Write On!

              4 heading for Regina, where we would spend the night at the West Harvest Inn. Upon arriving there, we were given our room keys. In a short time, our baggage was delivered to our rooms. After a smorg for supper, some people went to an Art Show at the Inn. The work was beautiful and reasonably priced. Others wanted to go to the Casino and John obliged, but he would stay only two hours. Anyone wanting to stay longer would need to find their own rides back. The rooms at this hotel were nice and the staff friendly. Sunday morning, October 24, we were up and ready for a new day. Before going for breakfast, we put our baggage outside of our doors. It would be loaded back on the bus. By 8:00 a.m. everybody was ready and willing to climb aboard. We traveled through the Regina Plains, which sometimes is under water. It was dull and overcast this morning, but inside the bus, everyone seemed to be in a sunny, happy mood. As we drove through Weyburn, we spotted four beautiful tall stocks of wheat along the highway, a monument tribute to the Saskatchewan prairies. Weyburn is the town where Tommy Douglas (past premier of Saskatchewan) started his illustrious career and implemented our "National Health Care System", as we know it. As we drove along, we saw thousands of geese feeding on grain which farmers had been unable to harvest. Once, we saw a huge flock of elegant white snow geese. We stopped at Smitty's for a two-hour lunch break in Estevan. The area is known for coal mining. We saw an interesting comparison of how the mining was done years ago and the standards which must be met today. As we drove along, Jo handed out sheets of paper with quizzes to keep us busy. Sometimes, we even won a prize for the most right answers. Then we had a singsong which was enjoyable. Doug Law had brought his guitar. His wife, Pauline, would lead us in the singing. Sometimes she sang alone and that was nice. After a few hours of traveling, we arrived at the Canadian Duty-Free Store. We spent about half an hour there, then crossed the border at North Portal. A handsome young man in uniform came on the bus to check our ID' s while another checked the compartments under the bus. It took about half an hour and we were free to go. From here, our destination was Minot, where we would spend the night at the Days Inn. We all went over to Perkins restaurant for a delicious supper. Our group of people were really great, very compatible and always on time.