One of my highlights of the Tyrell Museum was seeing the Stegosaurus, one of all my all-time favorite dinosaurs. Not only does it have massive armor plating, it has a spiky tail! I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t see any Anklyosauria though. I love the Anklyosaur. Who wouldn’t love a mace-like little tank? Sadly, no luck with pterodactyls either, living or dead. Jurassic Park, hurry up already!
Long day of driving, only real stop was in “Dog River” Saskatchewan otherwise known as Rouleau Saskatchewan. Pretty cool, to see the set for Corner Gas. Even though the shooting for the season is over they still have the gas station and diner “stocked”. We then drove into town and had a beer in the Dog River (Rouleau) hotel. They were sold out of souvenir shot glasses so I had to settle for a Dog River beer mug instead. Shot glasses have been hard to find just about everywhere, doesn’t anyone drink anymore or at least collect shot glasses from their travels anymore?
We came to rest at a very nice, crowded but fine private campsite just outside of Regina called Kings Acres. Free wireless internet connection is a very nice bonus, thus made this post and a few corrections and updates to previous possible.
So far the weather has been cooperating with the exception of last nights 5hr thunder storm. Sean’s tent kept him dry from the rain but the puddles that formed from below managed to soak some gear, looks like no permanant damage done but a few hours of drying out the camera, Playstation Portable, PDA and others on the truck dash were enough to say keep the electronics in the locked truck at night.. 🙂
It’s funny, while at the Corner Gas set in Saskatchewan, I saw two things that represent the province so well. First was the “Dog River” grain silo, defiantly rising in the flat Prairie landscape. Then, when we headed over to the local pub watering hole, I noticed something moving outside the patio screen door: the Saskatchewan Roughriders team flag fluttering in the strong winds. Stereotypical images, I know, but still. Saskatchewan should be proud of both.
Wow, what a day, we wanted to put some miles behind us, I think we succeeded. Traveled about 935KM today and stopped in Dryden Ontario. That’s almost two time zones and two Provinces for those that are paying attention. The Prairies are .. well flat and pretty darn boring…
Hope to update more tonight, going to get some much needed rest right now.
Dave and I have been holding up remarkably well mentally considering the long 10-hour driving days so far. The endless road sometimes gets mind-numbing, but usually a Red Bull solves that problem real quick, and then some. 🙂
One thing, however, is that we are slowly starting to get beat up physically. By that I mean our bodies are having a tough time adapting to the widely variable start/stop times, and more importantly, the time zone changes.
When we get up around 7am, it’s actually 5am back home. Same with eating. Lately we’ve been pushing our meals back further in the day simply because we’re not hungry.
Ah well, we’ll get our bodies attuned eventually. But by then we’ll probably be back home!
The weather has not been the best, we slept through a few fantastic lightning storms with heavy rain, and we drove through an amazing heavy rain yesterday. We stopped in Dryden Ontario and checked into the Quality Inn, no camping this night. Slept in real bed, with a warm shower and bathroom only a couple meters away. TV was here but it did not even get turned on.
This morning, Sean was looking out the window.
Dave: “hows the weather out there?”
Sean: “the usual, dark and dreary.”
Dave: “that’s OK, we will make our own sunshine!”
Even I am not sure what that means, but I going to stay positive, sure would be nice if the weather would see my point of view and at least stop raining for a few days.
Just outside Thunder Bay, Ontario, the memorial for Terry Stands tall. We started this trip honoring the young man that decided to raise awareness and money for the disease that took his leg and his life. He ran a full Marathon (26 miles) every day until he got to this spot, half way across Canada. Here, on September 1st, 1980 it was discovered that he had Cancer in his lungs, and this stopped his epic run across Canada. Having driven this far, it’s amazing that this young man only 21 years old at the time had the courage to run this distance. The young man may have passed away 17 years ago, but his legacy still goes on stong today. I have the honor of living very close to where he grew up in Port Coquitlam BC. Seeing this memorial and having the local citizen practice his bagpipes playing near by when we were there filled me with pride of just living in the same country as this heroic Canadian.
Most of the yesterday was dry and the sun decided to poke out a few times. After a nice campfire beside Lake Superior, we retired for the tent and back of the truck to get some sleep at 1am, just as the rain started to fall, it rained for most of the night.. again… this time it was darn cold as well.
After the rainy night, a soaked tent and a damp morning we decided to have another long driving day. We wanted to get close to Ottawa so we would spend a day just touring the city and some sights. We managed just under 1000KM today and stopped in North Bay, Ontario for the night. Pretty neet little town with a population of just over 50,000. Going to try to see a little more of it in the morning.
With all the rain and driving there has not been a lot of pictures. A few were taken when we stopped at the Terry Fox Memorial in Thunder Bay. A local bagpipe player was practicing nearby, it seemed very appropriate. May do a post on this stop when my mind a body are better in tune to do so. Just a little tired a road weary at the moment, the time changes and road blur have worn me down. Nothing a good night sleep won’t fix I am sure.
Well, that Moon in the picture could be a Death Star (look in the center of the sky for a faint white spot). If it is, well then, we’re all doomed. But the point of the post is that things aren’t really as they appear. At first glance this stunning beach would seem to cradling a vast ocean, but it’s not. You’re looking at the (very windy, cold, and loud) shoreline of Lake Superior at Neys Provincial Park near Marathon, Ontario. All that was missing was seagulls, salty sea air, and shells.
