this didn't look good. from the aerie of the seventh floor of the canadinn, it was mauzy. cbc out of winnipeg were constantly talking of rain severe thunderstorms and high winds. i could bypass this by staying in north dakota heading west but i would have to make up manitoba on the way back. headed north - the interstate here is like a back road since i can see everything. got down at manvel for gasoline.
-you're going to track that mud everywhere, the woman out for a smoke and in the middle of my snap said.
-naw with the rain i'll simply stay out longer.
the border was empty but that didn't matter as it seems that customs and immigration don't want to hear the real reason for your trip. they seemed put off that i had no guns didn't stop in the duty free for ciggies and alcohol, didn't know what to make of an outing to the klondike, i had to park the machine head inside and answer more questions - last time in canada, had i gone through immigration before, had i been denied entry, etc. ten minutes later my passport was stamped with the wrong date.
mentioned that at the tourist board. they rang buddy who talked to me and he apologised.
if it weren't for the interrogation i wouldn't have noticed the border at all. manitoba was more prairie. there were a series of rail cars straddling the border. this was disappointing not like the east at all - unless one thought of québec, i had entered via francophone manitoba -where were the t'hos, the shoppers drug marts, the sobey's it was more prairie when i needed a double double. there was a difference though the road ran close to the centre of the towns some distance off. the sites were tantalisingly close.made it into winnipeg just as my lack of caffeine headache was beginning. changed my devalued AA+ rated notes for some that actually were worth something - the bank teller smirked but led me to the nearest tim's
- have you been in winnipeg before?
- nope first time.
- are you heading downtown if so there is a tim's on the left around bison drive.
actually i wasn't. i was going to use the bypass but how could i refuse now. besides i should see the golden boy.
a mistake. there wasn't a street in the downtown core that wasn't under construction. got lost and headed north out of town. finally turned around and headed west along broadway and the local transcanada two hours later i was on my way to portage la prairie and the yellow head highway.
a mild panic set in. my route to saskatoon was a bit longer than the recommended one. i wanted to be further north than the transcanada heading through regina. i wanted smaller towns but this would add supposedly ninety minutes to the outing a total of 14 hours driving. i spent two in winnipeg. i wanted to stop but needed to make saskatoon or at least be near it.
made time.
the thunderstorms held off.
well until 7th road when i saw a farm stand - but making time i was a good three clicks beyond it before it registered. turned around i like the transcanada you can turn around at will, and stop along the road when the urges takes you. i was afraid that this was an atlantic canada trait but no i saw it here.
feared the prairies being boring but just the opposite. the flat allowed for an examination of the minutiae. was glad to take the yellowhead highway as it did go through towns. i did stop, fully aware of the ramifications but the further along i was the more of a hassle it would be to return.
i was still working on a protocol for the outing as this was turning into camera fest. i took only the medium format crowd. ubaldo, ziquinho and ubirajara but also took the digital slr to have snaps for the entry. i noticed around kelso that i was carrying too many cameras. to-day was an attempt to rectify that. only blog worthy snaps then the digital would be put away for the real work. found a sub category. anything that would make a postcard had me using the digital. it tended to work.
driving along the yellowhead, i was asking the same questions of the people in these towns as i was of those in outports on the rock. why do you stay. most of these places seemed less populated than any about to be resettled town along the south coast. seeing the places i was passing through i could now at least see the reason that one wants to hold on in an outport. the beauty. but here? the railway and elevators were to this regions what boats and flakes were to the rock.
in most places i couldn't tell if the shops make that shop were open or not. stopped in two where everything looked closed except for the tourist attraction. most places looked like joey smallwood practised resettlement here before taking it to the rock. i could tell a town that was sustaining itself as it had a subway but cannot recall beyond that none of the usual clusters of shops in one larger town along the way. no wal-mart, sobeys, winners, zellers. there was a feeling of a 20th century version of a town that would be the set of a western all along one street, all that was needed but everything closed. odd though these towns were all different. sheho and lanigan were good examples of what i was finding.. i wanted to stop and wander a number of these towns. but it would have taken me three days to get to saskatoon.
arrived in saskatoon at an awkward time. i gained an hour as i went from central daylight to central standard. this could be a problem as it was barely 9pm and i had a ding dong ditch to carry out a record of 1400 miles a third more than the former longest ddd that i made. the beet would be home. i really couldn't wait until they left for work in the morning as i wanted to make british columbia by the next evening. drove past. house was dark except for a glow in the back of the house. nice neighbourhood, a noodle icecream shop, great western brewery was around the corner and downtown was within walking distance.
parked around the corner, watch two people dumpster dive behind a café on the corner. confused on how to act. cross at the crosswalk as one would do here, or in the middle of the street. compromised. heading to the house i crossed properly. dropped the book through the mails slot wondering why there was a notice "chien méchant" on the glass of the door. when this large black thing arose and started to bark. crossed in the middle of the street gave a nod to the dumpster divers and drove off.
an email arrives later that evening...
alberta
british columbia
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