MeAnd’Er - ing from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie

 

Day 32 -

6,000km and 93 hours driving time.

Heading east again / still, and the drive out of Thunder Bay was beautiful, as promised by the guy in The Cheese Encounter a cheese store on Algoma St. in Thunder Bay.  I think this is how I will remember Ontario - trees, rocks, roads, and Lake Superior!

Turned off the road here for a drive through a treed park up to the Terry Fox Memorial, and it was breathtaking.  Terry’s journey is marked all along his route on Hwy. 11-17, right up to Shuniah, Ontario where he had to end his Marathon of Hope when his cancer returned in 1980 - 5,373km, 143 straight days.

Next stop was Amethyst Mine Panorama, over 1,000 acres of quarry owned and operated by 2nd generation Lukinuk family, Steve and Lorna.  Amethyst was discovered there by accident when crews were working their way through the area to erect a forest fire lookout.  3 miners laid claim and it was later bought by Steve’s parents.  There are pieces of amethyst all over the place that we are encouraged to collect and purchase for $5. at pound, but we’re not buying anything larger than stickers on this trip.  I was swarmed by small black flies there and still have the welts on my neck to prove it!  They got caught in the soft hair around my neck and tried to chew their way out.

Stopped in Terrace Bay for a charge and lunch - they have a big lighthouse in the parking lot!  It’s been a long day but one more stop at White River for a photo with Winnie the Pooh, yes, another one.  This is where the little black bear was bought from a trapper for $20. by Lieutenant Colbourn back in 1914.

Day 33-34

Catfish Lake

We’re nestled quite comfortably in Cabin #6 at Catfish Lakefront Cabins, about 15 minutes west of Wawa on Hwy. 17.  Very Eagan Lake-ish and lovely.  I never did figure out how to get a ride in the float plane!  Roger’s blog about ‘being stuck in the middle’ & EV charging fits in here.

It’s much colder here so a bit of suitcase shuffling to pull out the jeans again.  It’s about 20* compared to the 31* we’ve been having.  No cell service, which is good and not so good, but we have lots of great books we have picked up at the many independent bookstores we have visited!

Newfoundland update from Sharon: it’s cool and rainy there too.

We met a kid on our walk who is graduating this year and he told us that the Willys Jeep in this picture belongs to his friend Dave and it still runs!  

Day 35

It’s raining!  We haven’t had rain since Lake Louise.

Wow, it’s really nice to be getting caught up with this blog, we were reminded yesterday that we’re a tad behind!

Thank you again to Natalie and Lee at Catfish Lake for letting us plug in the car - the charging station in Wawa is still down and it’s 240km to Sault Ste. Marie.  We left Catfish with a range of 325km, plenty to get us there. 

We stopped in Wawa anyway because we needed the picture with the Canada Goose!  It is there for the same reason as Sara the Camel in Glenboro!  Concerned that when plans were finalizing for the Trans Canada Lake Superior route that it would not be built through the community, Al Turcott and a group of businessmen came up with the idea of the Wawa Goose to attract tourists on their trans Canada travels, and it works!  

Al also opened Fort Friendship on the banks of the Michipicoten River upstream of the old Hudsons’ Bay Co. Post.  It comes complete with log palisade walls, a museum, gift shop, wishing well, tower of Prime Ministers, and a small church made out of glass bottles.  (Maybe the people in Treherne had some left over!)

We didn’t visit Fort Friendship in Wauwatosa because it was raining so badly, but friendship did grace our stop at the Wawa Goose.  There we met two lovely ladies, Jean and Donna, travelling from Brantford and following much the same path as we are - in particular taking pictures at landmarks and roadside attractions.  They filled us in on some we missed including the giant mosquito in Upsalla, travel tips for points and perks, and if you are planning a trip to Portugal - Madeira is a must! They even have tickets for Come From Away in Gander! that puts them high up on my well organized travellers list.  We had a great visit in the Tourist Information Centre, again the reason we are taking this trip slow and easy so we can enjoy meeting people. These two travel a lot - both retired, one navigates and the other drives the Honda Civic.  Back home they do a lot of volunteer work with seniors, including bringing their Support Cat in to visit!  How do you train a cat to be a Support Cat you might ask?  You don’t!  She just naturally purrs, gives love and snuggles, no training involved, and she even has a Service vest like their canine colleagues.  Same as Gus does when Katie brings him to work with her.
I’m sure we’ll meet Jean and Donna again throughout this trip, in fact they are at the same hotel in Sault Ste. Marie that we’re at! 

