August 20 – Kenora to Rivers Prov Park (near Brandon)

The folks at Canadian Tire found the problem pretty quickly – a broken fuel line. Someone had previously repaired it with a kludge that eventually gave up for good. I am relieved it was something minor and easily fixed! We were on the road today by about 1:30 and made pretty good progress into Manitoba.

The breakdown cost us more or less one day, and it has caused us to change our plans slightly. We had planned on hitting Winnipeg (last night) then Saskatoon (tonight), but we are now going to bypass both of those cities. It’s too bad, we did want to check them out, but time is starting to get short now. And we are both looking forward to being back closer to home.

This is a nice provincial park we are in. Quite remote, and there are not many people here. We are right across from the water and it is very peaceful. It is nice to be camping again, after hoteling it last night. I am glad the way things worked out after all.

We are back in the prairies now. It is cool to finally be back here, after so many weeks away. It feels familiar, which is very interesting because before this trip I had never been to the prairies (that I can remember). I am excited about this, it means that to me much of Canada now seems like “mine” - no longer is it a land of vast unknowns.

I am really glad that I was driving and not on the bike because it was a blasting headwind! The sunset tonight was spectacular– we certainly have seen many beautfiul sunsets on this trip but the prairie sunsets can hold their own! So much sky, and meadows of wildflowers too!

I am really glad that I was driving and not on the bike because it was a blasting headwind! The sunset tonight was spectacular– we certainly have seen many beautfiul sunsets on this trip but the prairie sunsets can hold their own. So much sky, and meadows of wildflowers too!