Rolling through Prairie Country

   We left Fargo this morning and headed west on I-94 into central Dakota. We got off the interstate and drove north west to Minot. The speed limit was 65 on the two lane road and it moved along well except for an occasional small town.

   We stopped in downtown Minot looking for a place for lunch and there weren't many choices. I remember Minot from my last trip through in 2014, it seemed nicer back then. Today there was street work and dust everywhere, probably related to the oil boom not far down Rt 2 to the west.

After lunch we took Rt 52 north west and crossed over the Canadian border into Saskatchewan at the town of Portal.

In North Dakota farm fields stretched from horizon to horizon with few homes or even people to be seen. Just north of the border there were some old looking coal strip mines close to the road and some newer oil drilling rigs. Also lots of dusty construction.

After the town of Estevan the farm fields came back into view, only bigger. There were towns with huge grain silos, truck unloading equipment and rail cars filled with local grain; shipping out to god knows where.

We made it to Regina for the night and realized we had passed into Mountain Time during the afternoon; were now 2 hours ahead of home.

Tomorrow we continue north west through Saskatoon on the Yellowhead Route to Edmonton (Rt 16). We pick up Mary Ellen there and head into the mountains to Jasper, Alberta.