20030901                  Open new window with today’s pictures.

Semptember 01, 2003
Monday (Labor Day)


Start:   Prince Albert National Park, Waskesiu CG, Waskesiu SK
End:     Hudson Bay Provincial Park, Hudson Bay SK
Miles:   222
Hi Temp: 82.8
Lo Temp: 48.7


We left PANP about 9:00am. All the other campers there were showing signs of life and beginning to pack things for the trip home.

The day was cloudy and cool at the start. 

We ran down SK-2 to Prince Albert and stopped at the Superstore again for a few items. We left on SK-3, heading more or less east.  The road was fine, speed limit 100km/hr (62mph).

Again, we were impressed by the amount of wheat grown here.  Mile after mile of wheat fields (I suppose some were other grains like barley) with a few fields of corn and a couple of hay. We were going to take pictures of it, but to get any depth into the picture would require some altitude and there isn't any. The place is flatter than a flounder.  At one point, I could see four separate towns off across the fields.

Despite the holiday, many of the farmers were harvesting.  We saw just about every moving machine from combines cutting grain to grain trucks taking it to elevators (tall multiple silo-like storage places where farmers pool and store their grain until the co-op can get a good price for it and then ship it from the elevator).

About 40 miles west of Hudson Bay, the temperature went up noticably.  We lowered the truck windows. I noticed the truck running warm and the transmission running warm also.  I had been running in overdrive, making good speed at very low RPM; I dropped back out of overdrive, making the engine and transmission RPM increase and gradually the temps came back to normal. We're getting back into warmer climes, so I'll have to adjust.  It was nice being in cool air for a couple of months and not having to worry about heat.

We stopped in Hudson Bay (the town in Saskatchewan, not the body of water in northern Ontario) to refuel and then we parked in their Provincial Park just south of town. It's a little primitive but will do nicely for the one night. After setting up and relaxing for a bit, we made a spaghetti dinner with hot Italian sausage.

We went back into town later and drove around to see it. It's a nice place with lots of services for a population just under 2,000.  The big industry appears to be a Weyerhauser plywood plant.

Hudson Bay also claims it is the moose capital of the world. The gas station person said they get a lot of hunters up here from the states. But we didn't see any (moose, that is).

It's 7:00pm, and a light drizzle has just started. There was some thunder, but that seems to have gone by. It's nice hearing the gentle rain pattering on the roof.