#2: [06-Oct-05]

08-Sep-2001 -- So, I guess it’s official; I’m a confluence junkie. What other explanation could there be for someone living in Boston to use up most of his remaining frequent flier miles to fly with his wife to Saskatoon, then drive 1172 kilometres around the prairies in an effort to reach 4 confluences all before flying out only 24 hours later.

We landed in Saskatoon shortly after ten o’clock on Saturday morning, September 8, 2001. We secured our rental car and were on our way to our first confluence by ten thirty.

After briefly getting lost leaving the airport, we drove northwest on Highway 16 toward the city of North Battleford. About 15 kilometers before North Battleford, we ventured north on Route 687. Guided by maps from MapQuest, we then made our way through the numerous unpaved rural roads that eventually led us to the area of 53N 108W. The last of those roads was a narrow, single lane, dirt road running north that took us to a point a mere 75 metres or so east of our target. We parked the car then strolled the short distance across a recently harvested field to find the confluence.

The area surrounding the confluence is typical of what you would find throughout the prairies; a mix of fields full of grain and fields full of cattle. The field on the other side of where we had parked the car was of the cattle-populated variety and its inhabitants soon wandered over and peered through their fence to see what we were up to.

Apart from an occasional outburst from our bovine neighbours, we found ourselves in complete and total silence, no traffic noise, no birds singing, not even the sound of the wind. For two individuals used to life in the big city, this was unexpected, wonderful and yet, somewhat unsettling.

The sky had been mostly overcast since we had landed in Saskatchewan, but as we arrived at the confluence, the clouds parted and the entire area shone as the sun hit the gold of the recently harvested hay.

After taking numerous photos, we hopped back in the car and headed west to the province of Alberta and the confluence of 53N 111W.