Saturday ; Winnipeg to Lorette ... twice
Sunny and chilly.
This morning before leaving Joanne's sister's home, where we spent the night, we walked the three dogs ; Bo and his two "cousins", Macie the Bichon Frise and Sophie the Miniature Poodle / Dachshund. All three are "seniors". They were a good "pack" while Bo was their houseguest for the last two weeks or so. We took them for their final pack walk alongside the Red River on the Churchill Drive parkway.
Thank you for caring for our Bo for the last couple of weeks, Lorraine, Madeleine, and Amelia.
After leaving Lorraine's we went to Gimli Fish and bought quite a bit of fresh Manitoba Pickerel ... and one smoked Goldeye. We refilled with diesel at the Superstore Fuel Bar, then had lunch in the parking lot before going into Superstore to buy groceries, the completion of our "must buy before leaving Canada" shopping list, including such items as Maple Syrup and Christmas fruit cake.
We drove a bit east of Winnipeg to my sister's home near the village of Lorette. We visited with my sister and brother-in-law for part of the afternoon, and we did some chores. Joanne repackaged all the Pickerel into meal sized bags and froze them. Our freezer now contains only B.C. Salmon and Manitoba Pickerel, as fish is allowed across the border.
We treated Sharon and Bud to dinner at Swiss Chalet in Winnipeg. The restaurant was on the northwest side of the city, so it was a long drive there and back ... in their car driven by Bud. Being Saturday evening, the restaurant was very busy and service was slow. By the time we were served dinner it was way past Sharon's and Bud's usual dinner time. By the time we returned to their home, and had tea and dessert, it was way past their usual bed time. We appreciate that they were patient and gracious.
Thank you very much for all you've done, and all you've fed us, in the last few weeks, Sharon and Bud.
Sunday ; Lorette / Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.A.
GEEEEEZZZ ... Fargo ! ! !
Sunny all day, cool in the morning in Lorette, mild and very windy by the time we reached Fargo late in the afternoon.
I had a chance to chat with Sharon and Bud for awhile this morning before they had to leave their home at 10 AM. Joanne and I had their home and bathroom to ourselves until we were ready to depart about 11:15 AM. I took Bo for a long walk through their "back forty" just before we departed. He loves exploring their large property. Before Sharon and Bud departed for the wedding shower that Sharon was hosting, she gave us two plates full of wedding shower "dainties". MMMMM ! Thank you. Sharon ! She certainly does feed us ( and everyone else ) well !
We headed east on Trans-Canada Highway 1 just a short distance back to Winnipeg, then around the south side of the city on Perimeter Highway 100, then south on Pembina Hwy. 75 to the border crossing from Emerson, Manitoba to Pembina, North Dakota. We stopped on the Canadian side at the Visitor Information Centre and had lunch in the parking lot. MMMMM ... that smoked Goldeye from Gimli Fish certainly was good ! Bo agreed ! It’s been a lot of years since I’ve had smoked Goldeye.
Today's border crossing was the fastest / most painless crossing ever ! The female Customs & Border Patrol agent asked us about half a dozen simple and sensible questions, then sent us on our way. Didn't even get an Agriculture Inspection, which
I thought was mandatory for RV's crossing the border. Total time for the border crossing process was probably less than a minute.
We continued southbound in North Dakota on Interstate 29. When we reached Grand Forks we decided that there was enough daylight left for us to continue on to Fargo before stopping for the night. At Fargo we found Wal-Mart, got parked then went inside to do some shopping, mostly to buy some fresh groceries and a cell phone. This is the fourth year in a row that I have been unable to reactivate our U.S. cell phone, and have had to buy another one. I'm extremely dissatisfied and annoyed that every year I end up discarding a perfectly good cell phone that we have used for only six months the previous winter season. And now that I'm thinking about it, for each and every one of the previous eleven years, I have experienced cell phone drama when we return to the United States in the fall.
As I type this ( at 7:20 PM ) while waiting for supper to be ready, behind us in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart is a ... meeting of some sort. Six, old, diesel pick-up trucks, drivers wearing filthy baseball caps, some wearing camouflage clothing, some sporting long, bushy "Duck Dynasty" beards, a couple of the trucks flying Confederate flags. Wonder if they're from the Fargo Chamber of Commerce ? HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Monday ; Fargo, North Dakota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Sunny and warm. Much warmer than expected ! Temperatures already up in the 70's !
This morning we left the Wal-Mart in Fargo and drove a short distance to the Farm & Fleet Fuel Bar where we refilled with diesel and adjusted the air in all the truck tires. Then we went over to Love's where we refilled the camper's freshwater tank.
We continued southbound on Interstate 29. All day ! Flat and straight ! Endless corn fields ! Oh, boy ... I can hardly wait to see what Iowa has in store. HA HA HA !
When we crossed from North Dakota into South Dakota we stopped at the Visitor Information Centre / Rest Area to have lunch. We stopped again in Brookings to buy some groceries at Wal-Mart. Terrible service at the deli counter. Two out of the three employees behind the deli counter should be fired. The third one needs an attitude adjustment ! We stopped for the night at the Flying J in Sioux Falls.
While Joanne prepared supper I walked across the street to use free Wi-Fi at Burger King. I completed the activation of our new cell phone.
Tuesday ; Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Council Bluffs, Iowa ( across Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska )
Sunny and very warm, temperature in the low 80's F. / high 20's C.
We didn't travel as many miles as usual today, mostly because I had to do some repairs on the camper. We left the Flying J this morning without buying diesel or refilling our freshwater tank. Their freshwater was already turned off for the winter ( despite the temperature today being in the 80's ! ) and their fuel price was not competitive. The Flying J chain has deteriorated a lot since Pilot bought them about five years or so ago. And ... the same holds true for Camping World, which has also deteriorated immensely since being bought by Good Sam five years or so ago as well !
We continued southbound on Interstate 29. Before reaching Iowa we stopped at Coffee Cup Travel Plaza to refill with diesel and freshwater, then drove across the highway to a rest area to have lunch and a brief nap. Continuing south on Interstate 29 we crossed from South Dakota into Iowa, following the along the east side of the Missouri River. Across the river is Nebraska. When we reached Council Bluffs, Iowa ( across the Missouri River from Omaha, Nebraska ) we found our way to Camping World. This morning we discovered a plumbing leak underneath the bathroom sink and I needed some repair supplies. AND ... when we stopped at a rest area this afternoon to dump our black waste holding tank the sewer hose bayonet mount broke, so I needed a replacement for that as well.
We bought the repair parts, I replaced the sewer hose bayonet mount, then I removed the bathroom sink faucets and installed a new set. The bathroom sink faucet set that
I bought and installed only nine months ago seems to have not survived the Northern Manitoba experience ! After I finished the repairs Joanne made supper. She was feeling quite ill today with a cold. My cold seems to be progressing quicker than hers, so it seems that I'm over the worst already.
Wednesday ; Council Bluffs, Iowa to Nevada, Missouri
It rained heavily overnight. Sunny and very warm again today. Weather much warmer than expected since we left Canada.
This morning we left the Camping World parking lot and resumed driving southbound on Interstate 29. About ten miles before reaching Missouri we took an exit where we could see there were a few different Travel Plazas ( large "truck stop" service stations with many services and amenities ). At the first one we pulled into we found a sani-dump station so we dumped our waste holding tanks and refilled our freshwater.
After crossing into Missouri we stopped in St. Joseph where we had lunch in the parking lot of the Visitor Information Centre then refilled with diesel at FastGas. We found a mall with a Dollar Tree and a Wal-Mart, and while Joanne went shopping at both I napped briefly with Bo.
Q ; How can one tell one is in Missouri ?
A : Dead armadillos on the side of the road ! HA HA HA !
We continued southbound on Interstate 29, entering Kansas City, Missouri ( as opposed to Kansas City, Kansas on the other side of the Missouri River ) at rush hour.
It took about an hour to drive across Kansas City. The traffic flowed well through the city on the Interstate. We've experienced cities that were much more difficult to drive across than this was. Coming out the south side of Kansas City we got onto Interstate 49 still heading south.
We stopped for the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Nevada ( pronounced "NeVAYda" ), Missouri. Across the street there was a noisy, scary looking industrial plant of some sort. Perhaps a power generating station ? Nuclear ? NAAAH ... it's Missouri. Probably coal ! HA HA HA !
Thursday ; Nevada to Turkey Creek SKP RV Village, Branson, Missouri
Sunny, very warm again, humid. Turns out that the noisy, scary looking industrial plant across the street was a 3M factory.
This morning we pulled out of the Wal-Mart parking lot and across the street to Murphy’s USA Fuel Bar ( owned by Wal-Mart, I think ) where we refilled with diesel and refilled our freshwater tank. We continued southbound on Interstate 49. At Joplin we turned eastbound onto Interstate 44. We stopped for lunch at a truck rest area ( no services, just tractor/trailer parking spots ) then at Springfield turned south again on Hwy. 60. Isn’t Springfield, Missouri the home of “The Simpsons” ?
As we passed a very large RV parts dealer I decided to stop and buy some RV repair parts I want and/or need. They had most, but not all, of what I was looking for. As I was putting a spare part into the storage area underneath our dinette table ... the dinette table leg mounting base broke. How convenient ! I went back inside the store and bought a replacement, then installed it while in their parking lot.
Late in the afternoon we arrived in Branson, then found our way to the SKP park in the nearby suburb of Hollister. We checked in, parked in their unserviced “boondock” area, then I went to take a nap. Joanne was extremely ill today, for the third day in a row. She spent the rest of the afternoon and evening resting and recuperating. I hope she begins to feel better soon.
After I napped we took Bo for a play session in the fenced dog park, then I went to the clubhouse to get some work done on Wi-Fi. I returned to the camper for tonight’s supper of leftovers. Joanne had been perusing the Branson entertainment information she had picked up in the clubhouse. Gee Whiz ... hundreds of entertainment venues and shows in Branson, and not a single one appeals to us. We may be leaving here sooner than initially planned.
Friday ; Turkey Creek SKP RV Village
Mostly sunny, very warm, humid. Wearing shorts and sandals, no shirt for most of the day ! Very nice fall colours here in the Ozark Mountains.