We stopped at Harmony Beach because Roger wanted to see the 3km of sandy beach just north of S.S.M.  He must be craving BC, because when we first arrived in Ontario and I mentioned the pebbles and rocks on the beaches alongside Lake Superior he said “sand’s for sissies”, and here we are, on sandy Harmony Beach!  You can take the man away from the Coast, but you can’t take the Coast away from the man.  Did I mention that it’s raining?

We went past Old Woman Bay, Rabbit Blanket Lake, Mom Lake, Baby Lake, Orphan Lake (no idea where Dad Lake is). and finally got to see Lake Superior with an uninterrupted horizon. nothing for as far as the eye can see.  There’s a formula for figuring out how far that is: height in metres x 13 and take the root of that.  For me it’s about 4.8km and for Roger about 5km (he can reach higher too).

Day 36 

Another trip across the border, this time to Michigan, on purpose.  We took a tour boat through the Soo Locks and it was amazing!  The difference is 21 feet, and you go from the boat sitting well below the lock to walking right off the deck in 15 minutes.  It uses 10 million gallons of water to make this happen, and we got to see a freighter 246 meters long and 23 meters wide go through.  The locks are on the St. Mary’s River connecting Lake Huron and Lake Superior, north side is Canadian, south is American.  You can see in this picture our little boat on the Lake Superior side and coming out on the Lake Huron side.  It is a feat nothing short of amazing.  Prior to the locks there was a 21 foot drop through rapids!  

Lots of coal going through there and Alcoma has a huge steel manufacturing plant on the waterfront.  

We were told that next time we should go further down the Michigan side to Whitefish where the historical site is for the Edmund Fitzgerald., the further down to Paradise Beach and the best fudge!

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is a cool little town, but I really liked this litter notice posted on our tour boat - 

Michele, wouldn’t you love to see this in Mission!

Lovely dinner at Fluid on the waterfront beside the Roberta Bondar Park - Sault Ste. Marie is hometown to Dr. Bondar, Canada’s first woman astronaut .  The park is in the area historically known as Bawating, or “meeting place”. 

Finally broke down and got some cortisone cream for my neck, those flies at Amethyst really did a number on me!

MeAnd’Er-ing into Ontario

 

5000 km since we left Mission, and 77hrs driving time.  

Day 28 & 29 - 

We crossed the Centre point of Canada’s longitude. 96* 48’ 35” between Winnipeg and Kenora.  The actual centre of point of Canada latitude and longitude is just south of Yathkyed Lake in Nunavut, west of Hudson Bay at 62* 24’ N and 96* 28’ W.  We crossed between Winnipeg and Kenora.

There had to be 10km of road closure cones coming out of Manitoba - Roger asks, where do they get that many?

We stopped at Sioux Narrows for lunch - Northern Ontario Sportfishing Centre.  I’m really struggling with this “Northern Ontario” thing when we are only 5 miles north of the 49!  Sounds pretty south to me!

Ontario is beautiful - everyone kept saying to us “rocks, trees and road, that’s all you’ll see” but we think it’s quite lovely.  We’ll see how we feel about that in a few days!  A long day on the road today.

 

Fort Frances - 

We are in Fort Frances - we posted a news flash the other day about the International Falls here, or more accurately, not here!  

Back in 1873 a treaty was negotiated with the Ojibwa for the cession of 5,000 square miles of territory including much of this part of Ontario.  

We’re at the Bayview Motel, the 1st self check-in we’ve ever seen, quite slick actually.  We are on Rainy Lake, across the lake from Minnesota, and an apparent resting spot for pelicans - about 100 of them!  Still 32* so it’s nice being across the street from the lake.  

Fort Frances has a population of 8,000 and is like a step back in time: $7.50 breakfast, $1. postcards, and plug the car in for free at the motel.  But no bakery, no coffee shop, no falls, and no fort!  They do have a Walmart, Tim Hortons, Canadian Tire, and the Annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship though! Throw in a gazillion fishermen and free pelican show and its all worth it.  Lisa at the Harbourage Restaurant told us to look for the flower pot rocks in PEI, the Halifax City Tour and the changing of the guards at the fort where they wear kilts and flash when they spin!

