Gumby & Gratitude

Day 34: Fort Qu’Appelle to Esterhazy. 112 miles. 4306 feet elevation. The weather was hot but helpful

If you have followed me on previous tours, you know that we always bring our friend Gumby. You likely also know that we rarely bring Gumby home. In fact, my good friend Tim, who has previously “found” (i.e., bought me a new one) Gumby after I’d lost him, wrote to me wondering where Gumby was and basically assumed I’d already lost him.

Because of these bad previous parenting experiences, I’ve been worse than a helicopter parent on this trip. Since Gumby usually gets left when I take him out for a picture, I barely take him out. He’s been stuffed inside my Feed Bag (i.e., a bag with readily available food) on my handlebars. And while he’s been safe, with plenty to eat, he hasn’t been able to enjoy the ride. Tim’s comment prompted me to get Gumby out of the Feed Bag.

You can see on Gumby’s face that getting him out into the sunshine and air put a smile on his face. To be safe (not to lose him), I put a seatbelt on him using one of the straps from the feed bag. I’m going to devise a better system, but I’ll try to keep him in the light going forward. It is nice to see his face when I’m talking to him, so I can tell how he’s responding to my comments—often very positively. Thank you, Tim, for helping to free Willy, I mean, Gumby.

It’s unclear to me how these days keep getting longer, and elevations are nearly as high as when I was in the mountains. Thankfully, I had a tailwind almost the entire day; I don’t think I would have made it without it.

I was blessed to ride along the Qu’Appelle River for about 80 miles. The river is dammed at multiple points, creating beautiful lakes. Saskatchewanians have taken full advantage of these lakes, creating beautiful lakefront properties and parks. Everyone has a boat. I also noticed some nice little huts that were built on skis. I can only assume these are pulled behind boats so that people can sit on a couch, watch TV, and stay dry. No, seriously, people live in them while they ice fish in what can only be horrible winters.

Lunch today was at about mile 70 at a nice little campground convenience store, which even provided me with a milkshake. After continuing on, I’m not sure whether it was heatstroke, the headache medicine I had taken, or the 2-liter bottle of Pepsi I was chugging, but I just felt profound gratitude for life and a change in me.

I’ve described this ride as a recovery ride. That makes it sound like I have a substance use disorder. I didn’t have a SUD when I started the ride, but there’s a strong possibility that I am now addicted to frosty mugs of A&W Root Beer. You can find them in almost every little town in Canada. Yes, they actually have glass, frosty mugs. You can take your frosty mug up to the fountain and refill it as many times as you want. However, since I’ve been in Canada, I think they’re probably going to change that practice as I guzzle a gallon or more at each stop.

In any case, obviously, the real recovery was to be from the loss of my wife. Yes, this was a topic in a previous post, but I just noticed a difference today. Again, I realize there is no recovery, nor should there be. The gift of 44 years of love and the wonderful family that results are something to always cherish.

What the ride has given me, as I’m blessed to “fly” (sometimes) through God’s creation with nothing between me and His creations except shorts and a t-shirt, is profound gratitude. The loss was terrible, but God is good. He’s good to me. So many good people have interacted with me and I with them on this trip. As I pedal, I see beautiful green fields, incredible flowers, rivers, and mountains. I lay under towering, shady trees to rest, all the while filled with gratitude. I’m better, and being out in His creation has not only helped me feel better and perhaps even be a little better, but it’s helped me feel ready and excited to continue forward in the joys of life.