Day 7

The night in Saskatchewan was our last on the road - and by far our worst. The mosquitoes were nothing short of unreal. No matter how fast we moved, the van was filled with them. Compounding the problem was the fact that the passenger window was stuck open. To try to keep them out, we had blocked the window with cling wrap. But it wasn't enough. We settled down to sleep with the hum of mosquitoes all around us. And it was hot and stuffy to boot. So it was too hot to be under the blanket, but if we took it off, we got eaten alive. The humm alone was enough to keep us awake, let alone the stffiness, heat, and blood sucking bugs swarming around us. We were going so crazy, we took the van, sleeping kids and all, for a drive with all the windows and the back hatch open to blow them out. But we couldn't close it down fast enough, or seal the window completely enough, to get rid of enoughof them to sleep. We had two choices - lay awake and suffer, or just hit the road. We chose the latter, getting on the road at about 4:30 a.m., after a miserable, sleepless night.

We rode into our next destination - Flin Flon - at about 6 a.m. It's a mining town, with copper and zinc I believe, and it looks a lot like Sudbury, with slag fields and stunted trees for miles around.

This is Flinty, the town mascot. The town is named after Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a character in The Sunless City.

Flinty, in his trout-shaped submarine, which he uses to escape a bottomless lake (which actually has a bottom of gold).

The tourist office has lots of cool stuff, and a little campground. The kids liked the train.

The kids trying to get the gear to turn.

We only stopped to gas upin Flin Flon, then we pressed on to The Pas. We'd post a picture of the Manitoba sign, but there wasn't one along this route - not many tourists, I guess. Mike didn't believe me that The Pas would be largely native. I won that bet, hands down.