FROM WHERE I SIT: More Than I Expected

However. Stereotypes don’t appear out of thin air; there is usually, always a basis of truth to the definition. I thought about all this on a very long road trip into Saskatchewan. We’d gotten up early and left without breakfast on Sunday morning. The plan was to scope out a piece of farm equipment Roy had spotted on Kijiji. Typically, I romanticize the idea of a road trip. I think about a leisurely breakfast, a nice coffee, frequent stops to investigate unique shops and attractions. You know, get a feel for a place or places rather than tearing by them at 110 clicks. It soon became clear that with a five-hour trip each way, we’d be lucky to grab a drive-through bite and have the odd pee break.

There’s a good chance that when you think of Saskatchewan, you think of the stereotypes: really crappy highways, a treeless landscape, flat terrain, and poor highway signage. Yep, me too. Because I didn’t have my nose in a book, I actually looked around and was surprised by a few things.

Yes, there are some poor stretches of pavement but many of Alberta’s roads rival them for whose are worse. There was a several miles-long stretch of road with such rough and erratic patching Roy suspected that something had gouged out the road and this was their best attempt at repairing it. Otherwise, the roads were just fine except for a few miles of gravel road that the rural municipality was working on---replacing culverts, building up the base, re-graveling.

And what about the whole tree thing? There are many, many more windbreaks and random copses of trees than I remember from previous trips. And they’re not all wispy twigs trying to grab a foothold.

Saskatchewan has also been mocked because of its flatness and the fact you could watch your dog run away for three days. Yes, there are some spectacular vistas. And long views where you could conceivably watch your neighbour pull out the old John Deere a sec-

Bethany Lutheran Church

20577 TWP 550 Fort. Sask. (7km East of Josephburg)

780-998-1874

Pastor Rev. Jeff Dul Worship Service 9:30 am

Sunday School (during service)

Coffee after Service tion or three away from where you stand. But there are also rolling hills and water bodies. I wonder how farm equipment navigates those hills and valleys; it wouldn’t be my cup of tea to drive a combine there.

I do have to say that the wayfinding signage is pretty bad. It doesn’t appear that there is much rural addressing if any done in the province. We were given a road number on the Bickley Grid, whatever the hell that is and told to drive however many miles in a particular direction. He said miles, the car measures kilometers. We were converting miles to kilometers so we could figure out when to turn because there are virtually NO signs anywhere.

On Saturday, I’d encountered the same thing as I looked for a rural property near Hanmore Lake where I was to perform a marriage. I was sure that by now, every rural property in the province had a municipal address for the convenience of marriage commissioners if not the life-saving arrival of first responders. When areas are

Bruderheim sparsely populated, I guess there is a prohibitive cost.

Here are the rest of my observations. There is an area rife with wind turbines. There were many miles when two rows of power lines cut down the middle of some guy’s fields. Mile after mile of poles. I must say, he did a helluva of a job of seeding right up to and around them. Hope he gets a nice cheque for the headache. We saw about half a dozen elk running at large. We paid nearly a

$1.60 per litre of fuel in Biggar. At that farm the ground was alive with grasshoppers of all sizes and descriptions. There were some mysterious, very yellow fields…a new variety of peas or drought burnt peas?

Rosetown Towing had at least six or eight vintage (1940-50s) two-ton trucks distributed along Highway 4 emblazoned with their sign and CAA stickers. If I needed a tow, I’d call them. All in all, Saskatchewan delivered more than I expected, from where I sit.

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Community Church

4904 Queen Street 780-796-3775 Sunday

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LAMONT UNITED CHURCH

5306 - 51 Ave., Lamont, AB

780-895-2145

Rev. Deborah Brill

Josephburg

Community Church 21380 Township Road 550 Josephburg, Alberta 780-998-9331 josephburgchurch@albertacom.com

Sunday Worship 10:30am

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Fellowship & coffee following service

Pastor Brad Diprose

Worship Leader Debra Morris

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