Day 32,33,34,35 June 29, Winnipeg

And a happy Canada Day to everyone. We have arrived in Winnipeg and are taking two days to rest our legs,repair bikes and to be generally feted by friends and family.
David Johns Cook's Creek friends,Alan and Jane Burpee, provided us with a delicious BBQ last night,as well as a tour of the local museum which gave us an insight into the early settlement of the area. Friedly Manitoba is living up to it's reputation,as we were treated royally by these fine folk.
Although our time in Winnipeg is short, we have all taken the opportunity to see as much of the city as we can and of course to make the obligatory visit to MEC.
Serge and his son Stefan (friends of David J.) will be joining us for the next part of the trip with their destination being Toronto. We are looking forward to them being part of the team.
All in all, I believe that this collection of old bods is holding up reasonably well. All that clean living is finally starting to pay off. We are looking forward to continuing the journey east and experiencing new terrain, which is just around the corner. Our little mosquito friends are starting to make their presence felt but it is nothing that a little deet won't fix. The forecast is for 30 deg.tomorrow but a nice westerly breeze will more than offset any heat. -- TTFN --Pat!!

Day 31, Thurs. June 26, Carman 118.9 km

Today's winds were favourable and so it felt easier than yesterday. We stopped in at Swan Lake, 1 km off the highway, for coffee and spoke with the locals. This exchange is a fun part of the trip for us. We noticed lots of wind turbines again from Somerset through St. Leon. After about 76 km. we came to a rise and could see the Red River Valley stretched out below us. Dave 3 says that it used to be Agassiz Lake, left over from glacial days. A few kilometres of downhill and we came to Miami where we had lunch at the park. Again we saw a wonderfully groomed baseball diamond...seems to be a feature of these small prairie towns.
We arrived in Carman and easily found King's Park which has a separate shower building. You can tell what is important to us.
We are looking forward to arriving in Winnipeg tomorrow for a weekend of bike maintenance, catching up with family and friends, and perhaps doing some sight-seeing.
This quick catch-up was done by Yvonne. Wireless service has been non-existent in this area. We'll be in touch.

Day 30, Wed. June 25, Baldur, Man. 126.2 km

We left Deloraine at 8 despite the time change. The wind was at our backs and we had a great ride for 65 km past more marshy areas and lots of birds. Average speed for this section was 27 kph. The entrance to Kilarney, where we had coffee, had several gorgeous lakes and campgrounds. It looked like a thriving community.
Then we headed north to Ninette for about 25 km. It was into an ugly north-west wind and we stayed as a group going 14-15 kph. Ninette was disappointingly small but Pelican Lake had many pelicans and beautiful water which we enjoyed while having lunch on the shore. The drop down into Ninette reminded us of Princeton and the 1 km climb out was nothing at all!
We then headed for Baldur, Aleda's hometown, about 30 km further. The campground is by the school and was free, but had no showers. I went to the school for internet use but ending up getting showers for all of us in the school gym! Randy, the principal, stayed until 5 o clock so that we could take advantage of them. Thank you, Randy and Cheryl (secretary), for your hospitality and "happy last day of school" to you and the students.

Day 29, Tues. June 24, Deloraine, 116 km.

We left Carnduff about 8 heading east on # 18. We stopped after 24 km. for coffee in Gainsborough and happened to meet four ladies (who would be preparing a tea for after a funeral later that day) and the mayor of the town. It was the most memorable thing we did today except for crossing the border into Manitoba and changing our watches an hour ahead.
We are back on the Red Coat Trail again but here it is named the NWMP Trail. The area is a little more up and down with the trees being larger and the farms more prosperous-looking.
We were fighting the wind and/or the road surfaces today. There were only gravel shoulders with a sharp drop-off but they weren't a problem as the traffic was light and the vehicles moved right over for us. We spent 5 hours and 55 minutes in the saddle today with an average speed of 19.5. It was a tough slog, topped off with our first encounter with mosquitoes.

Day 28, Mon. June 23, Carnduff, 96 km.

James sent us off with a hearty breakfast and directions for following the detour through town. Soon we were on the highway going east. The topography is a little different now with gulleys with bushes, and roadside sloughs with various kinds of blackbirds. The traffic is quite heavy with many trucks ferrying huge pieces of equipment. There was a sense of something happening here in southern Sask. Sure enough, later in the day, we spoke with a young man who had just finished a shift digging for oil - his crew was working on its 20th job, working 24 hours a day and taking about 5 days to go down about 1400 meters for the oil.
There were no towns of note until Oxbow, where we had lunch. Just before Oxbow there was a downhill symbol (for trucks) and we were pleased to go down into the coulee and up out again....felt like home!
The campground is very basic but does have a shower!

Day 27 Sunday June22 Estevan 89k

We have travelled 2107k to date.

No favourable winds - fought headwinds all the way to Estevan (estimated up to 30kph with gusts to 40). The conditions forced us in pace line strategies - looking around for wildlife would have resulted in a much shorter trip, as we waited for crashed riders to heal in the local infirmery.

Adele's large family came through again - arrived at her sister Ginette, and husband James, house to be greeted with cold cerveza. This was followed (after riders were fumigated in the shower and laundry was done) by a delicious beef, salad, and ice cream cake dinner (embossed with "Hsppy Anniversary" for Dave2 and Guadalupe - 40 years!)

Adele's parents, Bob and Cecile, will be celebrating their 60th anniversary tomorrow - congratulations!

Finally, an editorial note for the future Manitoba section - Dave3 has been working diligently for many days to manage down our expections for his native province. We wait with great interest to see how the world unfolds!

Dave2

Day 26 Saturday June21 Weyburn 142k

The ride from Assiniboia was wonderfully assisted by Adele's uncle Ernie who, along with Brenda in the RV, transported bikes and riders past a nasty road construction site east of Assiniboia.

The only relief from flat visual deprivation was a brief stop at Ogema, where we observed a furniture auction supporting a local senior citizen's centre. Saskatchewan continues to have shown its tradition of supporting its people, while repecting their independence.

Our origiqal plan was to stop at Pangman, but favourable winds enabled us to continue to Weyburn - a long but successful day.

Six and half hours of riding, averaging 22kph, was an excellent test of both the resilience of our butts and the various compounds used to soothe them!!

Dave2