Hi Folks
All descriptions of how big and beautiful Canada is are just woefully inadequate! ...but I will try.
On the prairie you have a 360 degree horizon of earth and sky whilst travelling along empty highways like a tooth on a runaway bandsaw. The immensity is almost disconcerting to a city dweller but you travel ever onwards under a sense of real anticipation. The birds of prey sat atop the postline were no less interested in what came into their view than were we; everything was a feast to be devoured. Crops providing a patchwork of summer hues on an epic scale, livestock, even some oil wells, and all constrained under a blue bowl and a marvelous summer light. The sense of history and man's endeavour is constant as we ate up the miles of road that lie between all Canadian destinations. Always on the look out for Elk, Deer, etc.
Then in that immense flatland you are almost instantly confronted by time in the form of Horsethief (shoe?) Canyon. What a view that was, and it tied in nicely with our trip to Drumheller and the Royal Tyrrell Museum's vast collection of Dinosaurs. Lunch was then taken at the Atlas Coalmine Museum - erm the open air section :) then ever onwards to Dinosaur Park and nature in the raw. For example a big dinosaur fossil is on show in a preserved dig. Wow! Just when I think the excitement is all over and it is time to retrace the long journey out there ....FUEL is low and not a pump has been passed on the prairie roads ... unbelievably I felt. So it's off to Brooks for fuel and we arrive with only 20 Kilometers in the tank. Now Mick's wife Phyllis was our driver and guide for the day (Mick was working on some other guys problem - sort of manly stuff but I really don't understand cars at all) and for that reason I had the truly nicest of surprises. Phyllis's mum lives in Brooks and we could only spend only ten minutes with her due to time lost .... but her mum is the true image of my long passed nan - it was truly lovely to meet her and I will always remember her fondly. So off we drove and Phyllis and Jenny were turning into Thelma and Louise ... boy was I glad those canyons were behind us
We all headed back home and by the end of the day we probably had 200 reasons to thank Phyllis. Mick had neglected to mention that Phyllis was one of Canada's natural wonders and possessed a heart bigger than all we saw that long day
It's getting late so tomorrow I''ll tell you about the mountains and Mick.
Dave
