Southern Saskatchewan is a vast area of rolling hills, tall gold and green grasses, and random lakes. Traffic on the Trans-Canadian Highway through this area is rather sparse, and aside from the occasional farmhouse or freight train, there is not much to see.
I was on my way from Regina to the Crowsnest Pass just north of the US border that would take me through the Rockies on what I hoped was relatively flat trip. I had not yet had experience driving my RV, Eddie, with the Adventure Prius in tow on mountain roads and was not exactly looking forward to learning.
Reading in my trusty Lonely Planet guidebook on Canada, I found something of interest just slightly off the beaten path. There was a T-Rex museum located in a very small town known as Eastend about 45 minutes south of the Trans-Canadian Highway. The museum had very good reviews, so I decided to make a detour to see if it was as good as promised (it was).
As far as route to Eastend from the Trans-Canadian Highway, I could either go to the highway that led straight South to it, or I could turn off about 20 minutes earlier, head south, then hang a right and head west straight to Eastend. Not wanting to backtrack, which is what the first route would require me to do, and wanting to see if there was anything else interesting in the area, I chose the second option.
The terrain began to change as I headed south. The mostly flat terrain punctuated with rolling hills morphed into actual hills. Up and down we went in search of the turn to the west.
In about half an hour, the GPS informed me that the turn was coming up soon, so I began to slow down. A few signs came into view, and when I saw the one that indicated I should turn right to go to Eastend, I reached down to grab my phone and snap a fast picture.
Up ahead of me was a town called “Climax.” To my right was the way to Eastend. As it was already late in the afternoon and I was tired from many hours of driving, I opted to turn right and continue to my original destination. And, that is why I didn’t reach Climax. 😉
