05-Jul-2001 -- Another typical Saskatchewan summer day, hot and windy. What better way to spend the day than tracking down another confluence point? Today we set our sights on 51°N 106°W. Having read several of the adventures of others tracking confluences in their countries, we wondered what adventures would await us in our search. We knew there would be no mountains to climb, no jungles to fight our way through, no deserts to traverse ... maybe we'd find a swamp or at least a marsh or a thick grove of trees? Time would tell.

We set out just before noon and headed north on Highway 11 (recently renamed Louis Riel Trail after a famous Metis from Saskatchewan's history) and headed for the town of Craik. Craik lies just off the highway approximately 110 km from our starting point. After refreshing ourselves at the local Co-op Service Station we turned west on highway 732 toward the confluence point. About 14 km later ... much of which to our surprise was on pavement ... we turned south on a grid road for approximately 4.2 km. This brought us to a point directly west of our confluence. A quick walk through a field (looking very much like it could do with a good heavy rain) and we located our spot just 311 m off the road. Looks like another confluence without adventure!!

After taking the prerequisite pictures we returned to our van and decided that we would take a few pictures in the area since once again the point we had chosen was on a pretty flat, somewhat boring piece of land. We'd noticed how interesting the farm we'd passed earlier was so decided to go back and take pictures of it. Just before we did so a truck pulled up wondering if we were experiencing difficulties. We explained to the driver what we were up to and ended up having a nice visit with him. He explained that the land was farmed by his son and it was his son's farm we were planning on photographing. He told us about a few of the other "sights" in the area and we said our goodbyes.

After taking pictures of the farm, we headed a bit further south where we came upon an old homestead. The contrast between it and the farm we had just seen was amazing. It proved to be another photo opportunity we couldn't pass up.

From there we headed back to Craik (more refreshments ... this confluencing is hard work!) where we took pictures on their main street. The grain elevator at the end of the street is one of a dying breed. Recently these elevators are being replaced by huge concrete "inland terminals". The destruction of these elevators has removed sentimental landmarks from the prairie landscape. One used to be able to tell how big our towns were by the number of elevators they had. This is no longer the case as many towns now have none and it seems they have lost their identity.

From there we turned south toward Regina and home. On our way we stopped in at Regina Beach, a local "resort" area situated on Last Mountain Lake, and had supper at the famous (locally at least) Bluebird Cafe. This cafe has been in operation since 1928 and little has changed in all those years. Their specialty? Fish and chips!

We arrived back home just before 7:00. My GPS showed us having travelled 315 km and total trip time 7 hours 13 minutes. Although we encountered none of the adventures we had hoped for we felt satisfied that at least another Saskatchewan confluence point had been conquered. Maybe next time ....