 2010 Mini Cooper S 50 Camden. Click image to enlarge |
Day 3: Duluth, Minnesota to Weyburn, Saskatchewan (1,038 km)
Indeed, Duluth was the biggest city I’d seen in a while, but with a population of only 87,000, it’s no major metropolis. Nonetheless, the region attracts 3.5 million tourists per year, according to VisitDuluth.com, with “the outdoors” the main draw. It’s a Top Ten city for clean air, and offers sculptural gardening exhibits, skiing, Tall Ships, hiking, rock climbing, birding, fishing, the world’s longest natural sand bar and other scenic and healthy pursuits that seem to represent the way of life in Duluth. However, the largest open-pit mine in the world is also close by. Maybe they mine responsibly?
West of Duluth, Highway 2 thankfully picks up the pace by a full 30 per cent. Interestingly, the increased speed didn’t affect the Mini’s fuel consumption, which remained at 6.4 L/100 km, but ironically, although people are driving much faster than on the two-lane Highway 28, the quality of the road surface is poorer here than in Michigan and Wisconsin.
But one’s mind is quickly taken off the rough road surface by the radiant quality of Northern Minnesota’s light. I’ll bet artists go to Minnesota to paint, because the countryside truly sparkles as the sun rises on a spring morning here. Most of the rural homes are white, and many homeowners have installed bright red or blue roofs that seem to glow with neon luminosity against the sky. It’s really quite something!
  The Winnibigoshish General Store, in Minnesota & The Big Fish, in Bena, Minnesota. Click image to enlarge |
Not many people have seen a Mini in Minnesota, it seems. Lots of people look and I’ve only encountered one other – a yellow Cooper S with all the trimmings – since crossing the border. Mind you, as I mentioned earlier, there isn’t a lot of traffic on the roads yet other than commercial vehicles, as tourist season won’t begin in earnest for another month or so.
 One of Minnesota’s fine rest stops. Click image to enlarge |
Several interesting roadside attractions appear on this stretch of Highway 2, including the eye-catching Winnibigoshish General Store, resplendent in red and white; the Backwoods Trading Post at Shevlin, worth a few hours hunting through the old cars and automotive memorabilia; and, of course, Bena’s “The Big Fish,” which, believe me, you can’t miss. It has been recently restored.
And Minnesota is not to be outdone by Michigan and Wisconsin when it comes to rest stops. Each one is a scenic attraction, with Oak Lake, winner of the Cleanest Rest Stop three years in a row, truly immaculate in its tidiness. Occupying choice lakeside real estate, it has a full-time uniformed attendant on duty to ensure travellers get the very best rest stop experience. I’m still blown away by this phenomenon; some of these places look like tourist destinations in their own right.
The landscape approaching Grand Forks features mostly Birch and Spruce (not very tall) and many roadside signs advertising quilts, quilt fairs, quilting schools and general quilting activities. Signage identifying hunting and fishing opportunities now pepper the route, along with signs for local businesses owned by people with Scandinavian names. Churches are ubiquitous, covering the full spectrum of flavours, and likewise, you won’t go far without encountering a shop to buy “Guns and Ammo.”
Moving into North Dakota, the Scandinavian connection fully resolves (remember the movie, “Fargo?”). The State has several highway improvement projects underway (thank goodness…), but delays were minimal. Heading through Grand Forks, Devil’s Lake and on to Minot, North Dakota becomes flat and farmed. At this time of year stubble is being burned off, and crops are planted. It’s wheat country, and dairy, too. Vast farms and ranches extend to the horizon, although there are some hills and curves to break the monotony.
  Cross-Country Cooper, Day three. Click image to enlarge |
Highway 2 continues on all the way to Spokane, Washington (that would be a trip…), but eventually I head north on Highway 52 at Minot, toward the Saskatchewan border and my overnight stop in Weyburn. There’s not much on Highway 52, although the people in Kenmare seem to have a sense of humour, what with the town’s annual “GooseFest,” and the busy S.O.B. Restaurant (South Of the Border…). Little else surrounds Kenmare besides space.
 Weyburn, SK’s signature wheat sculptures. Click image to enlarge |
The Border crossing (at a place with the otherworldly name of Portal) was basically a wave and a “welcome back.” No traffic, no lines, no issues, no charge! The world as it should be, I think.
Everything from Portal to Weyburn – including the city of Estevan, with apparently the “clearest skies in Canada” — is about oil, coal and power generation. Oil rigs, oil drilling, oil speculation, oil equipment and trucks carrying oil and coal related materials cover the rough-hewn landscape, and here a Mini doesn’t seem entirely the right kind of rig for the road.
The environment flattens in a hurry, though, and wheat becomes the dominant commodity. Other than that, what can one say of the Prairies other than here is a great opportunity to see what the world looks like with nothing on the surface?
Eventually, Weyburn appeared, with its signature giant wheat sculptures and the news (in the community paper) that a Pizza Hut will soon be locating there. The town bills itself as “The Largest Inland Grain Gathering Point in Canada,” and indeed one would be hard pressed to find a place with more trucks gathering in one place. The city seems entirely populated with truck drivers, oil workers, rail workers, equipment operators, cowboys and wheeler-dealers. Women are few and far between, and everyone’s on their cell phone talking to someone about a deal or a contract or a job. It’s a happening town, if commerce is what you’re after.
