Urbana, IL to Point Edward, ON

Driving along on the road to Kalamazoo

Another day with lots of driving - 771 kms.  Rain and freezing rain this morning but thankfully we were able to drive out of it. 

Our trusty GPS sent us on a short cut between two inter-state highways with some nice scenes along the way.
[Dorothy had trouble understanding our Australian gps voice so we switched to an "American female" voice we have dubbed "Hillary" ]

GPS "Hillary"

A back road in Indiana

Northern Indiana

We stopped in Fort Wayne, Indiana for lunch at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant.  Our meals came with a complimentary side order of "grits".  I have heard of "grits" but I don't know much about it.  I asked the rather grand-motherly hostess, assuming she would be an expert.  Her surprising response to the question "So what are grits and how are they made?" was "I don't know. I've never eaten the stuff ... I'll call the manager." giving me a nervous look that I might be threatening the security zone.  Before the manager arrived, our waitress came by and joined the non-answer.  She had never eaten the "grits" either but her boyfriend had and, she volunteered, "he puts butter on it."  Now the manager arrived and I repeated my questions, what is it made out of and how should it be eaten.  She indicated that she wasn't sure what it was made out of.  The ingredients are shipped from head office in Tennessee and made at the restaurant, mainly because head office requires it.  She had never eaten "grits" but she had seen others eating it and knew some put brown sugar on it.  So ... we have a restaurant that serves a side dish to almost every customer of something that no one is sure what it's made of and none of the servers has ever eaten.  Bon appetit.

Granny Hostess - makes fire but doesn't eat grits

Franklin - just after having eaten "grits"

We reached the Detroit area just after dark and driving the ring road around the city took about 2 hours.  Picture 5 lanes of traffic (each way), basically bumper to bumper, traveling about 120 km/hr

We reached the border about 7:30 and I had visions of huge line-ups of US Thanksgiving Day traffic but the whole process took less than 10 minutes.  When we checked in, the desk clerk took an interest in our traveling companions.  While we were at dinner, she presented them with some cookies, shaped like bear paws, and a Christmas card - rather imaginative customer service, we thought.

"The boys" with their Christmas gift and card

St. Cloud, MN to Urbana, IL

Today was a day of driving - 9:00 AM to 8:30 PM - 947 km.  However, it was a glorious sunny day (with the last 4 hours in bright moonlight).  Wisconsin is "America's Dairyland" and the cows get to stay in barns. 

Much of our trip was on Interstate 94 - a very busy highway, with lots of trucks.

Along the way, there are some interesting scenes.

The Wisconsin River - in ... Wisconsin

Wisconsin shores

Green fields in southern Wisconsin

We had dinner at Perkins in Madison, WI

and B. Glee helped point the way (GPS helped too)

Thanks to Marg and Jim for all your help.

in St. Cloud, MN

We had breakfast this morning in the Radisson Hotel in downtown St. Cloud.  "Canadians" have been coming here since the 1850's as this was where the Red River Cart trail crossed the Mississippi River as they journeyed between what is now Winnipeg and St. Paul, MN.  St. Cloud was also about the northern limit of steamboat traffic on the Mississippi when that mode of transport was popular.  If our plans unfold, we will be recrossing the Mississippi down near its other end in about 6 weeks time.

One of our major destinations was Northern Brights, a unique gift/crafts/artisan store we discovered when we were here in July of 2009.

Northern Brights (centre) in downtown St. Cloud, MN

Lots of unique items  - Tina, a master knitter, models one of her shawls

Paige, the owner, remembered us as being from Canada and I being a professor.  She greeted us warmly and sent us on our way with sincere blessings.  She has unique artistic talent which is reflected
in her own art work, and the other artisans she incorporates into her shop's offerings
You can visit http://www.northernbrights.com for more.

We did quite a lot of other shopping today - we went to a mall and there were some pre-Thanksgiving sales on: I got 3 dress shirts for $87.00.  (Compared to 1 shirt in Lloydminster for $165.00); Martha Stewart bath towels at Macy's for $9.00 each.  Gasoline was $2.749 per gallon, which according to my calculations equates to 72.4 cents per liter.

We even  bought new clothes for our bears (and B. Glee)

Compare with how we looked in Blog 2
when we were still at home.

We have had a good break and will resume our journey tomorrow.  Three long days of driving will get us to Kingston.  It is -7C tonight in St. Cloud, but it is forecast to be +8C by tomorrow when we reach Urbana, IL  - almost 1,000 km away.

Thanks to Joe and others who are following our adventures.

Bismarck, ND to St. Cloud, MN

Our van was surrounded by freshly fallen snow.

It was -9C this morning in Bismarck, with lots of snow around.

If only I had a blade for my scooter, I could have picked up some cash doing snow plowing.

