After a cold, beautiful night in the Waterton high country we headed across Southern Alberta for three days with the first half visiting the cows and the second half passing massive grain fields. We experienced a very different Alberta than wealthy cities and destructive oil and gas developments. The towns seem poor and the people warm and welcoming. This is an Alberta that seems ignored by Stephen Harper and his gang (I can't figure why they vote for him).
There was Lee who let us camp in the pasture of the 21,000 acre farm they manage (but we suspect that a bigger cat or corporation collects the profits).
Then there was the wonderful older farmer in Wrentham who gave us water and showed us a spot to camp behind the former elementary school because his backyard was flooded. Sadly Wrentham, a small farming community, had lost it's school and only store in the last few years (they do still have a hockey rink!).
Finally we ended day 21 in Bow Island. The pub served an excellent meal (and the Canucks won game one of of the Stanley Cup final) but the town was dead and many of the businesses closed. There is a beautiful but struggling Alberta that the media ignores, not unlike the smaller places in Nova Scotia.
Cheers
- The Warpotay Team
Location:Medicine Hat, Alberta
Sorry to have missed a few opportunities to comment but I have little to say to small dogs of the prairies or to large bovines of the flatlands with little respect for hard working and techoloigically adept cyclists. In Alberta I would have expected a bit more fortitude and rugged individuality and less whining. I am glad the humans have beaten back the forces of darkness and regained control of the social media - based on recent headlines concerning killing of your own meat, I do not think Zuckerberg or other designers of social media intended it as a medium for interspecies interactions.
ReplyDeleteI am impressed by the progress made by the Warpotay team. Their admiring public (AP) worries about them in the prairies, but so far they seem to be eating up the kilometres and anything the weather may throw at them. I seem to recall a thriving natural gas industry in the Medicine Hat interspersed amongst the farms. Is that gone now?
Nova Scotia is still struggling with the transition from winter to summer, but I think summer will eventually win out and the vegetables and fruit will prosper. The AP report that the boat is now nearly ready to receive its first coating of fibreglass, but it is still far from being seasworthy. Never fear. Pe(a)ddle hard - see only a single letter separates our mutually supportive endeavours.
Congratulations WarPoTay!
ReplyDeleteWhat a powerful idea! I believe Facebook can connect every human being on the planet but I had never even conceptualizer reaching other species, much less actually making it happen. Wow you guys are amazing. We have a lot of great expertise and resources at Facebook. Would you be interested in a joint partnership?
Mark Z.