Minot ND, border crossing, Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Lloydminster and on to Grande Prairie, AB
(posted from Grande Prairie visitor’s center)
(this post covers 24-26 June, 2008)
------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 26 June-
We were so tired last night we slept heavily despite a noisy parking lot. We were up and on the road by 0730. By mid-day we made Edmonton and then stopped at Spruce Grove for gas, ice, and a snack. An hour or so later we stopped at a forest-industries museum and visitor’s center at Whitecourt. The man behind the visitor’s center is John Dahl, an 80-ish former construction contractor and (former) mayor of the town. John happened to be in the museum for a visit and we began talking. He described the process of raising two million dollars to build and sustain the center and it became clear that John is THE man in this area. The museum had fantastic photographs, ranging from 1890’s shots of homesteads and schools to a shot of a wall-tent with the sign “Imperial Bank”. And we noticed a 1948 photo of one Audrey Dahl with 40 kids outside a one-room log school house. “That would be my wife”, said John when we asked about it. What a fantastic experience it was for us to trade stories for an hour or so with a true pioneer of the area.
Around 1300 we pulled off at a rest area and had lunch. A car parked behind us and two young women took a bright-colored little box down over the hillside to the nearest trees and hung the box in a birch. As they returned to their car we learned they are setting out traps to monitor for gypsy moths entering the area. The area doesn’t currently have a gypsy-moth problem but they are supposed to be headed this way.
After a long afternoon of driving through thunderstorms and headwinds we made Grande Prairie, Alberta. After so much driving through relatively unpopulated areas we were surprised to find Grande Prairie has almost 50,000 residents. After verifying we could park overnight at the Wal-mart we drove to a less-busy part of the mall complex and had supper, then blogged and read until time for bed.
-------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 25 June-
Today we awoke by 0630 and were on the road by 0730. We first took the quickie tour of Moose Jaw (‘Cultural Capital of Saskatchewan!”) on the way out to the highway. We took a less-traveled road toward Saskatoon and soon were in a construction zone and the road had a thick layer of gravel. But the trucks were nevertheless flying along in the opposite direction, spraying us with gravel. When I’d see the big ones—the double-trailer ones—coming, I’d look for a pull-off and just pull over and stop to avoid a windshield ding.
Not far from there we saw our first coyote of the trip. He or she was just out in the field about 100 yards away, loping along easily. And a bit later we dropped down off the prairie into the Qu’Appelle Valley—a beautiful little valley of lakes and rolling hills. Two summers ago we had visited another part of the Qu’Appelle Valley northeast of Regina (near Fort Qu’Appelle) so we were happy to see this part of the valley for comparison.
As we neared Saskatoon we decided to cut across below Saskatoon to approach from the south rather than the south-east. That would take us to the Beaver Creek Preservation Area where we had met shepherd Jared, his border collie Katie and their 231 sheep in 2006. Jared, Katie, and the sheep had been there as the key players in a project to rid the Preserve of invasive plants. But it was not to be. When we talked with the manager of the Preserve visitor center, we learned the project had lasted two years and had been deemed mostly successful but this year management is trying other methods-- including plowing and planting broome grass—to address the problem. We did learn that Jared is building a house and that his wife Tasha now has a job at the university where she was a student on our last visit.
We then drove south-west of Saskatoon to The Berry Farm for some saskatoons. These are blueberry-like berries which grow on 8-10-foot bushes. They’re a bit smaller than the blueberry but just as delicious. In the US, they’re called serviceberries or (I think) juneberries. Labashi had hot saskatoon-berry tea and saskatoon perogies while I had a saskatoon gelato with a generous topping of (what else?) saskatoons!
We then got back on the road I gassed up for the first time in Canada--- $148 (regular unleaded is $5.40 a gallon). We then drove west to Lloydminster on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border. We saw a Boston Pizza and immediately wanted one of their wonderful thai-pasta bowls like we had had in Thompson last August. But we were disappointed to learn there are different menu regions in the Boston Pizza restaurant chain and this one did not include the thai-pasta bowl. We settled for Thai-chicken pizza and that was good but didn’t compare in wow-factor (and cost me $24 for a medium pizza!)
After supper we found a nearby park and took a walk, then read before going to the Wal-mart for the night.