Well ! ! ! Our plan was to leave here tomorrow morning and continue heading south towards Louisiana and Texas. But late this afternoon I learned about Hurricane Patricia. And if we leave here tomorrow as planned, we'll arrive in southwest Louisiana about the same time as Hurricane Patricia ! ! ! Perhaps we'll just stay here for another couple of days ?
Most of today was spent on chores. Joanne did laundry. I gave Joanne a haircut ... at her request. And did a darn good job ! I did repairs. Including modifying the water pump plumbing now that I had the required parts. And that included reinstalling the in-line water filter. I discovered a section of plumbing that seemed rather swollen. I think it froze while we were up north at Churchill and the camper was sitting unattended in below freezing temperatures at Thompson. The flexible plumbing hose didn't burst, but it certainly did swell. I'll replace it as soon as I acquire some half inch reinforced RV plumbing hose. I also did some work online in the clubhouse, paying this month's MasterCard bills, both Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar.
This RV park has a population of younger RV'ers, with children. And Bo seems to be a child magnet. He seems to have quickly developed a fan club of young children who are not shy about coming over and asking if they can take Bo to the fenced dog park. This afternoon he stole a young boy's ham sandwich right out of the boy's hand. Bad dog, Bo. Although ... < whispering and snickering > ... it was rather funny. And I had previously warned Nick that if he kept waving that sandwich around as he talked that Bo might lunge for it. And ... he eventually did ! Nick said ... "oh, well, I guess I was just about finished eating that". HA HA HA !
We have sort of made friends with a young family here. We met in the dog park yesterday. Father, pregnant mother, four very young children, and Chloe the Standard Poodle whose first birthday is tomorrow. The family looks like, dresses like, and behaves like ... the Duggar family on TLC's "Nineteen Kids & Counting". Even names their children like the Duggar's. Each child's name starts with the same letter as the first letter of the father's first name. I don't know if that's some specific religious thing ... or an Arkansas thing ... or ? ? ? They spend about half their time travelling, although not very far from their home in nearby Arkansas. The father "preaches" in churches as they travel. The pregnant mother says he "evangelizes". I don't really know what that means ! They know ... pretty close to nothing about Canada and Canadians. They seem astounded that we have travelled in Mexico. < shrug >
Joanne slept better last night than the previous few nights. And she slept late this morning. And took it easy today. So ... she's finally feeling just a bit better. Another couple of restful days spent here doing not much of anything probably wouldn't hurt.
I'm currently ( at 8:30 PM ) sitting in the clubhouse, working on my computer, plugged into electricity to recharge the battery, because we are in the unserviced "dry camp" area. The weekly "jam session" is taking place in the clubhouse. Seven very old men, one drummer, six guitarists, playing and singing "country" music. Their accents make them unintelligible to me. Some are wearing cowboy hats. Some are wearing bib front denim overalls. I ... should stop typing before I type something that I'm going to regret. HA HA HA ! YEE-HAW !
Saturday ; Branson, Missouri
Mostly cloudy, cool.
After a slow, late start to the day we went shopping and exploring. First stop was the nearby Lowe's where I bought some reinforced hose and fittings. Tomorrow I will change the camper water pump's swollen outlet hose. I'm desperately hoping that will finally be the end of the month long water pump drama. After Lowe's we crossed the street to Country Mart, the local supermarket to refill our five gallon water jug and buy some groceries. We had lunch in the grocery store's parking lot and I napped briefly before we set off for an afternoon of exploring Branson.
We found our way to the new, very large shopping mall area known as Branson's Landing. As we were walking from our parking spot over to the stores a restored trolley bus stopped right in front of us. It drove a forty minute route around "Historic Downtown Branson", so ... we hopped aboard. After the trolley bus tour of Historic Downtown Branson ... not all that impressive ... we went browsing at Bass Pro Shop, a huge outdoors / sporting goods store, similar to Cabela's. We wandered around for awhile and I selected a fishing fly to buy. While waiting in line to pay for it, I became impatient with the bad service, tossed the fly onto an empty checkout counter, and we left. We browsed and wandered from one end of Branson's Landing shopping area to the opposite end. Again ... not all that impressive.
As we pulled out of the mall's parking lot I noticed a fuel station across the street with the lowest price I had seen locally, so I refilled with diesel. We drove through the main part of Branson's entertainment "Strip", at crawling speed in bumper to bumper traffic. When we got to the very new Cici's Pizza outlet I impulsively decided I wanted to have supper at Cici's. I pulled into the parking lot ... and could not find a parking spot that was level enough to permit the camper's fridge to operate. Joanne was feeling ill and crabby today, I was feeling depressed and crabby today, so again ... impatiently we left !
We finally drove out of Branson's traffic congestion and a few miles over to Table Rock Dam and Table Rock State Park. We walked around briefly with Bo, but it was getting chilly and dark ... so ... we drove "home" to Turkey Creek SKP RV Village. While Joanne prepared supper I went to the clubhouse to use Wi-Fi. After dinner I worked on monthly computer backup chores.
From our perspective, Branson is a waste of time and money !
DSK
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Friday, October 16, 2015
October 11 to 16, 2015 ; Churchill to Winnipeg, Manitoba
Sunday ; Today was warmer than yesterday, above freezing today, so yesterday's snowfall was rapidly melting today.
At noon I was picked up at our hotel by the owner of Churchill River Mushing for my dog sled outing. I was his only client for today, and since it was the weekend ( no school ) his two daughters came along. And ... I got a "revised" tour, different and longer than the usual. We drove to his "dog yard" and while I visited with his seventeen dogs, he and his elder daughter ( age 13 ) hitched up ten dogs ( four more than usual ) to a wheeled dog sled. There wasn't quite enough snow yet to use a regular sled on skis. And yesterday's snow was rapidly melting today.
The dog sled outing was a great experience. And being the only client I had the musher all to myself. We chatted a lot about his dog mushing background and experience. From the dog yard we travelled on the shoulder of the highway towards the airport for awhile, then onto a trail that passed through an abandoned Dene community from the 1970's.
Once I was back at the hotel Joanne and I had lunch in our hotel room. While I was out dog sledding Joanne went over to Frontiers North Adventures and verified our Tundra Buggy outing for tomorrow, then went to the Northern Store and bought some groceries. After lunch we walked over to the train station to view the small museum inside. Well ... the train station was closed today. We did not know that. AND ... last night, the last employee to leave set the alarm but did not lock the front door. HA HA HA ! So ... Joanne and I walked into the train station, and ... set off the alarm. HA HA HA HA HA ! We waited around for a few minutes waiting for the police to arrive, so we could explain, but ... you know ... patience is not my strong suit. HA HA HA ... after a few minutes,
I got tired of waiting for the police to arrive so ... we left. HA HA HA !
I did some computer work online this afternoon and evening. We went out for a late supper to the Reef Restaurant at the Seaport Hotel. It was ... okay. Sort of. I guess.
Monday ; our 41st anniversary and Canadian Thanksgiving
Mostly cloudy, an hour of partial sunshine in the afternoon, warm enough to melt the remaining snow from Saturday's blizzard.
Well ! ! ! Overall ... a day with many disappointments !
We were up at 6 AM in order to be ready for the 7:30 AM pickup by Frontiers North Adventures for our Tundra Buggy day outing. They picked us up in their little bus, then drove around town picking up other clients at other hotels. A pair of old and irritating women from Australia were late, and delayed our departure from town about half an hour. I HATE GROUP TRAVEL ! ! ! We drove about 25 km. or so east of Churchill to the Churchill Wildlife Management Area on the shoreline of Hudson Bay where we loaded into a Tundra Buggy, a large, special purpose, custom designed and built vehicle used for Polar Bear viewing. We spent from 8:30 AM until 4 PM driving around the Hudson Bay shoreline tundra searching for Polar Bears. We found ... one ! ! !
It was very disappointing that we did not find more. The last few days the Tundra Buggy outings found about four bears per day. However ... the bear we found today was lazy and unconcerned with our presence. We drove to about 150 feet away, then had lunch for about an hour while watching it languish ; yawning, stretching, rolling over, occasionally lifting its head to take a look at us, etc.
We also saw ... many Snow Buntings a.k.a. Snowbirds, three Snowy Owls, a small flock of Willow Ptarmigan, and ... < insert drum roll here > ... an Arctic Fox !
Around 6:30 PM we set off for a walk across town to have our anniversary dinner / Thanksgiving dinner at Lazy Bear Lodge, an upscale resort with a "five star" restaurant. For the last three days I have been eagerly awaiting tonight's dinner there, anticipating ordering Arctic Char. When the French Canadian waitress came to take our order, she advised me that ... < sniffle > ... they had no more Arctic Char. < sigh > Upon her recommendation I ordered the roast Bison dinner with baked potato while Joanne ordered their daily special ; Thanksgiving turkey dinner. When my meal arrived, the baked potato was hot, the roast Bison was ... cold. I sent it back ! When it arrived a second time, the roast Bison was hot, the baked potato was cold. I was livid and I let them know it ! I threw quite a hissy fit and sent my meal back a second time. By the time my meal arrived a third time, Joanne was finished eating her dinner. This was an expensive restaurant where dinner for two would cost about a hundred bucks. That kind of kitchen ineptitude was completely unacceptable ! ! !
Their kitchen errors were, in my humble opinion, unforgivable. They did the best they could do by charging us nothing. A freebie ! Nevertheless, I would rather have had an excellent dinner that cost a hundred bucks than an unsatisfactory dining experience like that at no charge !
A disappointing day ! Life goes on !
Tuesday ; depart Churchill by train
Today was cloudy and cold.
This morning after checking out of our hotel room we walked across town to the Eskimo Museum where we spent the rest of the morning until the museum closed for lunch.
I bought a local history book that I am certain will be delivered to me by Santa. HA HA HA ! We walked over to the acclaimed Gypsy's Bakery & Restaurant to have lunch. Like some of the other businesses in Churchill, Gypsy's was overrated. After lunch we walked back to the hotel and while Joanne waited and read in the "breakfast room",
I went to the lobby and worked on Wi-Fi briefly. We walked over to the train station which also houses the Parks Canada "museum" on Wakusp National Park in this region and spent some time there exploring the museum, then returned to the hotel again. We spent some of the afternoon chatting with a couple from Georgia, U.S.A. who have recently become "homeless, unemployed vagabonds" but in a different way than we were. They are travelling the world, one month here, one month there, etc.
