Homeward bound

 Having  been round and about Stony Plain, Alberta, for 4 1/2 weeks we just had to leave to get back home :-(

So on 28th July we sadly said our farewells and started the long drive east at 9.50am. It wasn't too long before we were back in Vegreville for our first stop for gas and coffee as well as to return something to Canadian Tire that we hadn't had chance to return previously. Then it was quickly back on the highway (at midday) to our planned lunch stop near Maidstone, Saskatchewan. That was when we encountered our first hiccup of the return trip! Just west of Maidstone is, or should be, a popular rest area (campsite for those staying over). However we pulled to the north of the highway and the barrier to the area was padlocked closed, with a faded sign swinging in the light breeze advising us that the rest area was closed due to Covid 19 restrictions. Arrived there at 2.30pm.

Despite being on a narrow, 2 lane side road we managed to reverse our rig into the entrance way of the area and park there for lunch and pulled out at 3.40pm, didn't manage to get a nap as it was still just too hot to be comfortable. 

We were a little concerned we'd be moved on when a truck squeezed in alongside us but the driver informed us he only pulled in because he was geocaching and this site was on his place to search.

It certainly looked as if the place had been abandoned though I guess it had been closed  technically since March 2020 but in practice from Fall 2019 since surely no-one would be camping there in winter?

After our rest we continued on our uneventful way where our next stop was North Battleford, SK. We'd stopped there on our drive west and had a pleasant enough boondocking experience at the civic park but this time we simply gassed up and drove off again by 5.10pm.

Not being too sure of how far we might get that first day I did not book anywhere to stop that first evening, we didn't know if we would leave Stony Plain early or midday and what other stops we might make. However (there's always an 'however'!) I had noted several boondocking options from ioverlander.com website but also did some research of my own. I had identified the small town of Langham, SK, as a good distance to have traveled in one day but there were no boondocking sites around there I could find. I did find a church on the edge of town with two good size parking lots. A quick look at Google street view gave me the contact name and email address so I fired off a request to use their parking lot if I happened to be in that area at a convenient time and I got an OK, no problem reply. So it was that we pulled into the church parking lot at 6.30pm after a drive of 535km.

Time for supper, a read and bed.....zzzzz.