Jun 05, 2015
Definition of a pull through site!
North Battleford, Saskatchewan to Binscarth Manitoba, 585Km/364miles.
You never know what you are going to see along HWY 16 aka the Yellowhead. How did they get that combine up there?
A typical small town and grain elevator along the road.
You see these silos everywhere.
As well as many old buildings from years ago.
About 206Km West of Yorkton, Saskatchewan or more precisely 2 Km North of Lanigan there is a wonderful rest area called the Lanigan Rest Area which is managed by the Department of Highways. We pulled in to let the girls stretch their legs and to do their business. It turned out to be a very large area and a delightful surprise.
Freshly mowed fields, bathrooms, picnic tables and…..
…..individual RV sites spaced far apart with their own garbage bins. Best of all it was free.
We saw several acres of these blue round hard shell things. There was a sign along the highway that said this was an International Environmental Project but that was it. It would have been nice to know what it was all about.
This post and the last were started while driving. I had edited my photos the night before and only had to write the words. Of course I has to wait until I was online to add the photos and captions.
Big Quill Lake seems to have overflowed it’s banks. Those telephone poles are down under.
As far as we could see on the other side of the road the lake just went on and on…..like the ocean.
Very interesting old church along the side of the road.
We arrived about an hour later than scheduled in Binscarth, Manitoba, our destination for the night. We were slowed by construction as well as having to slow down in some of the smaller towns we passed through. As we would be boondocking for at least the next 6 nights we needed to be able to fill our water tank and dump the other tanks. I also had planned to wash my hair which takes extra water. With careful research I found this RV Park. However no one was ever there to take my call to make a reservation. I did leave 6 messages before finally calling someone at the Municipal Office. So I did have a reservation and very carefully explained that we were 40′ towing a car and required a pull through site and full hookups which included electric, water and dump on site. I was extra detailed as it seems that Canadian RV Parks operate somewhat differently than those is the USA. Well at least some of them do. On our last cross Canada trip 10 years ago we ran into problems with dumping and pull through sites so I was being extra cautious. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw our site.
My jaw dropped. This was not our definition of a pull through site. First of all we likely would have sunk in the grass.
Looking at the RV Park map it did show these 7 sites as being pull through. We did find a sign at the far end of the grass saying no parking in front of what looked like very faint tracks in the grass. No way could we have made that turn, that is if we hadn’t sunk due to our weight. Did I mention that there was no dump 👿 My new mantra is ‘what to do’ ? Did I mention that it was 5:30PM our time but actually 6:30PM local time which I promptly forgot? Did I mention that the mosquitoes here were even larger that the last stop. They were big and black and had a mean bite. So we drove around the loop and parked parallel to the sites while still on the road so we could plug in and hook up the water. I felt like I was back I Mexico 🙂 There was no one else in the entire park so we felt we were okay doing what we did. In fact the office was closed and we never saw another person for several hours. We determined that we had enough space in the tank so I washed my hair. Colin took Carmeh for a stroller ride while Caeli walked. He reported back that the sani dump had a lock on it!
Some campground! A few hours later a truck pulled up, turns out he was a seasonal camper in the back forty. Colin asked about the dump being locked. Turns out it is all for show so folks don’t drive in to dump and there was a trick to open it. So we knew we could dump in the morning as we were leaving. The last RV Park we used in Manitoba had proper pull through sites except you were not allowed to stay hooked up to drive thru them 😡 I asked that manager/owner what a 5th wheel was supposed to do in a pull through site? He told me I was being a smart aleck. I know it can always be worse but really.
So we just ended up parking on the road.
Quick Carmeh update. She is stronger and able to stand on all four legs and walk a few steps before becoming wobbly. When she squats to pee she tends to fall over on her left. Her right back leg is stronger than the left. She is feeling better and because of that remains a handful. We continue to hope that with time she will improve.
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Nice that Carmeh is getting better, and you are making progress on your journey.
Wise move not driving your rig on the grass.
We have found the majority of Canadian parks are not geared to large Rv’s or have the hookups required for them either.
There is pull thru sites here but they are grass sites in the orchard area but you still would need to disconnect your car because of the length.
I’d say your assessment of CDN RV parks is right on. Between the ones I’ve stayed in and the ones I’ve worked in, it was my experience that the vast majority of RV park owners in Cnada have never actually RVed and don’t understand what it entails.
Glad to see you’re making tracks. Can’t believe you’ll be at my place soon. If you need a dump station before getting one, there is a really good pull-thru one in Willow Bunch (free) that I can direct you. You can plan to dump grey right at my place, though, and also fill up on water.
So glad to hear that Carmeh is doing better. Lots of challenges with this trip but sounds like you are taking them in stride.