When we stepped outside this morning we were faced with low clouds and very light rain; the kind that makes the motorcycle seat and windshield wet but doesn't soak the rider. Within 20 minutes the rain had stopped but the wind kept up from yesterday and continued all day. The clouds were with us all morning and it felt that we were continually flirting with the possibility of rain. In fact, Kerry wore his rain gear to appease the rain gods and it worked so well that he was able to put it away when we arrived in Brandon, MB.
Occasionally, but not very often, one gets to see and blindingly obvious example of things like love, thoughtfulness and the like. Today we saw a literal example of futility. This morning as we rode out of Moosomin, we saw a man with a power blower blowing the dust off the pavement in front of his gas pumps. I'm certain that if he had thought it through, he might have realized that it was in Saskatchewan where the wind always blows and where it almost always carries dust with it, and gone on to spend his time doing something else.
The rain gods were happy as Kerry entered Manitoba.
John is glad to be ahead of the rain in Manitoba.
As we left Saskatchewan and entered Manitoba we began to see subtle changes in the land. There were more stands of small trees along the edges of fields and around people's houses and barns. And as we rode farther into Manitoba the trees began to become more widespread. By the time we were to the east of Winnipeg they began to line the roads. The land also changed from farmland to woodlands and we began to see the first outcroppings of the pink granite of the Canadian Shield.
Kerry counting railway cars at the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border
As we have crossed Canada from Kamloops to Winnipeg we were seldom out of sight of the CPR tracks. Every day we have seen at least a twenty trains and perhaps even more. The amount of cargo being moved across our country is staggering. Taggers quite a while ago discovered the beauty of the flat surfaces of rail cars as their canvases and on this trip we have seen many examples of their 'art'. Today's most striking sighting was the word 'SPERM' in colourful eight foot letters. I suppose a statement was being made but whether it was wishful thinking or a statement of accomplishment we'll never know.
East of Winnipeg we stopped for lunch at 'Walker's World Famous Burgers and Bait Shop'. It may be world famous to them but maybe not to others. The burgers were great and we met a couple who rode in on a Honda Shadow and who were going to hike the West Coast Trail. A cyclist dropped in looking for ice cream and was told he would have to ride five kilometres down the road to get it. He had been on the road for 16 days from Vancouver and was already almost 2500 kilometres into his trip to St. John's Newfoundland. I hope he got his ice cream. The place had a little pond with basking turtles there as well.
Walker's World Famous Burgers
Turtles at Walkers' Burgers
The Trans Canada Highway through Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, while showing its age in places, is a great highway and the speed limit is 110 kph most of the way. It's a different story in Ontario. Shortly after entering the province the road becomes a two lane secondary road with a speed limit of 90 kph. With the distances people have to travel in this part of the province that road must really limit their travel and push people toward Winnipeg rather than to Thunder Bay. It may also be a testament to the Ontario government's opinion of the drivers in the province.
John is welcomed to the land of 90 kph.
Kerry returns to Ontario
A stop beside Dixie Lake near Kenora
We started the day in Moosomin this morning and finished in Dryden tonight after riding almost 750 kilometres today. With the reduced speed in Ontario it will be difficult to repeat that performance tomorrow but we hope to make it to Sault Ste. Marie before stopping tomorrow. My hope is that each of us can make it to our destination some time on Sunday if the weather continues to hold.
At the motel I met three guys who have been travelling from New York City on their bikes since June 18th. Since then they have travelled to Alaska and back and the last four days are the only ones they have had without rain. I have to admire their fortitude. It makes our trip look puny. They figure to have logged 9 000 miles or 15 000 kilometres before they get home. Earlier I met several BC Forest Service firefighters who were staying in Dryden before going off to fight fires. I mentioned my son's name to one of the guys who said that that he was from Williams Lake and thought he knew Ian. I imagine Ian wishes he were here with them.
Finally, smells have been a bit of a theme of this blog for the past few days. Today the smell of the day was that of the fresh turned black earth that a farmer was plowing just west of Winnipeg. Not the delicate perfume of canola or alfalfa, but still beautiful in its own way.
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