Saturday, May 21st, 2011
We were up at 7:30AM to an overcast day that actually tried to rain at times. The trains were very good. We heard a few. We did not feel one. We were close to the railroad tracks.
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We got around in the rain, unhooked, dumped and what have you. Those sticky things from the trees were as bad as anywhere. We scrapped them off as best we could and left at 10:08am. I meant to take a few photographs of the campground and did not think of it again until now. Sorry.
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We pulled into the Shell Oil Station at Moosomin, Saskatchewan, at 11:55AM. We took on board 59.828 litres of diesel at $1.199 per litre for a total of $71.73. We went right back on highway 1 East.
Our longest run was in 1965. Joan and I went from the Motel in Moosomin to the Jack Pine Motel at Whitecourt, Alberta, in one long drive. If memory serves me correctly it was around 1100 miles. We were young and heading back to Teslin, Yukon.
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The cloud cover was low black cumulus with bottoms of the clouds hanging. We simply kept driving at 60 MPH and the rest kept passing us. I flashed my brakes and slowed for most of the trucks especially the double 53 foot trailers. One only thanked me with both his air horn and lights. The windshield wipers were on full and it took a minute or so to see after they went past. There was a heavy wind but once they went by and crossed over into my lane the wind blew their spray off to the side.
I stopped so Joan could take this photograph of the Manitoba border sign out her window. It was raining too hard to get out and take it.
We pulled into a Petro-Canada Station at 3:51PM according to their clock on the bill. They were an hour fast. I'm not a big fan of Petro-Canada but I needed diesel. We took on board 75.088 litres at $1.149 per litre for a total of $86.25. Some Hutterites or Mennonites came out of the store with ice cream cones as we drove up. The two girls behind the counter were probably Lebanese.
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Joan tried hard to find the Portage La Prairie campground but it was not listed. At 3:13PM we pulled into Millers Camping Resort at Portage La Prairie and were assigned site 130.
The mileage from Indian Head, Saskatchewan to Portage La Prairie, Manitoba was 433 kilometres. I was beat from one lousy drive.
Joan claims this is the poorest campground we have been in. It is not that bad. We had to back in on site 130. We had to stay on the gravel or things would have sunk out of sight. And of course they have to have a million trees and put their damn signs right in the way. Anyway, I took my time and am right proud of the job I made of it. I will definitely have to get some photographs of this. If nothing else to show the mud on the trailer from the drive into here. I doubt that the old blue truck would have made it.
All day long we kept meeting many army trucks and vehicles. We must have met 50 at least. We felt the whole Canadian Army was on manoeuvres out here. The girl handling the cash at the campground office stated this is a disaster area and the army is out – well, doing their thing. Probably the main thing is driving up and down the roads.
We did not get a photograph of the Assiniboine River. We did not have the time. There were too many vehicles behind us but it is very high. It was up to the bridge crossing highway 1 East. We have seen roads closed and flooded. The country is – well, a disaster area no doubt about it.
We bought WiFi for $3.15 for the one night at this campground. It is very frustrating to operate. Joan messed with WiFi with her friends all evening and I read my history of the High River country.
We called it a day early and another day is history.