September 12, 2005

September 12, 2005

Asessippi Provincial Park, Manitoba to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

YEAR 2 DAY 87

 

Today was cloudy and cool. We drove west into a cold front moving east from Alberta.

This morning as we pulled out of the campground, we stopped to make some phone calls from the campground pay phone. I played telephone tag with my investment broker in Ottawa. I paid the cell phone bill. I phoned the Manitoba Health Links service, which allows callers to consult with a registered nurse on health problems. I was calling, before we left Manitoba, to find out if I should seek medical attention for a sore lump on my forearm, just above the IV entry site from when I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. When I had an IV in my arm, the vein the IV was in was red, swollen, and tender for a couple of inches from the IV up the arm. I still have a sore, red lump a couple of inches up the arm from the IV entry. The nurse said I should have it looked at. I guess that wasn't what I wanted her to tell me. We were near the hospital in Russell, Manitoba this morning, and I was considering stopping there to have a doctor check it out. I was too impatient to sit around another emergency ward for a couple of hours, so I ignored the nurse's advice. I guess there's not much point in seeking medical advice, if one is going to ignore it ! Mea culpa !

We left Asessippi Provincial Park, heading east on Hwy. 482 back to Hwy. 83, south on Hwy. 83 to Russell, then west on Yellowhead Hwy. 16 towards Saskatchewan. When we crossed into Saskatchewan, the time changed, because Saskatchewan does not observe daylight saving time. At Yorkton, we stopped for groceries, diesel, and lunch. As I pulled into a large mall in Yorkton, Joanne screamed at me to stop, as I drove the truck under a 10 foot high clearance gate into the mall parking lot. I have no idea why a suburban mall with outdoor parking has a 10 foot high clearance gate entering their parking lot. The trailer is 12 feet 3 inches tall. I slammed on the brakes just before the gate smashed the front of the trailer. Very, very close call. I was scanning forward, trying to determine the best way to go once in the parking lot. I'm sure glad Joanne was looking higher. I backed up, drove on the lawn, around the gate, and into the parking lot. I dropped Joanne off at the grocery store, then drove around the back of the mall, found an entrance / exit from the parking lot with no gate, and drove across the street to fill up with diesel. As I was leaving the gas station, my investment broker phoned. I pulled back into the mall parking lot, and we discussed the research he had done at my request on Manitoba's Portfolio Allocation Notes investment product. While I was discussing this with Roger, Joanne returned with groceries, and prepared lunch.

After lunch we continued west on Yellowhead Hwy. 16. As we passed through the small town of Theodore, I noticed a Ukrainian ceramics store. HUH ? I pulled a u-turn and we went back to browse. Sure enough. A ceramics shop with all products decorated with Ukrainian embroidery motif. Okay ! After a couple more hours of driving, I got tired, so Joanne drove for an hour. She is confident enough now to drive the rig on 2 lane undivided highways while I snooze in the passenger seat. I resumed driving, and we made it all the way to Saskatoon. We stopped for the night at Saskatoon 16 West RV Park, a big rig friendly private RV park on the outskirts of Saskatoon ... with free Wi-Fi ! Woo-Hoo ! While registering, I ordered 2 of the home made cinnamon buns this park has available at 8:00 A.M. each morning. Tomorrow morning when I go to get our fresh cinnamon buns, I will probably buy some of their other home made offerings. Saskatoon berry pie, perogies, cabbage rolls, borscht, Saskatoon berry jam. While I got the trailer set up, hooking up power and water, etc., Joanne prepared supper. After supper, I took Bo out for a tennis ball play session. Joanne went to wash some laundry and take a shower, while I did today's accounting, prepared some e-mail, and did today's journal entry. Now I’m about to sign on to Wi-Fi, send and retrieve e-mail, update my blog, and do some investment research.

DSK