Day 29: Regina...Are we there yet?

Our drive to Regina was supposed to be an easy journey of a mere 560 kilometres or so, so we decided to sleep in a bit, lounge, and get on our way at check-out time, 11:00 a.m. The drive to Regina seemed to take forever, but alas, not all was bad. On the way, we got to see the other yellow crop on the praires...sunflowers. You'll recall that we commented on the fields of canola on our way east, but we didn't notice any sunflowers. A month has passed since then and I suppose that has given the sunflowers time to bloom. I imagine that, like the canola, the sunflowers will be used to make cooking oil. The fields were beautiful!!!


Given that we were driving through Manitoba, we took a slight detour off the #1 to go see some bison. We went to a town called Minnedosa where we found a herd of Plains Bison. They were an impressive sight! There were many females, one HUGE male, and several calves. I understand the warning sign: when I neared the fence to take a photo through the wire, one or two of the bison would charge at me and snort. I'm glad I was on one side of the fence and they the other, and that we made the side-trip to see them!




We have settled in for the night at the Days Inn Regina. We've been very happy with the Days Inn whenever we have stayed there. As for hotels in general, I can say that I have had my fill. Carrie and I look forward to getting home, but I think the kids could keep hopping from hotel to hotel for a long time (especially since they don't have to pay :-) One more stop in Calgary, then we head for home.

Day 28: Out of Ontario

Today was all about DRIVING. The drive from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg was a long one, both in distance and time: Just over 700 kilometres and about 9 hours. But, Bob would be proud of the fuel economy on this leg of the trip. I filled up in Thunder Bay and made it all the way to Winnipeg without another fill (the first time the Villager has gotten more than 700 kilometres on a tank - 723 to be exact). As we cruised in to Winnipeg, we stopped in at a Superstore Gasbar and found that they give 11 CENTS per litre. I received $7.40 in Superbucks :-)

We have driven over 12,500 kilometres so far. Two more legs (to Calgary, then home) should take us over 14,000!

We got to the Victoria Inn and Conference Centre to check in. I had reserved a room while in Deep River. When I spoke to the front desk, they had no reservation for us, but rooms were still available. It turns out that while booking the rooms through Expedia, I booked the Thunder Bay and Winnipeg hotels for the same night. Ooops. The room was only $93.00. We got a poolside room that was very nice, and the kids really enjoyed the dinosaur themed water park.

Off to Regina in the morning...