--------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 24 June-
After a nice, quiet night in Fargo we pointed the van for Canada. By mid-day we had made it to Minot, ND and enjoyed the pretty views through the rolling hills. I’ve heard Minot is the middle of nowhere--- and it probably is in winter--- but today the area seemed a very nice place to live—particularly a few miles either north or south of the city. The hills look like a Georgia O’Keefe painting waiting to happen. Simply hang a massive morning glory from a sky-hook and you’ll have the painting.
The big issue for the day was expected to be the border crossing with my shotgun. After researching this on the web and talking with the Canada Firearms Centre in Ottawa, I thought the theory of taking a shotgun across the border looked relatively easy but the practice of it could be a problem. The Canadian law looked simple enough and I had the right forms and procedures but the decision would be up to the border agent. In my first conversation (by phone) with a border agent about a month ago, she seemed to have an adverse opinion about Americans bringing any gun into the country for any reason. She seemed to change her opinion when I said we’d be camping in remote areas. Over the next week I talked with agents at the Canada Firearms Centre and they didn’t seem to have adverse opinions on the subject (so long as I was talking long-gun and not hand-gun) but then I saw the Milepost tour guide discourages trying to bring a firearm into Canada, advising that the border agents have wide discretion in permitting or denying the ‘importation’ of the firearm.
Just in case we’d have a problem, I brought along the shipping box (I had asked the gun shop for the shipping box when I picked the gun up the day before leaving). So while we were in Minot I did a GPS search for UPS and Fedex and found a GPS Store. If we were turned away at the border, we’d drive back the 50 miles to the UPS Store and use the shipping box to send the gun to either my dealer at home or (if I still wanted to mess with this) to a dealer in Soldotna, Alaska who routinely does this.
Before crossing the border I wanted to get a form called “Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad” filled out for the gun at the US station. I had read on the web that this form may help avoid any problems in bringing the gun back into the US.
As we approached the border, I saw no way to approach the US border station. I could see it off to our left but the road in front of us simply had signs telling us we were entering Canada. I stopped and simply looked as confused as I was and eventually a US border guy asked what I needed and then held up traffic and told me where to park to enter the US border station. Inside I presented the form to a new agent who had to ask the supervisor for help but from there on it was routine. They looked up the serial number to determine if it was stolen and then signed and stamped the form, then the trainee accompanied me out to the van to verify the serial number.
We then crossed to the Canadian side and I declared the shotgun, a five-liter box of wine (you’re only allowed 1.5 liters of wine free) and my bear-spray (pepper spray is permitted only if clearly marked as designed for animals). The guy put those on a form and told me to take it to an agent inside. There another agent simply processed the Non-Resident Firearms Declaration form and asked for the $25 form-processing payment. She had me mark the form ‘In-Transit’ since we’re headed to Alaska and never checked the gun’s serial number, barrel length, ammo capacity, our IDs, or anything. I believe what happened was our vehicle license plate had identified us to the first agent, who could see our photo IDs (passports) on his computer. And I believe the agent inside could see not only our passports but also the record of the shotgun which had been made only a few minutes before by the US agents. And she never said a word about the wine or bear spray; she just initialed off the form and bid us good day.
With considerably lightened spirits, we entered Saskatchewan and drove on for a few hours to the Wal-mart at Moose Jaw for the night. Nearing Moose Jaw we passed a sign saying something like “Welcome to ‘Dog River’” and that rang a bell. Dog River is the town in the Canadian comedy series “Corner Gas”. Shortly thereafter we passed an old gas station and there was large movie light, a klieg light, leaning against the outer wall. Could that be the ‘Corner Gas’ location? Once in Moose Jaw and after a bit of shopping, I spent a pleasant hour chatting with a fellow RVer, Rick from Prince Edward Island. Rick and his wife were traveling in an old Itasca Phaser (sister to the Winnebago LeSharo my Dad once owned) and had been to Calgary to see his son and was now homebound. For some reason we hit it off very well and had a nice long chat about our various travels. Rick’s goal for tomorrow? Go see the gas station where ‘Corner Gas’ location shots are done—the same gas station we saw just a few hours before. (Note: there are some good clips of ‘Corner Gas’ on YouTube. And the DVD of the first season is now out on Netflix (but is currently a long wait to actually get it).
