Cypress Hills to Edmonton-May 23

I was on the road by 6:45 this morning trying to escape the cold rain that began yesterday at noon and continued all night.  By the time I left this morning all but about 3 campsites were still in use, all the weekenders had left because of the terrible weather.  As I headed out I faced a strong northwest wind which continued to my trip not very enjoyable.  The wind continued unabated for 250 of the 400 miles of the trip today, bring my gas mileage down to about 9.3 mpg.  So far for most of the trip I have averaged over 11.5 mpg, so you can see what a drag the wind was on this leg.  What began as basically a flat prairie and eventually turned into rolling hills and as I got past Drumheller, AB popular groves began to appear.  It wasn’t until I was very near Edmonton that I began to see pines appear.  I made it to my campsite near Spruce Grove about 5 and by the time I checked in, got set up it was near 6.  This was a very tiring day of travel so I made some soup and then got ready for bed.  The most interesting scenery of this day was the black canyon that you pass thru as you enter Drumheller.  That area reminds me of the Badlands of North Dakota.  Glad to be in Edmonton for two days.