Year 3 Week 8

August 6 to 12, 2006

Steinbach, Manitoba

Year 3 week 8

 

Sunday ; Steinbach to Gimli and return

Today was sunny and warm. We went to Gimli to attend the Icelandic Festival a.k.a. Islendingadagurrin. Overall, it was a disappointment.

We left Steinbach headed north on Hwy. 12 to Hwy. 44, stopping at Anola to refill with diesel. At the junction of Hwy. 12 and Hwy. 44 we bought some fresh sweet corn from a farm truck parked on the side of the road selling corn. We took Hwy. 44 west over the Red River to Lockport, then turned north on Hwy. 9, passing through Winnipeg Beach to Gimli on the west side of Lake Winnipeg. It was about 2 hours of driving.

We walked around downtown Gimli and out onto the long wharf. There were a few vendor booths and stalls in the downtown area, but nothing worthwhile, certainly nothing Icelandic. Henna tattoo artists, burgers, ice cream, etc.. We found our way to the Icelandic village re-creation, and watched a demonstration of Icelandic warrior battles. We walked through the re-created village setting. We walked through downtown again, looking for Icelandic food, or desserts, or ... ? ! There were none. I bought some Lake Winnipeg Smoked Goldeye, a local delicacy. We left. Just south of town we stopped at Sauger Steve's Fish & Chips ( sauger are a fish extremely similar to pickerel ), a small restaurant specializing in Lake Winnipeg Pickerel. We were going to have an early pickerel dinner. We opted for the daily special, pickerel deep fried in a beer batter, instead of the more traditional pan fried pickerel. It was a disappointing meal. And not because of a bad choice. We've had deep fried battered pickerel in Port Stanley on Lake Ontario, and it was very good.

We drove back to Steinbach, tired and disappointed. The grain crops look very good this year.

 

Monday ; Bo woke me up in the middle of the night, needing to be taken outside for a bathroom walk. WOW ... what an amazing display of Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis at 4:00 A.M. !

Today was a lovely, sunny, warm day. We got a late start to the day. We put out the awning for the first time since December in Yuma, Arizona. I spent most of the afternoon working on the fibreglass repair. Today I re-installed the bottom panel. It didn't go great ! Early in the evening we went into Steinbach to find a laundromat and the "wave pool". We found a laundromat, and an aquatic centre. We don't know if the aquatic centre is the wave pool. Guess we'll have to phone. Took a look at the inventory at the local Dodge dealer. Three one ton diesel duallies. One was a Mega Cab with short box. Useless to us. The other two were $55,000 and $57,000, and neither one was as well equipped as Lanoire. Affirms my satisfaction with Lanoire.

While barbecuing sweet corn for supper I phoned Sharon to find out how her camping trip to Rushing River was, and to make a date to attend some Folklorama pavilions later this week.

 

Tuesday ; Today was sunny and hot. We kept the windows closed and used the air conditioner today. Around suppertime the circuit breaker for our campsite kept blowing. It tolerated our power consumption all day, until early evening, then decided we were overloading the circuit. I reset the breaker 3 or 4 times, then finally just turned off the air conditioner. If the problem persists another day, I'll have to request that the circuit breaker for our campsite be replaced.

This morning we gave the trailer a quick rinse to get off the road grime that resulted from driving here last Friday in the rain. Then we washed the awning, and retracted it to the travel / storage position as soon as it was dry because it was quite windy early in the afternoon. I spent the rest of the day working on the lower side panel repair. I repeatedly mixed up small batches of 2 part body putty and hardener, applied it to the lower panel, and sanded and sanded and sanded ... ! It looks pretty good. I also discovered yesterday that there was damage where a metal brace attaches between the 2 wheels. I applied the first coat of fibreglass cloth and resin on the inside of the damaged section today. Tomorrow I'll fix the outside, then I'll be able to drill and re-attach the brace. I drove into Steinbach to buy some supplies at Canadian Tire. I phoned Teddy's vet in Steinbach and made an appointment for an annual examination on Friday.

