We were not expecting to be back on the road so soon, but needs must. Marlene's Mom's sister, Jean, whom we had visited in hospital in Edmonton in July, passed away in late September, and a celebration of her life was held in Loverna, Saskatchewan, this past Saturday.
Why Loverna you ask? Jean was raised in Loverna, married in Loverna, and raised her family there, before moving to Edmonton later in life. Jean's son lives in Kindersley, the nearest centre of habitation.
You have likely never heard of Loverna, Saskatchewan, so I will give you the abridged version of its history. It is situated just East of the Alberta border, due North of Alsask, in the middle of the Canadian prairies - so flat that they say you can watch your dog run away for 3 days (a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture). Loverna was first and foremost a railway town, and back in the 1920s boasted a population of more than 500, with 3 churches, 2 doctors, 2 banks, and numerous other businesses. Marlene's maternal grandfather, Fred Sim, was a railway man, who was transferred to Loverna in the late 1930s, and became mayor of the town in 1945. By 1980 the railway was gone, and Loverna lost its raison d'etre. The town is now unincorporated (no more mayors), the population is less than 20, and Loverna is now essentially a ghost town.
Our trip was made a little more complicated by the fact that we had agreed to look after our daughter's dog, Charli, as Heather and her family had booked a vacation in San Diego. So we left Delta, BC, on Thursday morning, with Charli perched on her doggie car seat, and headed to Kamloops, where we dropped Charli with our son, Will, before moving on to Golden, BC, where we spent Wednesday night, as this was more than halfway to our destination - Kindersley, Saskatchewan.
On Friday we continued through Lake Louise & Banff, bypassed most of Calgary, and then across Alberta highway 9 (Drumheller, Hanna, Oyen) and Saskatchewan highway 7 to Kindersley. From the point of leaving highway 2 at Crossfield, Alberta, there are probably not more than 20 curves in the 400 Km to Kindersley. Our 4 year old granddaughter, Kinley, could probably have driven it!
We spent Friday evening visiting with Marlene's cousins in Kindersley and then headed out to Loverna for the celebration of life on Saturday morning. Once you leave Highway 7, there is no more asphalt, and soon the roads are unnamed (thankfully we have a GPS). It reminded me somewhat of driving to my Gleeson ancestral home in Ireland last year, but without the hedgerows.
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| The Road to Loverna (just off 317) |
The celebration of life was held in the Loverna Community Hall, one of the few buildings still in use in the town. It was hard to imagine a once bustling town. The celebration was well attended, as witnessed by the number of vehicles in the photo below. I have pasted photos of a few of the other remaining buildings in Loverna, at the bottom of this page.
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| Main Street Loverna today |
After the celebration of life, we joined the family in laying some of Jean's ashes to rest with her husband, Floyd, in the Loverna cemetery, and spreading the remaining ashes on the family farm just outside of town. This provided opportunity to test the AWD capability of the Subaru, as we drove through the alfalfa fields....the fields had less potholes than some of the local roads.
On Sunday morning, after coffee with Marlene's cousin, we started the trek homeward. We overnighted in Revelstoke, BC, a town which impressed us - lots of happy young people and well cared for heritage buildings. The winter would not suit us (long and snowy), but Revelstoke could be worth a September visit some year, after the summer tourists leave, and before the winter tourists arrive.
Monday was a long travel day, as we left Revelstoke at 8 am and did not arrive home until 11 pm. It was not all driving, as we had an hour with friends in Sicamous, 3 hours with Will in Kamloops, and 3 1/2 hours waiting for / riding the ferry to the island. Charli was an excellent traveller, and seems none the worse for spending 4 nights in a house with a cat (Giz), although she has supposedly developed a taste for fish-flavoured cat food. Charli and Giz seemed to consider all available food as being jointly owned.
We are tired after travelling over 3000 Km in 5 days, and are happy to be home on the island for a few days before we take Charli home on Saturday.
Photos of some of Loverna's remaining buildings -
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