Manitoba! So long Saskatchewan, don't let the doorknob hit ya where the good Lord split ya!

I'm camped behind the information center just inside the border. Travel today was much better. The land in eastern Saskatchewan has changed again -- orderly fields are giving way to a more wrinkled texture. There's a lot of marshy lowlands and woody copses, and the road curves more. Towns are spaced about 10-15 kms apart, so there's no problem with supplies. I'm seeing a lot of grassy hills, lightly dusted with wildflowers. Yellow and blue are the most common colors.

I think I've seen almost every kind of roadkill Manitoba has to offer. By size, starting with the largest: A coyote, a fawn, a raccoon, something that might have been a badger, some porcupines, a skunk or two, lots of gophers, birds of several types (including a canary! What the heck??), snakes, frogs, and a lot of dragonflies, butterflies and grasshoppers. Some of the grasshoppers aren't dead, they're just resting, and they make good target practice.

Still, none of this compares with the time I was driving through fog in Abbotsford BC, and suddenly ran over a dead cow. Lord knows what the guy tailgating me must have thought.

Speaking of dead animals, I stopped in Burrows for lunch. Another cyclist was there, going the other way, but we didn't talk. At the border was an info center for people entering Saskatchewan, where I bought a box of "wheat brittle" to send home as a souvenir.

The Manitoba info center has patches of 'natural wetlands' in their backyard, and I think it's going to be a moist night. Condensation is forming on everything, and the sun isn't even down yet.

I hoped to make Brandon today, but can sum up what happened in one word. Maybe you can guess...wind! I fought it for three hours, then said 'to heck with it' in the town of Virden.

I had an embarrassing event in Elkhorn; if you eat at these little cafes, make sure that they take plastic, or that you have cash. The owner had to drive me into town to a bank machine.

I camped at the Virden Lions Club Campground. There's a group here having a family reunion (the MacMillan clan), and they're extremely nice people. I met Dan and Judy, Dan's brother Bruce, their kids Mark (13) and Amanda (11), and the grandparents. They're travelling in mobile homes, fully loaded. Bikes for the kids, satellite dishes for the adults, all the comforts of home. I love that.

I spent the evening in Dan's camper, playing cards with his kids. I taught them Spoon and Cheat, Amanda taught me a game called Poop. Her dad calls her the Poop Queen.

After midnight, I took my bike and went for a ride around town. I was joined by their cousin Carl, 17, who's also into biking. Nothing was open, but we checked out an old oilpump in the town park.

The weather tommorow is predicted to top 30 degrees. I think I'll stay tommorrow too.

I found out that while the family reunion is for the MacMillans, Dan and Judy are actually the Pierces. More members of the clan kept arriving today, and they mostly were talking family history, which I couldn't really share, so I hung out mostly with Mark, Amanda and Carl. Amanda in particular I've taken to; she's a really sweet girl, who likes hearning about my trip, but also has lots of her own experiences to talk about, like ski racing, or going to Australia. We went cycling around town, and she bought me a Slurpee at the Coop store, which was much appreciated as the weather was as hot as predicted. Virden is more interesting than Grenfell was, and we wandered from one air-conditioned oasis to another. She showed me a store where they had bought baby accessories for her mom, who is eight months pregnant, and we checked out the library where I showed her my website.

When we got back, the kids went swimming, and Carl took me for a ride in his pickup along some of the local backroads, which I guess he's been exploring on his own since he got here. It was one wild ride, hitting 120 km/hr down gravel roads, but it was a great chance to see some of the land that you don't get to see from the highway, which is a lot prettier. Then we explored an abandoned WWII hangar which was rotting just outside of town.

I went back to the Coop store afterwards for a cool drink, and I got my first flat tire on this trip. My front wheel just went 'pfffwahhhh.' I still hadn't replaced my pump, stolen with my old bike, but I was near the gas station so that wasn't a problem. Patched it, filled it, no problem. If I'd been outside of town, it would have been a BIG problem, so I better get a new pump as soon as possible.

Did I mention how hot it was? It was stifling, and humid too. A cold pop bottle is wetter on the outside than on the inside. That, and mosquitoes, dominates my impression of Manitoba so far. I'm being eaten alive.

Back at camp, I gave Amanda a Canadian flag bandanna that I've been carrying since I started, but have never worn. I always looked pretty silly in it anyway. A bunch of us played cards by lanternlight in their mosquito tent until midnight.

It's even hotter than yesterday! Around 35. I just sat at my picnic table and read, except when Amanda would come by to talk. In the evening there was another huge electrical storm; I had gone into town and noticed the clouds on the horizon, with the distant probes of lightning, and when I headed back to camp, I realized it was definitely coming closer.

The MacMillans were having a big family dinner in the shelter, and the storm was just hitting as I got back. I ducked into the shelter with them as the downpour started. One of the grandparents offered me a plate. Judy said I was an "honorary MacMillan." They didn't let the rain spoil their dinner, they had turkey, chili, pasta, and lots of other stuff. Now that's roughing it! I was worried about the stuff in my tent, since the rain was just unbelieveable, but it all came through without a leak. Fortunately the rain only lasted an hour, with another shower later on. Lightning continued all night though.

