And then "It" happened......

 Kindersley Saskatchewan

     We had a beautiful drive from Sylvan Lake to Kindersley Saskatchewan.  We stayed totally off the main highway, so had a relaxing drive with little traffic.  This part of Alberta has a combination of rolling hills covered in poplar trees, and fields of hay. It really was a beautiful drive!  Our plan had been to head to Kindersley Saskatchewan.  It was only about a 4 hour drive, so was keeping with what we had in mind.  It was very windy, with the wind pushing us from the east.  Thankfully not raining, just very very windy.

     Anyone who has followed my previous blogs know that the subject of fuel, or lack of same, is always a good topic with us.  Many times over the years Ray has pushed the limit on how far he can drive while the gauge is showing “E”.  He has done this when we are puling the fifth wheel, or even trips in the car.  I am sure there have been a couple times we have glided into a service station on fumes.  Soooo,,,,,about 20kms west of Kindersley, Ray happened to mention that we needed to look for a service station.  I asked how low we were, and he said on E.  Knowing Ray that probably meant below "E", because he would never want to scare me into thinking that we were running out of gas.  Well about 15 minutes later he pulled off the side of the highway,,,well we coasted off the highway.  We were stone cold out of diesel!!!  Nada. Nothing. Empty. Kaput.  I can hear you laughing Jim!  Because you knew that it was going to happen sooner or later!!! We were literally 4 kms out of Kindersley.  We googled a service station and made a phone call.  They sent out a young Saskatchewan big blonde buck,,,,who was about 20 years old.  Ladies he was not bad to look at!!!  Sorry no photos of him.

Yup outta diesel

Guess what he is going?

Wondering what Ray is doing?

Poor Mr Sponge Bob hanging on the telephone pole

     While we waited for Mr Saskatchewan to arrive with some diesel,  I called the municipal campground to see if they had any available sites for the night.  I am not even sure why I called ahead, because we just usually "show up",,,but I did, which maybe was a good thing.  At least I knew that we would have somewhere to park for the night.  After dropping the trailer, we took the truck to have a wash, because it was very dirty.

    Our drive from Kindersley was the worst drive!  As Ray wanted to stay off the main highway I selected Highway 15 from Rosetown.  He wanted to avoid going through Saskatoon.  The road was not bad, not great either. Secondary highways are always a bit of an "iffy" situation.  Especially in Saskatchewan.  We crossed highway 11 which runs from Saskatoon to Regina.  Within minutes this road turned into a two lane gravel and dirt road!  And then the rain started!  Nowhere to turn around we continued using the GPS and Google Maps (good thing we increased our Giga Bytes on our phones).  We needed to get back to Highway 16, which took about an hour and a half.  Once on 16 we decided to get to Yorkton rather then Foam Lake (see that is why we don't make reservations ahead of time).  It was a hellish long days drive, in the end it was about a 7 hour drive which is not want we had planned.  When we arrived in Yorktown we pulled into the first campsite we saw.  It was a mud pit with all the rain.  Ray parked as far from any puddle that he could and plugged into electric.  Didn't bother with the water as we always carry some water in our tank.

Beautiful drive today as we left Saskatchewan behind (thank gawd).  Tonight we are in Portage la Prairie in a campsite we have previously stayed in (Miller's Campground).  It is the same one we camped in a few years ago.  Lots of trees.  Last time one of the trees "jumped" onto the roof of our 5th wheel as we were pulling out and ripped the ladder right off our roof.  That won't happen this time.  Will it?  Stay tuned....

Lori and Ray

PS:  it is Ray's 73rd birthday today.