At 6 PM we left the hotel with our luggage and went to the train station. At 7 PM we boarded the ( slow ) train back to Thompson which departed at 7:30 PM. We had a "snack supper", then I worked on updating and reconciling investment statements, and downloading and processing my Tundra Buggy / Polar Bear photos.
Wednesday ; arrive Thompson by train
Mostly cloudy, cold.
Once again we had a mostly sleepless night on the train. We arrived in Thompson about 11:15 AM, about fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled. We waited with our new California friends for the campground owner to come pick us up, as arranged. She didn't ! After half an hour or so of waiting, I phoned her. No answer ! Voice mail box full ! We took a taxi back to the campground ! The campground owner had screwed up, but held herself accountable, was apologetic, and reimbursed me for the taxi fare. Fair enough ! Our new California friends picked up their car which was parked at the campground, and headed for Winnipeg. Long, tough 800 km. / 500 mile drive, especially starting at noon, after a night of not much sleep on the train.
Joanne and I napped for two hours, then started our day over. After showering and having lunch we drove to Safeway to replenish groceries, then refilled Lanoire with diesel at the Co-op Fuel Bar. We thought it might be easier to dump our waste holding tanks and refill our freshwater tank at the municipal sani-dump station than it would be at the campground, so that's what we did. BRRRRR ! Very cold and windy while we were doing that late in the afternoon. Driving back to the campground, we decided on impulse to stop at the laundromat in town and do laundry. That turned out not to be such a wise decision. Doing the laundry took much longer than expected, and delayed our supper until almost 9:30 PM. I had already been feeling rather ill yesterday and today with a colitis flare, and not eating supper until 9:30 PM just made things worse.
I’m feeling pretty ill tonight !
Thursday ; Thompson to Devil's Lake Rest Area, Manitoba
Sunny, VERY COLD ! When we left the campground in Thompson this morning the temperature was 21º F / -6º C. It was probably colder than that a few hours earlier.
We headed southwest on Hwy. 6 out of Thompson. At Pisew Falls we stopped, not to view the falls again, but this time to hike a short distance to the suspension bridge built over the Grass River by the Thompson Rotary Club. We had missed seeing the suspension bridge a week or so ago when we were northbound. After hiking to the suspension bridge, and collecting some wild mushrooms to identify ( Deadly Galerina ? ) we continued southwest to Ponton then the highway turned south. We stopped for lunch at the small village of Wabowden. We stopped at a "rest area" on the 175 km. / 110 mile long stretch of nothing between Ponton and Grand Rapids for me to have a very brief nap. Joanne commented on the difference between a rest area on Hwy. 6 in Northern Manitoba versus a rest area on an Interstate highway in the United States. HA HA HA ! We stopped to refill with diesel at Grand Rapids. We stopped to have supper and boondock overnight at Devil's Lake Rest Area, 450 km. from Thompson, about 350 km. more to Winnipeg.
A long time ago I had asked Joanne to buy me the CD version of Pink Floyd's album Dark Side Of The Moon, as a gift. It was a favourite of mine when I was a teenager. She bought it for me for my recent birthday. Today we listened to it while driving. As a teenager, I was fascinated by the instrumentals, and paid little attention to the lyrics. That's how I am with most music. Joanne is the opposite. Today, using the album liner notes, she sang all the lyrics to me as the album played. Because ... Lord knows ... Roger Waters' vocals are indecipherable. After singing through the entire album, and noting its dark mood, she said ...
"You listened to that when you were 16 years old ? No wonder you're a depressed, crabby old man". HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Darn ! I have a cold !
Friday ; Devil's Lake Rest Area to Winnipeg, Manitoba
DAMN ! Now we both have colds !
Sunny and cold.
This morning we left the Devil's Lake Rest area and continued heading south on Hwy. 6. At Eriksdale we stopped at the municipal campground to have lunch, dump our waste holding tanks, and refill our freshwater tank. Back on the highway Joanne noticed that the Esso station had a car wash with a tall door. We washed the truck and camper. They were really filthy ! We also refilled both propane tanks at the Esso station. Eriksdale was a productive stop.
We arrived in Winnipeg very late in the afternoon. Coming into the city from the Perimeter Highway 100, on the south side of the city, northbound onto Pembina Highway, we stopped at a Safeway store to buy some groceries. And ... two pairs of jeans for me at the Salvation Army Thrift Store beside the Safeway. We arrived at Joanne's sister's home about 6:30 PM.
HELLO BO ! We missed him ! There was just enough time before dark to take the three dogs for a walk alongside the Red River on the Churchill Drive parkway. We had Lorraine's home all to ourselves this evening ( and tomorrow morning ). Lorraine had already left for a weekend away, and the nieces were already gone to their father's for the weekend.
We had supper. Joanne worked on laundry. I worked online. Doug brought Madeleine home to pick up something she had forgotten. We visited with Doug briefly, discussing our Polar Bear viewing trip to Churchill and his recent honeymoon trip to England and France.
DUE TO INTERNET ACCESS CONVENIENCE, I AM POSTING THIS JOURNAL ENTRY AS A "SIX DAY WEEK". NEXT WEEK I WILL POST AN "EIGHT DAY WEEK".
DSK
At noon I was picked up at our hotel by the owner of Churchill River Mushing for my dog sled outing. I was his only client for today, and since it was the weekend ( no school ) his two daughters came along. And ... I got a "revised" tour, different and longer than the usual. We drove to his "dog yard" and while I visited with his seventeen dogs, he and his elder daughter ( age 13 ) hitched up ten dogs ( four more than usual ) to a wheeled dog sled. There wasn't quite enough snow yet to use a regular sled on skis. And yesterday's snow was rapidly melting today.
The dog sled outing was a great experience. And being the only client I had the musher all to myself. We chatted a lot about his dog mushing background and experience. From the dog yard we travelled on the shoulder of the highway towards the airport for awhile, then onto a trail that passed through an abandoned Dene community from the 1970's.
Once I was back at the hotel Joanne and I had lunch in our hotel room. While I was out dog sledding Joanne went over to Frontiers North Adventures and verified our Tundra Buggy outing for tomorrow, then went to the Northern Store and bought some groceries. After lunch we walked over to the train station to view the small museum inside. Well ... the train station was closed today. We did not know that. AND ... last night, the last employee to leave set the alarm but did not lock the front door. HA HA HA ! So ... Joanne and I walked into the train station, and ... set off the alarm. HA HA HA HA HA ! We waited around for a few minutes waiting for the police to arrive, so we could explain, but ... you know ... patience is not my strong suit. HA HA HA ... after a few minutes,
I got tired of waiting for the police to arrive so ... we left. HA HA HA !
I did some computer work online this afternoon and evening. We went out for a late supper to the Reef Restaurant at the Seaport Hotel. It was ... okay. Sort of. I guess.
Monday ; our 41st anniversary and Canadian Thanksgiving
Mostly cloudy, an hour of partial sunshine in the afternoon, warm enough to melt the remaining snow from Saturday's blizzard.
Well ! ! ! Overall ... a day with many disappointments !
We were up at 6 AM in order to be ready for the 7:30 AM pickup by Frontiers North Adventures for our Tundra Buggy day outing. They picked us up in their little bus, then drove around town picking up other clients at other hotels. A pair of old and irritating women from Australia were late, and delayed our departure from town about half an hour. I HATE GROUP TRAVEL ! ! ! We drove about 25 km. or so east of Churchill to the Churchill Wildlife Management Area on the shoreline of Hudson Bay where we loaded into a Tundra Buggy, a large, special purpose, custom designed and built vehicle used for Polar Bear viewing. We spent from 8:30 AM until 4 PM driving around the Hudson Bay shoreline tundra searching for Polar Bears. We found ... one ! ! !
It was very disappointing that we did not find more. The last few days the Tundra Buggy outings found about four bears per day. However ... the bear we found today was lazy and unconcerned with our presence. We drove to about 150 feet away, then had lunch for about an hour while watching it languish ; yawning, stretching, rolling over, occasionally lifting its head to take a look at us, etc.
We also saw ... many Snow Buntings a.k.a. Snowbirds, three Snowy Owls, a small flock of Willow Ptarmigan, and ... < insert drum roll here > ... an Arctic Fox !
Around 6:30 PM we set off for a walk across town to have our anniversary dinner / Thanksgiving dinner at Lazy Bear Lodge, an upscale resort with a "five star" restaurant. For the last three days I have been eagerly awaiting tonight's dinner there, anticipating ordering Arctic Char. When the French Canadian waitress came to take our order, she advised me that ... < sniffle > ... they had no more Arctic Char. < sigh > Upon her recommendation I ordered the roast Bison dinner with baked potato while Joanne ordered their daily special ; Thanksgiving turkey dinner. When my meal arrived, the baked potato was hot, the roast Bison was ... cold. I sent it back ! When it arrived a second time, the roast Bison was hot, the baked potato was cold. I was livid and I let them know it ! I threw quite a hissy fit and sent my meal back a second time. By the time my meal arrived a third time, Joanne was finished eating her dinner. This was an expensive restaurant where dinner for two would cost about a hundred bucks. That kind of kitchen ineptitude was completely unacceptable ! ! !
Their kitchen errors were, in my humble opinion, unforgivable. They did the best they could do by charging us nothing. A freebie ! Nevertheless, I would rather have had an excellent dinner that cost a hundred bucks than an unsatisfactory dining experience like that at no charge !
A disappointing day ! Life goes on !
Tuesday ; depart Churchill by train
Today was cloudy and cold.
This morning after checking out of our hotel room we walked across town to the Eskimo Museum where we spent the rest of the morning until the museum closed for lunch.
I bought a local history book that I am certain will be delivered to me by Santa. HA HA HA ! We walked over to the acclaimed Gypsy's Bakery & Restaurant to have lunch. Like some of the other businesses in Churchill, Gypsy's was overrated. After lunch we walked back to the hotel and while Joanne waited and read in the "breakfast room",
I went to the lobby and worked on Wi-Fi briefly. We walked over to the train station which also houses the Parks Canada "museum" on Wakusp National Park in this region and spent some time there exploring the museum, then returned to the hotel again. We spent some of the afternoon chatting with a couple from Georgia, U.S.A. who have recently become "homeless, unemployed vagabonds" but in a different way than we were. They are travelling the world, one month here, one month there, etc.
