Current Location: Okotoks, Alberta!

Hello again from Okotoks!

I hope all is well with everyone "back East" as they say out here, and that you all had fantastic Mother's Days!

So, to get you all up to speed; we hit the road from Kamp Kiwanis on Friday, and took the Trans-Canada Highway into Calgary. What a great ride that was! Much better than my first - probably because it was mostly downhill al the way into Calgary, and partly because the wind was at our backs, but also just because I think it's cool that I got to bike on the Trans-Canada Highway! How many people can say that?

In Calgary we visited the Good Life, a local bike co-op founded by former Otesha tour members! The mall it was located in was a really cool, earthy kind of place as well, and while we were on our break I managed to stop in at the Good Earth (a really awesome coffee shop out here) and pick up a fabulous fair-trade chocoloate brownie!

After the stop, we headed out again, this time bound for Okotoks. Just as we were leaving (I was biking with Lucy and Seth), it began to rain very hard. It was driving down on us for the most part of our trip out of Calgary, and started to let up as we hit the highway headed south. Just as we neared Okotoks, the skies cleared and the sun came out! There were still isolated storms all around us and out to the West (it looked really cool to be surrounded by dark storms, blue skies, and mountains!) but we managed to miss them all when we pulled up to the Okotoks United Church.

Upon our arrival, Doug, the minister, and an active church member named Elizabeth had concocted this fantastic feast for us, with two kinds of soup, tuna sandwiches (for the non-vegans!) and dessert! Doug had also set up our whole team with billets, and so myself and my teammates Kayla and Katryna got to stay with Elizabeth. The rest of KMT stayed with other members of the Okotoks United Church. Elizabeth has been the most hospitable and caring host to us; she allowed our whole team the use of her basement kitchen, and has even left her garage and back door open to allow for us to come and go as we need!

The reason we were staying with members of the Okotoks United Church is because the 2008 KMT team had stayed and performed with them the year before, and they loved Otesha so much they invited us back for another performance this year. As a special treat, they even set us up with a tour of the Okotoks Recycling Depot and a tour of a partially off-the-grid home just on the outskirts of town. Both were really interesting and informative trips - especially the house! Even though it wasn't totally self-sustainable, it was really cool to see all that the couple had done - including using old tires as roof shingles! And on top of that, it was gorgeous and luxurious - now that's the kind of sustainable home I can be comfortable in!

That afternoon we were given the opportunity to hang out with the youth group of the United Church, who were in the middle of World Vision's 30-hour famine. We talked with them about their passions, and gave them some information on why were were there supporting our causes, and crossed our fingers that they would come to our performance the next day! Oh, and for Jess and Akili; they were playing Rock Band when we arrived, and for once I was one of the "skilled" people playing! I taught some of my teammates how to play the drums and guitar :)

On Saturday night we were given access to the school gym (where their church service is being held as their church is renovated) to practice for our first-ever official performance outside of training week. During that practice we all realized that after 2 days of time off from the play, we were pretty rusty and needed to work on our lines and transitions. We came back to Elizabeth's basement kitchen that night and worked on the play until almost midnight!

On Sunday morning we were ready to go. We performed during the church service to a fantastic audience, who laughed along with our silliness and were so supportive of our cause! We had so many great comments and tons of positive feedback afterward that people even asked for our autographs. I couldn't believe the impact we had made! I truly enjoyed hearing about the community members' ways that they were working to help their community and the environment, and I felt truly inspired by the active nature of the United Church congregation. I think some great things are going to come out of Okotoks, Alberta!

Sunday afternoon was reserved as personal time, so I gave my family and Kareem a call and then went for a walk with Elizabeth in search of the first crocuses of spring. We ended up seeing two deer and multiple crocuses on our walk! Spending time with Elizabeth was great - she is a well-traveled and passionate woman, who works hard at preserving her community and the environment. I truly believe that we have a lot to learn from her example! In the evening, Kayla, Katryna and I spent some time looking through Elizabeth's travel pictures to Cuba and Gabon (in Africa) and we learned that she once had a Cuban band stay in her basement while they were on tour in Alberta!

I've really enjoyed my time in Okotoks and I'm really going to miss this vibrant, active and sustainable town. Tomorrow we hit the road again; cycling 54 km to Nanton, Alberta! We are only staying over one night there, as the next morning we will be getting up and biking 84 km to Fort MacLeod. Lots of biking in the next few days - I hope my legs can handle it! Not far now until we travel through the Crow's Nest Pass, and on to BC!

That's all for now - I really should be getting to bed since I've got the craziest cycling schedule ahead of me. Take care, stay safe, and I'll talk to you all again soon!

Cheers,

Sarah