Gull Lake SK to Elkhorn MB

 

Another travel day, this one was a bit longer. After the early stop yesterday and a good night's sleep, we were more ambitious today.

Last night's campground, with cottonwood fluff in the air

The little campground we were in last night kept filling up on into the night, mostly with smaller campers and tenters. You might not be able to see the fluff in the air, but there was lots of it.

Today we cruised along the TCH:

This was supposed to be a marsh viewing point. Nope.

Not sure when it would be open. Drought maybe?

The way back out

A Potash mine

We saw something different along the highway:

Train cars backing in to be loaded up with salt

Turns out it was a salt mining operation, producing sodium sulfate. If you're interested just do a Google search on "Chaplin salt". Here's an extract from company info:

Over the course of the company’s nearly 75 years, Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals has become known internationally as a reliable, long-term supplier of natural sodium sulphate to blue-chip customers. Operating in southwest Saskatchewan, Canada, the company is the North American market leader in production of high-quality natural sodium sulphate. Over 80 domestic and international customers use Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals’ sodium sulphate in detergents, pulp and paper, glass, starch, industrial enzymes, water treatment and livestock mineral feed.

Some of the sites have much better pictures than ours.

Moose Jaw had some highway signs that made the town seem interesting, and we were in need of a break...:

Grain elevators looked like they've been here a while

A small Farmers Market today

Cath contributed to the entertainment

Several wall murals around town

Moose Jaw seemed like a vibrant friendly town with a healthy-looking downtown area.

Later we stopped in to Wolseley to check out their swinging bridge. They also had a mural or two:

The bridge was not quite what we expected, but it's fun to walk across it. Maybe it should be called a swaying bridge:

It gets quite a side-to-side sway from walkers

The bridge spans a pretty little lake in front of a nice retirement home

Our camp tonight is in another community campground, this one in Elkhorn MB. The camp helper just delivered a picnic table to us, the easy way:

We do enjoy the prairies. Stopping here and there to look more closely is mandatory to make the drive more interesting.