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August 18 Thursday Bicycle touring from Riding Mountain Park Manitoba - Minnedosa Manitoba We get up early and head for the picnic shelter. It looks nice and dry. That is where we should have set up last night. It rained so hard last night that our tent got splattered with muck from the ground on the rebound. We make porridge and hot chocolate. We are still amazed at how fast our new Whisperlite stove boils water. I'd rate it an A+ in the fast-boil department. Simmer leaves a little to be desired. It uses far less fuel than our old Coleman stove, too. I suppose it partly stands to reason that if something cooks faster, then you use less fuel? It is so foggy that the forest across from the lawn appears to be clothed in a gauzy material. We can't see very far across the lake. With the fog it isn't possible to tell how big the lake actually is. There is an unsupervised swimming area and some picnic tables. Reeds populate one side of Moon Lake. Thick fog has descended to ground level. Walking through it in the forest is eerie. We start cycling south. It doesn't take long before the wind and sun clear out the fog. There is a small paved shoulder through the park. Early morning traffic is sparse. We stop at Walkamileinmymoccasins to enjoy the view of Clear Lake and to have a rest. Lots of vacationers have brought bicycles with them on their car racks. Around town many people are tooling around casually on bikes. The most we have seen so far. I am wearing my long pants and a fleece pullover and I am none too warm. Strangely, to me at least since I am so cold, there are a couple of families down on the beach. There are even a couple of youngsters in the water, paddling about on air mattresses. We lay on the grass in a park, trying to absorb all the warmth we can from a stray sunbeam. As we prepare to get back on our bikes to leave, a couple comes over to talk with us. Joanne and Lance are from Winnipeg. Last summer they tried to cycle to Halifax, but had to quit when the cold and rainy weather began to hurt their Achilles tendons. Their next trip is going to be Vancouver. They have a Trek tandem and tell us that we couldn't carry as much as we do because there's just that not much room on a tandem. Yeah, actually about four panniers, a handlebar bag and a rear rack less room. I wonder what I would have to forego so that there would be room for both of us on the bike. I thought I was pared down quite well. The traffic is monstrous on Hwy 10 to Minnedosa. The thought of rejoining Hwy 16 with a wide smooth shoulder is the only thing that keeps me going. Once we leave the park we are magically back onto the flat prairie. There is only one uphill section. At the bottom of it there is a sign for picnic tables in two kilometres. The area turns out to be the crappiest I have ever seen. The outhouse looks as though someone has tried to light a fire in it. There is a charred mess on the floor. And not one picnic table in sight. Maybe that is what they were trying to burn in the outhouse? Finally, I spotted a picnic table way in a back corner, hidden behind some trees. Must have been one the fire vandals missed. We push our bikes through the wet grass and mud over heaps of broken glass and trash. Then, just as we set our bikes down at the table, we are viciously attacked by voracious blood-sucking thirsty mosquitoes the size of vampires from Transylvania. As quick as the mud will allow, we beat a hasty retreat. Back down the muddy road we go. I should have brought my Trek mountain bike. We have to backtrack quite a distance on a muddy road to get back to the main road. We stop at the main road. I would still like an ice tea. Sharon reaches into her pannier and fishes around to bring out some dry mix. I hand her my water bottle to pour the powder into. It is pouring quite well into the narrow neck when, quite unannounced, a huge clump of ice tea falls out of the package and dumps over Sharon's hand, her handlebar bag, maps, front pannier, and cover. It is not a pretty sight to see a grown woman on the verge of tears. The traffic to Minnedosa continues to be crazy. The folks on the way to the park are in a hurry to get there so they can relax. Not a one slows down. Not a one moves over. Sharon says, "They're nice when it is easy to be nice." She just gets this out when she looks up and sees that a guy has pulled out to pass an oncoming vehicle. He nearly hits us head-on. In one final act of defiance I give him the finger just before I hit the gravel. Farther along we come across a speeder, pulling a