Wikipedia Is My Friend

The following notes are from Wikipedia.

Moose Jaw is a city in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the Moose Jaw River. It is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, 48 miles west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. (Who wouldn't want to be known as a Moose Javian??!!!) It is best known as a retirement and tourist city that serves as a hub to the hundreds of small towns and farms in the surrounding region of Saskatchewan.

Marked on a map as Moose Jaw Bone Creek in an 1857 survey by surveyor John Palliser, there are two theories as to how the city got its name. The first one is that it comes from the Plains Cree name moscâstani-sîpiy meaning “a warm place by the river,” indicative of the protection from the weather that the Coteau range provides to the river valley containing the city and also the Plains Cree word Moose Gaw meaning warm breezes. The other is that on the map of the city the Moose Jaw river is shaped like a moose’s jaw.

 (I believe the first explanation.)

The name “Medicine Hat” is the English translation of “Saamis” (SA-MUS) – the Blackfoot word for the eagle tail feather headdress worn by medicine men – or “Medicine Hat.” Several legends are associated with the name from a mythical mer-man river serpent named “Soy-yee-daa-bee” – the Creator – who appeared to a hunter and instructed him to sacrifice his wife to get mystical powers which were manifest in a special hat. Another legend tells of a battle long ago between the Blackfoot and the Cree in which a retreating Cree “Medicine Man” lost his headdress in the South Saskatchewan River.

Historically, Medicine Hat has been known for its large natural gas fields. Because of these reserves, the city is known as The Gas City.

The following is from Char-pedia.

So many towns we went through in SD, ND, and the lower parts of Canada had “now hiring” signs up everywhere, and not just at fast food places. Because of the oil and gas booms, signs would say “Good Jobs.” There was lots of construction going on, too. All those workers have to live somewhere. As we went farther north into British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and NE Alaska, there were no jobs posted. Nor were there any fast food restaurants.  In Canadian towns, you don't drive through the centers of towns -- you have to turn off the main road onto a side street. Sometimes I was surprised that I had completely missed a town, not that there was much to miss.

The motor home is doing well, and we are very comfortable in it. It gets dark later and light earlier, but we have adjusted.

Thanks for reading,
Charlotte