Day 33 - Prawda (MB) to Kenora (ON)

109.1 km - Total so far 3025.33 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5253906

We had a lovely evening at the campground. Hélène made hamburger meat with mushrooms and powdered potatoes. That meal has become our comfort food after a challenging or wet day. We got to eat in a fully screened summer kitchen away from mosquitoes. These mosquitoes appear to be getting more numerous and aggressive as we move EAST. Can't wait to see what they will be like when we hit Sault Ste-Marie.

Hamburger meat, mushrooms and powdered potatoes,,,,,yummy!!!!!!

During the night a critter chewed on Helene's mud flap, sort of 'Meals on Wheels'

The happy couple after their 'Ukrainian Breakfast' in Falcon Beach, MB

This picture is dedicated to one of our readers

This gentleman was photographed placing graffiti on the post holding the 'Welcome to Ontario' sign

This is the message he left...he should stick to writing as he can't draw!

We rarely saw flowers in the ditches of the Prairie provinces 

One of hundreds of inukshuks that are all along the highway, Helene is once again wearing her rocket pack

We had a nice relaxed ride down Hwy 1 and we could really notice the change in terrain and geography. We are now in rolling terrain (terrain valloneux) with trees on either side and more and more rocks and rock faces. We are no longer in the Prairies. There are marshes along the highway but they are not home to ducks and other wildlife as they were in Manitoba. We saw no sign of human life between Prawda and Falcon Beach  (36.6 km away). We had a bit of excitement when another cyclist snuck up and startled Hélène and she let out a scream. Daniel (the cyclist behind Hélène) apologized. He informed us that he was cycling to St-John's, Nfld and planned on being there by the 24th of July. He was lightly equipped and covered 200 km a day. We wished him a safe trip and watched him quickly accelerate away from us. We felt like we were stopped as we watched him go. 

As we crossed the border into Ontario, we could see a significant increase in the number of lakes of all sizes. Have a look at the GPS data and you will see what I am talking about. Lakes everywhere! From the border, we had another 60 km or so. Like every other day, we aimed to be in Kenora at a reasonable time. By 4 pm, we were at the grocery store by 4:30 pm at the Beer store and the motel by 5:15. We are staying at a motel on the EAST side of town as there are no campgrounds in or close to Kenora.

Our objective for tomorrow is Dryden about 140 km. We understand from talking with the motel owner that we have a number of nice hill climbs on our way to Dryden.

In a previous post we had mentioned that jalapino and cheese tortillas with peanut butter and jam was a good combination. We also tried vegetable tortilla and peanut butter and jam. DO NOT try that combination at home as it takes an incredible amount of will power to chow down on that. Not a good combination.

67.79 miles - Total so far 1,879.85 miles

Day 32 - Winnipeg to Prawda

134.8 km - Total so far 2,916.23 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5244378

After our day of not pedaling, we were once again aiming for an early start. We looked out the window to see what would turn out to be a thunderstorm. Needless to say any thoughts of leaving early where quashed. By 7:30 the skies were clear and we got ourselves ready to go. 

We had mapped out a route the night before. It required us to use the network of cycling routes to get us quickly and safely through the downtown, over the bridge to St-Boniface and out to Hwy 115. We would have been quicker getting to Hwy 115 had we not stopped for pictures along the way. We really enjoyed our brief stay in Winnipeg as there is so much to see and do and we but scratched the surface. I am sure that you also have heard of Winnipeg in the last couple of days thanks to the loudspeaker broadcasts coming from the Winnipeg police helicopter.

Cycling lane in the Exchange district

.

The old Winnipeg police station

Something very odd about the front entrance to the old Winnipeg Police Station

The guy in the letter A is Louis Riel who helped make Manitoba a province of Canada in 1870. We was hung in Saskatchewan 15 years later.

You will see from the GPS data that after a while we made a sharp turn to the right (SOUTH) from Hwy 15 unto Hwy 12 and then left (EAST) on Hwy 1. Turns out the road surface was terrible on Hwy 15 and there was nothing to see. We ended up on a much nicer road Hwy 1 (Trans Canada Highway) but still there was nothing to see. We got a nice surprise in that we saw Millon having lunch at a picnic table by the side of the road on Hwy 1. Sometimes, one of the lanes on Hwy 1 was closed to traffic due to construction and we slipped in behind the barriers. This gave us a nice road were we got to ride side by side once in a while.

We had lunch under one of the overpasses on the Trans Canada Highway. Reminds you of the 417 doesn't it

The winds were not favourable to us today and we got in later than expected at the campsite in Prawda, We also got caught by a 40 minute downpour. Today was not what we would call a memorable day. Tomorrow will be much better!

