Winnipeg & Beyond

Winnipeg is only a couple of hours west of Kenora. Nice change after three long days on the road. Spent Saturday and Sunday with Penny Gilbert the wife of Marci's late cousin Paul Fortier. Penny lives in a downtown neighbourhood with tight parking so we dropped the trailer at Luc Fortier's (Penny's son) place in suburban La Salle about twenty minutes away. We used the time to service the car, enjoy a wonderful pedicure and a couple of good meals. The weather was outstanding.

Hit the road early Monday morning headed for Moose Jaw (half way to Calgary). Eight hours  of a long straight road with nothing terribly outstanding about the surrounding "flatness" other than our improved gas mileage (no hills to tow the trailer up). Hit a few showers just outside of Regina other than that the weather was sunny and quite warm. Lots of surface water on the fields. Saw many shore birds staging for their southward migration which should start in earnest in a week or so.

Arrived at the Super 8  motel in "little Chicago" (Moose Jaw) around 5:00pm. Got caught up in the 5 second traffic jam just outside of town at the local potash mine due to a shift change. Unhooked the trailer and headed downtown for Thai food. Moose Jaw was the rail head for illegal liquor entering the US through Chicago, during that country's prohibition era. The town plays up its shady past as a tourist attraction as can be seen from this picture of a local hotel.

Enjoyed a good Thai meal and headed back to the hotel for a shower and some sleep. More "Flatness" tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing my sister Christine and husband Tom tomorrow. Will stick around Calgary for a day or so to shop for warm cloths and buy new six ply tires for the cars journey up the Dempster.