At 6 PM we left the hotel with our luggage and went to the train station. At 7 PM we boarded the ( slow ) train back to Thompson which departed at 7:30 PM. We had a "snack supper", then I worked on updating and reconciling investment statements, and downloading and processing my Tundra Buggy / Polar Bear photos.
Wednesday ; arrive Thompson by train
Mostly cloudy, cold.
Once again we had a mostly sleepless night on the train. We arrived in Thompson about 11:15 AM, about fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled. We waited with our new California friends for the campground owner to come pick us up, as arranged. She didn't ! After half an hour or so of waiting, I phoned her. No answer ! Voice mail box full ! We took a taxi back to the campground ! The campground owner had screwed up, but held herself accountable, was apologetic, and reimbursed me for the taxi fare. Fair enough ! Our new California friends picked up their car which was parked at the campground, and headed for Winnipeg. Long, tough 800 km. / 500 mile drive, especially starting at noon, after a night of not much sleep on the train.
Joanne and I napped for two hours, then started our day over. After showering and having lunch we drove to Safeway to replenish groceries, then refilled Lanoire with diesel at the Co-op Fuel Bar. We thought it might be easier to dump our waste holding tanks and refill our freshwater tank at the municipal sani-dump station than it would be at the campground, so that's what we did. BRRRRR ! Very cold and windy while we were doing that late in the afternoon. Driving back to the campground, we decided on impulse to stop at the laundromat in town and do laundry. That turned out not to be such a wise decision. Doing the laundry took much longer than expected, and delayed our supper until almost 9:30 PM. I had already been feeling rather ill yesterday and today with a colitis flare, and not eating supper until 9:30 PM just made things worse.
I’m feeling pretty ill tonight !
Thursday ; Thompson to Devil's Lake Rest Area, Manitoba
Sunny, VERY COLD ! When we left the campground in Thompson this morning the temperature was 21º F / -6º C. It was probably colder than that a few hours earlier.
We headed southwest on Hwy. 6 out of Thompson. At Pisew Falls we stopped, not to view the falls again, but this time to hike a short distance to the suspension bridge built over the Grass River by the Thompson Rotary Club. We had missed seeing the suspension bridge a week or so ago when we were northbound. After hiking to the suspension bridge, and collecting some wild mushrooms to identify ( Deadly Galerina ? ) we continued southwest to Ponton then the highway turned south. We stopped for lunch at the small village of Wabowden. We stopped at a "rest area" on the 175 km. / 110 mile long stretch of nothing between Ponton and Grand Rapids for me to have a very brief nap. Joanne commented on the difference between a rest area on Hwy. 6 in Northern Manitoba versus a rest area on an Interstate highway in the United States. HA HA HA ! We stopped to refill with diesel at Grand Rapids. We stopped to have supper and boondock overnight at Devil's Lake Rest Area, 450 km. from Thompson, about 350 km. more to Winnipeg.
A long time ago I had asked Joanne to buy me the CD version of Pink Floyd's album Dark Side Of The Moon, as a gift. It was a favourite of mine when I was a teenager. She bought it for me for my recent birthday. Today we listened to it while driving. As a teenager, I was fascinated by the instrumentals, and paid little attention to the lyrics. That's how I am with most music. Joanne is the opposite. Today, using the album liner notes, she sang all the lyrics to me as the album played. Because ... Lord knows ... Roger Waters' vocals are indecipherable. After singing through the entire album, and noting its dark mood, she said ...
"You listened to that when you were 16 years old ? No wonder you're a depressed, crabby old man". HA HA HA < SNORT > HA HA !
Darn ! I have a cold !
Friday ; Devil's Lake Rest Area to Winnipeg, Manitoba
DAMN ! Now we both have colds !
Sunny and cold.
This morning we left the Devil's Lake Rest area and continued heading south on Hwy. 6. At Eriksdale we stopped at the municipal campground to have lunch, dump our waste holding tanks, and refill our freshwater tank. Back on the highway Joanne noticed that the Esso station had a car wash with a tall door. We washed the truck and camper. They were really filthy ! We also refilled both propane tanks at the Esso station. Eriksdale was a productive stop.
We arrived in Winnipeg very late in the afternoon. Coming into the city from the Perimeter Highway 100, on the south side of the city, northbound onto Pembina Highway, we stopped at a Safeway store to buy some groceries. And ... two pairs of jeans for me at the Salvation Army Thrift Store beside the Safeway. We arrived at Joanne's sister's home about 6:30 PM.
HELLO BO ! We missed him ! There was just enough time before dark to take the three dogs for a walk alongside the Red River on the Churchill Drive parkway. We had Lorraine's home all to ourselves this evening ( and tomorrow morning ). Lorraine had already left for a weekend away, and the nieces were already gone to their father's for the weekend.
We had supper. Joanne worked on laundry. I worked online. Doug brought Madeleine home to pick up something she had forgotten. We visited with Doug briefly, discussing our Polar Bear viewing trip to Churchill and his recent honeymoon trip to England and France.
DUE TO INTERNET ACCESS CONVENIENCE, I AM POSTING THIS JOURNAL ENTRY AS A "SIX DAY WEEK". NEXT WEEK I WILL POST AN "EIGHT DAY WEEK".
DSK
Sunday, October 11, 2015
October 4 to 10, 2015 ; Winnipeg to Churchill, Manitoba
Sunday ; Cloudy and cool, intermittent light rain late in the afternoon.
This morning we were up at 6:30 AM ( the middle of the night, from my perspective ) in order to be at Shaw Park, Winnipeg's baseball stadium, by 8:30 AM, to register for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation / Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce "Run For The Cure", an annual, national, breast cancer research fund raiser. I was "team captain" of the team "Joanne's Fans" comprised of me, Joanne, her sister, and her two nieces. Here in Winnipeg there were over 4200 participants, with over half a million dollars raised. BRAVO ! The 5 km. ( 3 mile ) "run" ... most of the 4200 people walked ... was alongside the Red River. It took us ( and everyone else ) about an hour to walk it.
After the "Run For The Cure" was over, Lorraine and her daughters returned to their home to prepare brunch for all of us. Joanne and I drove over the Provencher Bridge into St. Boniface to view our first home, my childhood home, and Joanne's childhood two homes before returning to Lorraine's home for brunch. Not much has changed with our previous homes and neighbourhoods in the 27 years since we left Winnipeg !
We had brunch then while I did some online work Joanne visited with her sister. Early in the afternoon we quietly and unceremoniously left, leaving Bo behind < sniffle >. We didn't want to make a "goodbye fuss" and leave him upset at our departure without him. We miss him already. Thank you for your hospitality over the last week or so, Lorraine, and for taking care of our BoBo while we go to Churchill. I'm especially grateful that Lorraine and her daughters participated in today's Run For The Cure in honour of "Aunt Joanne", a breast cancer survivor for 14 years now.
We did some shopping errands at Safeway and Canadian Tire then drove to my sister's home in Lorette. Before we visited with my sister and brother-in-law Joanne helped me remove and reinstall the new water pump in the camper. It has not worked properly in the few days since I installed it with my brother-in-law's assistance, and I thought it may be due to an installation error. I wasn't sure of that before today's removal and reinstallation and I'm still not sure of that after we removed and reinstalled it. < huge sigh > Time will tell !
Once again my sister ( over ) fed us supper, then we visited for awhile before returning to our camper parked in their driveway. Thank you very much Sharon and Bud for all you've done for us in the last week.
Monday ; Lorette / Winnipeg to Devil's Lake Rest Area, Manitoba
Cloudy, cool, intermittent light rain.
This morning we left my sister's yard in Lorette about 10 AM and drove into Winnipeg. We stopped at the Bank Of Montreal in Southdale to get some U.S.$ traveller's cheques for deposit to our Bank of America account as soon as we cross into the U.S. in a couple of weeks. Buying the traveller's cheques took much longer than it should have. From the bank we went to Superstore and refilled with diesel, then over to the Winnipeg Sewage Treatment Plant on Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway 100 to dump our waste holding tanks. To avoid heading in the wrong direction on the Perimeter Highway upon leaving the sewage treatment plant, then having to make an awkward, unsafe, and probably illegal U-turn, I drove a short distance down a wet, muddy, gravel road to get back onto the highway headed in the correct direction. And now the truck and camper look like they have been driven down miles and miles and miles of muddy road in the rain ! HMPH !
We headed west then north on the Perimeter Highway until reaching Hwy. 6 heading north. We spent the rest of the day ... and will spend the next two days ... driving north on Manitoba Hwy. 6. We stopped for lunch at Oak Point, parked in a hotel's parking lot. We refilled with diesel again at Fairford, filling up at a cheap ( tax free, I think ) fuel bar on the Pinaymootang Reservation where we were visited by an extremely friendly, although skunk smelling Labrador Retriever / Border Collie rez dog. It wanted to go drivey with us. HA HA HA ! We stopped for the night about halfway between Winnipeg and Thompson at Devil's Lake Rest Area, beside a small, pretty lake, in the most Godforsaken middle of nowhere we've ever been ! Muskeg, muskeg, and more muskeg ! Well ... at least we haven't reached frozen tundra yet. HA HA HA !
Saw a Timber Wolf cross the road in front of us today.
Tuesday ; Devil’s Lake Rest Area to Paint Lake Provincial Park, Northern Manitoba
Mix of sun and clouds, intermittent light rain, cold.
Late last night I discovered water in the cupboard under the sink. I removed everything from the cupboard and identified the leak location. Not surprisingly, it was part of the water pump installation. I awoke early this morning to get an early start to the day, and repair the leak. This evening, when we stopped for the night, and verified that the leak was indeed resolved, I removed the inverter to ensure no water had leaked underneath it, then reinstalled it. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of water pump drama !
