Mind you not all the scenery is on the road, sometimes you have to stop and take the odd little walk out to see something... a little deeper.
Those two gents were up from the States for a weeks trip on a pair of BMW's as I recall.
This is what they're all looking at.
We spent a pleasant while here - before going back on the ride.
And occasionally going by the side of the road.
(Little hint gents... if you need to take a pee by the side of the road, confiscate all camera memory cards beforehand.)
It was shortly after this, while I was looking for another place to "Drain the spare gas tank" that we had a pickup truck pull up next to us when we pulled over, had a gentlemen step out - and begin his own "liquid disposal" while talking to us over his shoulder.
Things are apparently just a little casual in Northern Ontario.
He did like the bike though.
Oh and no... it didn't seem appropriate to back that up with pictures.
Before we left Ontario entirely, we did have our first clothing casualty. It wasn't to be the last either. While having lunch I left my inner layer behind on a chair.
We realized much too late to go back - and it didn't seem a big deal, after all it had been pretty warm up to that point right?
Oh did I mention that inner layer also had the only plug I had with me for my heated vest and gloves?
Yeah.
Shortly, this would start to be.... just a wee bit of an issue.
I just found some more Wawa shots. (And I just giggled saying that) so here they are - even if they are out of order a bit. But who says a story can't jump back and forth a little bit?
And now back to our road travels...
Ok.... remember when I mentioned misplacing my inner layer and heated gear plug?
It started to matter... oooh... right about.... here.
Two weeks before our trip they'd had a freakish snowstorm in Alberta, and weather was running quite cold all across the prairies - even as Ontario was mostly experiencing record heat.
So suddenly - we were driving into a cold, cold bitter steady wind.
This was wind with an attitude. Wind with a personality. Not a likeable one either.
Fortunately - our first stop in Manitoba wasn't too far along - the Mennonite Heritage Centre in Steinbach.
Now, I'd told my wife I wanted to see things like this -
But in reality, I wanted to go into here....
and eat some of this....
(Homemade pork sausage, perogies in cream sauce, home made bread and coleslaw)
and also some of this....
(Home made rhubarb dessert)
And some of this....
(Home made borscht)
An army might travel on its stomach... I travel where my stomach tells me to go. And once you've eaten Mennonite, you'll know that they know good food.
Oh yeah they had some historical stuff as well after the food was out of the way.
Like a log cabin - built with numbers cut into each log so it could be disassembled and reassembled later. The original mobile home?
Or a "Soddie" - one of the first prairie settler's homes. And yep, they're made from sod.
This one came complete with a tragic past - with a plaque telling the story of a family where two daughters died during the winter. While they were snowed in. The bodies had to be kept in the rafters - for weeks til they could get back out.
I stood there and tried to imagine arriving on a giant empty plain of grass - nothing else in sight for miles and miles. Cutting your home from the earth and grass. Spending months trapped by the snow, just bare minimal survival untl you've clawed your way up to something better.
Sometimes finding opportunity asks a harsh price.
We would have stayed longer, but the wind was still cold - and the clouds started to look just a bit more threatening of rain. Of which Manitoba and the prairies had seen record amounts just the week before.
We were threading a needle between weather systems - and despite the cold, it could have have been much worse conditions to ride.
We continued on.... heading out into the plains. And I found... something interesting.
Something surprising.
If you take the side roads, avoid the trans canada through the prairies you'll see it has a different aspect.
It's not that the prairies lack scenery - it's just..... stretched.
La Riviere for example lies down in a valley... with a few actual hills. Not big ones. But hills nonetheless.
Katie can back me up on that one.
Even on the flat stretches, you'd see farmsteads rising like islands in a sea of grass.
And the prairies hold their ghosts as well.... wood and stone holding spirits of the vanished. Peering memory from empty windows.
And the disappearing giants... grain elevators. Rising from miles away from the horizon, marking the diminished towns that once served them like fiefdoms around a keep. Dinosaurs now mostly, vacant and rapidly vanishing as they get torn down. I think soon these icons of the west will be.... mostly ghosts themselves.
We actually didn't take that many pictures in Manitoba.... not that there was a lack of scenery... it was just... too big for pictures.
It's something you can't appreciate until you see it - the sheer size of horizon. The way grass fills your ears and eyes in the wind, moving in waves.
When the clouds go away - how its all just blue all above.
And the sky makes you feel... just a little small.
No pictures really capture that.
We slipped into Saskatchewan after miles of Manitoba side highways - feeling very alone on long straight roads.
More grain elevators - grand old towers, gentle falling piece by piece.
We stopped for the night, after a bit of trouble finding hotel. Half the province seemed to be booming, and hotel rooms were very much in demand even for long term workers. We paid too much for too little of a room after going to 4 different hotels just looking for one.
We also needed to fix the latest clothing casualties.
Rain paints - which didn't like a hot muffler. And yes, that's duct tape. Handyman's secret weapon doncha'know.
My wife's glasses - fixed with some spare wire stripped of insulation and braided around the broken hinge. (She's still wearing them now actually... and it looks a bit better than duct tape which was the only other option.)
( later added more wire to the other side to "Balance" them for her.... she actually got a compliment from someone who thought they were arty frames. Go figure.)
Oh and one more repair.... I was thinking "If we run out of duct tape we'll be arriving naked"
Trust me, that wouldn't be pretty.
(to be continued...)
