Today’s word-for-the-day is FLAT.

July 3. Manitoba is flat. Saskatewan is even flatter. People told me to expect flat, and they are flat. It reminds me a bit of driving through different parts of the U.S.

Today was a busy day. It was another 12 hours of driving, but Dave seems to be toughing it out (btw, I haven’t driven once yet). We drove from the east side of Manitoba to the west side of Saskatchewan, hitting some really hard rain a few times. I feel sorry for all the road trippers on motorcycles and bikes (and walking? – haven’t seen any walkers today).

In Portage La Prairie I had to resort to Tim Horton’s coffee. Blah! It was a really hot day - up to 34 at one point in Saskatchewan (kicked Dave’s ass). We drove through some of the heavy flooded areas. Crossed the Canadian longitudinal centre on Canada – dig that! We saw trailers and license plates from the east coast and even France - Dig that! Got attacked by a million dragonflys – I’ve never seen so many all at once, they looked like tiny airplanes smacking into our windshield. Seen a few oil derricks out in the fields and lots of trains with dozens and dozens of cars – I’ve never seen so many on one train. And, the stoplights are sideways – WTF.

We stopped in Chaplin, Sk., known for two cool things – it’s where hundreds of thousands of shorebirds migrate, and is where sodium sulphate is harvested from salt deposits in the lake – the second largest saline body of water in Canada. From the highway, you can see the huge mounds of salt that kinda look like mounds of snow.

We stayed at the beautiful Cypress Hill Interprovincial Park – oh, and hey – the firewood is free in Saskatchewan. Clyde did his part by chopping some wood.

Gas prices are pretty cheap. We’ve paid anywhere from $1.08 to $1.13 (well, cheaper than Ontario) … but Dave’s still getting over the trauma of paying $1.44 in Marathon, ON.

Today’s big thing was the Rolls Royce in Steinbach. We didn’t even go looking for it, it was just there when we rolled into town.

We’ve driven more than 3000 kms so far, and still no sign of bears, moose or cougars(oh my).