TRAVEL DAY
From: Strathmore Highway Camping, Strathmore, AB.
To: Willowbend Campground, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, (SK).
Day 340 – We were up again at 6:45 a.m. knowing we had a longer drive ahead of us. Once we get to destinations where we’re going to stay longer than one night, we’ll slow down. It was 51 degrees (warmer) and very cloudy and hazy. It was still smoky here, but not as bad as it had been.
We departed the campground at 9:20 a.m. We were tired and dragging along slower. Looking forward to staying in one place more than one night. The girls agreed. They were like, We’re leaving again? We don’t get it! Go back into the traveling room? Okay, if we must.
We continued heading east on the Trans-Canada Highway. We stopped for gas in the RV, otherwise just drove straight through. It continued being quite hazy, then it began raining around 11:30 a.m. and continued for most of the day. We passed through one fairly large city, Medicine Hat. The South Saskatchewan River ran through it. It was pretty, but for the most part, a city is a city. The rest of the drive was flat farmland, yellow in color from the harvested wheat and hay. In Medicine Hat we began to see some small rolling hills which changed the topography a little. Also what trees we saw had some yellow color in them and some of the bushes had some red color. Fall is approaching here. We saw Hawks, Antelope, Cows, and Horses. Traffic was fairly light except for in Medicine Hat. We crossed from Alberta into Saskatchewan, a new province.
We finally left Highway 1 at a town called Maple Creek and turned south onto Route 21. This road brought us to Maple Creek, a charming little town with a community/family feel. We arrived at our campground, Willowbend, at 1:10 p.m. We did not have reservations but it worked out well. They had openings and we were satisfied with the campground. We will be here 1 night, then off again inching closer to Montana and back to the U.S.A.
The high today was 63 degrees. It rained through most of the afternoon. We were assigned site #C11, a pull-through site in a field with some trees. We had full hook-ups, imagine that! YAAA! There was a little noise from the campers but it’s the beginning of the weekend. There were also train tracks close by, but that also was not troublesome. Early to bed, early to rise; we’ll be on the road again tomorrow morning.
For more detailed information about Willowbend Campground, Maple Creek, Saskatchewan, (SK), click here.