by it)
Do they ever get attached to their cattle? (Her no, her husband yes)
And so the questions went-all very interesting; she also said that sadly the size of the town is decreasing as the younger people move to the bigger towns and cities, and the older folks die off.
I can see this place being absorbed back into the desert-like planes it exists on in the not-too-distant future.

When we rode into town, there was no one on the streets; we went to the library (one room, in the same office as the town hall and business centre,) there just doesn’t seem to be anyone here; the library is typically closed on a Monday but they opened it for us so that we could use the internet.
After dinner we walked across the road to the one bar, which looks like a Hollywood reproduction of an outback Australian bar, like one of the one’s seen on ‘Crocodile Dundee,’ complete with the hard-livin’ rough neck types that hang out there.
I got to chattin’ with the local, who has been here his whole life, and works in the oil fields.
He was priceless; he told me he watches Breakfast TV and likes to watch out for accidents on the 401, and laughs at Torontonians for living in such a smoggy city.
He’s never ventured west of the Okanogan, and east of Regina, but hopes to make it to Toronto as he loves the Blue Jays.
He told me his sister froze to death years ago in a storm, and his brother recently died of alcohol related complications.
These people live hard out here, and it shows too.

Our ride today was tough; more mentally that anything else as the flatness of the land can be tiresome.
There were a few rolling hills but it is still the same scenery for mile after endless mile.
The skies are quite enchanting though, especially since there were storm clouds gathering, and we could see them do so to the ends of the horizons.

At one point Lewis spotted another sign for ‘beef jerky’ along a lonely country side road.
I didn’t really want to stop, but since he’d zoomed ahead and gave me no opportunity to object, I hung back with a few cows in the front field.
I ambled up to the fence, which caught the eye of a couple of the bored looking cows hanging about.
We made eye contact, which escalated the interest factor for all parties involved.
I was listening to The Ramones on my ipod, which gave the situation a surreal feeling; standing and staring at a bunch of cows while listening to an old school punk-band.
Since a couple of the cows were now very interested, the others joined in too; soon I had a half-circle of cows all staring intently at me, looking as if they were waiting for me to make a speech-I don’t think I’ve ever had such a captive, interested audience.
I waved my hands around a bit, which generated some excitement, and they gradually started to advance; by this time a full-bodied marengue had started to play, which seemed perfectly fitting as these rotund cows ambled towards me.
At this point Lewis pulled up with a hand full of beef jerky and after watching me interact with the cows, felt immediately guilty and declared that was going to become a vegetarian (after he finished the jerky.)
This lasted until dinner, when beef and deer sausage was served.

I am sitting and typing on my laptop at 9:30 and most of the group have gone to bed; most of us are sleeping in the community hall, which isn’t very big.
Some have set up their tents, but most have just laid out their swags, and are crashed out.
It seems much like summer camp (without the giggling and wiggling about until the wee hours.) I know we have a couple of snorers but I have strategically positioned us as far away as possible.
We had a severe storm watch in effect, but since it was predicted by ‘Environment Canada’ it has passed overhead.
(By the way the predicted tail winds for today didn’t happen as we had a head/side wind for most of our ride.)