July 2nd: Tales of the Duct taped tire

The Canada day celebrations were full and exciting. we awoke in the campsite of a friend we had made before. We had slept near his campfire and had slept "a la bell etoile".
   The day was a hot one, Downey and I had slept in due to the nights festivities and we would now be paying for it. Our friends wished us the best and we waved goodbye.
   Being on the road was nice enough, accept the journey would not be complete without a little trouble from my bikes back tire. O how I wished nothing would go wrong, but of course not the way god would have it.
   As soon as we reached what I like to call the "no rescue zone" (which is about 25 K out of any towns radious) my back tire disintegrated. The rubber part of my back tire just came apart, and in doing so busted my inner tube as well. Downey and I were low on supplies and so we ended up making use of some masking tape we had for some reason unknown to me until this point, and piece my rubber tire back together as well as patch up the inner tube.
   I do not know how the bike made it through the next ten kilometers, and I am quite sure we were the most sorry sight any biker had ever set his eyes on, but it somehow worked. We found a little gas station and managed to have the owner give us a roll of duct tape
   With our new super tool (duct tape) we completed a more permanent tire repair job. my tire ended up looking like a silver shiny ring rather than a black rubber tire. however, regardless of how terrible it looked, my duct tape tire actually rolled, held pressure and in my opinion lookeded very stylish.
   I biked all day in this condition. No bike stores would be around until we got to Regina. Instead of biking supplies, we purchased duct tape when possible.
   Around 11pm at night we rolled into the town of Watrous saskatchewan. There we found the only local establishment open was the bar, so we stopped in, bought an order of wings and sat down. It wasn't long before the local patrons noticed the condition of my bike during their frequent smoke breaks.

   "Is that bike being held together with duct tape?"

    "I think held together is a stretch" said I.

    " You drove like that for 90 miles?"

    "Something like that."

   The bar owner's interest was piqued by us and he wanted to buy Downey and I a few drinks. He ended by offering us a free room in his motel. Even though his offer was generous, we had to refuse. We had been spending too many beautiful nights indoors and I wanted to sleep outside.
   Downey attempted to pay for the wings and was refused. It was on the house, thanks to the owner. We jumped once again on our bikes and headed about 20k north. There we found Manitou Beach, the only mineral lake in the praries. I put out my sleeping bag, without the protection of the bivy and wrapped my shirt around my head to protect myself from the mosqitoes and tried to sleep on the shores to this awesome lake.