20030903                   Open new window with today’s pictures.

Semptember 03, 2003
Wednesday


Start:   Riding Mountain National Park, Wasagaming CG, Wasagaming MB
End:     Travellers RV Resort, Winnipeg MB
Miles:   171
Hi Temp: 73.8
Lo Temp: 47.1


We rose, dressed, and went "downtown" to a coffee shop and bakery for breakfast. The morning was dry and clear and cool, just a perfect late summer morning.  Breakfast was great (first time out for breakfast in a long time).

Then we went back and got ready to roll. We refueled just outside the park and continued south to TC-16 (Trans-Canada 16).  We went east and then south on it to its end when it joins TC-1.  TC-1 goes from the east to Vancouver and Victoria BC. TC-16 branches off and goes almost parallel to TC-1, but more to the north, to Prince Rupert BC (where we got off the ferry from Vancouver Island some months back).

TC-1 is a four lane divided highway at this point, so we just rolled east with a million trucks till we got to the Winnipeg outskirts.  There, we branched off on the bypass. The bypass went south about 10 miles, then swung to the east, and eventually to the northeast and rejoins TC-1 a mile past our campground for the night. I swear, you can't even *see* downtown Winnipeg from the bypass.  It's all wheat fields.  Talk about planning for expansion.

We got set up in our site in this former Yogi Bear campground. I took Dolores and the laundry up to the laundry room in the truck. Then I went off to get the e-mail; I hadn't been near a modem in a week or more. I got set up, but the telephone wants a credit card read so it can charge for a quarter for a local call. The reader in the phone must be really touchy; it wouldn't take my Mastercard or Dolores's, nor Dolores's Visa, but it finally read my Visa.  Stupid thing. There were 250 or so e-mail  messages - I just downloaded them and returned to retrieve Dolores and the clothes.

We put things away and I checked the e-mails for any disasters.  Not finding any, we talked about dinner out and came to the idea of going to a German restaurant.  Winnipeg had one in the Yellow Pages, so we went there. We drove straight through downtown Winnipeg on TC-1 at 6:00pm or so.  It wasn't too bad.  Now we know how to get downtown for tomorrow's look-around. Finally, we came to Gasthaus Gutenberg.

Dolores had shrimp cocktail (somewhat different from the usual), then Wienerschnitzel with red cabbage and pan-fried potatoes with onions. I had herring in sour cream and then rouladen. Dolores had a little German wine and I stuck with my Warsteiner. Very heavy food, very filling, very good.

We waddled out of the place to find the sun setting and the sky absolutely clear.  It went from twilight to dark in about 30 seconds when the sun did set. We went out of town to the west and came back around it on the bypass (again) to avoid going through downtown in the dark (sevaral turns, somewhat confusing). 

After getting back to the little house, I took the computer to the modem station and sent replies to those e-mails that needed them. Now we're settled and taking it easy.  The temperature is dropping rapidly, going to the low 40's tonight but up into the 80's (yuk!) tomorrow.  The lady running the place tonight said that this summer had been hot and humid and in her word, miserable.

We'll dress for it and go look at the town.

20030904                    Open new window with today’s pictures.

September 04, 2003
Thursday


Start:   Travellers RV Resort, Winnipeg MB
End:     same
Miles:   0
Hi Temp: 86.5
Lo Temp: 43.2


We slept in this morning and loafed most of the morning away.  Then we stirred and went downtown.

We found free parking in a lot behind the VIA railroad station, Union Station, one of those classic big old stations in major cities.  We walked through the station to the front on Main Street, then up Main to Portage Street.  This is the original site of the town, but now it's the financial center of the region.

We walked west on Portage for a bit, looking in shops. Then we turned south and walked to the walkway along the Assiniboine (sp?) River.  The rivers here have walkways along them for miles.  We walked back east to the original port site (steamboats), then to the junction of the Assiniboine with the Red River of the North, which comes up from North Dakota and Minnesota and eventually goes to Hudson's Bay.

Winnipeg is a bi-lingual town. There's a large French contingent here.  The street-signs are in both languages. The public signboards explaining the features of the Forks park are in three languages (English, French, and Cree).

We had something to drink and sat on a portico overlooking the historic port.  Then we went into the Forks Market, which houses shops selling food items, and tee-shirt shops, and shops selling clutter of many types. We picked up a few gifts, then hiked back to the truck.

The truck was dirty from our trips around Riding Mountain National Park a few days ago, so we stopped and got it washed. Now, at least, you can read the license plate.  Then we returned to the campground and the trailer.

It was a very nice day, a little warm in the direct sunlight.  Very clear, wind from the south. The temperatures are supposed to get up close to 90 for the next few days. I suppose that will get to Minnesota and Wisconsin also, where we're going next. Tomorrow, we're going to Fort Frances, Ontario, across the border from International Falls, Minnesota.

We've done a little chicken in white wine with dill and thyme dinner, and now we're going to prepare to move tomorrow and then read or otherwise take it easy.

Oh, yes, Dolores got up in the middle of the night and went outside. The aurora borealis was out, she says, but quite faint.  At least now she's seen it twice.