Day 79
Day 79
Regina Skyline from Wacana Park
Thomson Lake to Regina
This segment covers 3 different stops, all in or around Regina; Buffalo Lookout, Green Haven, and Kings Acres.
Road Report: This leg takes me back down SK-58 to return to the Redcoat Trail (SK-13), along the trail to SK-6, north to Regina and TC-1, and east on TC-1 to the Buffalo Lookout RV Park. There is a couple of rough spots on SK-13 where it appears some road work may be going on but, since it’s Sunday, I didn’t see any workers. I slowed to about 70 km through these areas due to the road condition but, other than that, I maintained about 90-100 km for the entire route. At Regina, there is an extension of TC-1 that is a ring road taking you around the center of the city. The ring road intersection on the east side of the city is being rebuilt and is closed to east-west traffic for a few weeks. Detours are well marked.
RV Park Report: Buffalo Lookout RV park is a converted restaurant and adjoining acreage. It’s kind of seedy and needs a bigger grounds crew. All the sites needed mowing and the buildings are kind of run down. I saw 1 teenager riding the mower for about 2 hours and that was it. The sites are average size and there are some full hook-ups with 30 amp service. The water comes from a well and has a distinct sulfur smell. There is another RV park, also on TC-1 and little closer to town, called Kings Acres that looks like a better park, at least from the road. This park is mis-located in Streets & Trips, it’s actually on the north side of TC-1, and is visible from the highway.
My prime reason for stopping here is to see if I can get my website set up. Buffalo Lookout is supposed to have internet access. My next stop, Green Haven, doesn’t. Well, come to find out, the internet access at Buffalo Lookout is a dial-up phone. So I ended up finding an internet café in town to start setting up the website. I’ve registered my website name “TurtleandToad” and set up a contract with IXWebHosting to host my site so now all I have to do is finish designing the thing.
I also started making arrangements to get the two front tires replaced and the front end aligned. The front tires are showing abnormal wear on the outside. The right one is worse than the left. I’ve found the tires at Fountain Tire (a Goodyear dealer) and a place called Frame & Wheel that can do the alignment but both need at least 2 days advance notice. Both also say that it will take 1-2 hours each. So my plan is to schedule both for the day I leave Green Haven. Since my next stop is strictly an overnighter and I’m not sure where I’ll stop, I’ve got plenty of freedom that day if it takes longer than they are quoting. If necessary I can swing into Kings Acres for a quick overnight. I still haven’t done any sightseeing but I’ll be able to do that from Green Haven.
Regina to Green Haven Sun Club
Road Report: This is a 30 minute jaunt down TC-1 to Balgone and up SK-10. The highway is good to excellent and I was able to maintain the 110 km speed limit with no problem. SK 10 is probably better than TC-1 and the speed limit is 100 km.
See the AANR page for the report on Green Haven.
After moving to Green Haven, I went into the downtown section of Regina and wandered around. The core is small but interesting and there is a two story mall in the middle of it. There also is a casino in a converted train station right in downtown. I stumbled on the inaugural “Bite of Regina” being held at the downtown park so I had lunch and listened to the live entertainment. Both the food and the music were excellent. I spent part of a day exploring the Science Center; it turned out to be geared for kids but was still interesting. The rest of that day I toured the Saskatchewan Legislature Building, I also picked up my mail at the FedEx station at the Regina airport. One day exploring the Heritage Center and Wascana Park, another day was spent laying around in the sun by the pool at Green Haven.
I’m not sure that the tire change and front end alignment is going to go all that smooth so I made arrangements to stay overnight at Kings Acres RV Park, just outside of Regina and about 1 km from the wheel and frame shop. The work is scheduled to happen on Tuesday. I also included welding the mudflap frame back on the left rear wheel well and replacing the flap itself in the work to be done. I ordered 2 Michelin 10 ply tires through the frame and wheel shop. Might as well keep everything in one shop, that way I’ve got a better chance on getting it done in 1 day.
When I dropped off the RV at 0930 to be worked on, they informed me that the tires were “in town” but not in their possession and that I should check back with them after lunch, so I jumped in the Toad and went to the internet café I had found. At 1 PM I called and they informed me that the RV frame wasn’t what they expected and consequently the alignment had to be done on a different machine. That meant a delay until the machine was available and to check back at 3 PM. At 3:30 PM I went back to the shop; they had the alignment done and were trying to balance the tires. They also informed me that the mudflap frame on the right side was also ready to fall off and the flap was missing totally, so I told them to re-weld and repair it too. Then they find out that the tires are too wide to balance on their wheel machine so they had to balance them on the RV, which took more time. I’m glad I made those reservations at Kings Acres, I’m not going very far today. At 4:30 PM, 7 hours after I dropped the RV off, I finally got out of there, minus about $700, and set up at Kings Acres for the night.
RV Report: Kings Acres is a nice park with something none of the other parks have had, WiFi. Unfortunately I didn’t know that until after I got there. It’s got level gravel for the RV’s surrounded by grass. There is a mix of services, from primitive to full hook-ups. A word of warning though, they don’t take any kind of plastic, so bring money.
Weather Report: Wild fluctuations day to day; some days it has been sunny and high 20’s, others stormy and low teens. The only constant is the wind, come to think of it; it’s been breezy to windy every day I’ve been on the plains.
Next stop should be back on the Redcoat Trail, hopefully somewhere in Manitoba.