Day 30 & 31- On to Thunder Bay, quoted as “A wonderful place to drive through”.  So not true!

We passed a point at Kashabowie, ele. 1660ft. where posted is the Atlantic Watershed - From here all streams flow south into the Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Watershed - From here all streams flow north into the Arctic Ocean.  This is so cool - like the Continental Divide only east to west, Atlantic to Pacific.  It’s fun seeing Canada divided up this way, longitude/latitude, north/south, east west.

Along the Hwy 11 & Hwy 17 we have seen a couple of people cycling, and a couple of people walking what appears to be across Canada?  There was one cyclist accompanied by a truck but couldn’t make out what the sign was, the others appear to be on their own.  Our friend Neil cycled across Canada a few years ago, we’ll have to ask him about that.  

Thunder Bay - we are staying upstairs in a really old house on Pearl St. in an area that reminds us of Kitsilano when it was undergoing some changes in the early 70’s.  Old places being repurposed and small businesses setting down roots, great places to eat, The Cheese Encounter, and right next to them the Entershine Bookshop - a great independent bookstore on Algoma Street.  I bought a book by Maude Barlow, one of my hero’s, called Still Hopeful, Lessons from a Lifetime of Activism, published in 2022.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  

Canada’s Best Trips Guide suggested Tomlin’s for dinner but there was an hour wait (we got there at opening) and we had the car plugged in at the government building so wanted something a little faster, so we chose a Thai restaurant -  a far stretch from Bee Thai at home, that’s for sure. Oh well, we had a fantastic share bowl salad and pizza at Nook last night so that makes up for it.

It’s hard to eat when you’re on the road like this - anything affordable comes with an oversized amount of fries and hardly anything fresh.  We always have fresh fruit and cheese on hand and often that’s our midday meal.  

We’re a short walk to the waterfront of Lake Superior!!!  

Did I mention -      We’re on Lake Superior!!!

I can’t believe it.

At one time there were 29 grain elevators on this waterfront and the City of Thunder Bay - as Port Arthur and Fort William, was the grain-handling capital of the world.  One steamer loaded 555,000 bushels of wheat in 7 hours and 20 minutes! They still have the largest grain storage capacity in North America and the fastest grain ship turnaround time of all western Canadian ports.  There is still coal, grain and potash shipped out of Thunder Bay, 7.5 million tonnes of grain annually -   Does anybody reading this know what happened to all the grain elevators?  There are only 8 of them now.

Here’s a funny Thunder Bay story: 

Back in 1925 there was the Co-operative Dairy which was established when pasteurization laws came into effect.  They prohibited farmers from selling milk directly to the public, so the dairy became the middle-man.  In those days, skim milk was considered waste, but not much was wasted in early Port Arthur, so in the winter the dairy used the skim milk to flood an ice rink.  Those who skated on it say it was as white as a sheet of paper.

Update from the Maritimes: Our friend Sharon is visiting Newfoundland and she said that “ice bits” or “ice pans” from Labrador have come into the bay and the ferry is stopped for a week.  Between that and the fires burning in Ontario and Nova Scotia it looks like from here on east might be a bit of a challenge.

Kakabeka Falls the “Niagara of the North” are amazing, and we could get right up close.  They are on the Kaministiquia River (The Kam) 30km west of Thunder Bay and have a drop of 40m, or 130’.  The name comes from the Ojibwa word Gakaabikaa “Waterfall over a cliff”, and flows into western Lake Superior at Thunder Bay.  Not many tourists around at this time, but I’m sure we’ll start to see more toward the end of the month.  

I wish I could figure out how to post a video!

  

Hey, there’s a story back home about us in the Mission City Record!  Thank you Karen, Kevin and Dillon!  

As well as this blog I am also keeping a travel journal (a gift to Roger from my Rotary club) and a personal journal (thank you Cyndi).  For the travel journal I have been trying to use stickers from places we have visited but it’s hard to find them - especially provincial ones.  

There used to be a time when you could plaster the entire back of your car with them! 

