Langenburg to Minnedosa, Manitoba
170.8 km td 2,844.5 km
A day for records- highest max speed, longest distance traveled, highest avg speed. Entering our fourth province- Manitoba- is a highlight for the day- it is hard to fathom how far we've already come. A good tailwind keeps our spirits up despite 60 km on hwy 16 without a shoulder- one of our transcanada hwys! Shame on Manitoba, you nearly killed a biker or two, and sure angered a lot of truck drivers.
We meet another biker enroute- Andrew from Maine, on his own, circumnavigating North America for twelve months. His craziest story was about riding through the summer prairie night a few days earlier- just because. We rescue him a few hours later as his rear tire shreds and he has no spare- he is grateful for ours. We spend the night camping by Minnedosa lake, and enjoying a good stirfry.
Minnedosa to Westbourne
108.2 km td 2,952.8 km
We wake up late with the time change and deal with two flat tires before leaving camp. Today we learn why we're in 'Friendly Manitoba'; a train engineer sits down for breakfast with us and we are the last to leave the cafe; two groups of travelers join us as we take a snack break; I break a spoke and we are welcomed by two locals at their free RV park; we stop for watermelon and spend an hour looking at photos and getting a tour of the house..... it just goes on! Needless to say, we don't get as far as planned today.
Westbourne to Winnipeg
121.5 km td 3,074.4 km
An early start as we are eager to begin our days off in Winnipeg. We are greeted in Portage La Prairie by Cormac's aunt and uncle Grant and Eileen Nazarko and enjoy a Tim Hortons stop (finally!) and a lighter ride into Winnipeg. We get a shock when the transcanada becomes a game of russian roullette with no paved shoulders- we are forced to own the slow lane, making all kinds of friends with the big trucks swerving to avoid us. The last 20 km into Winnipeg is more relaxing as a shoulder appears and chief tour guide Grant joins us and directs us straight to the Nazarko household. It is an emotional moment when we approach the welcome to Winnipeg sign and there are a few additional welcomes. We are in the geographical center of the country, and today was the first day we started to think "Hey, we really might pull this off!." A couple days of relaxation will be well deserved!!
