This is part four of a seven part series about my trip around Alberta.

Sunny today with little cloud cover. It was time to visit the hot, dry part of Alberta. But first, a few quick pitstops along the way: Redwater with its giant, red oil derrick, Waskatenau with its trestle bridge, and Smoky Lake with its giant pumpkins.

I spent the afternoon in the Metis Crossing and Victoria Settlement area. I drove down Alberta’s oldest paved road still in use and saw an old man walking four dogs of various ages. I received two waves from the man for slowing to a crawl and not hitting his dogs. It was clear they were all loved dearly—especially the slow, old one who wagged his tail with the vigour of a pup.

Victoria Settlement was thoroughly closed with not even a security guard in sight. I changed into my running gear and ran, ran, ran. It was 24 x 200m sprints today. Straight out to Metis Crossing and back. Something clicked in me as I was running: I’ve been thinking about this disconnect between the capabilities of the body and the moment when the mind starts to put the brakes on. But as I ran today there was an obviousness of “run through it”. The mind will tell you to stop because it’s painful, but that’s a thought like any other. The body will perform fine. The mind is holding it back.

Back at the car I grabbed food, found a nice spot on the grass, and had a lovely (if lonely) picnic under big trees and amongst historical buildings. Took far too many selfies trying to find a flattering post-run look.

The remaining drive felt like classic prairies with yellow-green fields and large bales of hay rolled up.

In Vermillion I stopped at an A&W for dinner and much to my surprise, Siri took me to the one right beside a hotel I stayed at a few years ago.

With Beyond Burger in belly, I made my way to the final destination for the day: my mum’s hometown of Wainwright. I opened the blinds in the Wainwright hotel room and laughed at the building across the street: another A&W. I dropped my backpack off and headed right back out the door to watch the sun set behind a big trestle bridge outside town.

This is part four of a seven part series about my trip around Alberta. Check out the next part.