We need to establish a relationship with a local family physician. I phoned the two doctors' clinics in Steinbach looking for a new family doctor for Joanne and me. Both clinics in Steinbach are not accepting new patients. I phoned the medical clinic in Lorette. They have a 2 month waiting list for new patients. Fine ... we're on the waiting list.

 

Wednesday ; Steinbach to Lorette to Winnipeg and return

Today was sunny and hot. Joanne went into Steinbach to shop while I continued working on the fibreglass repair. I applied a layer of fibreglass cloth and resin to the outside / underside of the section where the brace attaches. Then I sanded and sanded and sanded the lower skirt. The sanding is about 95 % finished. Hopefully I can finish the sanding and reinstall the brace tomorrow.

Around 3:30 P.M. we left for Lorette. At the Danelak's I got online, sent and retrieved e-mail, and retrieved updated investment data. Sharon and Bud joined us as we headed for an evening of Folklorama in Winnipeg. First pavilion we went to was the First Nations Pavilion. We had a light supper of Buffalo Stew with Fried Raisin Bannock. After eating we went outside to see their exhibition of Powwow dancing. It was very enjoyable. We walked around their arts and crafts exhibit area before leaving for the Chinese Pavilion. At the Chinese Pavilion we watched a show of ethnic music, singing, and dancing. The Lion Dance was quite interesting. We went into their food court for our second ethnic meal of the evening. I am actually typing this on Thursday, the following day, and what Joanne told me last night was sweet and sour chicken was actually sweet and sour pork. Mr. Colon is not happy today !

After the Chinese Pavilion we drove back to Lorette, and visited with Sharon and Bud briefly over chocolate chip cookies and iced tea.

 

Thursday ; Today was mostly sunny and very warm.

This morning I reinstalled the metal brace from the trailer frame between the tires to the lower side skirt panel. I finished sanding the lengthy repaired area along the lower side panel, then decided to do just a bit more patching with putty. That means I'll have a bit more sanding to do tomorrow.

We spent a long afternoon at the Steinbach Aquatic Centre with all the Carlson's. The Steinbach Aquatic Centre has a large outdoor pool, a large indoor pool, and an aquatic activity area comprising a shallow "beach entry" pool with fountains, a "river current", a tall, long water slide, bubble pool areas, all in a free form design. Quite nice. The little nieces really enjoyed it. I liked the water slide. Everybody seemed to be amused at what a large splash Uncle Dan makes when he reaches the end of the water slide. Hey ... I'm big and I'm fast !

After the afternoon at the Aquatic Centre, we stopped at the Farmer's Market at Clearspring Mall and bought some freshproduce. The Carlson's needed to quickly pick something up at a department store inside the mall, so in we went. An hour later ... ! ! ! ! !

They came to our campground for a barbecue and an evening of visiting.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot.

We drove into Steinbach, I dropped Joanne off at the laundromat, and took Teddy to South-East Veterinary Clinic for his annual examination and innoculations. He's in pretty good health for a 14 year old cat. Back at the trailer, I finished sanding the repaired area of the lower side skirt panel, and did a minor repair to the wiring behind the panel. It's ready to be primed and painted !

I spent the evening updating my investment files. Teddy was a bit ill, as he always is after innoculations. Poor Teddy Baby Cat !

 

Saturday ; Today was cloudy, with intermittent heavy rain.

I had a sore throat today. It seems as if I have caught a cold from Madeleine. I cleaned the repaired side of the trailer with paint thinner in preparation for priming and painting. We went into Steinbach and both got haircuts. I think today's haircut ( and beard trim ) is the best I've had in over 2 years on the road. Unfortunately, the same was not true for Joanne. Getting a haircut from a different stylist, in a different place each time is a bit of a crap shoot. We went to Safeway and bought some groceries.

I spent most of the afternoon reading the newspaper, hoping and waiting for the rain to stop so that I could go outside and work on the trailer repair. The rain didn't stop !

After supper we watched a movie on VCR ; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. HUH ? ! ?

DSK