Tonight is our last night in beautiful Manitoba. Tomorrow we will be sleeping in our home province (Ontario) in the Town of Kenora.


83.76 miles - Total so far 1,812.06 miles

Day 31 - Winnipeg Rest Day

137.7 km - Total so far 2,681.03 km - Rest day

After our lovely continental breakfast at EconoLodge, Hélène and I carried on with separate tasks. Hélène headed off to the laundromat and I went outside to dry and waterproof our tent. The tent could not have been wetter had I soaked it in the tub overnight. The fun part about drying a tent downtown is all the comments you get from passer by. A lady waiting for the bus wanted to know what I was setting the tent in aide of. Another gentleman asked if it took that long to catch a bus. Two gentlemen told me it was not a good place to set up a tent,  with one suggesting I find a bush. I was happy to finally pack up my newly waterproofed tent and head inside after 2 hours.

Where not to set up your tent

With the tent and laundry done, Hélène and I cycled towards Valour Road. On the way there, we came across a huge mural of an elderly gentleman and his bicycle. The mural was painted in memory of Walter Zielke Ruesch (Zoohky).

Mural of John Hjollason Winnserv

A little while later, we made it to the North end of Valour Road. As we cycled down South, we could not help but notice how well kept the houses and lawns were on that street. There seemed to be a particular pride of ownership that we had not observed on Spruce St (just before Valour Road). As we reached Sergeant St, we came across the mural of the 3 Victoria Cross winners that all lived on the 700 block of the then Pine Street. The City of Winnipeg changed the name to Valour Road in 1925. There is also a nearby park with a memorial dedicated to these three individuals. 

Mural of the three Victoria Cross winners: Sgt.-Maj. Frederick William Hall, Lt. Robert Shankland and Cpl. Lionel B. Clarke

After Valour Road, we got back to the hotel and got ready for our pedestrian segment of our 'rest day'. We took a taxi to the Forks and walked around the shopping mall set up in former rail yard horse barns. We then took a short boat cruise down the Assiniboine and then the Red River. The Forks area is significant in that it is the junction of two major rivers and a meeting ground for First Nations. After the cruise, we crossed the river and headed to St-Boniface to visit the largest French-Canadian population outside of Quebec. A very brief walk in St-Boniface and we were now heading to the Exchange District of Winnipeg.

What is left of St Boniface Cathedral after the fire

Hotel de Poste (Post Office) St - Boniface

Oldest building in Winnipeg is actually in St - Boniface

Human Rights Museum

In the early 1900s, Winnipeg was a fast growing and thriving community. Many sea travellers from Europe would get off the ship in Halifax, board the train, stop in Winnipeg for a bit, back on the train to Vancouver and then get on a boat and sail to the Orient. There was plenty of money and much of it went into building. There are many large buildings built in the Chicago style of architecture near the core of Winnipeg. Unfortunately, things started slowing in 1915 when the Panama Canal opened and ships could sail directly to the Orient. There was practically no new large scale construction for the next 50 years. These old buildings are found in the Exchange district of Winnipeg and their numbers really give you the impression you are travelling back in the time. This district was also extensively used by Hollywood when they want to recreate Chicago of the 1920s.We also walked the former headquarters of the International Brotherhood of Magicians (IBM), founded in 1922 by a local gentleman from Winnipeg, MJG McMullen.

A dinner circa 1915

The Birks building 

Lombard Street next to Birks building

Re-use of old building fronts in new construction, Red River College

Bank of Montreal, Portage and Main

Still smiling after almost 5 weeks of pedalling...the racoon look is not nearly as noticeable anymore

We have not yet determined what our objective is for tomorrow but lets just say we will be that much closer to Ontario,

One of you asked how one eats with the bug suit on. There is a horizontal zipper at the front of the suit just above the chest. We don't know if we will be able to keep mosquitoes out as we feed ourselves. A question begging to be answered.

Thank you Pauline for suggesting the Forks and St-Boniface, we really enjoyed Winnipeg and could have spent more time.  We will explore Winnipeg some more during another trip.

85.56 miles - Total so far 1,665.91 miles

Day 30 - Portage la Prairie to Winnipeg

100.4 km - Total so far 2,781.43 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5224282

It started to rain in Portage just as we were about to go to bed at 8:30 and rained on an off all night. As we were about to get up at 5:15 am, it once again started to rain and it continued to rained pretty hard until about 8 am. That blew any chances of us having an early start. After packing a very wet but very clean tent, we headed to Tim Horton's for breakfast. 

