Post No.3

11 July,2017 Blog Posting No.3


7 July, Hornbeck Provincial Park to Wabamum.  Uneventful trip, lots of wild flowers and daisies on the roadside, arrived at Sheila and Peter’s at 14:30 hrs.  Brief refreshments, then a short trip around the lake end, got a very good close view of loons, although as usual they were not cooperative pix wise.  Very nice way to cool off on a very hot day. Lovely dinner and at Sheila’s insistence we slept in a real bed indoors.
8 July, Breakfast and more discussion, what with BC’s election, Trump and Trudeau we had lots to process.  Left Wabamum at 10:30 hrs, took the Yellowhead to Lloydminster on the Alta/Sask border, pausing for a quick tour of the Ukrainian Village at Mundare . Stayed with Ruby and Laurin Trudel, old friends from ND Lea days.  Laurin and Ruby have spent the last 15 years in Yellowknife so we didn’t get to see them very often.  Had some catching up there too, Xmas news letters can only convey so much.  Laurin kept out of mischief by fully participating in the local Search and Rescue organization, serious business that far north!!
9 July, powered by a breakfast for champions cooked by Laurin, we headed south towards Luseland, Sask, with the aim of visiting a neice of Dorothy Whittome’s (from Duncan PROBUS) to see a Saskatchewan Farm operation up close.  Alas it was not to be, we couldn’t make phone contact so with miles to travel before we slept, we pressed on.  On the way into Luseland, on Sask Hwy 675 we came across a very impressive church standing all alone in the middle of nowhere, the Holy Rosary Shrine Church, set in beautifully mown green oasis surrounded by a shelter line of trees.  We and the dogs were hot and tired so we turned into the Church grounds before we realized we were crashing a special summer mass held by the local St Peter’s Parish in Unity. We took the dogs for a quick walk along the tree shelter line then made our retreat, making a small donation to the parish officers at the gate in lieu of staying for the service.
We drove on thru the afternoon, our first real experience of the prairies proper.  Sask 675 was mostly gravel surface so the RV now looks a little dusty.  A scrawny coyote crossed the road ahead of us.  The oil and gas activity appears to share equal billing with farming/cropping.  Between the two activities there must be enough scrapped machinery to keep a couple of steel recycling plants going for quite a few years.
Eventually found rest at the “Romer Country Campground” at Clavet which turned out to be a farmer’s field which I think he mowed every summer for passing travelers to use.  We were the sole occupants.  No services but a lovely sheltered, level camping spot and a very modest fee.  The dogs ran themselves to exhaustion playing the “Cookie Game” (running between us 50 or so metres apart for a cookie reward at each end).  Thunder storm and heavy rain in the night.
10 July, Clavet to Saltcoats, Sask to a near deserted municipal campground. Saw a small moose in the distance near Tuffnell.   Had a very nice evening walk in the nature reserve near the camp, but both us and the dogs came back with a few hitchhikers, ticks which seemed to be in great abundance.  Managed to blow the breaker on the site power, so had to use the onboard generator to finish off our toast for breakfast next day.  Hey, we never claimed to be green campers.  Onwards, eastwards, Winnipeg here we come 

 








 You know you are on the prairies now

 
11 July, Saltcoats to the KOA campground at Francoise Xavier just west of Winnipeg.  Gray day, light rain all the way, cars really need headlights to be seen in the gloom as the endless straight roads vanish into               

the gray horizon. These are the roads for which cruise control was invented.  Nice camp, but the skies opened just after we arrived.  Good weather is predicted for tomorrow.  We plan to stay at this camp for two nights in order to see a little of Winnipeg.  Made a daunting discovery today, we are now 2,314 km from Vancouver, but if Toronto was our destination we still have 2,242 km to go!!
Have been having trouble with my blog but hopefully that is sorted now and I will endeavor to catch up,
A la prochaine, P & K 

Holy Rosary Shrine Church, on Sask Hwy 675
City in Sask named after Phil's brother
Politics in Sask is supposedly lurching to the right but this is ridiculous
Worlds largest Ukrainian Easter egg.


Let's get this show on the road!!

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