Day 10, July 21...Portage La Prairie, Manitoba to Lanigan, Saskatchewan

Since I knew that when I crossed over into Saskatchewan I would be on Mountain Time instead of Central Time, I set my clocks ahead an hour last night and got an early start this morning.  That was about as exciting as it got today.  It was about 450 miles from Portage to Saskatoon, the next big city on my hit list, and I really didn't want to stretch the day that far, so I settled on the quiet little hamlet of Lanigan.  Quiet, that is, except for the train switching yard across the road from the motel...

I stopped a little bit out of Portage to take some shots of the very flat landscape, and if you didn't know better, you'd think this was Kansas or Nebraska.  Small towns spread 20-30 miles apart, lots of farmland, lots of undeveloped land, and you can see for miles.  The most noticeable things on the horizon are usually the grain elevators.

Here are a couple shots about 20 miles out of Portage:

And here's a couple hours further down the road.  More developed and I think the plant with the yellow flower is Canola (as in Canola Oil).

I did make it to Saskatchewan, though, and here's proof:

The sign in the background says Saskatoon 403...kilometers, that is, or about 250 miles.  

I'm about 75 miles east of Saskatoon here in Lanigan, so I should be there pretty early tomorrow.  I have a few things I want to see and then it's on toward Calgary, Alberta.  I got rained on pretty hard about 50 miles east of here today, and they're calling for storms tonight, so this was a pretty good place to stop.  The natives are really friendly.  (Have you ever met a rude Canadian?)

Miles today: 372
Total:         2,790