============ end of post ========
(posted from Grande Prairie visitor’s center)
(this post covers 24-26 June, 2008)
------------------------------------------------
Thursday, 26 June-
We were so tired last night we slept heavily despite a noisy parking lot. We were up and on the road by 0730. By mid-day we made Edmonton and then stopped at Spruce Grove for gas, ice, and a snack. An hour or so later we stopped at a forest-industries museum and visitor’s center at Whitecourt. The man behind the visitor’s center is John Dahl, an 80-ish former construction contractor and (former) mayor of the town. John happened to be in the museum for a visit and we began talking. He described the process of raising two million dollars to build and sustain the center and it became clear that John is THE man in this area. The museum had fantastic photographs, ranging from 1890’s shots of homesteads and schools to a shot of a wall-tent with the sign “Imperial Bank”. And we noticed a 1948 photo of one Audrey Dahl with 40 kids outside a one-room log school house. “That would be my wife”, said John when we asked about it. What a fantastic experience it was for us to trade stories for an hour or so with a true pioneer of the area.
Around 1300 we pulled off at a rest area and had lunch. A car parked behind us and two young women took a bright-colored little box down over the hillside to the nearest trees and hung the box in a birch. As they returned to their car we learned they are setting out traps to monitor for gypsy moths entering the area. The area doesn’t currently have a gypsy-moth problem but they are supposed to be headed this way.
After a long afternoon of driving through thunderstorms and headwinds we made Grande Prairie, Alberta. After so much driving through relatively unpopulated areas we were surprised to find Grande Prairie has almost 50,000 residents. After verifying we could park overnight at the Wal-mart we drove to a less-busy part of the mall complex and had supper, then blogged and read until time for bed.
-------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, 25 June-
Today we awoke by 0630 and were on the road by 0730. We first took the quickie tour of Moose Jaw (‘Cultural Capital of Saskatchewan!”) on the way out to the highway. We took a less-traveled road toward Saskatoon and soon were in a construction zone and the road had a thick layer of gravel. But the trucks were nevertheless flying along in the opposite direction, spraying us with gravel. When I’d see the big ones—the double-trailer ones—coming, I’d look for a pull-off and just pull over and stop to avoid a windshield ding.
Not far from there we saw our first coyote of the trip. He or she was just out in the field about 100 yards away, loping along easily. And a bit later we dropped down off the prairie into the Qu’Appelle Valley—a beautiful little valley of lakes and rolling hills. Two summers ago we had visited another part of the Qu’Appelle Valley northeast of Regina (near Fort Qu’Appelle) so we were happy to see this part of the valley for comparison.
As we neared Saskatoon we decided to cut across below Saskatoon to approach from the south rather than the south-east. That would take us to the Beaver Creek Preservation Area where we had met shepherd Jared, his border collie Katie and their 231 sheep in 2006. Jared, Katie, and the sheep had been there as the key players in a project to rid the Preserve of invasive plants. But it was not to be. When we talked with the manager of the Preserve visitor center, we learned the project had lasted two years and had been deemed mostly successful but this year management is trying other methods-- including plowing and planting broome grass—to address the problem. We did learn that Jared is building a house and that his wife Tasha now has a job at the university where she was a student on our last visit.
We then drove south-west of Saskatoon to The Berry Farm for some saskatoons. These are blueberry-like berries which grow on 8-10-foot bushes. They’re a bit smaller than the blueberry but just as delicious. In the US, they’re called serviceberries or (I think) juneberries. Labashi had hot saskatoon-berry tea and saskatoon perogies while I had a saskatoon gelato with a generous topping of (what else?) saskatoons!
We then got back on the road I gassed up for the first time in Canada--- $148 (regular unleaded is $5.40 a gallon). We then drove west to Lloydminster on the Saskatchewan-Alberta border. We saw a Boston Pizza and immediately wanted one of their wonderful thai-pasta bowls like we had had in Thompson last August. But we were disappointed to learn there are different menu regions in the Boston Pizza restaurant chain and this one did not include the thai-pasta bowl. We settled for Thai-chicken pizza and that was good but didn’t compare in wow-factor (and cost me $24 for a medium pizza!)
After supper we found a nearby park and took a walk, then read before going to the Wal-mart for the night.