...I can barely think straight. It started out a good day, still hot, very windy (wrong way, of course), but nothing was open on Sunday so I just stayed in camp again, updating my journal, doing crosswords, reading the local papers, etc. I took part in a water fight, which took forever to dry from because of the humidity. Then it happened.

I was sitting alone in my camp when a police car pulled up. He seemed to be looking for me specifically. He stopped right in front of my camp, asked a few questions, 'who are you, is this your camp, are you alone, are you registered,' etc, and he asked for ID and took it to run through his computer. I didn't know what was going on, since I hadn't broken any laws I knew of. Maybe you're not allowed to ride bikes on the highway in Manitoba, or maybe I was trespassing at the information center at the border. I asked him, and he told me that someone in the camp had 'concerns' about me. They were suspicious about me hanging around with the kids.

I can't possibly describe fully how it made me feel...depressed, ashamed, and angry about being made to feel this way for no good reason. So much for being part of the family, eh? I can't be sure, but I think it was Dan. Earlier, I had strolled up to a group of the family, and asked if I could join them, and he said 'no.' At the time, I just assumed it was a private conversation, but now I wonder...

I couldn't bear to hang around the campground so I went into town at eight and saw a double feature of "The Animal" and "A Knight's Tale." AKT was surprisingly good, or at least surprisingly watchable. Took my mind off things, at least.

In the morning, I did say goodbye to some of the MacMillan clan, including Amanda, although going over there felt incredibly uncomfortable. She seemed uncomfortable too; I'd pay money to know if her father said anything to her about me. I felt like a criminal slinking out of town.

I feel like I'm moving at a snail's pace. Of the 95km today, about 15 of it was just tooling around Brandon. I even had a good wind most of the way, but it was just too hot. I wore shorts today, and even with sunscreen, I got a little burnt on my thighs. Well, they needed some color anyway.

Immediately after leaving Virden, the shoulder just disappears. It's pretty bumpy too; Manitoba could learn a thing or two from Saskatchewan about maintaining the Trans-Canada. I left Hwy 1 at Kemnay to take the secondary route to Brandon, the 1A, which forks off about 15 km from the city. At 2:00 I entered the outskirts, and found a 7-Eleven. Hallelujah! The heat today was again incredible. I hung out for almost two hours, just enjoying the air conditioning and reading magazines. Then I had to find the campsite.

I wasted a trip to the far north edge of town (which was made even worse by the hill I had to climb. Brandon is located in a river valley, so once you cross the bridge in the center of town, it's all uphill) to a camp that turned out to be more for RVs. So, I had to backtrack west to the other place, the Curran Campground. I was debating whether I should even bother checking it out, or just continuing on past Brandon, but the heat decided me. That, and the fact that the next campground is apparently about 50 km away.

Curran was rather shabby, compared to the camps at Virden or Grenfell. There weren't many grassy places to pitch a tent, most of the slots were muddy or weedy. It had been flooded out last year, and you could tell. On top of that, the health inspector had shut down the pool last Friday, a fact which later made the local paper. So, I couldn't even get a swim in. I camped next to a guy named Jacques-Yves, who is driving from Thunder Bay to Victoria, and we traded info about the roads ahead for both of us.

Having a large part of the evening to kill, I started investigating the possibility of seeing a movie, but had a pretty hard time finding out what was playing, and where the theaters were. It was the holiday Monday, so no one had any newspapers, but I eventually found a phonebook and called the theater directly. I ended up seeing Planet of the Apes, and after it was over, I had a nervous trip back to the campsite, because it's a long way down an out-of-the-way road with no street lights at all. If there were no moon, I don't think I could have done it.

Today's trip started me thinking: it's not just physical condition I lost in Regina. I've lost the whole mindset. I'm finding it very hard to believe that I can ever get to Newfoundland. I know I've said this before, and you're probably tired of hearing it, but I'm thinking that if I can just get to Toronto -- or maybe Montreal (Hi Karen!) -- that'll be good enough. Or maybe Toronto will turn out to be like the Rockies; reviving my ambition by getting past it.

I was tempted to stay in Brandon another day, which seems to be typical every morning. There are a few interesting things I wouldn't have minded checking out. The university for instance, which looks like something out of Dickens' England. And of course the library. Another interesting thing about Brandon is their approach to cyclists. They don't expect you to ride on the street and get killed, they expect pedestrians to share the sidewalk. They even paint a yellow line down the center of it. But, of course, I decided that it would be better to get going.

