Yesterday, just as we arrived in Moose Jaw and were fueling
the bike, a man told us that he has the same exact motorcycle, color, model
year and all. He asked where we were from. When we told him he said
that he was born in Williamsburg, Va. Though he had a very definite Canadian
accent and likely didn’t spend long in Williamsburg, it was funny he was from
so close to where we live. Very small world indeed. When we told him we were
headed to Waterton Lakes he said “Oh, it’s pristine there! You’ll have a great
drive in.”
So today’s journey began with anticipation of our final Canadian
destination—Waterton Lakes Park and a new province, Alberta. After looking at
this amazing view as a screensaver on her computer for a year, Michele hoped
the scenery would live up to its promise. Our trip through the southwestern
half of Saskatchewan was farmland, as we continued on the Trans-Canada Highway.
We passed an interesting mining facility, Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals. We looked online and found that This is sodium sulphate. It is used in many products (e.g., detergents, pulp and
paper, textiles, and starch).
The towns today along highway 1 were mostly very small (most
would not have really registered as a town at all if not for the road side sign
announcing the existence of the town). Swift Current and Medicine Hat were the
only two towns of any significant size. We stopped in Swift Current for the
day’s first fuel up and we stopped in Medicine Hat for lunch. Swift Current had
on display a helicopter on a stick.
The landscape became dramatically more arid as the day went
on, but still had great views, especially of these two beauties bracing
themselves against the southern wind.
We saw about four wind turbine groupings along our route
today, making good use of the wind that pummeled us for an hour. Rob jokingly commented
how it would help even out the wear on the tires since the wind yesterday was
out of the north.
As we drove onward, with about 80 miles to go, we started to
wonder if we were being duped by the photos from Waterton Lakes since there was
no mountain in sight as far as we could see. No hills, just farmland, FLAT!
Then Rob spotted mountains in the distance. Michele thought
it was a mirage. There’s no way with all this flatness that peaky mountains
could suddenly appear in these few remaining miles. (Ignore the bug splats on the windscreen, everyone’s vehicle looks like this out here.)
Even with the extreme haze today and the sun facing right
into the camera, the view was awesome!
We checked in at the resort, unpacked the bike, cleaned up
the bug carnage on the bike, and walked over to a great little pizzeria for
dinner.
No comments:
Post a Comment