Still Farther North!

Greetings! We have continued our travels past the 54th parallel. Look on a map and you will see how far north we have come. We have visited four small Manitoban communities, each one a little farther north…Dauphin, Swan River, The Pas, and Flin Flon (don’t you love that name?) We enjoyed their people, their food, and their industries. We are, however, in a bit of a time warp. The phones and broadband card are not available. Wifi is becoming more difficult to find. We have resumed our trips to the local libraries to check email and pay bills etc. The weather has been quite nice. Usually it is sunny around 70 degrees in the daytime and in the upper 50’s at night. There have been some thunder storms, but nothing that sticks around very long. Yes, the bugs are bad, but with the right clothes and insect repellant you survive. The flowers remind me of Alaska. Each community decorates their town with lots of colorful hanging baskets and curbside gardens. Their season isn’t long but with the extra daylight the flowers thrive. As I type right now, it is a little after 10:00 p.m. and dusk has just fallen. It just doesn’t seem quite right to go to bed when it is still light, but we are so busy that we rarely have trouble falling asleep. The climax of our trip is coming up this week when we fly to Churchill, Manitoba which is located on the Hudson Bay…hopefully to see beluga whales and just perhaps a polar bear or two. Tune in next week to hear all about it.

And now from your Roving Reporter (who in my mind repeats himself a bit, but oh well!)….

This caravan is quite different from our two past experiences. First, the people. We are a small group of experienced caravaners. This is our third, and we are relative newcomers. Several, including our leader, have been on more than a dozen caravans throughout North America. Thus everyone understands how this travel experience works and pitches in to make the trip a memorable experience. Age averages from late 60s through mid 70s. All were professionals in their former life. Two are full time travelers and several others might as well be given the number of days they camp each year. Eight Airstream motor coaches [a large number for this type of experience]; the balance are trailers like ours. The tin cans run from 25 feet to 34 feet – we at 28 are among the smallest. For the novice, that means home is 280 square feet. The group is small, 21 couples, and that means we all know and enjoy each other’s company now. Our wardrobe is limited but no one comments when it’s the third time they have seen my fishing shirt. You would be surprise how few clothes you really need. Wear it, wash it and wear it. I smiled when one of our new friends told Sally that she burned her few caravan clothes when she returned home. But I digress from the main point. This is a tight group. Many of us know other couples from past trips, so this caravan is a bit like a family reunion and in this case a reunion without black sheep. No grouches…no sea anchors… It make a great time terrific.
The second difference is equally profound. Its 180 degrees out. In the past we traveled most days. It was up early, pile in the car and travel most of the day. As we drove down the road we found lots to see and scenery to absorb. On arrival we ate dinner, had a drivers meeting and hit the feathers. Up and repeat the process. Not this trip. Most days we leave at a respectable hour and drive a short distance. We only go around 50 miles/hour. The scenery is stark, a beauty all of its own, but a little goes a long way. Brilliant canola yellow and blue flax fields at first a joy quickly tire. A boreal forest is made up of green trees.. Lots of green trees. Hundreds of thousands of hecters of green. Wild life only live in the national forest. No I cannot explain that observation, but with the exception of a pelican and a hand full of loons, that has been accurate. So we are lazy travelers who drive very short distances. Once we arrive, we flop for two or three days. Each day we visit all manner of local people doing their thing. I attended Cree language class, watched fire engines built, learned about a 28 family community whose foundation is socialism, made and tasted 198 proof ethanol, and harvested and cut a million board of lumber all in less than 10 days. People up here are wonderful and like all they take great pride in telling you about their life and work they love. They are young and life is harsh – the mean high in Jan is 1 degree F. People my age from Manitoba visit Florida. After a visit – remember fish, relatives and Airstream smell after three days – we move on down the road 3 or 4 hours.
Sign of the week. I had a real winner, but Sally and the city fathers would not allow me to publish the text. The message appeared outside of a local watering hole and was intended to draw a crowd for a certain kind of contest. And a crowd it drew if nothing else to check out the text. It lasted only a few hours Saturday evening before it was replaced. So, this week you get the second place winner. “NEW AND IMPROVED … GOVERNMENT APPROVED … BLACK DIRT … ON SALE.
Hurray. I believe I found a free lunch. Sarah, I apologize for all those time I told you that there was no such thing. For in fact it just might be possible to get something for nothing. It works like this. We arrived in The Pas and camped in the parking lot of a First Nation reservation Casino [no electricity, water or sewer. No campground in town and no parking lot large enough to accommodate 21 recreation vehicles.] They welcomed us and said if we would stop in we would receive credit to pay the slot machines. No free lunch I thought but it was worth a check. The lady explained we received $5 credit on a credit card. In addition it was senior’s nite so we earned an additional $10, $15 total. All you had to do was to insert $5. No free lunch, right. She assured me I could cash out any time and get my $5 back. What the heck, it’s only $5 and they had penny machines. I followed the directions and sure enough the machine told me I had five cash and 15 credit. One pull… five cash and 14.99 credit. No winner. Four more pulls. Five cash and 14.95 credit. So far so good. Pull six…bingo! A winner…Cash 5.01 and 14.95 credit. Hummm. Winnings went to cash and losses were withdrawn from credit. This was something I could learn to like. On to the two cent machine. Two hours later, credit equaled zero. But, but get this: cash was 26.43! I stopped. Maybe there is a free lunch in very unusual cases.

(P.S. I didn’t do as well, but did come home with $5.00 extra!)