The trailer Park that we stayed in was on the edge of Moose Jaw so as we were leaving I was able to get a picture of the welcoming Moose and his airplane. Apparently the name of the moose is Mac. He and the plane are right at the city's visitor center so I think the plane is just an advertisement for the Western Development Museum.
We had never made the trip either to or from Grande Prairie by way of Moose Jaw before so the scenery was a little different than what we usually see coming through Regina. Rick had a set route in mind to Saskatoon and I was afraid the GPS would try to sent us another way but, surprisingly she agreed. As mentioned in yesterday's blog we determined that my GPS was a US only unit - I didn;t know there was such a thing - so I was using Google and my phone when necessary.
Last year, travelling through Regina, the route took us right across the prairies and we saw miles and miles of wheat fields. There really was not a whole lot of interesting things to see. The route this year showed us landscapes that were quite different. In many ways it was like a scaled down version of Montana with flat fields and then sudden hills. We saw much more iol and gas activity as well.
There were a number of roadside displays that were interesting. I noticed that many of the small Saskatchewan towns had road signs with little displays to welcome you, but there were also some that seemed a little random in the middle of a field.
As we were driving along Highway 16 (The Trans Canada Highway) Rick mentioned that we wanted to take the rig in for an alignment when we got to grande Prairie. He let go of the wheel for a brief moment to demonstrate a strong pull to the right. We both thought that it was from fighting those high winds for 3 solid days across the US mid west where the rig was constantly being pushed to the right by very strong gusts.
I might add here that Rick is meticulous about checking things like fluids and tire pressure every day.
As we went north from Saskatoon we went over the North Saskatchewan River near a town called Bordon. The roads and bridges were upgraded here in 1985 when a four lane highway was built and that left the old Bordon Bridge closed to vehicles, but still open to pedestrians. It was sold by the government to a gentleman who wanted to make an outdoor dance hall out of it. I read in some news reports that he got frustrated with all of the paperwork necessary for such a facility that he gave up and decided to sell it. For a cool million dollars you can own this classic bridge.
When we were passing through the valley of the North Saskatchewan River we noticed that there was a railway bridge crossing it as well. We noticed it for a few reasons. For starters, there was a freight train going over it and as we were cresting a hill it looked like the train was on the road, right in front of us. and we went down the other side of the hill and started to climb it then looked like the rail bridge was very low and we would not clear it. Of course that was just the angel we were approaching it at.
We went through North Battleford, on the lookout for gas. For a large town in the middle of the Trans Canada Highway, it was surprisingly difficult to find a gas station that we could get into. The highway went through a good chunk of the town and there was plenty of truck traffic but they obviously had to go off the main road to get their gas. We didn't want to do that, convinced that a bigger station was ahead. We were wrong. There was a Petrocan station on a corner where the highway curved so we tried to get into that but, after driving through thick mud to get around it, we saw that there was not enough room for our 50 foot rig to maneuver so we continued along the highway.
Just north of there, we drove through an area that had clearly just had snow. Not a great sign as we did not know what we were driving into or what to expect. Snow+RV towing Jeep = BAD NEWS.
We drove out of the snowy area in just a few kilometers and continued our search for gas.
Five towns later we found Maidstone which said it had a Husky station. In our travels, Husky Stations have always been large and very easy for us to get in and out of. Of course there is an exception to every rule. The station was very small, but situated in such a way that we could just get in. It certainly helped that it was on a corner. It also was not right off the highway. We had to drive through the town to find it. I was dumbstruck by the fact that the roads in town were not paved. It was a small town but not as small as a village. Of course Rick was thrilled to be driving on dirt and gravel roads for the second day in a row,. Oh and they had recently had rain. A lot of rain. So there was lots of mud.
