Smeaton Can’t Be Beaten

Today was the road trip.

To get to Churchill by train, you want to go to Thompson. 

To get to Thompson by car, you want to drive to Flin Flon to spend the night.

To get to Flin Flon in a single day is by no means insurmountable, but not for the weak-hearted either. I grew up doing long road trips across Saskatchewan to visit Dad’s family in southern Manitoba, sometimes in a single haul, so 10-11 hrs in a car doesn’t intimidate me, and Audrey is an experienced highwaywoman herself

We both awoke a little after 5 am and could not get back to sleep, we staggered out of bed and packed the cooler with drinks and trainwiches and hit the road at about 20 to 8. Gassing up in Shellbrook, we realized that gave us more than enough range to bypass Prince Albert and head up to Hansen Lakes Road, the preferred route to Flin Flon, as the road from Nipawin to the Pas feels like it would be right at home in Sarajevo in the early 90s. Hansen Lakes Road is more remote, with very limited cell service, but is generally in better condition and paved for much of its length.

However.

As you leave Prince Albert behind, Google Maps may alert you to a shorter route, shaving perhaps 10 minutes off your time!

Do not be fooled.

This beguiling shortcut will lead you onto. A dusty gravel board, washboard at best, rutted and drifty at worst. The rest stops are few and far between, and you are swarmed by enormous horseflies (called bulldogs by many locals) the moment you leave your car.

Audrey had chosen to drive this leg and was not only very tense about the gravel but also very terse. We’d had to turn off the audio drama we’d been listening to (Batman Unburied with Winston Duke) and I watched her white-knuckle the wheel until we needed to pull over onto a weedy sideroad for an unscheduled rest stop.

I took the wheel afterwards and said, “we’ve actually driven that road before, but we will take the other road on the way back, all right?” Audrey nodded in agreement.

“And from now on, the way we will remember,” I continued while pointing at the more desirable turn on the map, “is that ‘Smeaton can’t be beaten’!”

Mostly she rolled her eyes, but there was maybe a little grin there too? I’ll take it.