I’m going to close here because tomorrow morning I want to start a new page.

EV Update - So here’s the plan ….

 

  

So here’s the plan. We will charge in Thunder Bay the night before we drive 462 km to Catfish Lake.

It’s about a 5 hour drive so we can take turns driving. We can charge the car in Nipigon and again in Terrace Bay at Drifters Motel while we have some lunch. We do not need to worry about range when we get to Catfish Lakefront Cabins (https://www.catfishlakefrontcabins.ca/) where we are staying for 3 days because it is only 17 km to Wawa where we can charge at the Petro Can before we drive the 240 km to Sault Ste. Marie, our next stop. 

Things are going well; we pull into Catfish Lakefront Cabins with 102 kms left in the battery. We get settled in and I start the planning for the Sault Ste Marie trip and discover that the only charging station in Wawa is out of service! Not enough juice to get to the Sault and not enough to back track to Terrance Bay. The song ‘Stuck in the middle with you’ pops into my head.

Not to worry, remember Level 3, Level 2, Level 1 charging? 

We talked with the owners Natalie and there is not a problem, her husband Lee will move his truck and we can plug in at their place overnight and will have the range for the Sault Ste. Marie trip covered. Thank you, Natalie and Lee, and Level 1 charging!

And a shout out again to Sylvia in Buena Vista for letting us plug in there as well!  Thank You!

“Range Anxiety” is not exclusive to electric cars!

MeAnd’Er-ing in St. Boniface / Winnipeg

 Oh how I wish you could see me now!

One thing about travelling with another person for a month is that you appreciate what it was like to have more than one room!  Finding space for things like journaling, blogging, reading, whatever, is impossible to do when someone is sleeping in the same room.  To date I have used my iPad as a light for journaling, left the door ajar for light from motel hallways, and this morning I am snuggled up nicely with 2 pillows and a bedsheet in the bathtub of our airbnb in Thunder Bay!  One room places also come with one bathroom so things like trimming toenails and nose hairs are no longer considered ‘private’ when there is a line at the door waiting for the facilities. 

Day 23 -

Portage la Prairie - 

This segment of our journey will be covered in a blog completely dedicated to this one site. 

We spent a long time at the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada on the land of the Long Plain First Nation.  The museum is inside the former residential school operated for more than 60 years by the United Church.  Jade led us through some of the rooms where artifacts are laid out to ever so gently to tell the story and you can feel the sentiment attached to every item, most donated by people who had attended the school, students and staff.  We thought how nice it must be to have a place for the things we keep where they can be a part of our story, of that place in time, to be preserved and shared.  Renee came out to help Jade a bit with some of the stories (her mother went to this school) and later Lorraine Daniels, ED, a former student and the lady who put this all together.  It is quite amazing - and beautiful enough that when I master the skill of presenting our pictures in a slideshow or movie we will add a blog solely for that purpose.  There is even a large, framed copy of the address of His Holiness Pope Francis’s meeting with representatives of the indigenous peoples in Canada (1 April 2022).  

We took Hwy 26, out of Portage la Prairie then Hwy 248 and Hwy 67 heading to Winnipeg and stopped in Stonewall to have lunch in an old limestone quarry.  I’m not quite sure where all the people go when these main industries shut down, it reminds me of when I moved to Mission 40 years ago and cedar shakes and Corning were the primary income providers.  A lot of jobs were lost there, that’s for sure.  We have a happy Roger picture at the old quarry though - plugging the car in in the parking lot.

St. Boniface - what a great place, walking distance to everything we want to see, including catching up with old friends Rob and Fran.  

Day 24 - 

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights - Rob was right, go early and plan to spend more time than you thought.  We were there for 4 hours and only made it 1/2 way through.  We can’t begin to do justice to this amazing place:  We came back on Thursday and spent another 3 hours to finish up, and still didn’t see everything.  There are over 100 videos and recordings to see, not to mention 100’s of exhibits.

Level 1 - Gallery and Welcome - I’m still working on how to download this video

Level 2 - What are Human Rights?  Indigenous Perspectives.   Canadian Journeys.  This gallery explores dozens of Canadian stories, from democratic rights to language rights, from freedom of conscience to freedom from discrimination.

