I've never been to Manitoba before...
Bring on the Buffalo!
Well, maybe not on the road or anything...
We'll see.
I was on the road at 9 am Central Time and I noted that Dryden is a very blue collar place and the hotel was practically vacant when I went to the breakfast nook to get my cereal and egg. I noted that someone was coming in after night shift and staying over. I guess they accommodate everyone.
The temperature was a whopping 4 C and I actually had to leave the shorts in the bag and put pants on! Oh my. I did keep my Keen sandal shoes on though. I'm not giving up yet...
The drive was more rocks and trees and yes, wet SNOW was falling in parts of the drive in the higher altitudes. YIKES! This is WAY too soon. Oh well, I am in the "north" so it's not surprising really.
I decided that a gas stop would be in Kenora as I didn't know what was up in Manitoba for stopping so it's best to top up. Kenora is a lovely town spread over a few kilometers with lakes interlaced with roads. It's really a cottage country feel and it was a nice place to drive through. The home prices made me sure it was more of a cottage place as the signs posted showed numbers similar to Southampton. Oh well. But if I did have a choice to live in this part of the province I'd vote for Kenora. Very pretty.
As I travel I enjoy listening to local radio and there are signs along the roadside advertising what station is playing what type of music. The news is fun to listen to as well. As I travelled closer to Winnipeg the stations were filled with news of the Winnipeg Jets. This new (old?) team has injected some real energy into all fans here. Everyone is talking about them and who is going to be trying out for them and the new uniforms and some are even giving tickets to the Jets and Leafs game as a prize. Fun!
Ah, a quest. I need to find some Winnipeg Jets stuff. They'll have some in Brandon I'm sure.
The road in Manitoba is flat and straight, the terrain is flat and straight and the horizon is flat and straight. Wow, if it's like this in Manitoba what's it going to be like in Saskatchewan?
You'll note that the sky is blue. After another couple of fronts that I drove through (actually streamers coming off of Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba at Portage La Prairie) everything cleared up and the temperature rose to a whopping 12 C. Break the shorts back out.
When I arrived in Brandon I had noted that the city is to the south of the Trans-Canada and in typical prairie fashion built in a grid. I figured I'd find my Days Inn without putting the address in the nav system. Yeah, welllllll
I had a nice tour of the town, saw the Assiniboine River (again) and many supportive signs of the Brandon Wheat Kings (local CHL team) and home made GO Jets signs. But, no hotel...
So I relented and looked up the hotel in my CAA book. In hind sight I also noted that there weren't any signs on the highway directing me to the Brandon Days Inn....
Well a good sign is that the navigation system took the address (I've found if the address isn't right it can't be properly inputted) so off I went.
Aha!
It's brand new, in the south end of town beyond where you would usually travel and very, very nice. Seems this hotel caters to the business types and is quite nice. The room is great and everything is so comfy and the little pool isn't filled with kids! The bowling alley/restaurant next door was a nice diversion (boy are there some good bowlers in Brandon!)
So, settled in for the night, the Equinox and me resting our bones before the next leg of the journey which is a little shorter than todays by about 50 km. This will give me time to find the store with the Jets stuff in it. Even the girls at the front desk here knew where I might get some things! What a place! So helpful!
Notes on travel stuff....
- Days Inn-if it's a larger one the breakfast is really good (eggs, bacon etc) and a nice sized eating area, if smaller it's the usual continental breakfast and a "nook" to eat in, I usually take a tray up to my room and watch Canada AM (I went to school with Beverly Thompson at LPCI but she was a cheer leader and wouldn't know me from a hole in the ground).
- Comfort Inn-very predictable continental breakfast (2 juices, coffee, milk, 3 cereals and various breads to toast and hard boiled eggs) and very small nook.
- Days Inn has better WiFi
- Comfort Inn uses some internet valet program and it drives me crazy.
- Days Inn always calls about 30 minutes after I get to my room and ask how I like it and they always have the extra pouffy beds. AAAHHHH
- Gas was $1.41 outside of Wawa, it's $1.15 here in Brandon. Right on. Driving in the mountainous area has been a little expensive, not so much in the prairies!
- Having the Kool-a-tron has saved me lots in lunches on this tour as the Trans-Canada has really nice picnic places (with washrooms). With the cold night temperatures I'm not hauling it into the hotel room (though they've all had fridges too).
Later!
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