Day 122 September 5, 2011 Just outside Moose Jaw to Ernfold 64km – Guest Blog Ian Grant

"Riley!  good morning!  Rise and shine!"  Sang the annoying girl inside Riley's alarm clock. 

It was 5 am, and I was too startled to be tired.  I was very confused as to why Mike and Riley were starting to get ready, and my only answer was that I was still dreaming.  When the generic female voice ceased to stop, and my sister Jean entered the room, I realized it was time to get up. 

We said goodbye to the beautiful condo in which the Hills graciously allowed us  to stay, and we were on our way.  When we walked up to the RV, which was parked behind a local Sobeys, we all agreed it could use a nice washing.  So as we drove the 40 minutes back to Moose Jaw, we searched for car washes or truck washing stations.  We eventually found one around the corner of a gas station where we filled up and dumped our septic tank.  We didn't fit into any of the car washes in moose jaw, but the truck wash had ample room.  After we were finished hosing down the old beast, we knew there was no more procrastinating, now it was time to run.

We dropped of Riley where he left off the day before, and Jean hopped out with him. As they took off Mike and I applied the newly received sponsor logos on the freshly cleaned RV.  They ran through the warming dawn, for about 5 km, and then took the first water-break of the day.  I switched out with Jean, and ran the next 5 km with Riley.  Through the rolling plains of Saskatchewan we continued on with this pattern until just before lunch.  That is when the Konantz family, on their way back to Vancouver from The Lake of the Woods, wonderfully surprised us. 

With some new support and fresh faces, Riley hit the road energized with Geoffrey, Victoria and Catherine Konantz.  Sidelined with a knee injury Donny couldn't run, but he did his part to lighten the mood, and give the Dr. a few laughs. 

After lunch, and the Konantz's it was back to the grind.  25 kilometres later, we were done for the day, and Riley had run 64 km.  Wow!  Even though it was a little under his goal of 70 a day, still quite the feat, especially with the amount of times we stopped for various reasons. 

We ended the day in the middle of nowhere, so that is where we had to sleep, in the middle of the Saskatchewan Prairies, right next to some train tracks.