The Battlefords

Day 12 starts out windy. Windy enough to wake me at 5:30AM and to get me out of bed shortly after to take down the van's pop-top. I wasn't sure what was going to happen and after hearing of all the tornadoes in the US mid-west, I wasn't taking any chances. However, by the time I was finished breakfast the wind had died and it was a beautiful day.


The upside was that I was on the road by 7:30AM - the earliest start yet on this trip. That allowed me to reach North Battleford by early afternoon, so I decided to visit the Western Development Museum that I had visited on a previous trip west, many years ago. I spent several hours there and took a fre pictures. Right is a shot of a tractor I liked.


Here's a shot of part of a tractor wheel. I liked its colour and texture. I know...borrrrrrring!!!

That night I stayed at the Eling-Kramer campground in Battleford. It's a city run campground, but wasn't too bad - fairly busy, but quiet and right next door to the Fort Battleford National Historic Site, that I had planned to visit the next day.

Winyard

Day 11 of my trip started in Riding Mountain National Park. In the morning I was still debating whether to stay another day here or not. I could have done some more walking - as well as updating my blog if I stayed. However, I finally decided to leave and take Highway 10 north through the park - a scenic route.

Taking down the camper and leaving was quick and easy and I was on the road by 10:00, despite my indecision. I had thought I might stop along the way to walk a trail or two, but I ended up driving right out of the park without stopping. Once out of the park I headed west out of Manitoba, into Saskatchewan and onto the Yellowhead Highway that will take me to Edmonton and beyond. The urge to keep going seems to be in charge,

Actually, the Yellowhead goes all the way to Prince Rupert BC, where I had originally decided to head. However, my 2 week delay starting out and the resulting time pressure I feel have caused me to reconsider my decision to head that way. Maybe we'll be able to take this route back.

I ended the day in Winyard, SK at a modest regional park. It is inexpensive and my site had free firewood. I had my first campfire of the trip. They're definitely more fun when shared.

Riding Mountain

Since I left Thunder Bay 2 days ago, I have been driving 6 hours per day. I felt the need for a whole day out of the van soon, so I decided to make the short drive to Riding Mountain National Park and stay at least 2 nights.

I used my GPS to direct me past Winnipeg and get me to my destination. In the past I have questioned some of the directions the GPS had given me and realized later that it was I who was confused and the GPS was right. So, this time I decided to what the GPS said, and ignore my instincts even when it told me to not take the Winnipeg by-pass ring road. However, by the time I realized I was right at Portage and Main in downtown Winnipeg, I was convinced something was wrong and my instincts had been right. By then it was pointless to do anything but continue to do what I was told, and eventually I was out of the city and on my way to Riding Mountain. I figured out later that I had changed the GPS to select the shortest route rather than the quickest route – hence the direct line through the city. That’s now fixed.

Today was the first decent day of my trip. When I arrived I found that I had my pick of campsites and chose a nice one, got set up had a beer and started some overdue relaxation.

I also had time to make the first half decent camp meal that I’ve made in a while.

There is a small town in the park (vaguely like a Banf or Jasper, only smaller) and walking trails nearby – all within walking distance. The town has a bakery and internet, among other things. Maybe I'll get to read some email and update the blog,

Reaching Manitoba

From Caliper Lake, I decided I could make it to the Winnipeg area. The Birds Hill provincial campground looked like a possible place to stop - just north of the city.

When entering Manitoba I realized I could get off the Trans-Canada onto a more scenic route by first heading north through Whiteshell Provincial Park and then west. When I inquired at the Whiteshell park gate about the roads, the lady at the gate said, skeptically, that the roads were very rough. When I asked how rough, she said very rough and gave me the “look”. I decided to go that way anyway. There was only one point where a huge bump threw everything off my dash – coffee mug, water bottle, GPS, and cell phone. The greater concern I realized with that route occurred to me after I drove over 40 Km. without seeing another car – what if Morris broke down?

