It was a chilly start to the day but not as chilly as yesterday.  Packing up the bike this morning, I found a little travelling companion on my front grill (a grasshopper).  I am not sure where he joined our ride but he is in it for the long haul now.

Much to our surprise, driving through Saskatchewan on the Trans Canada is not all that flat!  We kept expecting to see this incredible Prairie flatness that everyone talks about,  but it just did not materialize.

We stopped in Swift Current for a rest and a quick coffee.  I found another little travel companion on my bike that must have hitched a ride somewhere after Medicine Hat (a little yellow moth that had formed a perfect seal stretched across my right turn signal light).  The bugs are just coating our bikes, luggage, jackets, and visors as we ride.

We drove through Chaplin, Saskatchewan and had to stop and take a picture.  There were piles of salt everywhere.  We had been noticing dried up lakes along the Trans Canada that appeared to have left salt behind, and then we found the salt mine!

After Chaplin, it was time for our detour to Rouleau, Saskatchewan (aka “Dog River”).  On our little detour to Rouleau, we finally encountered true flatness.  It is probably why Rouleau was picked for CTV’s “Corner Gas.”  It definitely perpetuates the flat prairie stereotype.

We were a little disappointed that we could not actually have lunch at The Ruby or get gas at Corner Gas, but we did get to have lunch in the police headquarters at a café called “The Stoop.”  I had to have Brent’s favourite – a chili cheese dog – but thankfully it was not as big as a Texas chili cheese dog.  We bought some “Corner Gas” memorabilia and headed back to our bikes.  Our bikes were covered in wasps!  We managed to gear up and get our helmets on without getting stung.  Maybe yellow and black is not a good choice for luggage and motorcycle gear . . .

Our Garmin GPS routed us back to Regina and the Trans Canada via a gravel road.  It was a slow 20 KM, but I kept telling myself that I did not travel 10,000 KM to wipe out on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere Saskatchewan . . . and we eventually made it to solid pavement again.

We picked Moosimin, Saskatchewan as our stop for the night, as it was close to the border with Manitoba and appeared to have quite a few motels/hotels from which to pick (plus, it had an interesting sounding name).  We arrived in Moosimin just as the sun was starting to set and it was getting cooler.  Much to our surprise, there were no vacancies at any of the motels and they were fairly rude with Jeremy when he went in to ask for a room too.  We had no choice but to gas up and keep going.  Brandon, Manitoba was the next major centre with hotels – 150 KM away.

With the sun setting behind us and a very dark road ahead of us, we crossed into Manitoba.  We made it to Brandon, Manitoba at about 10:00 PM local time (we had lost an hour somewhere in our travels today) and proceeded to be turned away at half a dozen hotels until one hotel clerk suggested driving into Brandon’s downtown, away from the highway, to find a room.  Thankfully, the Trails West Motor Inn had a room for us and the hotel clerk actually talked to Jeremy and explained why all the hotels were booked up.  Apparently, the Trans Canada highway renewal project and pipeline re-fitting has brought workers into the towns along the highway temporarily.  The hotels have been pretty much booked solid all summer as a result.  Good for the hotels but not very good for tourism, though.