Winnipeg! Home of Alice and Bill, my incredibly cool cousins, and where my Dad grew up (and saw the construction of the Hudson's Bay downtown in the early 1900's). But how did I get here.....(insert wavey lines and music to go back a bit, like Bob and Ted).
So how is it possible to turn a 780 km trip from Saskatoon (which Mapquest says is 8 hours, 52 minutes of driving time) into a three day journey? Damn, at this rate, I'll be in Ottawa in September! Maybe I just take more interesting routes than they do. And get distracted by shiny things, apparently.
I only spent one night and most of a day in Saskatoon, and then moved on. I really wanted to stay and connect with a buddy of mine there, especially with the Jazz Festival about to start (Buddy Guy, Jeff Healey, many others), and Aboriginal Day festivities on. BUT we couldn't make it happen, which in hindsight is OK. Heck, I might still be there! Lying in a ditch somewhere, moaning. Or something equally messy.
Night 1: Lanigan. I sang most of the way there until I decided to figure out how to change a fuse. Whoo hoo! Pretty exciting stuff.
Night 2: Gilbert Plains, MB. Shiny object by the road: a huge golf ball dressed in Scottish garb, carrying a hockey stick. The town mascot (serious! check out the pic!). Obviously my kind of place - I hit the brakes, did a u-turn in the middle of the highway, drove around town, found the campground, parked beside some behemoth thing with a satellite dish, put the roof up, moved to the second floor (loft style) bedroom, and went to sleep. Just in the nick of time, cause then the heavens opened and dumped. Golfers running and screaming. Funny.
Night 3: Gimli, MB, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Gorgeous place, but famous mostly for an emergency Air Canada landing many years ago because of an imperial/metric mix up on the fuel. And they have a viking. Pickerel and chips for dinner, a $6 movie at the local theater, and a nice sleep behind the Sears catalogue outlet.
Notable things along the way:
The transition from Saskatchewan to Manitoba is striking. Right at the border, all of a sudden there is a nice little valley and a big lake and then a hill, which is all pretty exciting after driving through Sask. Then a tiny little place by a lake - Roblin maybe - with a great little ice cream shop. And a really pretty drive straight east to Lake Winnipeg.
Finding an internet site in Dauphin Manitoba? Um, yeah. Not so much.
Northern Sask and Man seem to be filled with strange little towns that are either pretty and charming or complete dumps - nothing in between. The dumps are interesting though - how does that work when everyone in town collectively decides at the same time not to paint or repair anything? And then I come along 10 years later and judge them. Hmmm.
Gotta run - even more exciting stuff to write about, so stay tuned. And tell your friends. I want a book and royalty deal of some sort.
