It was a beautiful sunrise this morning in Yorkton. The sky was a beautiful pink before the sun crested the horizon and then it was a nice orange hue.

I packed up and drove out early.

I was pretty sure I didn’t want to drive all the way to Edmonton today because that would be at least 8 hours.

The driving was easy though. For the first hour or two, I was convinced the road must be closed because I was the only vehicle on it! Much of the road is straight and in good shape so I used cruise control almost all day.

I found the nicest little rest stop this morning, donated by a family in memory of their parents. The O’Dell Picnic Grounds. It had outhouses and picnic tables and lawn and trash cans. I walked around a bit and ate an orange, admiring what a great idea this was to make a rest area.

There were even bird houses!

Because the entry looked like a farm driveway, I actually blew right by it the first time and had to turn around.

It was 11 degrees C for the longest time.

Most of the farmland between Yorkton and Saskatoon was already harvested. I saw several trains (I love trains!) and so many beautiful fields.

Suddenly it was 18 degrees and the fleece jacket had to come off.

West of Saskatoon had more harvesting. In one tiny field, there were at least 4 combines working!

There wasn’t much to stop and do though. Some rest areas were even closed!

Once in awhile I’ll drive through a little town. I really love little Saskatchewan towns.

But by the time I got to Alberta, the temperature just kept skyrocketing to 29C!! My legs were sticking to my seat!

I wanted to stop but it was so hot that stopping was worse. I looked ahead from Lloydminster and found a provincial park ahead that was actually still open – Vermilion Provincial Park. Yahoo!!

I had to call the attendant, Norm, from the gatehouse. He came to check me in. He said I was the only one in this entire no-service loop because everyone else was in RVs so I could take my pick of the sites.

I first picked a nice one at the far end of the loop, near the only bathroom, only to discover the bathroom closed for the season on Sept 15!! What!? What did I just spend $40 on?

So I picked another site. I walked to the shower house a couple loops over and found toilets. Whew.

This’ll do!

Thank goodness there was a breeze because I was hot, probably dehydrated, sweaty, and a bit grumpy from the heat.

I set up camp.

I wasn’t too hungry so I just made oatmeal for supper.

And I fixed the igniter on my Jetboil Flash!

It has started cooling down but to my surprise, I see rain forecast for overnight with 70km/hr wind gusts!! Ahhhhhh!!! I add more stakes to the tent and fly.

Clouds are moving in and the gusts are picking up. Time to hunker down!

Good night!

— Morning update:

The wind gusts were wild last night! Once in awhile it hit the tent in such a way that the wind went under the tent and tried to lift us up and take us to Kansas!

I was able to sleep most of the night, on and off. It rained for awhile, which helped put me right back to sleep. A coyote woke me up once and later its whole family joined the sing a long. It wasn’t quite as close sounding as Rowley, that ghost town.

My next stop, in Edmonton, doesn’t open until 10am so I’m resisting an early start. Maybe if I lie here longer, the tent will dry (unlikely. It’s only 8C now!).