This morning, after repairing the leak ... and using non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner ( a.k.a. dry cleaning fluid ) to clean some appetizer stains off the lapels of the sports coat I wore to my niece's wedding a week and a half ago ... we left Devil's Lake Rest Area and continued northbound on Hwy. 6. A flat, straight highway, no hills, no curves, across endless muskeg. Boring and tiring ! We stopped at Grand Rapids and refilled with diesel at another rez fuel bar with cheap fuel. Grand Rapids was the only town in hundreds of km. of driving. About an hour or so after Grand Rapids we pulled off the highway into a gravel pit in the middle of nowhere to have lunch and a very brief nap.
After Hwy. 6 merged with Hwy. 39 coming from Flin Flon to the west, we stopped at a rest area / day use area and hiked a short distance to see the lovely Pisew Falls. We continued north on Hwy. 6 all the way to Paint Lake Provincial Park, further than we had planned to go today, and not far from our destination of Thompson. The campground at Paint Lake Provincial Park was closed for the season. We parked overnight at the marina boat launch parking lot.
Wednesday ; Paint Lake Provincial Park to Thompson & return
Mostly cloudy. COLD !
This morning ( 37º F / 3º C ) as we drove from the Paint Lake Provincial Park marina parking lot back to Hwy. 6 we noticed a sign to Lakeview Campground on Liz Lake, still in the provincial park. We drove down a gravel road to check it out. It was a lovely, small ( 15 sites ), unserviced campground, empty but still open.
We drove north on Hwy. 6 about 40 km. / 25 miles or so to the city of Thompson. Thompson was created in the late 50's / early 60's when INCO ( International Nickel Company ) discovered nickel there and opened a mine. The INCO mine is still the backbone of the local economy. Thompson is a small city, population about 15,000. And it's pretty much the "end of the road" in Northern Manitoba. There are a few gravel roads leading off to remote villages and Indian reservations, but ... the pavement ends in Thompson.
First thing we stumbled upon was the municipal sani-dump station as we entered town. So ... we dumped our waste holding tanks, refilled our freshwater tank, then decided that after a day of running errands in town we would prefer to return to Lakeview Campground on Liz Lake in Paint Lake Provincial Park instead of heading to the private campground in Thompson as originally planned.
We spent the day in Thompson, mostly running errands. We drove across town and found the private campground. We'll check in there tomorrow. We found Wal-Mart and did some shopping / replenishment of supplies. We wandered through the small ( and dying ) shopping mall that Wal-Mart anchors. We drove over to the Heritage North Museum and had lunch while parked in their parking lot, then went inside to the Visitor Information Centre contained within to get some trip planning information. We wandered around the two log buildings of the Heritage North Museum learning about the development of both the INCO mine and the city of Thompson. From there we headed over to another mall where the Elections Canada office for the upcoming federal election is located. We voted ! Voting in advance, at an Elections Canada office, away from one's home riding, is ... complicated. And time consuming. After voting we drove over to the Thompson Public Library. I went inside and worked online using their free Wi-Fi while Joanne sat in the truck and did some trip planning. She's already planning Louisiana about three weeks from now. HA HA HA ! We drove to the two car wash stations in Thompson, but both were indoors ( would you want to wash your vehicle outdoors when it's below freezing, as it is for eight months of the year here ? ) and the entrance doors were not tall enough for our truck and camper. They'll have to stay dirty until we're back in Winnipeg ... or ? I went to an RV dealer looking for some plumbing parts but they did not have what I wanted. I drove over to Home Hardware and found what I was looking for.
By then it was 5 PM and time to drive back to Paint Lake Provincial Park. We got parked in a site at Lakeview Campground at Liz Lake then went for a long walk. I'm suffering from a stiff and sore neck, partially from long hours of driving, partially from sleeping "funny", I guess. I was hoping that a long walk would help loosen my neck. It did, but only temporarily. While walking we saw a woodpecker we had not seen before, later using our bird book to identify it as a Three-Toed Woodpecker. We also saw a couple of grouse, invisible when standing still, visible only when moving, but were unable to identify whether they were Ruffed Grouse or Sharp-tailed Grouse.
Thursday ; Paint Lake Provincial Park to Thompson ... again
Sunny and chilly. Not a bad day for this far north. Joanne read an interesting statistic today ; 99.9% of North America's population lives south of Thompson. HA HA HA !
This morning we departed Lakeview Campground at Liz Lake in Paint Lake Provincial Park and drove north on Hwy. 6 to Thompson. Like yesterday, we stopped at the municipal sani-dump station on the south side of town to dump our waste holding tanks and refill with freshwater. Just because it was convenient to do so there, and we didn't know whether it would be easier or more difficult at the private campground we were heading to. We drove around Thompson checking out the diesel fuel prices at the four service stations in town. We went to Home Hardware again and bought more plumbing supplies for a project I wanted to undertake today.
GEEEEEZZZZZ ... a young man has just set up a tent beside us ( at 7 PM ). BRRRRR ... it's too cold to stay in a tent !
We arrived at McCreedy Campground on the north side of Thompson, just across the Burntwood River, near the float plane base, around lunch time. The proprietor was not home, so we parked in her driveway and had lunch. When she arrived back home we checked in and she directed us to a site. I began working on my plumbing project. None of the parts that I bought yesterday and today at Home Hardware "fit" ! HMPH !
I disconnected the electricity to the camper and we drove back into town to return the parts to Home Hardware for a refund.
Back at McCreedy Campground, I trimmed my beard ... outside ... BRRRRR ... then downloaded and processed photos. Joanne plugged in our little electric heater so the camper was toasty warm inside. I did some minor maintenance inside the camper. While Joanne prepared supper I got online to check e-mail and ... < wincing > ... check Churchill's weather for the next few days.
HOLY MOLY ! ! ! ! ! What astounding Aurora Borealis / Northern Lights ! ! !
I stepped outside the camper at 9:45 PM to discard a basin of dishwater and ... < blink blink > ... the sky was dancing with green light. We both went outside, and walked to the campground entrance to get away from lights, and stood there slack jawed, staring upwards for fifteen minutes, until we were near frozen ! The sky was filled with dancing green bands, with occasional red bands dancing within the green. I've seen it on TV, but ... < shaking head in wonderment > ... seeing it for real was amazing ! I tried to capture it on my camera, but ... it requires more photographic sophistication than my camera and me !
Friday ; leaving Thompson by train
Well ... here we are ( at 6 PM ) on the slow train to Churchill. We left Thompson an hour ago. I wonder why the train travels so slowly ?
We woke this morning to big, fluffy snowflakes falling. Around noon it turned into icy cold rain. BRRRRR ! We had a slow day, packing for the trip, and taking care of regular "camping" chores, made more difficult and unpleasant by the weather. Yesterday the campground owner assigned us to a campsite for one night only, with instructions to move today to a different assigned site. After moving I dumped the waste holding tanks but did not refill the freshwater tank, thinking that a mostly empty freshwater tank was less vulnerable to freezing risk. Joanne prepared a large, hot lunch, and packed a "picnic supper" to take on the train. We prepared and packed for the five day trip to Churchill, and walked over to the campground owner's home at 4 PM for a ride to the train station.
Once on the train I chatted with two young women seated near us. They were from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, headed to Churchill to see polar bears, like us. This was their first train ride. One of the young women was Ukrainian. We chatted about perogies. HA HA HA !
As the train departed Thompson, Joanne pulled out a sheet of paper, with lyrics written on it, and ( quietly ) sang the song she composed for me, to the tune of Elton John's "Daniel". Well ... how beautiful ! Thank you so very much, my dear. She's VERY excited about this polar bear viewing adventure. She originally had planned to wait until midnight to sing this song to me, in honour of my birthday, but then decided that waiting until midnight might not be such a good idea.
During the two hours or so of daylight on the train ride the scenery was more muskeg and boreal forest, like the drive up Hwy. 6. And ... mud ! Manitoba's license plate tagline should be changed from "Friendly Manitoba" to "Muddy Manitoba".
Saturday ; arriving Churchill by train ; Daniel's 61st Birthday
Good morning. And Happy Birthday to me ! It's 7 AM. We'll be arriving in Churchill in two hours.
It was dark by 7 PM last night. And it is just now beginning to be light again. Early October and darkness already lasts over twelve hours this far north.
We had a fitful sleep. As did most of the people on the train. The ride was not smooth. Lots of frost heaving makes for uneven tracks, I guess.
Yesterday evening the train stopped a few times, to drop off or pick up passengers, at a few very small Native settlements, and at the town of Gillam, a town created by a large hydroelectric dam development. When the train boarded in Thompson we noticed that most of the Native passengers were carrying pizza take out boxes. We assumed it was their dinner. We were wrong. They all were bringing take out pizzas from Thompson back to their homes. HA HA HA !
Last night I chatted briefly with the Native people sitting across the aisle from us. They were returning to their home in Pikwitonei, population about seventy. Nine children in school !
When darkness fell last night we were crossing muskeg and boreal forest. The Native settlements and Gillam were all covered in a fresh, thick layer of snow. This morning we are crossing barren tundra, with a light covering of snow. There are few trees, and they are scrawny little things. Seconds ago we passed a dozen or so derailed and smashed freight cars lying beside the track.
When we arrived in Churchill at 9 AM the owner of the hotel where we were staying was waiting for us at the train station. While driving us the very short distance from the train station to the hotel, he took us on a driving tour of Churchill. When we arrived at the hotel we went to the breakfast room for a continental breakfast and to wait for our rooms to be ready. We had breakfast and chatted with a couple from California for about an hour, then went to nap in our room. When we awoke around lunch time we showered and prepared to go walk around town. We stepped outside and ... into an honest to goodness Northern Manitoba blizzard. Heavy blowing snow, winds of 50 to 80 km. / hr. ( 30 to 50 MPH ).
We spent the afternoon walking from one side of town to the other, stopping at each restaurant, and the town bakery, and gift shops, walking into the wind and blowing snow all the way. We ended at Lazy Bear Lodge & Cafe, the most upscale restaurant in town. We definitely wish to have dinner there one night, but were uncertain whether that would be tonight or another night. We walked all the way back across town, but this time with the wind blowing the heavy snow at our backs.