Level 3 - Protecting Rights in Canada

Level 4 - Examining the Holocaust, Chinese Canadians and Immigration Policy, to touch a few

Level 5 - Rights Today, which included and interactive exhibit to discuss things such as MAiD, private health care, same sex rights, womens rights - bringing people face-to-face with contemporary human rights struggles and action.

Level 6 - Expressions - multiple perspectives on human rights

Level 7 - Inspiring Change - this gallery incorporates objects and images from events that have promoted human rights - Stephen Lewis Foundation to unite African and Canadian grandmothers, pipeline protests protecting the ancestral lands, the Raging Grannies, a lot of things we recognized as current and making a difference.

Level 8 the Israel Asper Tower of Hope, which was closed for repairs to the elevator.

One of the levels has Buffy St. Marie’s handwritten lyrics for Universal Soldier, and her mouth bow! Let me just say - there are 7 Levels, and our photographs and words can’t do it justice.  So here is the link and you can click in if you want to learn more!  We encourage you to spend some time learning more about this chance to explore and reflect on human rights in Canada and around the world.

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwirkdCN-rD_AhUnCq0GHdVYBvEYABABGgJwdg&ae=2&ohost=www.google.com&cid=CAESauD2Pfgwe6b_CwN1h2UC6UzKG4EDsjL_8Ym2R9Zsss1E91ZI_Fgci1LUF4YGUla3d_aVEtnwneZWA5IuMNFBFhBFoQ9vglDrAdiT8pFEoKBHGmZK4n8FWsWWyW8nJmb66ADQ36v_nrckx1M&sig=AOD64_03Ha0iPx0uSdi9jNh8j55AyEytvQ&q&adurl&ved=2ahUKEwj4lceN-rD_AhW4IzQIHepaCVMQ0Qx6BAgIEAE

While in St. Boniface / Winnipeg we also visited the Basilique Cathedrale de St. Boniface, the resting place of Louis Riel.  This Cathedrale has been here since 1818 and the one standing today is the 5th on this site.

And the Winnipeg Art Gallery has a staggering selection of nearly 400 works produced by artists from Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland sabaygabgut, “Art by Inuit” exhibit, highlighting works from Inuit communities across the Canadian arctic.

https://www.wag.ca/exhibitions/inuit-sanaugangit/

Day 25 - 

Today. we went to the zoo - definitely not my thing but we were encouraged to go and see what positive things are happening with research on the polar bears.  I have to admit having them swim overhead a clear tunnel is pretty amazing but that’s about as far as we got without getting upset about the whole thing of live creatures being confined. 

So instead we went to see “a bear of very little brain”, a very special bear -  Winnie the Pooh!  In 1914, during the First World War, Canadian Lieutenant Larry Colbourn bought the black bear and named him Winnie, after his home town of Winnipeg.  Lieutenant Colebourne left the bear in the care of the London Zoo, where he was visited by A.A. Milne and his son Christopher.  And the rest, as they say, is history!  This statue is in the children’s area of Assiniboine Park. Later we will go through White River, ON where Colbourn purchased the little black bear from a trapper.

 Day 26 -

Winnipeg is a really cool place to visit - lots to see and do.  The Forks reminded us of Granville Island, we visited the Via Rail Station, where for $676. we could have hopped on a train to Mission.  There’s Portage and Main, the Nutty Club Candies and Nuts, still pumping out goodies like they have been for decades - and makes the whole downtown smell like Cracker Jacks!

But the highlight was Roger and the War Memorial statue in front of the Bank of Montreal at Portage and Main.  That soldier is Canadian war hero Wynn Bagnall, the brother of Roger’s grandmother!!  Pretty proud guy, that’s for sure.

And we will take this moment to honour all the men and women who have served in our military and support staff in Canada and throughout the World fighting to defend democracy.  

Thank you 🙏🏼

Day 27 - Laundry, shopping, charging and getting ready to leave Manitoba and head into Ontario!