--------------------------------------------------
Tuesday, 24 June-
After a nice, quiet night in Fargo we pointed the van for Canada. By mid-day we had made it to Minot, ND and enjoyed the pretty views through the rolling hills. I’ve heard Minot is the middle of nowhere--- and it probably is in winter--- but today the area seemed a very nice place to live—particularly a few miles either north or south of the city. The hills look like a Georgia O’Keefe painting waiting to happen. Simply hang a massive morning glory from a sky-hook and you’ll have the painting.
The big issue for the day was expected to be the border crossing with my shotgun. After researching this on the web and talking with the Canada Firearms Centre in Ottawa, I thought the theory of taking a shotgun across the border looked relatively easy but the practice of it could be a problem. The Canadian law looked simple enough and I had the right forms and procedures but the decision would be up to the border agent. In my first conversation (by phone) with a border agent about a month ago, she seemed to have an adverse opinion about Americans bringing any gun into the country for any reason. She seemed to change her opinion when I said we’d be camping in remote areas. Over the next week I talked with agents at the Canada Firearms Centre and they didn’t seem to have adverse opinions on the subject (so long as I was talking long-gun and not hand-gun) but then I saw the Milepost tour guide discourages trying to bring a firearm into Canada, advising that the border agents have wide discretion in permitting or denying the ‘importation’ of the firearm.
Just in case we’d have a problem, I brought along the shipping box (I had asked the gun shop for the shipping box when I picked the gun up the day before leaving). So while we were in Minot I did a GPS search for UPS and Fedex and found a GPS Store. If we were turned away at the border, we’d drive back the 50 miles to the UPS Store and use the shipping box to send the gun to either my dealer at home or (if I still wanted to mess with this) to a dealer in Soldotna, Alaska who routinely does this.
Before crossing the border I wanted to get a form called “Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad” filled out for the gun at the US station. I had read on the web that this form may help avoid any problems in bringing the gun back into the US.
As we approached the border, I saw no way to approach the US border station. I could see it off to our left but the road in front of us simply had signs telling us we were entering Canada. I stopped and simply looked as confused as I was and eventually a US border guy asked what I needed and then held up traffic and told me where to park to enter the US border station. Inside I presented the form to a new agent who had to ask the supervisor for help but from there on it was routine. They looked up the serial number to determine if it was stolen and then signed and stamped the form, then the trainee accompanied me out to the van to verify the serial number.
We then crossed to the Canadian side and I declared the shotgun, a five-liter box of wine (you’re only allowed 1.5 liters of wine free) and my bear-spray (pepper spray is permitted only if clearly marked as designed for animals). The guy put those on a form and told me to take it to an agent inside. There another agent simply processed the Non-Resident Firearms Declaration form and asked for the $25 form-processing payment. She had me mark the form ‘In-Transit’ since we’re headed to Alaska and never checked the gun’s serial number, barrel length, ammo capacity, our IDs, or anything. I believe what happened was our vehicle license plate had identified us to the first agent, who could see our photo IDs (passports) on his computer. And I believe the agent inside could see not only our passports but also the record of the shotgun which had been made only a few minutes before by the US agents. And she never said a word about the wine or bear spray; she just initialed off the form and bid us good day.
With considerably lightened spirits, we entered Saskatchewan and drove on for a few hours to the Wal-mart at Moose Jaw for the night. Nearing Moose Jaw we passed a sign saying something like “Welcome to ‘Dog River’” and that rang a bell. Dog River is the town in the Canadian comedy series “Corner Gas”. Shortly thereafter we passed an old gas station and there was large movie light, a klieg light, leaning against the outer wall. Could that be the ‘Corner Gas’ location? Once in Moose Jaw and after a bit of shopping, I spent a pleasant hour chatting with a fellow RVer, Rick from Prince Edward Island. Rick and his wife were traveling in an old Itasca Phaser (sister to the Winnebago LeSharo my Dad once owned) and had been to Calgary to see his son and was now homebound. For some reason we hit it off very well and had a nice long chat about our various travels. Rick’s goal for tomorrow? Go see the gas station where ‘Corner Gas’ location shots are done—the same gas station we saw just a few hours before. (Note: there are some good clips of ‘Corner Gas’ on YouTube. And the DVD of the first season is now out on Netflix (but is currently a long wait to actually get it).
============ end of post ========
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 23:59
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