Big Country

It rained last night, the best time for rain when one rides a motorcycle. At breakfast I met a man from France who has been living Canada for the past ten years. He and his wife are travelling in western Canada and parts of the US for several months seeing all the worthwhile sight.  They are travelling in a small truck and when they can't get a room, they camp out in the truck. Ah, to be young again!

I rode south from Weyburn toward Estevan, SK, The land was similar to the land to the north with canola, grain, and other crops that I couldn't place. As I approached Estevan, there were oil wells in the middle of the fields. First just a few, then quite a large number of them. Then the country transitioned into small rolling hills which apparently sit on large coal deposits. The Westmoreland Coal Company has a strip mining operation there. the process has turned those once rolling hills int a hellscape of large excavations that have scarred the land. I understand that the world needs coal for a variety of reasons, but still, it is hard to see how the land has been tortured.

I crossed the border at North Portal, SK with no difficulty. The agents were friendly and I was through in short order. This part of North Dakota is really rural. While there are farms, they are very large but there doesn't seem to be many people. Some of the canola fields stretched as far as the eye can see, but I wonder how many families those large fields support. It may well be that these are corporate farms. The land is dotted with small hamlets and they must be able to support the inhabitants, but how isn't obvious.

There are long stretches of road with no service stations, so it is always advisable to fill up whenever possible. At a road construction traffic stop I had a conversation with the flag person, a young man who loves motorcycles and had just bought his first serious bike two weeks ago. He is in love with the whole idea of riding and has been spending a good deal of time riding with his father who is trying to join a bike club. I didn't go into details. 

I stopped at Kenmare, 'Home of the Honkers' the local high school mascot, I suppose. It was a relief to fill my tank because I was running on fumes. That's why it good to keep a full tank of fuel whenever possible. 

I transitioned to Highway 2, at Minot, ND, where the highway is divided. Except for town, the speed limit is 70 mph, so it was possible to make good time. I did few stops except to refuel and stretch my legs so there were very few photos today. One stop of note is in Rugby, which has a cairn in the middle of the town marking what is claimed to be the geographic centre of North America.

My Heritage Classic at the geographic centre of North America.

For most of the remaining ride I was on cruise control, covering as much ground as possible. And this is big country. This distances are immense, and often it seems that the sky goes on forever. This is absolutely beautiful country in the summer, but I'm not certain that it's great during the winter.

As I rode east In the distance I could see storm clouds but they were to the south and it seemed that in places it was raining heavily. I was fortunate to avoid that. The other factor in today's ride was the wind. It was strong enough to buffet me around for whole of today's ride. It never seems to stop blowing here. That would explain the large number of wind farms in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. I saw wind farms today, but relatively few compared to the numbers I saw yesterday.

Finally, those clouds that I saw earlier today were a portent of things to come. Right now, in the distance lightning and thunder are making their presence known. A few drops of rain have fallen and I hope that if we do get rain, it is done by tomorrow morning because I have about 600 kilometres to go tomorrow. The plan is to ride to Hurley, Wisconsin tomorrow. I would prefer it not to be in rain.