Manitoba has been pretty amazing: 

 - Brandon fairgrounds and the non-mosque

 - Indian Head with no Little Mosque

 - charging anxiety at Whitewood

 - drive through Pembina Hills

 - Sara the camel

 - windmill in Holland

 - penguins in Portage la Prairie

 - National Indigenous Residential School Museum

 - staying in a restored 1898 church

 - 1st encounter with EV charging hog

 - 4 independent bookstores 

 - 76’ tall painting of van Gogh’s Sunflowers

 - crazy dinosaur bones

 - glass houses

 - Spirit Sands

 - forts

 - tractors

 - Human Rights Museum

 - statue of family

 - polar bears

 - story bear

 - Sunset at the lake

 - peanuts and popcorn and Cracker Jacks

 - Canadian Mint

 - McDonalds fries processing plant

 and having an ice cream with Friends !

So long for now ….

Exploring more of Manitoba

 

Day 20 + 

So this guy, Cameron Cross, had this vision of erecting 7 giant paintings around the world, and here in Altona, Manitoba stands one of them - a giant steel easel displaying Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’, all 76’6” of it in celebrating Altona’s reputation as the Sunflower Capital of Canada. 

In the same park is this: 

Blessed are the Peace makers, the Conscientious Objectors.  Thank you 🙏🏼

While in the area we visited the Gallery in the Park, a beautiful and tranquil outdoor gallery, a nice relief from the 32* weather we’ve had for the past week or so!  This one is my favourite - 

It’s called “The Splash”

Further down the road now to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden to meet “Bruce”, an Allosaurus - a type of carnivorous dinosaur that lived in North America during the late Jurassic Period, 155-150 million years ago.  He was found in the in the Morden-Miami area.  This was a ‘must see’ from Russ in Glenboro!  And worth it - we had to remind ourselves that these were Real Live Bones, not replicas!  Well, kinda ‘real live’.  These reptiles were huge - I can’t imagine more than 4 or 5 living in the entire area of Mission, Dewdney and Deroche combined!

Did I mention that Roger’s middle name is Bruce? 

We came upon our 1st EV Charger hog - plugged into the only charger in town for about 4 hours before we finally gave up and went to bed, with visions of ‘nasty notes’ dancing in my head!

Day 21 -

It’s still 32*, has been for at least a week.  

Treherne Glass Bottle Church and House, wishing well and outhouse built from over 5,000 bottles!  Who has that kind of time?  Who has that many bottles!!  

Treherne is an urban community halfway between Winnipeg and Brandan on Provincial Hwy 2.  aka a place where the EV charger isn’t working!

If you are ever out this way - Spirit Sands in Spruce Woods Provincial Park, an area created by glacial melt waters, is a must.  It is not technically a desert because of its precipitation but it is one of a very few areas of sand dunes in Canada.  In it is Devils Punch Bowl, a 30 metres deep depression that disappears into an ever moving eerie phenomenon pool of blue-green water with underground streams that have eroded and collapsed the hills beside the Assiniboine River, and the water never freezes. 

Spirit Sands Outfitters:  Larry Robinson, his 11 year old grandson, and new puppy were our guides leading us through on a horse drawn wagon, the best way to see the place.  Larry has lived around here his whole life ranching and also drives rigg in the tar stands in the winter months. This man talked about all sorts of things, and his stories affirm that he has been blessed by the Creator with the spirit of the land and everything upon it.  I could listen to Larry for days. 

I’m trying to download a video but it doesn’t seem to be working this morning, so here’s a picture, without Larry’s voice :( 

Portage la Prairie

Checked into Days Inn - not nice!  

Day 22 - 

Portage la Prairie is on the Assiniboine River diversion that diverts water from the Assiniboine northward into Lake Manitoba.  Quite beautiful actually with white swans and pelicans!!!  There’s a beautiful park like walkway all along it over to Island Park.

We visited Fort La Reine Museum, and outstanding collection of historic homes, businesses, churches, war artifacts (lots of old uniforms), stuff like that plus the Allis-Chalmers building.  Wish I knew more about the Chalmers family, I know zip about them!

We’re getting a little anxious about finding places to stay, things are beginning to fill up.  So we took the evening off and drove to Delta Marsh, check it out at:  http://www.dmbo.org/ 

and then to Delta Beach on Lake Manitoba and relaxed for a while, waded in the water and watched the beginning of the sunset.

 

Spoiler Alert - out of sequence

We came to Fort Frances to visit International Falls.  

