GPS

I bought this GPS months ago because I can be directionally challenged at times and would hate to be lost in the middle of a city or the middle of a field. The one I bought has most of the gravel roads in Saskatchewan and comes in handy at times. As much as I love the GPS I do not trust it all the time.
I have heard stories of people who will follow the GPS all the time even if the road looks unsafe. Well I know from experience that the GPS may tell you there is a road there but in reality there is not. I know at times my GPS will want me to drive down a road that is a field, down a hill into water or even through a lake.
I use common sense because if you don’t you could end up stuck in the middle of nowhere without cell reception wondering how the heck you are going to get back.

km to nowhere

I decided to take some time and go on another road trip. I woke up early, packed the car, waited for my friend to finally be ready to go and we hit the road. No destination planned but we knew what area we wanted to explore. Last time we were in this area it had much potential and didn’t let us down this time.

We started on the highway but soon after crossing the river we turned onto gravel. From there we took many winding roads through fields, over hills, through thick groups of trees and ended up in the middle of nowhere. Some roads we took ended up being wet which forced us to drive fast enough to make it through and fishtail many times on narrow gravel roads. This was the first time that I had ever lost complete control of my car, minus the time I drove into a ditch of snow. It was awesome. In the heart of all the trees we ended up on roads where the grass was as high as the car and there were trees growing in the middle of the road.

We did find some interesting things on this trip. We found some old farmhouses, one of them being a heritage home abandoned in the 50’s. An abandoned schoolhouse on the side of a road, old abandoned church, which we had been to previously, and of course we found animals. We saw 4 deer, 2 of which were fawns, had been followed by the biggest bee I had ever seen in my life, almost hit multiple gophers as well as a woodpecker (no animals were hurt or killed on our trip) and at the end of the trip we found a fox den!

On this trip I learnt that God really does have a sense of humor. I knew this previously but this trip proved it more than ever. I had decided I wanted to check out a Ukrainian Church in the area. We searched all over for the church and had no luck. We ended up down this “road” which was a nightmare. Wet spots everywhere, narrow; full of trees we had no idea where we were. We went for quite a while until finally we hit a crossroads. Not just any crossroads but one that had this church at it. The church we had been looking for. I was both excited and annoyed. At first I did not believe this could be the church I had searched so hard to find but at the same time I did believe it. After all the searching we did, all the roads we had tried and finally giving up, we find the church.

You will always find things when you stop looking. This goes for anything in life.

"the church"

route 66 maps all over the house

this fur coat is the biggest & ugliest thing i have ever seen

suitcase packed but never taken

hair oil? red?

the road to get to this house was hell, but all worth it

lonely kitchen

roadside church

I know this is not exploring but seriously this tree is totally alone in the middle of nowhere
It deserved a picture.

old schoolhouse

my favorite abandoned church in the entire province

old barn - its still red!

old house - fox den in abandoned shed nearby

new camera

I got a new camera. Well actually my friend had bought me the camera and I bought a kit lens for it. His plan is to have 2 bodies that work with all the lenses he has. Nonetheless I get to use the new one. It’s a PENTAX K100 D SUPER, which is a nice small DSLR that takes 4 AA batteries (which works well for me as I have all rechargeable batteries) and it has a nice auto mode which automatically detects what you are taking a picture of. I am not big into photography so I do not know how to use the manual mode but I do need a camera with a wider lens then my little point and shoot. It seems every time I go to take pictures of churches I cannot fit the whole thing in the frame. Now with my new camera I can and it will make it a lot easier to draw from. So far I am enjoying the camera and cannot wait to get out and test it while exploring. Of course I will always bring my Canon point & shoot because it is indestructible and I would rather have that dropped on the ground then my new one.

Look forward to new pictures coming soon!