The Saskatchewan Traveller…
Well, it’s 2024 and a new season, this past Sunday had us start the new year with a trip to Dundurn for lunch.
The weather in the morning was a little cool, however as the day progressed so did the heat, turned out to be a very good day riding.
We had eight motorcycles in the bunch as we headed south and a stop at one of our favorite places to go, Tim Horton’s. If it was lunch time A&W would be a good stop.
Did I ever mention that Rick and his team at the A&W in Rosetown is one of the premier places for A&W’s, it’s all about the service.
After a coffee and fritter we continue on highway 15 to Outlook.
The roads are pretty good this time of year, but we are always weary of the dreaded potholes that may come up.
By the time we get to Outlook the temperature has warmed up a bit and more comfortable.
With a short break we head east to Kenaston.
On our way to Kenaston, we pass a historic site that was once part of the Carlton Trail from Moose Jaw.
This trail was used by early settlers into the area as well as the First nations peoples that used this trail to get to travel back and forth from Moose Jaw to Saskatoon.
Did you know that the town of Kenaston was once known as “Bonnington Springs”, back in the day before Saskatchewan became a province.
The name was changed in 1905, when Saskatchewan became a province, to Kenaston honoring F.E. Kenaston who was the vice-president of the Saskatchewan Valley Land Compnay.
The “Saskatchewan Valley Land Company” was a syndicate of wealthy men who had bought up, at the start, 1.75 million acres of land from the Dominion Governement, Qu’Appelle, Long Lake and the Saskatchewan Railway Company. The newly formed company was also to sell an additional 4 million acres of agriculture land that belonged to the Canadian Northern Railway.
In the era of the Great Saskatchewan land boom, which ended with the beginning of WWI, the company had sold 5.5 million acres of land to early settlers looking for agriculture land and a place to homestead. The land company played an important historical part in the formation of Saskatchewan.
The town of Kenaston is also known as the “Blizzard Capital of Saskatchewan”. The town has a 18 ft tall snowman holding a hockey stick as the town mascot.
Next, we head for Dundurn and another fantastic lunch at Big Mur’s Tavern. This tavern always has great food and great service, if you are in the area this is a good place to join with friends and have a good meal.
We head back to Saskatoon and stop in Sandy Ridge for ice cream before finishing our first trip of the year.
All in all, a great start to the season, we put on a little over 300 km’s and fun had by all.
Stay tuned next week as we start with a trip into Alberta…