Well, we accidentally ended up at the border crossing into Minnesota, and when we told the American border guard that we were crossing because we were told about International Falls, she said 

“Who told you that?” 

- seems the falls have fallen victim to a dam and the only evidence is a town called International Falls!

We left from Fort Frances, Ontario and ended up in the U.S. of A. !

Nice over there, never been to Minnesota before

MeAnd’Er-ing into Manitoba

 

Anyone who has motored across the prairies of Canada knows the sense of surprise when coming upon a wooded grove or dip in the land.

- Ivan Eyre

Day 14 - 16 

Trip planning for us is fun - map laid out on the table, places circled that we would like to see (thanks everyone for your suggestions, almost got ‘em all so far), Roger on the EV app, and away we go!  It helps having a local like Sylvia there, “you gotta go there” or “why would you want to go there?” is really helpful, trust me.  

We were going to do some backtracking and head to Val Maria and stay in “The Convent” built in 1939, some say was a church, some say was a residential school.  BUT - we didn’t make it!  Mark phoned the day before departure to say they were digging up the pipes trying to find a problem with the sewer line.  Urch - take out the eraser and re-map our route.

We had 3 nature encounters today - deer eating Sylvia’s rose bush in her front yard, a flock of pelicans fly over Buena Vista today on their way to Pelican Point on Last Mountain Lake, and ticks!!  We had a whole bunch of them,(ticks that is) nasty little things Roger about 6 and about 4 for me.  Yuk!!  Left them all behind in the freezer at Sylvia’s.  Lots of people fishing off the pier at Regina Beach, and Roger held quite an audience at the Community Trash and Treasure fundraiser sale talking about electric cars, charging, range, and cold weather.  A guy on the dock caught an 8lb walleye - dinner’s at 5! 

A visit to Buena Vista wouldn’t be complete without fish and chips from the Blue Bird Cafe, it’s been around for 90 years!!  And it’s like Sue’s Copy Place - hang around there long enough and you run into pretty much everyone you haven’t seen in ages :) 

We visited an amazing couple who are raising 7 foster children!  Sadly, same as back home, a lot of children are “aging out” of care, so Devonie and Loris are working on changing their level of care status to community care home so they can keep some of the young adults with them.  Biggest hearts ever.  

Took in a Tom Hanks movie, A Man Called Otto at the Memorial Hall - $2.00 each including popcorn provided by Sylvia!  Some brought their own snacks, some brought wine, and we brought Roger - the only guy!  They do this every month - I love it!  I think we’ll try this at The Mews.

Little side note: Sylvia has some lawn damage called Snow Mold - who has snow that sticks around long enough to get moldy! 

Day 17 - 

Regina  - in all its glory!  We toured the Legislature, drove around some of the old parts of town - lots of murals and had lunch at the Mercury Cafe and Grill on 13th - an old diner out of a time machine.  The Indian Taco had at least a pound of meat on it!  Yesterday we had lunch at Houston Pizza, family owned and been around since 1970.  They keep everything!  

I had no idea that people have been coming to Canada from places like Serbia, Ukraine and Russia for so many years - some of these buildings like the Serbian Centre and the Ukrainian Co-Op Association were probably here before BC was discovered!!  This place is old!

The rotunda of the Legislature was interesting - it has space for 4 busts of famous people and only 3 are filled and the 4th is open to someone notable , maybe the 1st Aboriginal Premier?  Who knows.  

The RCMP are celebrating 150 years and we happened on the day of celebration!  It’s a fantastic exhibit, a definite must see.  Sylvia tells us there is a move underfoot to move the training Depot to Ottawa!  “Not going to happen” says she.  Been here since 1885 - It belongs in Regina, always has been, always will be.  I am embarrassed to admit that I missed the Place of Reflection, I will add that to our Return Home journey,

That’s a wrap for Saskatchewan!  

  17 days on the road and 3403 km

Day 18 - 

The drive from Buena Vista to Brandon was fun and eventful.  We stopped in at Indian Head, home of the Little House on the Prairie, hello all my CBC friends.  Only no-one we talked to knew where the mosque is, although someone at the information booth did say that it might have been vandalized.  Better info than we got from people who didn’t even know what we were talking about.  They should read their sign!

