It has several parts....
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=200059512251364914226.0004daba15b3107f38ef0
Well up early and not the best view I’ve woken up to..
It’s a strange mix of emotions in the morning. First thing
to check, is the bike ok, is it still there even, not that I've e had any
indication that it wouldn’t be. Then a
quick look at the weather forecast for where I am and where I want to be. After
breakfast I try and pack and load the bike in an organised way so that I know
where things are and more importantly that they will fit and stay on.
The tank bag is the most important. One of my drop was due to
the fact that I’d got that too far forward and couldn’t get lock on at slow
speed. Then I have to put my lips salve on. Plays hell with ones’ lips all
that lid-up cruising. Occasionally use Neutrogena – not that its any better
than others it’s just that when I’m putting my lippy on I can imagine I’m as rugged as those bearded Norse fishermen who use it –yea I bet they do!
Then I have to ride a few miles before I stop again and
readjust all the things that don’t feel right.
By this time the bike is running ok and as I set off the pleasure really
kicks in – I’m on the road again.
I always overdress initially, thinking it’s better to take things off
as you get warm than try and get warm when the cold has set in. So, the weather really doesn’t matter, which is good because
this morning it’s not at its best.
Am really surprised again about how quiet the road is.
When I saw this I really thought I had to hit snow again
- but it turned out to be salt or potash or some such deposits from the evaporating lake bed.
Off to Moose Jaw and Regina today with a few detours to things I want to see.
First though I rode to Moose Jaw – which apparently was from
the Cree native Indian name moose gaw,
meaning warm breezes but as this was definitely a misnomer I didn’t stop long
at. It has a checkered history, staring as a Canadian Pacific Railroad
outpost, became a focal point for Chinese immigrants, I guess railway workers,
is reputed to have been used by Al Capone for his alcohol smuggling enterprises
during prohibition and has some shady KKK connection. It also apparently has a
giant moose – Mac. Mac, built in 1984, is claimed to be the world's largest
moose at 32 feet tall and a weighing nearly 10 tons – not that I guess there will
be a lot of competition. Anyway, I missed him – I know, I spotted a life-size
Moose at 100 yards, in the rain at 60 mph and missed this one – what can I say.
I put a "borrowed" picture of Mac here though for my younger readers ....
Now, America is a country of car wreckers’ yards or abandoned
used car lots. Oh it’s got lots of beautiful country separating them with
rivers and canyons and geysers and things, but essentially it’s all car wreckers’
yards and abandoned used car lots. If they stopped making cars tomorrow America
could survive just on refurbishing the millions of old ones it’s got lying
around. But they still do make cars so what they are doing or intend to do with
all those old ones laying around I don’t know.
Well, Canada has nearly as many such yards but, here’s the clever thing, being a bit more canny – must be the Scottish ancestry – when they have 2 or more of anything they call it a museum. Two cars or more it is an Auto Museum. Two tractors or more it is an Agricultural Museum. If there is an old washing tub or a stove thrown in among the stuff it is a Heritage museum. I’m not knocking that, thinks it’s great. One of them is my first stop - The Pioneer and Suskanen Ship Museum. Oh yes, forgot to mention that, if there’s a boat amongst your stuff then call it a Ship Museum!
I admit that on one level it was a bit of a disappointment. Most
of the exhibits were a bit too modern for me, not many dealt with the early
settlers but it was interesting enough. It’s taken as read that a collection of
old buildings brought together in an artificial “village” will never be the
same as seeing them in situ such as I had on route 66 but the old pioneers dwellings
won’t survive being abandoned out on the prairies so it is good that they move
them lock stock and wash tub to places like this.
The ship, well that’s a sad tale which I’ll summarise. Tom Sukanen was an immigrant from Finland who originally
settled in Minnesota in the States with his family. He moved alone to Manitoba to try and find
better surrounding which he did but when he walked back to fetch his family he
found his wife had died and his 4 children 3 girls and a boy, dispersed. He only found his son but
when he tried to reclaim him the authorities accused him of kidnap or whatever
and threw him out of America alone. He never
recovered from that. He found a water course which he believed would lead to
the sea so went about building a boat so that he could sail back to Finland.
This is the actual boat, but he died in a mental institution before he could attempt the probably ill-fated
journey.
This link tells the story much better Tom Sukanen
Oh and there was the usual tractors ...
and this beautiful 100 year old Grain Elevator.
For those who have no soul and can't appreciate any of the above, how about a barbed wire collection ...
From that museum I rode onto Regina. The weather turned to a fine Mizzle for a short time which brought visibility down a lot. It is one thing driving along romancing about how the road disappears into the far distance, another when it just disappears.
As I approached Regina you can really see how big the prairie is and how cities just stick out as oasis.
I was going to visit the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Centre. Their Headquarters is now in Ottawa but this was the original “Depot” and is where their training school still is.
Had a wonderful couple of hours here. The history of the North West Mounted Police as they first were lines up exactly with my interest around the pioneers. A lot about Sitting Bull to who apparently took refuge in Canada for a while, with Canadian approval, after his victory at Little Big Horn.
Smart chaps weren't they...
a far cry from this officer who I just couldn’t resist asking if she would have her
photograph taken with me – well. who could. (How long will it take for that
smug grin to wear off when I get back?)
Should have stopped overnight at Regina but the weather
closed in and I decided I would be as happy on the bike IN the rain as sitting
in a hotel room listening to it outside so pulled up under a Skating Rink doorway, donned some wet weather gear and rode on through the last of Saskatchewan and to Manitoba –
Brandon to be exact.
Arrived damp, tired but as usual happy and feeling very lucky....
And then brought back to earth as I made a prat of myself - again - with the receptionist and laundry room access by not realising I had driven across another time zone - oh hum...