Last evening, we also had our first serious encounter with mosquitoes since our trip started. These little nasty beasts were plenty and voraceous. It was our first opportunity to test the bug suits we bought from Lee Valley and they generally worked well as long as you don't have any exposed flesh. We will certainly get another chance to test them in Northern Ontario.

Blogging while wearing bug suit and fingerless gloves

We finally got going at 9:05 am. We cycled on Hwy 1A through Portage la Prairie and got on Hwy 26 after about 6 km. It is a somewhat longer ride to Winnipeg when taking Hwy 26 but much less traffic. We were able to ride side by side when we wanted too. We had favourable winds pretty much all the way. Hwy 26 stops at Hwy 1 at a distance of 14 km from Winnipeg, so for the last bit we had to ride on the shoulder of Hwy 1 that eventually changes to Portage Avenue as you enter Winnipeg.

Amazing how satellite technology (GPS) can impact agriculture. We think the farmer had fun planting his fields.

Our friend Jacques refers to these as 'military fields' as everything is aligned

We spotted this little guy trying to eat his way to the bottom

In Winnipeg, we stopped at Olympia Cycle and Ski for them to balance the front wheel on Hélène's bike and to verify her work replacing a spoke. The new spoke had been installed properly and its tension verified with a spoke tension meter. The technician quickly balanced the wheel for free as a service they provide to touring cyclists. We also bought Pro Link chain oil, that we find to be a superior oil as it lubricates the chain, yet keeps it from getting all gummed up with dust and other such things from the road. 

We also stopped at the Mountain Equipment Co-op to buy a few items. The GPS was still on when we brought the bikes inside which explains the funny track you see on RidewithGPS.

Nutrition: Below we included a few pictures of Hélène's kitchen, showing spice bag, frying pan, one burner stove,1.8l pot and what is left of our seasoned olive oil (bottom right). The stir fry and weiners was for supper and the eggs in the pot are for snacks the following day

Hélène's kitchen and our radio

Spider weiners and the pot cozy helping the eggs finish cooking after being brought to hard boil

Peanut butter and jam tortilla wraps. Using different types of tortillas keeps it exciting even after 30 days on the road. Jalapeno and cheese goes suprisingly well with PB and jam.

Since this our rest day, we have booked oursleves into the EconoLodge for the next two nights. No firm plans yet for the rest day other than a visit to Valour Road.


62.39 miles - Total so far 1,728.30 miles

Day 29 - Minnedosa to Portage la Prairie

137.7 km - Total so far 2,681.03 kms - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5214772

We left Minnedosa at 7 am with a destination of Portage la Prairie, 130 km away. Weather conditions were superbed at 12 degrees and with the wind from the WEST. Finally we were going to experience those nice tail winds after 29 days on the road. We had a nice gentle climb from Minnedosa and we hit Hwy 16 all warmed up. We quickly got up to between 26 and 32 kph effortlessly cycling down the road.

Within 1hr 30mins, we were in Neepawa having coffee at McDonald's. We took a quick ride through looking for Margaret Laurence's house but could not find it. Neepawa is a really nice little town and well worth a stop.

Since this is Father's Day, we decided to make today a man's day. I am sure some of our lady readers will appreciate the pictures. It was after all Hélène's idea to check out the heavy machinery and she really enjoyed climbing over the equipment and taking the pictures. 

We had a really nice ride today and enjoyed almost 120 km with the wind to our back. We did have about 8 km with a cross wind but that was just before we left Hwy 16 and turn EAST onto Hwy 1. Hwy 1 was freshly paved which is nice  but we were bothered by the constant rumble of cars and trucks passing by us a full lane over. 

A Prairie sized sprayer

Hélène is 5 ft 2. 

Not sure what you do with that but imagine having to rotate the tires

How do I take this thing apart?

Blue is not my colour

Another nice toy

Hélène prefers the big red one

The full meal deal and with tracks....yeahhhhhhh

For the cyclists who may someday want to do this ride, the province is working on Hwy 16 and by the end of summer it should have 15 feet of shoulder on both sides of the road. Today we had about 24 inches of shoulder with a rumble stip which still leaves you plenty to ride on. The traffic gave us lots of room as they passed by.

The Happy Rock in Gladstone, MB

It was not all about machinery today

We got to Portage la Prairie at about 4 pm. Once the tent was set up at the campground we went for a nice ride through town without our luggage just to relax.