Here’s the eventful part - 

We pulled out of Indian Head with 63km in “the tank”, and the app is telling us 84km to the next charging station!!  What?  How did that happen?  We can’t be 21km short!!

We think the app gets updated periodically vs live, so it wasn’t accurate - just panic inducing!

Wait - it gets better.  We rolled into Whitewood Co-op station with 15% charge left, and the charging station isn’t working!  Whitewood is 175km east of Regina and 403km west of Winnipeg (there’s a few stations in between, but at this point we weren’t exactly calm!).  The station would only charge for 1 to 4 minutes at a time, then had to unplug, restart the station, and then 2 mins later do it and again and again and again. It took longer to unplug and restart the station, plug in the car again than the charge lasted, so the tent Jody lent us was beginning to look pretty good.  We phoned customer support, they confirmed that the station wasn’t working, very helpful, but told us there was a Petro-Can charger nearby, like one block over!  Almost 2x the price but worth 10x as far as we were concerned.  

Manitoba - 

Clocks clicked another hour ahead so now we are 2 hours ahead of home and I don’t like it.  I’m sure none of my 5am people really want to hear from me at 3am!  

The Welcome to Manitoba sign is horrible, I’ll write to someone when we get there!

We are staying in a hotel in Brandon attached to the hughest parking lot I have ever seen! and there is some sort of domed temple that people are pouring into, and what appears to be an area that could be an arena..  Time to check things out! 

 - the arena is home to the Brandon Wheat Kings, although there is a polo match in there this weekend?  

 - the domed temple? - the only surviving building from the Dominion Exhibition (1879-1914) and was the Agriculture building.  Tonight it is a church. 

 - the parking lot? - the Fair Grounds of course!

Day 19 & 20 - 

4000km into our journey 👍 

Our drive through the Pembina Hills in the Central Plains Region to our destination in Carman was out of this world, certainly not what we expected Manitoba to look like.  Rolling hills, lots of trees on a meandering road through a lot of French communities like Norte Dame De Lourdes, some settled in the 1890’s by people of French and Swiss origin.  Can’t wait to see this on our way home when the fields are in bloom.

We stopped at Glenboro along the way for 2 reasons - it has a charging station, and it has Sara.  I promised pictures posing with landmarks, and here she is!

Why, you may ask, is there a camel in southern Manitoba?  Good question.  Sara is there to do exactly what she did - make us stop and take a picture!  A local businessman and the Chamber of Commerce embraced the idea of an emblematic figure to draw attention to their community, and to Spirit Sands, so they brought in Sara - all 17’ tall and 2000 pounds of her!  

Appealing to most, but Roger preferred this roadside attraction - Deutz tractors… 

Glenboro - It’s lovely here and the townsfolk are really friendly.  We met Russ who was hanging out at the new thrift store.  He is a jack of all trades, and at 86 is looking to getting a bigger place to hold all his stuff!  Downsizing doesn’t seem to be in the cards for Russ.  The lady down the street when we asked for directions to somewhere to eat said ‘hop in the car and I’ll take you there’, the lady at the post office told us that when we go to Quebec to immediately identify as an English speaking tourist and we’ll do just fine, and Bob told us to ignore the plaque in the park  that says ‘Here stands the town’s wooden water tower which marks where the train stopped to fill the steam engine’ because the water tower fell down over 20 years ago.!

Carman - 

Carman is in the Pembina Valley Region of Southern Manitoba on the Boyle River.  At one point the community moved the river around a bit to make a pool for a swimming competition that attracted about 2000 people!!  For a town of just over 3,000 that’s pretty impressive!  

Our b & b. the Bell Aura is a historical old church built in 1898.  Each room has a literary theme, We were in Britannia room (Agatha Christie Poirot story), there’s Zhivago, Limberlost (Gene Stratton-Porter) and Gable (W.O. Mitchell) to name a few.  Our host, Barbara, is an amazing cook, and we sure needed that!  Downtown Carman we met a group of Communities in Bloom ladies painting a mural in an alley.  This is a really old town (with a free level 2 charger!) along the settler route of the Missouri Trail in 1870, traditional lands of waters of Anishinaabe, Ininiwak, Anshiniwak, Dakota and Dene Peoples and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.  Tomorrow we’re heading out to explore, so we’ll leave you here.