June 3, 2019 - Saskatoon SK to Neepawa, MB

June 3, 2019

Leaving Saskatoon, we got back on the Circle Route and out onto Highway 16 East again. The prairie opened up and we were back into wide open spaces where the tallest thing on the horizon is the Coop Gas Station Signs for a long way. 

Eventually, we got to Quill Lakes and we were stunned by how HUGE they are. It looks like suddenly, you are at the edge of the ocean. The water goes to the horizon and there is a distinct coastal feel to it. Years ago, my friends Craig and Amy wrote a song about if the West Coast of BC had THE BIG EARTHQUAKE and sloughed off into the ocean and Alberta became the new west coast. One of the lines of the song came to me today as I stood at the shores of Quill Lake - “Holloway, Holloway, to the land and sea! Sailing to the Alberta, the coast of the Grand Prairie...”

This is also a Mecca for birds. Holy Moly. There are more birds out this way than you can shake a stick at. In fact, at Quill Lake, there is an International Bird Conservancy which we think our birder friends, Sandy and Rita, would probably love to visit. 

The other thing we really took note of today were the HUMONGOUS pot ash plants the size of small cities and some of the graineries where they load grain onto railcars. The grain silos are so big, they make the trains look like toys and these graineries are dotted throughout the prairie. It’s hard to imagine how much product comes out of this area every year.

As we rode through the rolling land, many of the fields had stubble of last year’s crop, laid out in neat parallel lines with draftsman’s precision. In between the lines, new growth is just starting to pop up. Apparently, the planting is all done but the crop has been slow to sprout because there hasn’t been much rain. 

We stopped at Wynyard and hunted out the bakery. Fantastic buns and fresh coffee. 

We decided to push on and try to make Neepawa so that tomorrow wouldn’t be such a long day. We’re both feeling a little fatigued after 4 days of steady riding. The first week of a big trip like this is always a bit of an adjustment. I’m finding I need to take a few Advil with my morning coffee to get my back and hips ready for the coming day. By the end of the week, though, I’ll be back in riding shape. 

We hit Russell, Manitoba and stopped to fuel up. The temperatures soared in the past hour and it was now 35 degrees. And muggy. Really muggy. We decided to keep going and from there on out, those cumulative storm clouds formed a big thunderstorm cel which, while still in the distance, sat on our right shoulder for the following couple of hours. We could see it start to unleash it’s heavy load of rain in great purple streaks. 

We had a good run into Neepawa and were really delighted to discover that it’s an incredibly quaint little town! It reminded me a lot of Grand Forks and Nelson, BC, with it’s 19th century houses (mostly brick) and streets lined with 100 year old trees that meet in the middle, forming  verdant canopies. Their Lion’s Club established a gorgeous municipal park, complete with almost 10 kms of pretty walking trails along the river and a campsite. The campsite is the nicest one I think I’ve ever stayed in. The grounds were right on the river and beautifully kept and joined the walking trails. After dinner we walked the trails for a ways. It was a lovely evening.