Welcome to the first of a two part series chronicling the adventures of my wife, Maureen and I as we follow the Red Coat Trail across the Prairies. The Red Coat Trail, in case you’re wondering, is a series of provincial highways, which more or less follows the route taken by the North West Mounted Police back in 1874 on their march west from Manitoba to southern Alberta. The route was marked by distinctive roadside signs to help modern travellers stay on course.

While the Red Coat Trail was longer and slower then the more well-known and well-travelled TransCanada Highway, it did offer not only a sense of history but also a chance to explore a part of the country largely overlooked by tourists, to view landscapes and attractions bypassed by the four-lane highway and to experience local culture.
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