Sunday ; Sunny and warm.
We spent the day preparing for departure tomorrow for a five day camping trip. We both loaded stuff into the camper and truck, Joanne packing and loading much more than me. I did some preventive maintenance on both the truck and camper.
Late in the afternoon we drove to the nearby village of Pansy, to buy supper at their “fall dinner”. Fall dinners are a big deal here in rural Manitoba. Every town and village in Southern Manitoba has a fund raising, harvest celebrating “fall dinner” in September or October. Being a Ukrainian village the Pansy fall dinner was a smorgasbord of traditional Ukrainian dishes. One “to go” plate was enough to feed both of us … and the Ukrainian army !
Monday ; Steinbach, Manitoba to Rushing River Provincial Park, Ontario
Sunny and very warm.
Late yesterday we received … for the second time in the 15 ½ months that we have lived in our condo … a “cease and desist” order from our “Condo Gestapo” prohibiting us from parking our truck and camper in the visitor parking lot for a couple of days before and after each trip to facilitate loading and unloading. So late yesterday afternoon we returned the truck and camper to our site in a nearby storage yard, despite it not being fully loaded yet for departure this morning.
That goes a long way to explaining the bad attitude I had for much of today !
We were ready to leave our condo about 11:30 this morning. We loaded the fresh food / fridge items into a tote box, drove to the storage yard in the minivan, loaded the food into the camper fridge, drove both vehicles back to the condo, parked the minivan back into the underground parkade, and hit the road at noon.
North on Hwy. 12 to Trans-Canada Hwy. 1, then east towards Ontario. We stopped to have a late lunch at Falcon Lake Provincial Park. After lunch we continued east into Ontario, planning to stop at Safeway in Kenora to buy some hamburger buns and refill with diesel at Mobil or Esso. SHEESH ! Couldn’t find the Safeway ! Couldn’t find the Esso or Mobil. The Safeway store has relocated since the last time we have been in Kenora, which was probably … <thinking> … 2005, when we were campground hosts at West Hawk Lake ! And after the frustration of finding the Safeway I gave up looking for Mobil or Esso !
We continued east on Ontario’s Trans-Canada Hwy 17 for awhile, then a very short distance south on Hwy. 71 to Rushing River Provincial Park. I have been coming to Rushing River since about 1962. I remember wading in the rapids (hence Rushing River) with my brother when he was about a year old, and him losing his little white boot baby shoes in the “rapids”. His big brother was in trouble for that one ! He spent the rest of that camping trip shoeless ! HA HA HA !
We got settled into our chosen site, number 112. My family spent Canada’s 100th birthday on this site, on July 1, 1967. Another year my brother and I “rescued and adopted” a large Painted Turtle at the water’s edge on this site. Neither the first nor the last “brilliant idea” my brother and I hatched ! ! ! Joanne and I scattered our first dog Misty’s ashes into Dogtooth Lake at the water’s edge on this site in the late 1980’s. Camped on this site at the end of October one year with my high school buddy Gabe, after the provincial park campground was closed for the winter. We bathed in Dogtooth Lake. YIKES ! BRRRRR ! ! !
From 6 PM to 7 PM Joanne and I went for a long walk around the large campground. WHEW … hilly campground ! Hard on our old knees ! Upon returning to our campsite I lit a campfire and cooked an excellent meal of cheeseburgers on the open fire.
Tuesday ; Rushing River Provincial Park on Dogtooth Lake, Ontario
Sunny and cool, a bit windy.
HMPH ! Overnight something stole my leather “campfire cooking” gloves off our picnic table. Raccoons ? I understand that the odours of cooking/food on the gloves would be attractive, but really … what are they/it going to do with a pair of food scented leather gloves ? ! ?
Today was a very lazy day, as planned. That’s what this short “vacation” is about ; relaxation. This morning we made the long walk to the campground’s shower building, showered, than made the long walk back to our campsite. Two birds with one stone ; showers and morning exercise walk. We spent the afternoon reading and … well … I napped ! HEY … doing nothing is tiring. HA HA HA !
I fished for awhile, catching nothing. We went for another walk late in the afternoon. In the evening I made a campfire and we cooked bannock dogs on it.
Wednesday ; Rushing River Provincial Park on Dogtooth Lake, Ontario
Sunny and mild.
Yesterday … rinse and repeat ! HA HA HA ! Except today I cooked a steak on the campfire. And foil packets of potatoes, onions, carrots, and golden beets.
Thursday ; Rushing River Provincial Park, Ontario to Steinbach, Manitoba
Cold and raining.
We returned home today, one day earlier than planned, due to bad weather and a “power” malfunction in the camper. The new “house” battery that we purchased less than two months ago in Flin Flon has “died”.
We left Rushing River Provincial Park around noon and dawdled home. We took a detour near Kenora to drive to the community of Laclu. We have friends who live there and we wanted to see the small lakeside community. We stopped about halfway home to have an exercise walk, late lunch, and a nap at Falcon Lake Provincial Park. We arrived back home around 6 PM.
Friday ; Cold and raining.
Saturday ; Steinbach to Winnipeg & return
Low overcast, light rain, cool.
Around noon we left home heading for Winnipeg to attend a travel expo at a hotel conference centre near the Winnipeg airport. First we went to a Filipino supermarket in the “West End” to have lunch at their “meals to go” café. And after a quick browse of the store we decided to return after the travel expo to impulse shop for new to us ethnic foods.
We ate lunch in our minivan in the supermarket parking lot. It was EXCELLENT !
We drove to the hotel near the airport and walked through the exhibition hall visiting the many travel/tour operator vendors’ displays, picking up information of interest to us. We returned to the Filipino supermarket and bought many exotic (to us) food items. From the supermarket in the “West End” we drove across the city to the Crossroads shopping area. I dropped Joanne off at Bianco Amour’s Liquidation Centre, drove across the street to Princess Auto, bought a few items I wanted, then returned to Bianca Amour’s to meet Joanne as she finished her “scratch and dent” grocery shopping. Last stop was a nearby Dollar Tree before returning to Steinbach around 6:30 PM. As we drove I listened on the radio to the final quarter of the Blue Bombers football game in Hamilton. HMPH !
DSK