Anyway, I finally got to Birds Hill OK. I didn’t have high hopes about staying at a campground so close to such a big city, but it turned out that Birds Hill is very nice. My campsite was a bit wet, but given the rain we’d had the past week, that was understandable. Camping was half the price of Ontario and the showers and toilets were clean. Since it was the weekend, the place was busy, but still quiet – a good stop for one night. I’m beginning to feel a time crunch and have to keep moving.

Still no pictures. Next post will have some, I promise.

The End of Ontario

My last stop in Ontario (except for my regular stops for Gas, of course) was at Caliper Lake Provincial Campground. It is certainly worth visiting again, if I’m in the area. The only remarkable thing about this area of the world(other than scenic beauty, which it has in spades) is the vast number of pickup trucks pulling boats in trailers. They travel singly and in convoys. I pulled over several times to let a convoy pass me. The fishing must be great here. However, other than stopping for gas and to sleep, I'm moving on - no time for pictures.

Steep Rock

Although I was born in Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay), my dad worked at Steep Rock Iron Mine – about 200 Km west. Steep Rock was a lake that had the misfortune to be situated over a large iron ore body. To get at the iron ore, miners dug a tunnel up underneath the lake, blasted out the last bit and drained all the water, exposing the ore and starting a huge open pit mine. Somewhere in my family pictures is a shot of the final explosion in the lake as it is being drained. I’ll have to find that someday.

As I neared Steep Rock I stopped in Atikokan for some groceries. After getting groceries, on a whim I went into what I thought was an art gallery. It turned out to be a mall – one of the mustiest smelling buildings I’ve ever been in. However, as I wandered this little mall, I did find an art gallery and went in. Luckily for me the woman who was running the gallery was able to tell me how to find Steep Rock, and in fact her father worked there and she was able to tell me a little bit about the mine.

Atikokan is very close to Steep Rock, so I may have actually lived there with my parents – the information is lost now, but I do remember my Mom mentioning the name. I’m sure they would at least have occasionally gone into Atikokan for entertainment. I do recall my Dad liking beer – after all he was Irish.


Anyway, with that help I was able to easily find Steep Rock Lake. The shot at right was inspired by the similarity of Morris' colour and the road and soil in the area. The ground is red because of iron oxide in the soil. There is definitely no iron oxide (rust) on Morris, after all the money I've spent on fixing him up!

There are remnants of the mine and the open pit. The “drain” has been plugged and the lake is slowly filling up, but you can still see the effects of the open pit mining. Although the area is slowly returning to nature (except for the areas that have been used for dumping refuse), there are still roads and concrete structures. It was strange to imagine my dad working in that space 65 years ago. The picture of the pit/lake below is a composite of 2 shots that I put together with Photoshop.

Morris – the continuing struggle against entropy

I alluded earlier to an update about Morris’ health. Here it is. As Bonnie will recall Morris occasionally won’t giddy-up after a short stop. I have a work-around, but it is still annoying. He doesn’t do it often, but can do it when “he senses” an inopportune moment. Anyway, he did it 2 or 3 times in one day this past week and hasn’t done it since. The good news is that I have a theory as to what the problem is. I think it’s an intermittent break in the wire going from the ignition key to the starter. Unfortunately I’ll have to get under the van to fix it, so unless it becomes more urgent, I’ll wait till I get home to do that.

The other problem I’ve had is that the water pump has died. I must have left water in it over winter and the frost cracked it. Anyway it leaks and makes funny noises. The local RV shop didn’t have quite the right replacement. They did have a much more expensive one that I can adapt. It’s really inconvenient without water, so I guess they win. The pump is the black thing with the hose sticking out of it in the picture. A little bit of wiring and plumbing and we’ll be back in business.

On the positive side, the overheating problem I had to deal with before I left, seems to be fixed – I have not had to add any coolant since I left. I have had to add a bit of oil, more than at home, but I’m doing a lot more driving.

Speaking of adding, I’ve had to add gas – lots of gas. So far (Thunder Bay – about 1600 Km.), I’ve spent over $250 on gas – definitely my biggest expense.