Virden to Maple Creek SK

 

After a nice quiet night at the Virden Lions campground (the trains did not blow whistles overnight), we got ready to head west again. First we took a short tour of Virden, a pleasant prairie town.

The Home Hardware where Mona works

An apparently free level 2 EV charger

Historical notes and some well-known people from Virden

Guess I should explain who Mona is. Mona's mother Anita is Donna's deceased husband Bob's youngest sister (ie Mona is Bob's niece). Donna is Cathie's sister.

Bob grew up on his family's farm in Sakatchewan, and Anita and Mona moved to Virden later on.

Virden was and is on a main Canadian rail line, and has current rail traffic and memories of yesteryear:

An nice stone ex-rail station, now used for community functions 

 

An example of a caboose, which used to be the last car on all trains

At a rest area that seemed to be part of a highway gas station, we found an exhibit using "relics" from a CBC TV series "Little Mosque on the Prairie", following a Muslim family on their adventures adapting to their new home Canada.   

A colourful Indian head statue

Larger than it first seemed

Some neat nesting "boxes" for swallows

   

 

A Buffalo Rubbing stone, and a Red River cart replica

 

 

Things are wet enough around here this year to find sloughs (small landlocked ponds) along the highway. Lots of insect and bird life around these ponds:

Some pictures, apparently snow, but really piles from mining and refining potash, which you may have heard referenced in recent Canada-US trade talks:

  

After looking at a couple of proper campgrounds that we didn't care for, we've ended up in the parking lot of a Saskatchewan Visitor Center near Maple Creek for the night. So far nice and quiet, just far enough off the highway. We're almost into Alberta now.

An animal viewing note: We (mostly Cathie) saw 4 moose, one at a time in various locations. Today we finally saw a group of 7 antelope here in Saskatchewan.  No pictures yet though.

 

 

  

We made it out of Ontario, "only" about 4 1/2 days! Dryden ON to Virden MB

Big sky country in Manitoba (MB)

After a cool night it warmed up today. Passing clouds were welcome to reduce the heat. It only got up to about 24C, but felt warmer with the humidity. 

In spite of the look of some of the clouds we got no rain on us today. From the look of some of the fields it has rained a fair bit in the area recently though:

We got a nice surprise when we stopped for fuel at a Petro Canada station just east of Winnipeg:

When we got west of Winnipeg the prices shown were quite a bit higher, like $2.09.9 to $2.19.9. Because our Petro account is linked with our RBC credit card we get 3 cents off the posted price too.  

 

You know it's a straight drive when the next turn for the route your GPS is on is 104 km down the road:

We wanted to stop early again today, as usual, but not too early. We ended up finding a Lions Club campground in Virden MB and were parked about 4:30 pm:

It was a bonus to be able to park in some shade today. The camp is a kilometre or more from the highway, so no traffic noise. However a nearby train had to blow its own horn for a while as it left the depot. Hope that doesn't happen tonight.

 

Penn Lake to Dryden, getting back in the groove

Lots of open road today

After a good night's rest for both of us, we covered more ground today towards the west. 

We've never seen this sign on a washroom door before. There was a corresponding one for males next door:

I guess it says the washroom is female priority, but anyone in need can use it.

The pond in front of our campsite was very calm this morning. It would have been easy to see the beaver that lives around here, but we only saw the stumps of small trees it (or they) had cut down. 

The van front pointed this way, so we had this view from inside the van with our morning coffee. It was 11C outside, so we stayed inside:

I don't want to make a big deal about the construction, but it's a fact of life on these roads this time of year. Passage was quick and easy once again:

Drilling for blasting to straighten the road later

Could be a dirty job, depending on the wind

Shots of the fairly new cable-stayed bridge at Ignace: 

3 towers, off in the distance

We stopped at a marker for the Arctic Watershed today. It's about 5km east of the divide between Eastern and Central time zones:

 

 

We covered more miles today than in the earlier days this trip. Cath says I don't look like death-warmed-over now at the end of the day. 

I expect that's a good thing. :))

Actual distance was about 660 km today. We arrived at the Dryden Walmart about 4pm CDT (Central Daylight Time).

 

 

  

Moving north and west, Sault Ste Marie to Marathon

Lake Superior

Another gorgeous day to be on the road. We always enjoy this drive, especially with weather like we've had.

It was another peaceful night at the SSM Walmart. It's a popular spot. This morning I counted 29 camper outfits there, 30 if you count the guy sleeping in his car:

After a token breakfast we were ready to head out early today. However, not to be. Yesterday we had a couple of red warnings that the oil level is too high in the van engine, and we need to remove some oil real soon. 

After doing some Internet research this morning, I contacted our Kitchener Sprinter dealer service dept. Automated message "all are busy, will call me back later". Long before he did, we located an oil change shop nearby, and drove there soon after they opened at 8am. 

Two very helpful guys working there this morning. We agreed the best thing would be to drain a litre or so of the oil into a clean container, and see what the level was then. We could see it was high on the dipstick, but hard to tell how high. The electronic measure just said "High" but not how high.  

So we drained a litre, and now the oil was low. After adding back 1/2 litre I used the electronic check for oil level, and it was happy now. I keep a litre in the van and will top up if needed. So off we went. When I asked how much we owed him, he said a smile and a handshake. Very good price!

The place is Victory Lube, 142 Great Northern Road in Sault Ste Marie, if you ever need oil in the area.  

When the dealer service called back later I told him the story, and he agreed it sounded like we did the right thing. Whew!

Heading north we spotted a sign advertising fresh apple fritters. After the light breakfast and van stress, we felt we deserved a treat. One was enough for both of us:

Looks like a beef roast, but was a fritter.

  

Still more construction today. Tis the season, and the improvement to the roads on this route from many years ago is amazing. No free lunch though, thus construction. It was easily and quickly navigated today:

Then more of the lake views that are both familiar and yet different every trip:

We stopped at Agawa Rocks Pictographs, a spot we've never visited. There's a short 400 metre trail to some scenic wonders. We didn't get too far though, before we decided it was too rugged for us these days:

The pictures of the worse parts didn't turn out, and things never look as steep in the pictures as in real life. Here's a pic of what awaited at the shore:

On the way in to Sault Ste Marie yesterday we stopped at another Petro Canada and filled up at $1.97.9. This morning we saw several diesel prices posted on our way out of town, anywhere from $2.19.9 to as much as $2.53.9! Glad we filled up when and where we did.

There's long stretches in this part of the world with no services, so we decided to top up our fuel again when we reached Wawa. There are gas stations outside town right on the bypass, but I wanted to check the diesel prices. The Esso on the highway didn't even display their diesel price, but their gas price was quite high. The Petro Canada in town was only $1.99.9. Good price for right now. 

We had thought we would be there too early in the day to camp at Penn Lake Park, a municipal campground in Marathon Ont. We had camped there a few years ago, and enjoyed it. What with one thing and another it was about 3 pm when we got there, and we both felt like that was far enough for today. A nice site in their unserviced tenting area worked for us:

Seagulls enjoying that large rock across the way