Update and the Road Ahead

This is a short update for the blog as we are about to enter a really poor area for internet access and will not resurface until around June 22.

June 10:

As we drove through Onanole on our way out of Riding Mountain, we had to get a picture of TaJ with the elk statue at the centre of town:

We left Riding Mountain with the plan to stop in Yorkton for internet at the local library before heading on to Moose Mountain. The trip was uneventful until this happened:

A transport truck passing the other way tossed a small rock onto our windscreen and bingo, a crack appeared. It cannot be repaired, so we will be replacing our windshield in the near future.

Moose Mountain has a 300+ site campground, which is virtually empty. This one is $27 as night and provides free firewood, which is a bonus. The campground manager says they expect a complete fire ban at any moment, as the area is rapidly drying out. So we had a fire this evening just in case we soon won't be able to.

June 11

Jenny and I walked the campground in the morning to get in some exercise after a travel day. The four of us headed in to Carlyle for a look-see at this town on the edge of Saskatchewan's oil patch. A really nice little town with a touch of Nova Scotia. Michael's Coffee Shop serves JustUs Coffee, from Wolfville, Nova Scotia. It seems that Michael has a connection to Wolfville. All three of his daughters attended Acadia University and he caught onto the JustUs coffee on his visits.

In the afternoon, Jenny, Karmen and I did a hike along a grassy trail in the park, which shall forever be known as the TICK walk. At the end, we cleaned ticks off our clothes. Jenny had 7, Karmen 3 and I had one. Yikes. We will be careful where we walk for the next little while on our travels.

The road ahead:

Our week involves dropping into the least populated portion of Saskatchewan, which will limit our internet access. While at Bengough, we will explore the Big Muddy Badlands, before heading to Grasslands National Park, East Block, a great block of prairie farmland converted to a national park and, "where seldom is heard a discouraging word, and the skies are not cloudy all day"

We might have better access once we make it to southern Alberta in a week or so. We are traveling with our road buddies, George and Karmen Reid, who have their own travel blog, Reids on the Road. Here is a link to their blog.

https://reidsontheroad2018.wordpress.com/

We part company with our friends after our stop at Writing on Stone Provincial Park, where we head on to Waterton Lakes, while they meander north towards Grande Prairie.

Life is good, and it is better on the road. We carry on with a bounce in our step and a song in our heart.