Before starting Day 7 we need to revisit the end of Day 6. Our plan was to relax a bit in the camper, fix and enjoy supper then head out for a marsh trail walk shortly before sunset. The forecast called for a few pop-up showers, but highly scattered. Soon both our cell phones go off with a weather emergency stating the likelihood of severe weather and take shelter immediately. Does a campground attract tornados the way a mobile home parks attract them? A campground filled with travel trailer can suffer even more damage due to the likelihood of the trailers being pushed around by the weather rather easily. Wells didn’t worry about the tornado possibility knowing that they are not nearly as common this far north. Sure a few major tornados have hit the Canadian Prairie in the past but it’s an uncommon event. What worried Wells was hail. Thinking back to 1975 and 1976 while working for the University of Alberta and part of the Alberta Hail Project flashbacks of severe hail damage came to his mind. The largest hailstone he saw collected was softball size and the largest he collected was baseball size. Smaller hail such as pea size was never a problem, but the larger stuff like golf ball and larger could damage an Airstream with ease. The line of thunderstorms moved through and there was the dreaded sound of hail hitting the trailer. We were very lucky with only pea sized hail. After the storms passed, we called it a night and never made it to the marsh walk.’
Leaving Riding Mountain National Park we head a bit north then west with a goal of camping somewhere in Saskatchewan. The open prairie views are vast. It reminds me of a photograph in a coffee table book taken along the British Columbia / Washington border. The photograph was of a spectacular mountain along with water body creating a mirror image. An amazing photograph. Yet the quote below the photograph read, “Mountains are okay I guess, but they sure do block the vie.,” A retired Saskatchewan farmer. A lesson learned, perspective is what counts.
Shortly before arriving at our overnight campground, Greenwater Lake Provincial Park, we drive through a few heavy downpours but no hail! Tomorrow should land us somewhere near the Saskatchewan/Alberta border.
Seeing North America 