The spice must flow!

It was somewhere on the very eastern edges of Alberta – or maybe the very western edges of Saskatchewan – that the reality of what I’m doing really sunk in. I was totally alone on the highway. Farmland, in hues of canola yellow, lush green, light green and nearly white were around me as far as the eye could see. I wanted to jump up and yell, but it would have disturbed the quiet.

I couldn’t tell if I was in Alberta or Saskatchewan because I made the very poor decision of listening to Google maps when it came to getting from Calgary to the Great Sandhills in Saskatchewan before heading to Regina and the sweet, relative sanity of the hostel I’m staying at.

Which means rather than getting to see the usual big signs and photo ops marking a provincial boundary, the only reason I could really tell which province I was in was because the signs switched from Alberta provincial highway signs to ones with a sheath of wheat on them.

This “most direct route” involved “highways” (gravel roads) and a “ferry” (a platform that got you over what was apparently a river but looked more like an ambitious creek). Google maps didn’t even warn me about the ferry. I was grateful my darling Bluebell (aka the Mazda I am driving this trip) is so amazing on gas. I was never so happy to see pavement in my whole life by the time I hit Leader, SK, which has a fondness for somewhat odd statuary of local animals, including one at its (sigh) closed tourist information train car of an Ord’s kangaroo rat.

I went on to Sceptre, SK, where I visited the Great Sandhills Museum and Interpretive Centre, where I acquired a map to the giant dune and checked out the museum. It’s one of the largest small town museums I’ve ever visited, with an interesting array of stuff. The hall’s done up to look like a street and each room is nominally a different building. It comes complete with creepy mannequins (I found the wildlife exhibits and the information on the dunes themselves to be the most interesting).

Speaking of creepy mannequins, this one was particularly alarming – I assure you, it took me reading the signs to realize this was a woman getting her hair permed and not some poor soul undergoing some kind of electric shock treatment.

The dune was genuinely interesting, featuring the nicest sand I’ve ever had the privilege of getting stuck in my shoes. There too I was mostly alone, though a couple souls were leaving having tried tobogganing down the dune (it’s apparently a thing, I read about it on the Internet as I desperately kept checking my Google map directions as I became more and more disoriented in rural Saskatchewan).

Then it was on the road to Regina, where I am now. Like B.C., it is very smoky here from forest fires. My heart goes out to all impacted.

My apologies for my silence the past several days. It was a lovely time of dashing from one set of friends to another, with a large dose of family time tossed in. I did go over to Vancouver Island, visit Mile Zero in Victoria of the Trans Canada (it’s also Mile Zero on the other side of the country) and then do the first leg of the highway up to Nanaimo.

Yesterday I booted it from New West to Calgary. Today was my “scenic route” through Saskatchewan. Tomorrow I explore Regina.

I have a few rules on this road trip already. I expect to add more as the weeks wear on.

Victoria’s Super Awesome Canada Road Trip Rules

1. Thou shalt not be shocked when the $8 water container from a big grocery store leaks like crazy. Thou gets what thou pay for (as the gas station attendant pointed out to me when I was complaining).
2. Just start adding two or more hours onto all driving time estimates that come courtesy of Google maps. You’ll be less frustrated that way.
3. Try to not talk or write like the audio books you’re listening to. Between your science fiction and fantasy habits you’re going to start confusing irritating people.

   

That’s more than enough for now. I’ll regale you all with tales of the sights and sounds of Regina tomorrow, probably.