boat, who has been pulled over by cops. Yay! Too bad the cop wasn't around when that guy was running us off the road. Or maybe not. Maybe he would have said, "You guys shouldn't be on the road anyway." With my blood pressure increasing skyward we make it to a bypass route for Minnedosa. We hang a left towards the Yellowhead Hwy 16 and say hello shoulder. I give a last sneer at Hwy 10. However, I sneered too soon. We come to construction. There is no shoulder. There is only loose gravel. A sign warns motorists "Slow down. Save your windshield." Hey, I think, what about my glasses? Whenever cars zoom past I resort to putting my head down to my chest trying to avoid the flying gravel. It bounces off my helmet. I spot an Esso gas station. Exhausted we pull our bikes in and dismount. Ominous black thunderheads have been following us. Sharon says it will rain. She wants to eat in the restaurant across the road. But first I go in to the gas station to talk to the attendant. I want to find out how far the construction goes and if there is a shoulder or not. He says he can't remember there being a shoulder on Hwy 16. Besides holiday traffic like there was on Hwy 10, we now also have to contend with freight trucks. I relate the sorry news to Sharon. We are about to head across to check out the restaurant when a guy starts asking us questions about touring. He lives in town and says he rides a bike too. As we continue to talk it starts to rain huge drops. Jerry invites us to the coffee bar for a hot chocolate. He says his lady works at the Prairie Pantry. Rain and hail the size of peas begin to bounce off the pavement. The wind is swirling and even though our bikes are under the overhang they are getting drenched. We dash across the road to the Prairie Pantry. Ruth, Jerry's wife, buys our hot chocolates. She says tips have been good today. Looking out the window at the black madness, Jerry says it looks like this storm isn't over yet. How would we like to spend the night at his place? It is 6:30. Ruth works until 8. Jerry is a plant engineer in Neepawa and he has to watch the dials to make sure the plant keeps cool. He has to leave at 7:15 to work a 12 hour shift. We follow his car home, which has been idling in the parking lot since we first bumped into him over an hour ago. At the stop sign in town, down from the Esso we meet two mountain bikers who were out for a training run and now have returned splattered and caked in mud. We talk to them for a couple of minutes then follow Jerry at 25 miles per hour. The mountain bikers try to keep up with us, but soon they are left in the dust (if there would have been any that the rain didn't wash away). Guess they're not used to traveling on pavement that fast. We sure blew their sleek cycling duds away. Well, at least they looked fast. At Jerry's we meet his 11-year-old son, Little Jerry. Jerry's 13-year-old daughter, Sabrina, is away at Bible Camp at Turtle Mountain. We are also introduced to Sabo, a huge Doberman-Shepherd cross. Good Sabo. Good boy. After he smells us he decides we are okay. Jerry says, "He's only bitten three people ... and mauled one guy. Gee. Jerry shows us how Sabo is trained to watch people. He says "Watch 'em" and immediately Sabo growls and barks and looks around with his ears perked. Easy Sabo. Jerry says, "Your bikes will be okay here tonight." I don't bother to lock them. It might be fun to see someone try to take them. Although, bikes aren't much good stealing when you have no legs left to pedal them with. Jerry leaves for work. He says while he's at work he takes courses, plays chess, and polishes his bike. His bike turns out to be a Harley with lots of chrome and gold plating. He can do anything at work as long as he keeps those dials in the right place. Great job. That's the kind I'm looking for. Of course, if there's a rupture in the ammonia line it kills you. Sharon showers first while I show Little Jerry our bikes and camping gear. Soon we have a live stove demonstration with lots of fire. I just finish showering when Ruth gets home. She rode her mountain bike home and has mud all down her back in a wide greasy stripe. She says she got caught in one of the passing downpours. Ruth starts making fried shake and bake chicken, new potatoes, beans and a cucumber salad. Little Jerry gives us some of his favourite chocolate covered almonds. He goes downtown and returns with the video Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger. It is after 1 AM by the time we fall into our sleeping bags on their living room floor. We won't be cold tonight. We even have pillows. |
