Saskatoon - Last Day & 3 Days to Home

Am finally finishing our round trip Blog, Ottawa - Saskatoon

Sunday (May 2nd) was a seminar on 'The Art of Presentation', put on by the talented Rod Oshi from BC. No pics, sorry, it was his request. This was an all day seminar. Not only did he cover grooming products, so different & neat way he trains his puppies with one of those lasers, but also a told us stories of his experiences with many of our top shelties in history.

Monday - time to pack up and leave early as we want to make it home in a shorter time frame, as there are 2 dogs to get ready for next weekends dog show in Arnprior. We made sure we had enough Tim Hortons coffee so we could at least make a pot in the mornings before hitting the road. I could not see me drinking the watered down stuff for 2+ days!

On our trip there, I saw this red barn, standing alone in the fields, nothing as far as the eye could see. I just had to stop and take a picture .... WHOOOOOOO Mike said, there it is! Out I get, run cross the 4 lanes of traffic to the other side of the road and take some shots. The sun wasn't in the best position, it would have meant walking some distance in the fields, and time wasn't on our side. The odd time you'd come across a few of these windmills in the fields

We took the same route, crossing into the USA at Portal. We'd been asked many of the same questions each time we did a boarder crossing, but this time was different. The questions became a bit more involved ... have you been on a farm? have you been near farm animals? hummm what's up with this? Officer asked us to pull over 'there' as we'd like to ask you a few more questions. Out came this small older, quiet man to the driver's side and asked if we'd mind taking a 'survey' for the Dept of (some thing like this) Agriculture, Food Safety. More questions on, fruits, veggies, seeds, plants, farms .... then came the dogs and dog food. He wanted to see our dog food and needed to see what was in it and where it was manufactured. So, we dug out. He was looking for any beef or lamb products and anything made in Canada! The only one we had that fit that bill was the Purina One Lamb & Rice Puppy made in Mississauga. So after reading all the labels in detail, he said 'sorry folks, am going to have to take this one.' Luckily Tootsi is good on any food, no diarrhea issues.

Why beef and chicken, is beyond me, and any Customs site I've searched it doesn't say. What I have found is that if the product isn't made in the country you are travelling in, and especially if it's not in its original bag, it is likely to be taken.


So folks, if you're in Canada and travel to the US, make sure you know your food, what's in it (protein source), where it is made and IS in its original bag. If it's Canadian made, make sure your pooch has eaten it all, canned food included, before entering the US! If it's taken, you're going to have to find a place to buy more. And depending on your route, as was ours, there are NO Specialty Pet Stores! So, go check out what Wal-Mart carries and consider what you could feed .... the key here is whether your dog is a picky eater, doesn't have an 'iron' stomach and will get diarrhea easily and where are you going (high density areas where specialty shops would be abundant, or more remote areas where there are none) to buy the food you need. If your food is a special one, there are few places that have it here in Canada, then I'm almost going to guarantee you won't easily find it in the US. In fact, check to see if it is even sold in the US.


We just kept pushing it home. As the afternoon approached I'd get out all the maps, check the Garmin for distances, check the Comfort Inn 'manual of motels' for where the next one was, and then we'd decide which one we'd drive to for the night. The #1 key was it had to be Pet Friendly, and secondly a ground floor. The passenger seat became our office - maps, Trip Ticket from CAA, Comfort Inn Handbook, cell phone, credit card handy, Comfort Inn Privilege's #, passports and of course, the dog's vaccinations & registrations.

The door of our van has all kinds of neat places. I kept my hand lotion handy up top, down below was a slot for an extra coffee mug, bottle of coke, water, and another place for folders, maps, paperwork.

The center console ... more mug/drink slots, a place for the Garmin to rest, down the sides of the seats held more paper items of reference; the floor had room for snackies and my purse sat in the middle for easy access to my wallet for toll $'s, credit cards and anything we women pack into those 'mini' suitcases :)

My lap became the 'dinner tray' as we mostly grabbed our meals and ate 'on the run'. This was dinner on our last leg home.
WOW, have things ever greened up in 1.5 wks! It's now raining and chillier .... guess we brought the Saskatoon weather with us! It is getting hillier, and more scenery, plus more animals hit by cars.

The other thing we started to notice while in the US, and especially with on coming cars some distance away, that looked like a pin in the distance ... what's wrong with this picture??? took a bit, but NO head lights or running lights as we have here in Canada. It is law that all cars must have running lights on during the day. It certainly made for a different 'vision' of on coming traffic.

HOME ... it's only an hour or so away (8:30pm we think) ..... can't wait to sleep in my own bed. We're 'stuck' in 2 positions .. knees bent, along with our lower backs. It takes a few minutes for us to straighten up after getting out of the van. Being in that seated position for some days, over a 1,000 km, one's body is almost set in a different configuration.

Our total trip kilometers was 6,660.7 km ... WOW .... such a good time, seeing new and old friends, neat & different landscapes, birds in their habitats .... home ... was nice to get back.

Thanks Mom, Wilf, and Mary-Anne for holding down the fort and carrying for all our dogs & puppies. Wilf, our antique wagon wheels look just LOVELY, all freshly painted up.