Our plan had been to park at the station and have some lunch. We were making pretty good time and a break was in order. There was a big lot of sorts across the road where some trucks were parked so we decided to go there. When we pulled in the station, we discovered there was a Subway right there so our lunch plans changed a little. Rick handed me a $20 and asked me to get lunch while he was filling us up with gas. When we got back in the RV Rick informs me that we had a flat tire on the front right side. No wonder it was pulling to the right! We pulled into the lot as planned and had our lunch and then Rick got out his compressor and tried to fill the tire up. It didn't work and he discovered there was a tear in the compressor hose. Much sailor speak ensued. I had noticed an air station at the Husky and there were now no cars getting gas so we could maneuver close enough to it. We had a couple of loonies to feed the air machine and figured that would be it. Nope. Didn't work. Two loonies later the tire was still flat.. So Rick told me to search Google to see if there was a tire store in town.. Much to my surprise there were two of them. One was just a kilometer away. Some good news!! I will say right now that was one of the longest drives we have ever had. The roads to the tire shop were pure thick mud. I really wish that I had taken a picture.
We got to the garage and they took us right away and were able to help. We took the Jeep off and parked it on the road where it was sort of level so that it would be easier to reattach. Then we were able to get the RV into the shop.
I have to say the people in Saskatchewan are probably the friendliest people in Canada.Well at least western Canada. There were other customers in the shop and they, plus the technicians and the owner chatted with us the entire time we were there, and had no problem letting Rick stay in the garage while they were working. I seemed to be in the way so I went into the office and sat there where it was a little bit warmer and waited. Rick was good enough to come into the office and give me updates. At one point he told me we had 4 flat tires and 2 soft ones. In the back of my mind I wondered how big a dent this was going to put in our vacation money, and was thankful I brought enough food from home to do us for at least 3/4 of the trip. In the end though, it turned out to just be the valves on the tires that was the problem. They replaced 4 of the 6 valves I think and filled all of the tires up with air to their required pressure. Three hours after arriving in Maidstone for what was to be a 30 minute stop we were back on the road again. No more pull to the right and hopefully better gas mileage. We were not going to make it to the campsite before dark though.
It did not take us long to get to the Alberta border and a town called Lloydminster. I am fascinated by this town that sits on the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Why does it fascinate me? Well, it is where Saskatchewan ends and Alberta begins. But this does not happen at the edge of town. It happens right in the middle. There are red posts at the intersection where you cross the border with the Alberta flag on the west side and Saskatchewan on the east.
We still had another 3 - 4 hours of driving ahead of us so we pushed on. Rick ate left-over pizza from the night before while driving so we did not even stop for a dinner break. We drove through a mixture of prairie land and hills and valleys. In one spot there was a lone tree starting standing in the middle of a wheat field, starting to show it's fall colours.
We saw a huge grain elevator that we could see for miles before finally reaching it. You always know you are approaching a town when you see one of these off in the distance.
As usual, we were reminded that we were in moose country, although I have never actually seen one, even from a distance. I don't really think I want to see one close up, especially on the roads.
We were seeing an increased amount of oil and gas activities along this stretch of road. We also noticed that the small towns we passed in Saskatchewan and Alberta, like Maidstone, did not have paved roads. We couldn't help but wonder why an area that was so rich in gas and oil did not pave the streets of their towns where, undoubtedly, some of their workers lived. Again, things just make us curious. Anyhow, we did notice this very nice, colourful pump jack in someone's yard.
My final picture of the day was of a roadside swamp. it got dark shortly afterwards so I put the camera away for the day.
We got to our camp just after 8:00 pm. We probably would have been a little earlier but our GPS decided we needed to take the long way around and see part of the town. I was exhausted by two very long days on the road and I can not imagine how tired Rick was. We went to turn the electric heat on and the untit started to make a very high-pitched screaming sound with some alarming rattling. So we decided to go with our gas furnace for the night. It was going down to zero so we needed a little heat. We went outside and hooked up our portable gas cylinder because our main tank was empty and we had not found a place to refill it yet. Mind you it was not a huge priority since we had a back up. Turns out the gas furnace would not run off of the tank. So no gas furnace either. This was the kind of frustration we did not need after a 13 hour day of driving. Thankfully Rick had purchased a heater buddy last year so we hooked that up. It quickly heated he cabin space enough for us to sit for a little bit and unwind before bed. We were really not that concerned about sleeping in the cold because we have an electric bed warmer, comforter and duvet on our bed plus 2 other blankets available if needed. They weren't. Tired and frustrated, we went to bed and slept like rocks.
Tomorrow it will all be worthwhile when we see Connor!
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