Around 6 PM we walked down the side street facing our hotel to check out one of the two restaurants in town we had not yet seen, the Tundra Inn, Pub, & Restaurant, specializing in wild game dishes. We had my birthday dinner there. I had ... astoundingly good Elk meatloaf ! Joanne had fish and chips, made with Manitoba Pickerel. Both dishes were superb ! I think we will be returning there again before we leave Churchill.
While exploring town this afternoon the California couple discovered that there was a movie for the townspeople tonight at the community centre. They invited us to join them at this community event, and we happily did. The hotel owner drove us there. However ... once we arrived, and I saw that the movie was a Sci-Fi thing aimed at teenaged boys ... I bailed ! With Joanne's blessings. We returned to our hotel with the owner.
Over milk and pastries in our hotel room, Joanne presented me with a birthday card and gifts. Thank you very much, my dear.
DSK
This morning we were up at 6:30 AM ( the middle of the night, from my perspective ) in order to be at Shaw Park, Winnipeg's baseball stadium, by 8:30 AM, to register for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation / Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce "Run For The Cure", an annual, national, breast cancer research fund raiser. I was "team captain" of the team "Joanne's Fans" comprised of me, Joanne, her sister, and her two nieces. Here in Winnipeg there were over 4200 participants, with over half a million dollars raised. BRAVO ! The 5 km. ( 3 mile ) "run" ... most of the 4200 people walked ... was alongside the Red River. It took us ( and everyone else ) about an hour to walk it.
After the "Run For The Cure" was over, Lorraine and her daughters returned to their home to prepare brunch for all of us. Joanne and I drove over the Provencher Bridge into St. Boniface to view our first home, my childhood home, and Joanne's childhood two homes before returning to Lorraine's home for brunch. Not much has changed with our previous homes and neighbourhoods in the 27 years since we left Winnipeg !
We had brunch then while I did some online work Joanne visited with her sister. Early in the afternoon we quietly and unceremoniously left, leaving Bo behind < sniffle >. We didn't want to make a "goodbye fuss" and leave him upset at our departure without him. We miss him already. Thank you for your hospitality over the last week or so, Lorraine, and for taking care of our BoBo while we go to Churchill. I'm especially grateful that Lorraine and her daughters participated in today's Run For The Cure in honour of "Aunt Joanne", a breast cancer survivor for 14 years now.
We did some shopping errands at Safeway and Canadian Tire then drove to my sister's home in Lorette. Before we visited with my sister and brother-in-law Joanne helped me remove and reinstall the new water pump in the camper. It has not worked properly in the few days since I installed it with my brother-in-law's assistance, and I thought it may be due to an installation error. I wasn't sure of that before today's removal and reinstallation and I'm still not sure of that after we removed and reinstalled it. < huge sigh > Time will tell !
Once again my sister ( over ) fed us supper, then we visited for awhile before returning to our camper parked in their driveway. Thank you very much Sharon and Bud for all you've done for us in the last week.
Monday ; Lorette / Winnipeg to Devil's Lake Rest Area, Manitoba
Cloudy, cool, intermittent light rain.
This morning we left my sister's yard in Lorette about 10 AM and drove into Winnipeg. We stopped at the Bank Of Montreal in Southdale to get some U.S.$ traveller's cheques for deposit to our Bank of America account as soon as we cross into the U.S. in a couple of weeks. Buying the traveller's cheques took much longer than it should have. From the bank we went to Superstore and refilled with diesel, then over to the Winnipeg Sewage Treatment Plant on Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway 100 to dump our waste holding tanks. To avoid heading in the wrong direction on the Perimeter Highway upon leaving the sewage treatment plant, then having to make an awkward, unsafe, and probably illegal U-turn, I drove a short distance down a wet, muddy, gravel road to get back onto the highway headed in the correct direction. And now the truck and camper look like they have been driven down miles and miles and miles of muddy road in the rain ! HMPH !
We headed west then north on the Perimeter Highway until reaching Hwy. 6 heading north. We spent the rest of the day ... and will spend the next two days ... driving north on Manitoba Hwy. 6. We stopped for lunch at Oak Point, parked in a hotel's parking lot. We refilled with diesel again at Fairford, filling up at a cheap ( tax free, I think ) fuel bar on the Pinaymootang Reservation where we were visited by an extremely friendly, although skunk smelling Labrador Retriever / Border Collie rez dog. It wanted to go drivey with us. HA HA HA ! We stopped for the night about halfway between Winnipeg and Thompson at Devil's Lake Rest Area, beside a small, pretty lake, in the most Godforsaken middle of nowhere we've ever been ! Muskeg, muskeg, and more muskeg ! Well ... at least we haven't reached frozen tundra yet. HA HA HA !
Saw a Timber Wolf cross the road in front of us today.
Tuesday ; Devil’s Lake Rest Area to Paint Lake Provincial Park, Northern Manitoba
Mix of sun and clouds, intermittent light rain, cold.
Late last night I discovered water in the cupboard under the sink. I removed everything from the cupboard and identified the leak location. Not surprisingly, it was part of the water pump installation. I awoke early this morning to get an early start to the day, and repair the leak. This evening, when we stopped for the night, and verified that the leak was indeed resolved, I removed the inverter to ensure no water had leaked underneath it, then reinstalled it. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of water pump drama !
This morning, after repairing the leak ... and using non-chlorinated brake parts cleaner ( a.k.a. dry cleaning fluid ) to clean some appetizer stains off the lapels of the sports coat I wore to my niece's wedding a week and a half ago ... we left Devil's Lake Rest Area and continued northbound on Hwy. 6. A flat, straight highway, no hills, no curves, across endless muskeg. Boring and tiring ! We stopped at Grand Rapids and refilled with diesel at another rez fuel bar with cheap fuel. Grand Rapids was the only town in hundreds of km. of driving. About an hour or so after Grand Rapids we pulled off the highway into a gravel pit in the middle of nowhere to have lunch and a very brief nap.
After Hwy. 6 merged with Hwy. 39 coming from Flin Flon to the west, we stopped at a rest area / day use area and hiked a short distance to see the lovely Pisew Falls. We continued north on Hwy. 6 all the way to Paint Lake Provincial Park, further than we had planned to go today, and not far from our destination of Thompson. The campground at Paint Lake Provincial Park was closed for the season. We parked overnight at the marina boat launch parking lot.
Wednesday ; Paint Lake Provincial Park to Thompson & return
Mostly cloudy. COLD !
This morning ( 37º F / 3º C ) as we drove from the Paint Lake Provincial Park marina parking lot back to Hwy. 6 we noticed a sign to Lakeview Campground on Liz Lake, still in the provincial park. We drove down a gravel road to check it out. It was a lovely, small ( 15 sites ), unserviced campground, empty but still open.
We drove north on Hwy. 6 about 40 km. / 25 miles or so to the city of Thompson. Thompson was created in the late 50's / early 60's when INCO ( International Nickel Company ) discovered nickel there and opened a mine. The INCO mine is still the backbone of the local economy. Thompson is a small city, population about 15,000. And it's pretty much the "end of the road" in Northern Manitoba. There are a few gravel roads leading off to remote villages and Indian reservations, but ... the pavement ends in Thompson.
First thing we stumbled upon was the municipal sani-dump station as we entered town. So ... we dumped our waste holding tanks, refilled our freshwater tank, then decided that after a day of running errands in town we would prefer to return to Lakeview Campground on Liz Lake in Paint Lake Provincial Park instead of heading to the private campground in Thompson as originally planned.
We spent the day in Thompson, mostly running errands. We drove across town and found the private campground. We'll check in there tomorrow. We found Wal-Mart and did some shopping / replenishment of supplies. We wandered through the small ( and dying ) shopping mall that Wal-Mart anchors. We drove over to the Heritage North Museum and had lunch while parked in their parking lot, then went inside to the Visitor Information Centre contained within to get some trip planning information. We wandered around the two log buildings of the Heritage North Museum learning about the development of both the INCO mine and the city of Thompson. From there we headed over to another mall where the Elections Canada office for the upcoming federal election is located. We voted ! Voting in advance, at an Elections Canada office, away from one's home riding, is ... complicated. And time consuming. After voting we drove over to the Thompson Public Library. I went inside and worked online using their free Wi-Fi while Joanne sat in the truck and did some trip planning. She's already planning Louisiana about three weeks from now. HA HA HA ! We drove to the two car wash stations in Thompson, but both were indoors ( would you want to wash your vehicle outdoors when it's below freezing, as it is for eight months of the year here ? ) and the entrance doors were not tall enough for our truck and camper. They'll have to stay dirty until we're back in Winnipeg ... or ? I went to an RV dealer looking for some plumbing parts but they did not have what I wanted. I drove over to Home Hardware and found what I was looking for.
By then it was 5 PM and time to drive back to Paint Lake Provincial Park. We got parked in a site at Lakeview Campground at Liz Lake then went for a long walk. I'm suffering from a stiff and sore neck, partially from long hours of driving, partially from sleeping "funny", I guess. I was hoping that a long walk would help loosen my neck. It did, but only temporarily. While walking we saw a woodpecker we had not seen before, later using our bird book to identify it as a Three-Toed Woodpecker. We also saw a couple of grouse, invisible when standing still, visible only when moving, but were unable to identify whether they were Ruffed Grouse or Sharp-tailed Grouse.
Thursday ; Paint Lake Provincial Park to Thompson ... again
Sunny and chilly. Not a bad day for this far north. Joanne read an interesting statistic today ; 99.9% of North America's population lives south of Thompson. HA HA HA !
This morning we departed Lakeview Campground at Liz Lake in Paint Lake Provincial Park and drove north on Hwy. 6 to Thompson. Like yesterday, we stopped at the municipal sani-dump station on the south side of town to dump our waste holding tanks and refill with freshwater. Just because it was convenient to do so there, and we didn't know whether it would be easier or more difficult at the private campground we were heading to. We drove around Thompson checking out the diesel fuel prices at the four service stations in town. We went to Home Hardware again and bought more plumbing supplies for a project I wanted to undertake today.
GEEEEEZZZZZ ... a young man has just set up a tent beside us ( at 7 PM ). BRRRRR ... it's too cold to stay in a tent !
We arrived at McCreedy Campground on the north side of Thompson, just across the Burntwood River, near the float plane base, around lunch time. The proprietor was not home, so we parked in her driveway and had lunch. When she arrived back home we checked in and she directed us to a site. I began working on my plumbing project. None of the parts that I bought yesterday and today at Home Hardware "fit" ! HMPH !