Yesterday I forgot to mention an imprtant item from our discussion with Ken in Rapid City. I had mentioned to him about the small town spirit displayed in Birtle when it was time to move the pharmacy. He related a similar story about Rapid City. Rapid City needed a place to buy gas and grocery staples. The citizens got together and raised the needed money for the project and volunteers put up the building. We cycled by the place and it looked pretty busy.

The blog office in Portage la Prairie

Tomorrow we ride to Winnipeg along scenic Hwy 26. It is a bit longer ride than if we rode along Hwy 1 but we will be in a quiet river valley. I am sure we will shave scenery pictures for you tomorrow.

85.56 miles - Total so far 1,665.91 miles

Day 28 - Miniota to Minnedosa

104.95 km - Total so far 2,543.33 km - http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5204199

Day 27 has been updated.

After experiencing one of the worst rain storm of the trip and being in an electronic blackout area (no cellular service and no Internet), we were somewhat eager to hit the road again. Weather conditions were: 12 degrees, overcast with a slight breeze from the EAST, the same direction we were heading. Only a few times did we get favourable winds in either of the three prairie provinces. With 104 km to Minnedosa, we were off.

Bison Rock not to be confused with Buffalo Scratching Rock from previous post! 

For the first 72 km, the road was straight with absolutely no turns what so ever. We spent much of the time looking at marshes and on our rest stops (every 90 minutes) we would stop by one. As we near marshes, our bear bells alarm the residents but once we have stopped and sat down for a bit, calm returns. It is very captivating to just sit and watch the action in the marsh. Today, Hélène spotted a beaver swimming around.

We first saw the goslings crossing the road all 12 of them with their parents (2 x couples)

As we neared Rapid City (after a straight road 72 km long), we both experienced a most sigificant moment. There by the side of the road a sign warning motorists of a 'right turn'. The moment was so powerful that Hélène shed tears of joy :-). What we could not see is that the road goes downhill all the way to Rapid City.

72 km of absolutely straight road behind me

Oh joy a right hand turn....yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!

In Rapid City they were holding an agricultural fair and we decided we absolutely had to stop. There were many horse trailers, horses and participants and a tent selling burgers and dogs. After grabbing lunch, we sat down at a table and had a chat with Ken, a local resident. He was a wealth of information on the condition of the roads in the area and gave us a brief insight on life in a small rural community in Manitoba. The story of Rapid City is very similar to many other small communities we stopped in, all of them once had much larger populations and over the years the numbers shrunk to a much smaller stable number. We could have stayed a while longer at the fair and taken in more of the horse shows but we had to head for Minnedosa. 

One of the young contestants at the fair

Two young contestants congratulaing each other and passing important tips

On a freshly paved section of Hwy 16, we got to enjoy almost 3 km downhill. Another 20 km and we were in Minnedosa.  We got here just before the threathening thunderstorm. The storm missed the town and we got just a tiny sprinkle. It is amazing how quickly the weather changes in the Prairies and you can see it coming.

The view from Hwy 24

We quickly unloaded the bikes and went for a ride looking for the Bison Park described in the tourist brochure. At the park, we could not see any bisons from the viewing stands but Hélène (the expert animal spotter) caught a glimpse of them in the far field. We followed a path(with a strong fence keeping us apart) that took us right to them.  http://ridewithgps.com/trips/5204200

Bisons with calves

Nutrition. One of our readers asked us to discuss what we eat on the road and at camp. We always have breakfast before we head out that includes coffee and a sandwich of some type. A big favourite is the tortilla wrap with peanut butter and jam. We also have had eggs, bagels, etc. We stop every 1:30 hours and have a snack of trail mix (or cookies) or tortilla wrap and a fruit. For lunch, we often have soup or a bagel with fruits. We buy our food daily and we always have a hot supper. Last evening was nachos(with fried balogna) and salad. It was delicious.  This morning we had BBC (Bagel, balogna & cheese).  Tomorrow for lunch we will have BCB (Balogna, cheese & bagel), we can hardly wait.

Happy Father's Day tomorrow / Bonne fête des pères demain! 

As we visited the Bison park with "naked" bikes, Hélène had a view of her front wheel and noticed it was warped.  Upon further inspection we noticed there was a broken spoke. We carry spare spokes so Hélène repaired her wheel and trued it as best she could. In Winnipeg we will have the wheel tested for proper spoke tension.  

We also heard from Kyle and Millon, all is well with them and they are progressing EAST.  Be safe!

We leave you with this video of bisons at the park in Minnedosa.

65.21 miles - Total so far 1,580.35 miles