Day 39: Delia, AB -> Cereal, AB

Date: Friday, June 23, 2023
Start: Delia, AB (Municipal Campground)
End: Cereal, AB (Municipal Campground)
Distance: 126km

I woke around 6:30am with the sun well up and already warming things.  It had been a cold night, but the day was looking promising to be a hot one!  John was already awake and Kip wasn't too far behind me.  We all had breakfast and chatted some more.  I had spent so much time visiting with people in Calgary that I'd failed to notice just how little oatmeal I had left, and so breakfast was a very soupy preparation of oatmeal, raisins, and cinnamon.  My fuel canister was also feeling pretty light.  I'd forgot to buy a new one in Calgary.

I took some time to start typing up a blog post.  I was VERY behind on blog posts - I hadn't written the one for arriving in Calgary yet - and it was stressing me out.  Kip and John were ready to go in short order, and we set out just after 8:30am.  I decided that a shorter day might be in order to catch up on blogging but would see what happened.

We left the village of Delia on a back road that promised to connect us up to the highway.  Sometimes it's really nice to get off the pavement and not have the noise of traffic.  The three of us bounced along for almost 5km on the dirt and gravel road.  At some point a real sight presented itself.  It was a new wind power generating farm in the distance, with pump jacks in the foreground.  The contrast was too good not to miss out on.  For as many pump jacks as I've seen in this area of Alberta, the windmills seem to be a growing force.

We went back to the highway because as pleasant as the gravel and dirt can be, it's also slower and requires a LOT of attention.  The vibration also can grate on the nerves.

We rode back out to Highway 9 and started for Hanna, Alberta.  It was just after 9am and the air was still crisp.  The wind had shifted overnight and was hitting now at about a 45 degree angle as a headwind.  It made the ride more difficult, but a sunny day beats rain and so no one complained!

Somewhere not far out of Delia we passed a group of horses standing in a field near the fence line by the highway.  As we rode by they took off and ran in the field parallel to the highway as we biked with them.  Their manes billowed in the wind.  They ran as a herd, ebbing and flowing alongside us in the field as the land pushed them one way or the other.  They ran with us for almost half a kilometer and then stopped.  We all just stared as we rode, hardly believing the sight.  Alberta delivered another one of those perfect moments.  I tried to snap a few pictures, but they didn't do it justice.

We stopped at a historical marker telling of the Palliser Expedition to survey this area of Alberta and Saskatchewan.  It was the first Europeans to map the north side of Lake Superior and went all the way to the Rockies between 1857 and 1860.  We took time to appreciate how easy it was for us in comparison!

After 22ish kilometers - just over an hour - we could see a large number of buildings in the distance.  We joked it was either a Hutterite colony, optical illusion, or Hanna.  I could hardly believe it was Hanna though because it was still another 8km away.  But we're in The Prairies now...and we could see it from that far away.  About 20 minutes later we rode into Hanna, Alberta.

I immediately stopped before entering the town.  There was a run down and tired looking restaurant on the highway on the edge of town that I suspected had been abandoned long ago.  Then I noticed the sign.  It was a Burger Baron.  For those who don't know them, Burger Baron was founded in Alberta in the late 50s and is...a group of restaurants who basically share the same name.  They're not franchises.  They're not affiliated with one another.  They all serve vaguely the same thing, but not always.  Many were/are owned by Lebanese-Canadians.  Their logos are all variations on the same image.  They're now usually only found in small towns in Alberta.  They are absolute curiosities.  A documentary was produced about them recently, and I'm curious to see it.  But now I was staring at one.  And it wasn't opened yet.  So I had to move on.

As we rode into Hanna I wracked my brain trying to figure out why I've heard of this town before.  I knew it was known for something, but couldn't remember what.

We found a grocery store and John and I grabbed supplies.  I needed oatmeal.  But I also hadn't eaten enough for breakfast and I was now grocery shopping while hungry.  I bought WAY too much stuff.  John and Kip divvied up their food, and we parted ways.  They were heading north and I was going east.  We exchanged info said our goodbyes.  I'm pretty confident I'll see them again somewhere in this adventure!

