WINNIPEG to KENORA - JUNE 6, 2013

2:15 pm departure from Northgate RV Park to Anicinabe RV in Kenora, Ontario 135 miles. It's sunny and 70 degrees!

Linda and Randy are staying at his sister Lorraine's tonight and driving the Firebird to their friends Bob and Jill Kalika's on Clearwater Bay, Ontario tomorrow. Plans are to meet in Kenors for dinner on Saturday.

2:41 pm on Trans-Canada Highway (#1) we crossed the longitudinal center of Canada ! Interesting tidbit on this region ... an ancient glacial lake once covered this area ... Lake Agassiz. Agassiz's demise 6,000 years ago is thought to have caused "the great flood" as written in Genesis. Melting glacial ice eventually broke the ice dam and this water burst into Hudson Bay.

Arrived 5:00 pm and got a woodsy site where we saw a hare and two whitetail deer. Mark is cooking a large batch of homemade soup ... hope the bears don't smell it !!!

Sue and Wayne arrived at their cottage about 4:30 and have begun setting up for summer. Mark will help Wayne with setup tomorrow while I catch up with chores.

WINNIPEG - BBQ at CRYSTAL'S

Mark and Julie went to The Forks for a look around and had lunch at a favorite ... The Old Spaghetti Factory.

Sue and Wayne took the Prevost in for a wash and then moved to the same RV park as Mark and Julie, Northgate for 1 night.

Randy and Linda organized themselves at his sister Lorraine's house and had a lazy day.

This evening is a family get together BBQ at Crystal and Brent Edmond's home in West Kildonan ... to meet Avery Savannah, the newest member.

It was a great BBQ feast and the weather cooperated ! Avery was passed from lap to lap and was likely happy to see us go. LOL. Crystal and Brent were excellent hosts. A fun evening.

WINNIPEG - JUNE 4th 2013

First thing this morning we were off to Gregg and Darlene Tawns' house to pick up the 1967 Firebird convertible. Linda and Randy are using Gregg's car while they're in Winnipeg visiting. This is a real trip down memory lane as it was Linda's car originally "back in the day"!

Today marked the official end of our family trip as Linda and Randy left us to hook up and stay with Lorraine and Jeff Dugay in Winnipeg. They're going to Maxine's for dinner.

Meanwhile, Mark, Julie, Wayne and Sue were invited to Les and Lynne Stevenson's for BBQ chicken. The Scotties came along for a visit. Les brought his laptop to the table and we reviewed "The Blog" ... some typos to fix, a few pictures missing; but otherwise it's good! It was an evening of laughs.

BRANDON TO WINNIPEG - JUNE 3

10:36 am departure from Meadowlark RV in Brandon with a planned stop at Headingly for RV washing.

This truck wash was closed BUT Randy treated us to lunch at Nick's Grill, an old favorite of his and Linda. Good grub.

Arrived at 3 pm and setup camp at Northgate RV Park. (Kurian's went to stay at Stevenson's driveway.)

Linda, Randy, Mark and Julie went to visit Gregg and Darlene. It was a great family reunion! The Whistle Pig beaconed so we went for a sack of fries (dinner). Yummy.

Sue and Wayne went to friends Tony and Aurelia Lentz' for dinner. Chessie was happy to have his dog pals visit too.

MEDICINE HAT TO BRANDON, MB

9:00 am departure on a 58 degree morning ... 515 miles to drive in light rain.

10:00 am passed a mega bone field of
Dinosaur remains 76 million years old. Google had some info ... this area was once a coastal region that had a huge hurricane-type storm that killed this herd. Two pics below, borrowed from Google.

Trains, miles long, ply the prairies. Picture of 2 diesel engines enroute to work is below. Grain elevators, oil wells pumping and huge grazing cattle constitute our scenery at this moment.

Randy is accident-prone ... this morning he drove his head into a kitchen cabinet in the Grand Junction; OUCH!!! Then, two hours later he bumped into the Prevost mirror. Sue managed to get a picture of the ice pack sticking out from his cap. Poor Randy ... he did a "Fritz" ... he does entertain us. LOL

Reed Lake in Saskatchewan is a saline body of water, important for birds. Photo below of the lake and salt flats. Interesting being that it's 1,000 miles from the ocean!!!

Randy delivered lunch at Moose Jaw Flying J while we bought more fuel ... headwinds today! Fuel stops are few, do we take on diesel when we can.

Regina, Saskatchewan's capital city, pops out of the landscape like berries on a pancake. Got a quick pic of a glass building with a teepee designed into it.

Now 3:40 pm with 157 miles to go !

At 6:18 we crossed into Manitoba; 71 miles to Brandon, but first a stop for dinner in Virden.

LAUGHS THAT MISSED THE BLOG!!!

Setup ... Tossing coins into wishing well in Vancouver: Randy mentions he made a wish at the fountain; Linda quips "I hope you wished for more hair!". Lots of laughs.

Setup ... Wayne getting instructions from park ranger on keeping food from bears. "Is it alright if I feed my wife to the bears???". (Sue overheard). Lots of laughs.

Setup ... Discussion when we were all in the truck about a future trip to Banff. Mark said, "Maybe you'll be with another husband then!". Sue thought Mark's comment not as bad as Wayne feeding her to the bears. LOL

Setup ... Randy found reading glasses behind the recliner. "Are these strong glasses yours Mark?". Mark's reply was he just used them to magnify things. Randy quipped, "Julie bought them so you could find your unit to pee!". Mark never missed a beat ... "No, I put them on to find your tiny shoes when you lose 'em!". ( The "bromance continues. )

Setup ... Revelstoke KOA Campground. was less than ideal. But, the toilets were bright and airy. Picture below. LOL. (Sign said renovations were being done).