Sunday, May 22nd, 2011
We might have known it! We passed a time change and did not realize it. We pulled into this swamp at 4:13PM yesterday and not 3:13PM as stated yesterday. That means the Shell station's time was correct. Saskatchewan does not go to daylight saving time. That time was created for farmers and Saskatchewan is the largest farming province in the country.
The dually did a fine job of dragging us through this road on the way in. It does not look as bad in the photograph as the real thing.
This is our truck and trailer in the distance with a blue hose used to try and move the water from one area to another. The vehicles in there were from Manitoba. We did not see another out of province registered vehicle. The one at Indian Head was the same they were all Saskatchewan vehicles. It appeared to be locals from a few miles from each campground celebrating the long Victoria Weekend regardless of the weather at both campgrounds.
This photograph does not show the keyhole I had to back the trailer into. I am right proud of the job I made of it.
Unfortunately we did not get a good photograph of the rivers that were flooded. We came up on them so fast and there was always a large truck right on our tail.
You must want to camp very bad to put up with that. They appeared to be mostly Metis in the Portage La Prairie campground. The place was full of kids all over the roads. One had to wait for them in order to avoid running over them and those I spoke to had heavy French accents.
This is the Front Entrance to Millers Camping Resort, Portage La Prairie.
We got up at 7:15AM our time that was actually 8:15AM. It quit raining during the night. We could hear traffic on highway 1 East and trains off in the distance. The trains did not blow their whistles so that was a help.
It was still overcast this morning. We took our time getting ready and finally departed at 10:46AM. We had to circle around a couple of streets in the campground before going out the main entrance. We also ran over several hoses that were being used to pump water from one place to another. What a mess.
We passed one army vehicle with antennas up, a Johnny on the Spot mobile toilet and a tent of all things. It must have been damp in that tent but unfortunately we did not get a photograph of it.
We had mist when we departed but the sky cleared and we wore our sun glasses all day. It was up to 70F at one point.
We arrived at Bill's in Winnipeg at 11:47AM. The last time I saw Bill or William as he was known back home, was 66 years ago. At least that is the last time I remember him. I remember talking to him on 2-meters VHF ham radio one time when he was around Nova Scotia. Bill is now VE4DL and one can read about him in my history of the Halifax Amateur Radio Club on this site. Simply place Bill's VE4DL call sign in the find slot and this bit of history should come right up.
This is Spud, VE1BC, and Bill, VE4DL, or William to you back home around Grafton.
This aircraft is on Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, a short distance from Bill's home.
This is a view of downtown Winnipeg on Portage Avenue.
This was in the city of Winnipeg right on route 1 East and why the city would allow it is beyond me.
Joan trying to beat the dried mud off one of the mats at the Pinegrove Rest Area. The trailer was a mess from that campground at Portage La Prairie and needed a good washing, inside and out.
At 4PM we pulled into the Shell Oil Filling station at Prawda, Manitoba and took on 52.287 litres of diesel at $1.179 per litre for a total of $61.65. This was our only fuel stop of the day.
We pulled out of there and kept on east and into Ontario. The highway went from four lane to two lanes and once in Ontario it became highway 17 East. It was a 90 kilometre speed limit highway but the trucks and I maintained a steady 100 kilometres. One had to keep up with nothing but the odd passing lane so those behind could get around one.
There was a lot of traffic and mostly large trucks. We hit a number of heavy rain showers. The rain was that heavy that it sounded like hail. The sky was broken black cumulus. One could see the line of rain before they entered it and when they came out one crossed the line into dry roads again.
We went past Kenora, Ontario. I still felt real good and felt like driving so we kept trucking and pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot at Dryden, Ontario, at 6:51PM. A Wal-Mart parking lot is certainly better than the last three campgrounds we have had to pay for.
The total mileage for the day from the Portage La Prairie swamp to Dryden was 365 kilometres.
We had a nice red sunset just before 9PM and not after 9PM like it was at High River.
We then sat around and read to the end of the day and another day was history.