WHEAT AND OIL AND TRAINS

The sun was shining brightly as we made our way West and North today.  The morning was spent driving through the main crops of Saskatchewan, wheat and other grains, and canola.  Some spots offered a patchwork of fields, the ever present yellow of canola, light tan of barley, more golden tan of wheat, and many shades of the greens and browns of the other crops.  As the land changed from flat to more rolling hills, we saw many cattle farms. 

They soon gave way to the other main crop of this part of Canada, oil.  We saw many farms with multiple oil tanks and pumps on them.  We saw many places where they were drilling for oil.  And the highway was crowded with trucks hauling pumps, parts, pipes, and this contraption shown below.  We don't know exactly what it was, but it was some part of an oil operation.  It was so huge that the traffic was blocked....it took both lanes of the highway and as it drove slowly down the road it held up a couple of miles of heavy traffic behind it.

Lunch today was at a highway rest stop....actually it was a truck stop.  We just used their parking lot and built our sandwich!

It was a day for interesting things on the highway.  A few miles down the road after lunch, we came upon a truck and trailer loaded with this helicopter!

And then we arrived in Edmonton.  We thought we remembered that the highway went around the edge of the city, but nope, it went through the city.  It's a huge city.  It has lots of oil related businesses and buildings.  And of course it has the Edmonton Oilers.  And it has Wayne Gretzky Drive.

 And it has many signs for the West Edmonton Mall.  No, we did not stop.  Been there before, never need to go there again!  It's huge!

 Edmonton also has lots of trains.  And train tracks.  And these double decker train cars. 

 And when we arrived at our motel we found that we have our own train track, about 80 yards away from our room.  One train already came by, and it wasn't bad, so I'm not too worried.  Who am I kidding?  I wear ear plugs at night, so I'm not worried at all!

 Again we used our fancy new stove to cook our supper.  We opted for a decent meal tonight, and I fixed lemon peppered chicken thighs, buttered arborio rice, and carrots with maple syrup and dill. 

And it was good.  So was the glass of malbec.

Tomorrow we will arrive at mile 0 of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek.  We are scheduled to go up the road a good piece after getting on the real road to Alaska, and will put in about 550 miles tomorrow, God willing.  The exciting part is that the really beautiful scenery is about to begin!  Stay tuned!