We had a quick tour of the North Dakota state capitol area.

Bismarck to Fargo is a 3 hour drive.  It looks a lot like the scene below.

We had a nice lunch at the Olive Garden in Fargo.  We thought of our church friends having after service brunch at the same time.  Then, it was off through Minnesota.

Scenery is quite different now we are in Minnesota :)

The highways were very icy in places.

Now you see 'em ...

Now you don't.

But, we really did begin to see some different scenery ...

And, we arrived safely in St. Cloud.  We plan to stay over here tomorrow, to rest, and see the sights, and do some shopping in one of our favorite stores.  We will tell you more about that tomorrow.

Thanks to Jean and Gerry for your good wishes.  Good night all from the U S of A

Regina, SK to Bismarck, ND

Southern Saskatchewan, near Weyburn

This morning it was -26C in Regina, with lots of snow piled in the streets.  (Sorry, Barb, we did not get a photo). 

We stopped in Weyburn, interested in seeing the new statue of Tommy Douglas.  We asked at the CAA travel centre there and neither lady was sure where it was.  They gave us some directions which proved to be incorrect.  We gathered that despite the national coverage of the unveiling, it didn't shake up Weyburn.

I had a brief conversation once with Tommy Douglas.  He attended a workshop where I made a small presentation.  He complimented me on it, which made an impression as he was one of Canada's great orators, whatever one might have thought of his political views.

Coal used to be big around Estevan, now it's oil
in the same spot.

Open pit coal mining produced a lot of environmental damage.

We crossed into the United States about 1:00 pm at North Portal, into North Dakota.

We noticed a tremendous difference in the scenery, compared to southern Saskatchewan.
See below, a scene in North Dakota.

and ...

Dorothy was driving when the odometer of our van turned to
100,000 km

We had a meal in Minot, then encountered heavy snow and some drifts on the highway on our way to Bismarck.  We arrived safely at about 6:30 PM  - 13C with snow and blowing snow.

Lloydminster, AB to Regina, SK

Lloydminster is Canada's Border City - uniquely ONE municipality in TWO provinces.  The controversial Border Markers mark the 110th meridian of longitude (Alberta on left, Saskatchewan to the right).  Growing up in Lloydminster, this all seemed normal, but folks from out of town often marvel at how the whole thing works.

Border Markers - Lloydminster

Lloydminster is proud to be a Heavy Oil community.  There have been many innovations developed locally which are now used world wide.  For example, produced sand techniques have been implemented by Lloydminsterites from the North Sea to Yemen.

Saskatchewan, of course, is known for its agriculture.  Below we see grain elevators in North Battleford, SK one old, one new.

Then there is the incredible scenery which can bring a tear to a true prairie boy's eye.

The Borden Bridge (near Borden, SK). 
I wrote my initials here when I was 9 years old
(See lower left :))

A street in Saskatoon

My great-grandparents, William and Margaret Hunter, were part of the Temperance Colony Society which  established Saskatoon in 1883.  My great-grandmother was acknowledged in the early days as "the first white woman to live in Saskatoon".  She was a featured guest at the 50th Anniversay in 1933.
My grandmother was the youngest of five girls in the family (twin boys came later) and she arrived in Saskatoon when she was 8 months old.  She started her schooling at the Little Stone School which still exists (barely) on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan.  My great-grandfather's first homestead was not far away - where the U of S farm is today.  In 1892, the family moved 12 miles down river where elements of the family still reside today, six generations on.

The Little Stone School - 2010

in Lloydminster

Dorothy remembers some reasons for winter's unpopularity

We were confronted with snow, blowing snow, and -25 C windchill.


We spent some time around Lakeland College saying hello to folks there.

Marielyn - my former secretary

Raymond - a science guy

Bryan - English prof. extraordinaire

Dorothy's friend Gayle came over and we had lunch at the College.

Idella presented Dorothy with her favourite - a PEP bar

In the evening, it was back to the College for the Awards Night.  The retirees had the chance to "make some brief remarks" so I was able to thank Dorothy for our team effort over the years, shared a few student bloopers and concluded with a poem.  It seemed to go over well.

PS: The student bloopers I used, from my own students work over the years, were:
5. The author tells how the Russian Army defeated the Germans with great detail and many facts.
4. Political parties have platforms outlying what they will do if elected.
3. Hannibal rose up and attacked Rome from above.
2. Wilfrid Laurier died in 1919 and was no longer active in politics.
1. The Metis spoke Cree, French and English so were often employed as interrupters.

They put a plaque on the wall ... the one on the left.

... and they gave out an award (mine was an IPad!)
I'm here with Robert who started at Lakeland College two weeks after I began (July 17, 1989) so I've always reminded him of his junior status over our 21 years.