Shortly after leaving at around 8AM, I began to think I had made a mistake. The heatwave continues, and the wind was against me. I took the 457 east out of town, which reconnected to the Trans Canada after passing through the town of Douglas. A fellow at the store there mentioned that Manitoba has the worst roads in the country. There was some nice scenery, especially some sunflower fields. I took a lot of rest stops, but kept plugging away, and was surprised at noon to find I had covered 50 km. I stopped for lunch at a really greasy spoon/motel at the junction of Hwy 1 and Hwy 5, which was just sitting out in the middle of nowhere all by itself. Unless I wanted to head south a few kilometers, there wasn't another town for more than 30 km and I considered just getting a motel room, but I figured if I could do 50 in the morning, I could do another 50 in the afternoon. That should put me within striking distance of Portage la Prairie, and I should be able to make it in the evening. I was thinking ahead to tommorow, when I anticipated reaching Winnipeg, and thinking that the more of that distance I covered today, the less I would have to do tommorow. That would leave more time to relax and explore the city when I got there. So, I kept on going.

Between the junction and Austin the land got a bit hilly, and I again was tempted to stop when I passed a campsite with a pool at about the 75 km mark. Especially when the lady offered me a deal (10$ for the night). But, today was a day for distance. I hit the 100 km mark, and the town of MacGregor, at about 4, and since their tiny library was open, I stopped to check my email. When I was done, they charged me two bucks! Has anyone ever heard of a library charging for Internet access? The librarian said all the libraries in Manitoba do it, but that hasn't been my experience.

I made it into Portage around 7:30, and went straight through to find the campground which was about 6 km to the east of the city, but by this time I was feeling tired enough that 6 km felt like too much trouble. So, I tried for a yard. First time lucky, with a guy named Sheldon. I set up, and in just the time it took I got eaten alive by mosquitoes. This is awful.

I'm so grimy at the end of a day, what with all the unguents I have to annoint myself with. Sunscreen in the morning, bug repellant at night, and if there's no chance for a shower, then the next day's layer goes right on top. That, plus the road dust that sticks to it all. I suppose I can wait until tommorow though. Tonight, I just went into town for a sub, then went to bed.

One last thing I might as well mention. Before leaving Regina, I sent an email to James Morrow, an author whose work I enjoy. When I checked my mail in MacGregor, I found I had gotten an answer back. A real answer too, responding to some of the points I made about his book Blameless in Abaddon (a great book, by the way.).

The heat wave continued. I was surprised coming out of Portage to see a road sign saying Winnipeg was only 66 km away, but then, that was part of the point of getting to Portage yesterday; to make the last step to Winnipeg as short as possible. The ride was pretty routine, but the final approach to the city seemed designed to be heartbreaking. First, I had a shoulder most of the way, but then about 13 km out, it suddenly disappeared again. That makes no sense to me; you'd think that they'd pay more attention to roadwork near the cities. Then, the distances posted on the road signs only referred to the distance to the city limits, not the city center, so even after doing my 66-odd kms, I still had another 15 or more to go. Two asshole truckers almost hit me, as if changing lanes is too much trouble. Finally, just inside city limits, my rear tire went flat. I was near a Canadian Tire, so I just bought a new tube, but it was time consuming and inconvenient to take everything off the bike, take the wheel off, and then put everything back together. And since I never did get a new pump, I had to use the one at Canadian Tire, which is better suited for car tires. I couldn't get the pressure right; after starting out again, I thought for one horrified moment that it had gone flat again, but it was just too soft. I also noticed that with the weight on the back, riding with the tire flat for even a few moments was enough to cut a slit along the rim of the tire. I'll have to get another one; it's already bulging out at that spot.

Winnipeg, from what I've seen, is a pit. I hate it. Maybe that's just my mood. I had heard that the city had extremely wide streets, and they are pretty wide (about 4 lanes each way, more if there's a left turn), but it's still bad for cycling. I got to the Ivey hostel at about 3, and thought it was awful. Dark, cramped, stuffy and hot. The clerk didn't seem to know much about the city. I asked if there was a place I could lock up my bike, and they said they had a bike rack on their deck. To get to the deck, one has to climb a narrow, wooden two-story staircase. What dog-nose-licking MORON thought that would be a good place to store bikes? You can tell I was getting pissed off (gee, really, Steve?). Having to pay not one, but two deposits, one for sheets and one for keys, didn't help.

I went to check out the library, and drop off a roll of film. The pictures wouldn't be ready until Friday, I was told. Ok, several days in Winnipeg then. No problem. At the library, I found out that they don't have much in the way of Internet access. You need a library card to access most of the terminals, except for three that people can use for 15 minutes. At Regina, they had the same arrangement, except that they had 16 such terminals instead of three. With that many, you could use them as long as you needed, although in theory you had to give them up if people were waiting. Here, 15 minutes means 15 minutes. Believe it or not, I miss Regina. Winnipeg (and Calgary for that matter) feel so hemmed in and tangled in comparison.

Heading back to the hostel, I thought I'd check out the second hostel that I knew was just down the street. I'd been too tired before, but now I thought I'd see if it was any better. It was. Much more open and roomy, I could put my bike in the basement, and -- wait for it -- AIR CONDITIONING! That pretty much settled it. Even though it was starting to rain, I headed back to the Ivey, packed everything up, and moved into the Guest House.

Sask

Epilogue