I disconnected the electricity to the camper and we drove back into town to return the parts to Home Hardware for a refund.
Back at McCreedy Campground, I trimmed my beard ... outside ... BRRRRR ... then downloaded and processed photos. Joanne plugged in our little electric heater so the camper was toasty warm inside. I did some minor maintenance inside the camper. While Joanne prepared supper I got online to check e-mail and ... < wincing > ... check Churchill's weather for the next few days.
HOLY MOLY ! ! ! ! ! What astounding Aurora Borealis / Northern Lights ! ! !
I stepped outside the camper at 9:45 PM to discard a basin of dishwater and ... < blink blink > ... the sky was dancing with green light. We both went outside, and walked to the campground entrance to get away from lights, and stood there slack jawed, staring upwards for fifteen minutes, until we were near frozen ! The sky was filled with dancing green bands, with occasional red bands dancing within the green. I've seen it on TV, but ... < shaking head in wonderment > ... seeing it for real was amazing ! I tried to capture it on my camera, but ... it requires more photographic sophistication than my camera and me !
Friday ; leaving Thompson by train
Well ... here we are ( at 6 PM ) on the slow train to Churchill. We left Thompson an hour ago. I wonder why the train travels so slowly ?
We woke this morning to big, fluffy snowflakes falling. Around noon it turned into icy cold rain. BRRRRR ! We had a slow day, packing for the trip, and taking care of regular "camping" chores, made more difficult and unpleasant by the weather. Yesterday the campground owner assigned us to a campsite for one night only, with instructions to move today to a different assigned site. After moving I dumped the waste holding tanks but did not refill the freshwater tank, thinking that a mostly empty freshwater tank was less vulnerable to freezing risk. Joanne prepared a large, hot lunch, and packed a "picnic supper" to take on the train. We prepared and packed for the five day trip to Churchill, and walked over to the campground owner's home at 4 PM for a ride to the train station.
Once on the train I chatted with two young women seated near us. They were from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, headed to Churchill to see polar bears, like us. This was their first train ride. One of the young women was Ukrainian. We chatted about perogies. HA HA HA !
As the train departed Thompson, Joanne pulled out a sheet of paper, with lyrics written on it, and ( quietly ) sang the song she composed for me, to the tune of Elton John's "Daniel". Well ... how beautiful ! Thank you so very much, my dear. She's VERY excited about this polar bear viewing adventure. She originally had planned to wait until midnight to sing this song to me, in honour of my birthday, but then decided that waiting until midnight might not be such a good idea.
During the two hours or so of daylight on the train ride the scenery was more muskeg and boreal forest, like the drive up Hwy. 6. And ... mud ! Manitoba's license plate tagline should be changed from "Friendly Manitoba" to "Muddy Manitoba".
Saturday ; arriving Churchill by train ; Daniel's 61st Birthday
Good morning. And Happy Birthday to me ! It's 7 AM. We'll be arriving in Churchill in two hours.
It was dark by 7 PM last night. And it is just now beginning to be light again. Early October and darkness already lasts over twelve hours this far north.
We had a fitful sleep. As did most of the people on the train. The ride was not smooth. Lots of frost heaving makes for uneven tracks, I guess.
Yesterday evening the train stopped a few times, to drop off or pick up passengers, at a few very small Native settlements, and at the town of Gillam, a town created by a large hydroelectric dam development. When the train boarded in Thompson we noticed that most of the Native passengers were carrying pizza take out boxes. We assumed it was their dinner. We were wrong. They all were bringing take out pizzas from Thompson back to their homes. HA HA HA !
Last night I chatted briefly with the Native people sitting across the aisle from us. They were returning to their home in Pikwitonei, population about seventy. Nine children in school !
When darkness fell last night we were crossing muskeg and boreal forest. The Native settlements and Gillam were all covered in a fresh, thick layer of snow. This morning we are crossing barren tundra, with a light covering of snow. There are few trees, and they are scrawny little things. Seconds ago we passed a dozen or so derailed and smashed freight cars lying beside the track.
When we arrived in Churchill at 9 AM the owner of the hotel where we were staying was waiting for us at the train station. While driving us the very short distance from the train station to the hotel, he took us on a driving tour of Churchill. When we arrived at the hotel we went to the breakfast room for a continental breakfast and to wait for our rooms to be ready. We had breakfast and chatted with a couple from California for about an hour, then went to nap in our room. When we awoke around lunch time we showered and prepared to go walk around town. We stepped outside and ... into an honest to goodness Northern Manitoba blizzard. Heavy blowing snow, winds of 50 to 80 km. / hr. ( 30 to 50 MPH ).
We spent the afternoon walking from one side of town to the other, stopping at each restaurant, and the town bakery, and gift shops, walking into the wind and blowing snow all the way. We ended at Lazy Bear Lodge & Cafe, the most upscale restaurant in town. We definitely wish to have dinner there one night, but were uncertain whether that would be tonight or another night. We walked all the way back across town, but this time with the wind blowing the heavy snow at our backs.
Around 6 PM we walked down the side street facing our hotel to check out one of the two restaurants in town we had not yet seen, the Tundra Inn, Pub, & Restaurant, specializing in wild game dishes. We had my birthday dinner there. I had ... astoundingly good Elk meatloaf ! Joanne had fish and chips, made with Manitoba Pickerel. Both dishes were superb ! I think we will be returning there again before we leave Churchill.
While exploring town this afternoon the California couple discovered that there was a movie for the townspeople tonight at the community centre. They invited us to join them at this community event, and we happily did. The hotel owner drove us there. However ... once we arrived, and I saw that the movie was a Sci-Fi thing aimed at teenaged boys ... I bailed ! With Joanne's blessings. We returned to our hotel with the owner.
Over milk and pastries in our hotel room, Joanne presented me with a birthday card and gifts. Thank you very much, my dear.
DSK
Sunday, October 4, 2015
September 27 to October 3, 2015
Sunday ; Raining in the morning, sunny and warm in the afternoon.
This morning we left the Wal-Mart parking lot where we had parked overnight and returned to Joanne's sister's home to pick up Bo who had had spent overnight there. Then we headed north out of the city to the City of Winnipeg's Sewage Treatment Plant where we dumped our waste holding tanks before heading east of Winnipeg to my sister's home in Lorette. Today my sister hosted the "day after the wedding" party attended by the bride's family, the groom's family, and the wedding party.
We spent the lovely warm afternoon visiting and ... well, you know ... eating ! It's what my family does best ! Especially when my sister is the hostess ! HA HA HA ! Late in the afternoon we returned to Winnipeg, and Joanne's sister's home.
I am SO glad that the wedding and day after party are over ! < whispering > I really don't like coming to Winnipeg, and I really don't like family "events".
After having supper we joined Lorraine, her daughters, and some of her in-laws in the backyard for a bonfire in celebration of her nephew's 13th birthday. Shortly after 9 PM we walked across the rear laneway to the Churchill Drive riverfront parkway to view the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse. Very interesting phenomenon !
Monday ; Sunny but chilly.
This morning we took the three dogs for a walk on the nearby riverfront parkway. Dogs and we were all enjoying the pleasant fall sunshine, when all of a sudden ... I noticed Macie the Bichon Frise was chewing. HEY ... MACIE ... LEAVE IT ! That command resulted in her chewing faster. I reached down, grabbed her face, and wrestled her mouth open. SO ... she began to swallow ! Hard ! DAMN DOG ! I stuck my too large finger into her too small mouth, pushed way down into her throat and ... felt something. Macie was swallowing as hard as she could. With considerable difficulty I managed to wrestle the something out of her throat. OH MACIE ! ! ! A MOUSE ? ! ? BAD DOG ! ! !
This afternoon we went to run some errands. We drove to Superstore in St. Vital where I refilled Lanoire with diesel while Joanne went inside the store to buy some groceries. From there we drove a long way to where a propane supply business was supposed to be located, but ... it had moved ! I wasn't pleased ! I decided that refilling the camper's empty propane tank can wait until Wednesday when we go to my sister's in Lorette. We returned to Joanne's sister's home where we are "boondocking" on the front street.
Joanne went out for dinner with her cousins. I had dinner with Lorraine and the girls. Well ... actually ... the nieces ate dinner in front of the TV while I sat at the kitchen table with Lorraine. Immediately after quickly eating dinner Lorraine rushed off to a work event. After dinner the nieces and I took the three dogs for a long walk. Afterwards Madeleine and I baked some cookies. Then I worked on the slightly arduous task of removing the laptop screen from my sister's laptop ... now my "spare" ... and installing it onto my laptop. WOO-HOO ! My laptop once again is complete and functional.
Tuesday ; Still sunny and cold.
We had a somewhat lazy day. We puttered around with some chores. Joanne did some supper preparation tasks. We took the three dogs for a very long walk on the Churchill Drive riverfront parkway. I did some computer work, including some update and enhancement work on the laptop computer that my sister gave ( back ) to me. I'm hoping that it may be possible to convince her to continue using it, even though I have removed its screen. It works quite well configured to a desktop monitor screen.
This evening's dinner included Lorraine's "boyfriend" ( I don't know what the politically correct terminology is for a dating couple of their vintage ) and his developmentally disabled twenty year old daughter. Over dinner my big surprise was revealed to Joanne. Her sister, nieces and I are participating in this weekend's "Run For The Cure" in support of breast cancer, in Joanne's honour.
Just before dinner was served I was in the backyard with Bo and Macie the Bichon Frise when I witnessed an escaped dog drama taking place on the riverfront parkway.
I quickly rushed over there, and am quite proud to say that with at least a dozen or so other people ( read that as "bumbling idiots" ) involved in attempting to capture the running scared dog ... it was yours truly who caught him and held him for his owner. Well done, Daniel !
Wednesday ; A mix of sun and clouds, cool, a bit windy.
We took care of morning chores then took the three dogs for a walk along the riverfront parkway before we departed Joanne's sister's house. We drove to Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway 100 and found our way to Winnipeg's sewage treatment plant where we dumped our waste holding tanks. We drove a bit north of Winnipeg on Lagimodiere Blvd. / Hwy. 59 to the nearby village of Grande Pointe where we refilled both of the truck camper's propane tanks at Caledon Propane.