It was almost 11am and I contemplated my next move.  I first hit up the hardware store to check if they had my fuel canisters.  They did not!  I noticed that Hanna had a library, and decided to go there and spend as long as it took to catch up on blog posts.  Having a cool place with both electricity, wifi, and comfy seating was a real treat and so I spent almost 4 hours writing and posting.  When it was done, I was all caught up!

I was also starving.  I thanked the library staff and biked to a park in town where I ate.  There was a splash pad in the park, but no one using it.  Next door was a town pool with a big water slide that lots of people were using.  They were playing some unusually aggressive sounding prog-rock for a family pool.  I knew I'd heard it before but couldn't put my finger on exactly who it was.  I decided it wasn't my place to judge, packed up, and headed out.  It was now 3:30pm.

On my way out of town all the pieces came together.  I found the giant murals on the rec center that explained why I'd heard of Hanna and what the music was at the pool:

They're from Hanna....

My goal was a town called Cereal, Alberta.  I just liked the name.  It was the right distance.  And it had a campground.  But it was also 85km away and it was late in the day.  I decided that it was one of the longest days of the year, and it was perfectly reasonable to make it there by 8pm and still have almost two hours of daylight to spare.  I started out of Hanna.

Along the highway I passed a yard that was storing pieces of a new wind farm that was being built somewhere nearby.  Seeing all the pieces - especially the blades - laying out really put into perspective how big they really are and how much work they must be to construct.  I was happy to see that despite the culture of Alberta clinching to oil, wind is still getting built!

Just before Youngstown, Alberta I hit the 2900km mark on my odometer.  Onward!

I ducked into Youngstown to see if the cafe I'd noticed on the map was still open.  It was 6pm and I'd missed it by about an hour.  I went to the gas station instead and downed two large ice teas.  I think the water, sugar, and caffeine were all needed.  It was a surprisingly hot day.  I drank them in the shade and when I was done I noticed I had cooled off nicely and felt refreshed.  Time to get to Cereal.

The ride was still hot and the heat didn't seem to break till almost 7:30pm.  By that time I'd almost reached Cereal.  I snapped some photos along the way:

Eventually I reached Cereal and grabbed some pictures at the town sign.  It was almost 8pm in case the colour of the Sun wasn't a good indication!

I setup camp at the municipal campground.  Someone in a trailer next to me chatted a bit.  He asked me about my ride and I explained it.  He told me that he was staying there as he worked about 30 minutes north building ANOTHER wind farm.  The pieces I'd seen earlier in the day weren't for his project.  He mentioned that he was happy to be working on a project that was better for the environment that the two years he'd spent on the Trans-Mountain Pipeline.  I was surprised to hear an Albertan who so clearly worked in oil/gas and construction freely say that.  I thought, "There might be hope yet!"

After setting up camp I decided to walk around the town.  I wanted to get to know the place a bit, not just pass through.  At the first corner I was greeted by someone sitting out on their deck.  Carl introduced himself and asked about me.  He'd lived in Cereal for 60 years.  After we chatted and I left I realized that I'd neglected to ask him for more information about the town and felt silly for missing my opportunity.  I found the town tavern and went in out of curiosity.  It was Friday after all!  What would it be like?

I found two people sitting having a beer.  Three VLT machines beeped and flashed in the corner.  The TV was oddly tuned to Family Feud.  The walls were covered with pictures of John Wayne.  It was also covered with pithy signs explaining things like the bartender was always right, no whining, and "I miss my ex a lot but my aim is improving."  It was exactly what I expected out of small town Alberta.

I ordered a beer and a burger and ate alone.  When I was done I headed out and walked the town some more.  A model of their grain silo was in town.  I hadn't noticed it when I entered.  As I walked I found out why.  It had been torn down.  I found the cement pad it used to stand on and the loading platform.  The railway had also been torn out.  The once proud tower brought low, a symbol of the towns retreat from relevance.  I kept walking and snapped some pictures of the horizon just after the sun had set.  Cereal had it's little hooks in me and I wondered if I could spend 60 years there.

It was almost 11pm.  I walked back to the campground and went to bed.