We drove back to Winnipeg on Hwy. 59, then onto the Perimeter Highway 100 and Trans-Canada Highway 1 east a few miles to Lorette where my sister lives. We spent the afternoon and evening visiting with my sister and brother-in-law. In the afternoon we sat around a campfire in their back yard. In the evening ... she fed us a huge supper of fresh Lake Winnipeg Pickerel and Pickerel Cheeks. Gee, she feeds us well. That's her "thing". HA HA HA !
Thursday ; Cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, mild.
This morning my brother-in-law drove me to the cheese factory in the nearby village of New Bothwell so I could buy some fresh cheese curds for the supper I asked my sister to prepare tonight. This afternoon he helped me with three jobs that I had to do on the truck and camper. First he helped me with a minor brake line repair I needed to do on the truck. Then he helped me remove and remount the WAVE infrared radiant catalytic heater in the camper. Lastly, we spent much of the afternoon removing the camper's water pump and installing a new one. By the time we were finished those jobs it was late afternoon. We retired to the back yard to drink beer around a campfire. Retirement has its privileges ! Thank you very much for all your help, Bud.
As I requested, my sister prepared poutine for supper, a French Canadian specialty dish ; French fries covered with fresh cheese curds and hot gravy. MMMMM ! Hard on the arteries, but ... worth it occasionally. HA HA HA ! Joanne and I provided a bottle of apple cider from Cawston, the tiny village adjacent to Keremeos, the tiny village we live near in B.C. The Cawston non-alcoholic apple cider went perfectly with the poutine. Thank you very much for the poutine for supper, and the borscht for lunch, Sharon.
Friday ; Sunny and mild.
This morning the we all piled into our truck ( including my sister and brother-in-law ) and headed east on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 about an hour or so to Sandilands Provincial Forest for some wild mushroom hunting. We traipsed around the woods in two different locations looking for a particular type of wild mushroom we know by its "ethnic" name, identified in our mushroom hunting book as "honey mushrooms". We found ... one ! But we found many other types of mushrooms that we collected, then attempted to identify using both our wild mushroom identification book and also my sister's. We were able to identify a few, but not most. We had a picnic lunch then drove back to my sister's home in Lorette.
This evening we drove into Winnipeg to meet our friend Shirley whom we've known since high school and her husband Darcy whom we've known since shortly after high school. So ... friends for more than forty years ! We had dinner with them in a restaurant ( thank you for treating us to dinner, Darcy ) then spent the evening chatting.
Saturday ; Sunny and cool.
My sister and brother-in-law were away from home for most of the day, so we spent much of the day alone at their home taking care of routine chores. Joanne did laundry.
I did some month end accounting, bank account reconciliations, investment updates, etc.
Late in the afternoon we headed to Winnipeg to shop at Wal-Mart ( in violation of our "no Wal-Martin' on weekends" rule ) before heading to Joanne's sister's for supper and an evening of chatting.
DSK
This morning we left the Wal-Mart parking lot where we had parked overnight and returned to Joanne's sister's home to pick up Bo who had had spent overnight there. Then we headed north out of the city to the City of Winnipeg's Sewage Treatment Plant where we dumped our waste holding tanks before heading east of Winnipeg to my sister's home in Lorette. Today my sister hosted the "day after the wedding" party attended by the bride's family, the groom's family, and the wedding party.
We spent the lovely warm afternoon visiting and ... well, you know ... eating ! It's what my family does best ! Especially when my sister is the hostess ! HA HA HA ! Late in the afternoon we returned to Winnipeg, and Joanne's sister's home.
I am SO glad that the wedding and day after party are over ! < whispering > I really don't like coming to Winnipeg, and I really don't like family "events".
After having supper we joined Lorraine, her daughters, and some of her in-laws in the backyard for a bonfire in celebration of her nephew's 13th birthday. Shortly after 9 PM we walked across the rear laneway to the Churchill Drive riverfront parkway to view the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse. Very interesting phenomenon !
Monday ; Sunny but chilly.
This morning we took the three dogs for a walk on the nearby riverfront parkway. Dogs and we were all enjoying the pleasant fall sunshine, when all of a sudden ... I noticed Macie the Bichon Frise was chewing. HEY ... MACIE ... LEAVE IT ! That command resulted in her chewing faster. I reached down, grabbed her face, and wrestled her mouth open. SO ... she began to swallow ! Hard ! DAMN DOG ! I stuck my too large finger into her too small mouth, pushed way down into her throat and ... felt something. Macie was swallowing as hard as she could. With considerable difficulty I managed to wrestle the something out of her throat. OH MACIE ! ! ! A MOUSE ? ! ? BAD DOG ! ! !
This afternoon we went to run some errands. We drove to Superstore in St. Vital where I refilled Lanoire with diesel while Joanne went inside the store to buy some groceries. From there we drove a long way to where a propane supply business was supposed to be located, but ... it had moved ! I wasn't pleased ! I decided that refilling the camper's empty propane tank can wait until Wednesday when we go to my sister's in Lorette. We returned to Joanne's sister's home where we are "boondocking" on the front street.
Joanne went out for dinner with her cousins. I had dinner with Lorraine and the girls. Well ... actually ... the nieces ate dinner in front of the TV while I sat at the kitchen table with Lorraine. Immediately after quickly eating dinner Lorraine rushed off to a work event. After dinner the nieces and I took the three dogs for a long walk. Afterwards Madeleine and I baked some cookies. Then I worked on the slightly arduous task of removing the laptop screen from my sister's laptop ... now my "spare" ... and installing it onto my laptop. WOO-HOO ! My laptop once again is complete and functional.
Tuesday ; Still sunny and cold.
We had a somewhat lazy day. We puttered around with some chores. Joanne did some supper preparation tasks. We took the three dogs for a very long walk on the Churchill Drive riverfront parkway. I did some computer work, including some update and enhancement work on the laptop computer that my sister gave ( back ) to me. I'm hoping that it may be possible to convince her to continue using it, even though I have removed its screen. It works quite well configured to a desktop monitor screen.
This evening's dinner included Lorraine's "boyfriend" ( I don't know what the politically correct terminology is for a dating couple of their vintage ) and his developmentally disabled twenty year old daughter. Over dinner my big surprise was revealed to Joanne. Her sister, nieces and I are participating in this weekend's "Run For The Cure" in support of breast cancer, in Joanne's honour.
Just before dinner was served I was in the backyard with Bo and Macie the Bichon Frise when I witnessed an escaped dog drama taking place on the riverfront parkway.
I quickly rushed over there, and am quite proud to say that with at least a dozen or so other people ( read that as "bumbling idiots" ) involved in attempting to capture the running scared dog ... it was yours truly who caught him and held him for his owner. Well done, Daniel !
Wednesday ; A mix of sun and clouds, cool, a bit windy.
We took care of morning chores then took the three dogs for a walk along the riverfront parkway before we departed Joanne's sister's house. We drove to Winnipeg's Perimeter Highway 100 and found our way to Winnipeg's sewage treatment plant where we dumped our waste holding tanks. We drove a bit north of Winnipeg on Lagimodiere Blvd. / Hwy. 59 to the nearby village of Grande Pointe where we refilled both of the truck camper's propane tanks at Caledon Propane.
We drove back to Winnipeg on Hwy. 59, then onto the Perimeter Highway 100 and Trans-Canada Highway 1 east a few miles to Lorette where my sister lives. We spent the afternoon and evening visiting with my sister and brother-in-law. In the afternoon we sat around a campfire in their back yard. In the evening ... she fed us a huge supper of fresh Lake Winnipeg Pickerel and Pickerel Cheeks. Gee, she feeds us well. That's her "thing". HA HA HA !
Thursday ; Cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon, mild.
This morning my brother-in-law drove me to the cheese factory in the nearby village of New Bothwell so I could buy some fresh cheese curds for the supper I asked my sister to prepare tonight. This afternoon he helped me with three jobs that I had to do on the truck and camper. First he helped me with a minor brake line repair I needed to do on the truck. Then he helped me remove and remount the WAVE infrared radiant catalytic heater in the camper. Lastly, we spent much of the afternoon removing the camper's water pump and installing a new one. By the time we were finished those jobs it was late afternoon. We retired to the back yard to drink beer around a campfire. Retirement has its privileges ! Thank you very much for all your help, Bud.
As I requested, my sister prepared poutine for supper, a French Canadian specialty dish ; French fries covered with fresh cheese curds and hot gravy. MMMMM ! Hard on the arteries, but ... worth it occasionally. HA HA HA ! Joanne and I provided a bottle of apple cider from Cawston, the tiny village adjacent to Keremeos, the tiny village we live near in B.C. The Cawston non-alcoholic apple cider went perfectly with the poutine. Thank you very much for the poutine for supper, and the borscht for lunch, Sharon.
Friday ; Sunny and mild.
This morning the we all piled into our truck ( including my sister and brother-in-law ) and headed east on Trans-Canada Hwy. 1 about an hour or so to Sandilands Provincial Forest for some wild mushroom hunting. We traipsed around the woods in two different locations looking for a particular type of wild mushroom we know by its "ethnic" name, identified in our mushroom hunting book as "honey mushrooms". We found ... one ! But we found many other types of mushrooms that we collected, then attempted to identify using both our wild mushroom identification book and also my sister's. We were able to identify a few, but not most. We had a picnic lunch then drove back to my sister's home in Lorette.
This evening we drove into Winnipeg to meet our friend Shirley whom we've known since high school and her husband Darcy whom we've known since shortly after high school. So ... friends for more than forty years ! We had dinner with them in a restaurant ( thank you for treating us to dinner, Darcy ) then spent the evening chatting.
Saturday ; Sunny and cool.
My sister and brother-in-law were away from home for most of the day, so we spent much of the day alone at their home taking care of routine chores. Joanne did laundry.
I did some month end accounting, bank account reconciliations, investment updates, etc.
Late in the afternoon we headed to Winnipeg to shop at Wal-Mart ( in violation of our "no Wal-Martin' on weekends" rule ) before heading to Joanne's sister's for supper and an evening of chatting.
DSK
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