June 20th, 2017, Day 30, Winnipeg to Falcon Lake, Manitoba 153 km

We are in a cottage overlooking a lake. The view over the water is spectacular. We didn’t book it, we don’t know the person who owns it, we didn’t expect to be here. But we are and it’s lovely.  

What a beautiful morning we walked out into this morning as we left Ian and Sheri’s home. It was bright enough that I had trouble seeing between the sunshine and the glare off the wet streets. Refreshed after having enjoyed a day off, we took a convoluted route towards the highway, passing painted polar bear display, ( like the painted cows we have in Calgary) and the Canadien Mint in the process. There are a lot of cyclists in Winnipeg but they don’t enjoy the quality of bike paths that we in Calgary do. On and eastward we rode. Eventually we passed the longitudinal centre of Canada. Charlie and I did a little celebratory dance but we are not deceiving ourselves; we know it is not our halfway point by road.           We’re actually not sure where that is. Eastward bound….the landscape was turning yet again. Saskatchewan with its gentle curves eventually becomes more dramatically differentiated as one travels eastward into  Manitoba and beyond. There’s  more rock, more bush, and suddenly, trees. (There are more bears too but we haven’t seen any.)

We stopped at a little roadside fruit and vegetable stand. I bought a tomato but my real goal was to win access to their bathroom. Charlie perused their wares and deciding that they were perhaps more than we wanted to spend, went back to our bikes. People often stop to talk to us. They’ll ask where did we come from, where do you go (Cotton Eyed-Joe! Lol, couldn’t resist!) Yeah, they just ask us all kinds of questions and we are always ready to have a chat. Well, this man started talking to Charlie. The woman he was with said she’d love to do a trip like this. They asked where we were headed for that day and  Charlie told them we were planning on camping at Falcon Lake. I came out of the washroom in time to hear the woman, Lisa Patrick, (who also lives in Calgary), offer us the use of her family’s cabin for the night. Wow!!! Wow!!! They were going there to do some yard work and would be leaving around 6pm and they would leave the cabin unlocked for us!  That sure put some steam in my whistle!

Dave is walking across Canada. He started April 21st and we met him between Winnipeg and Falcon Lake. He’s a retired medical vet from the Canadiens Armed Forces who lives in a tiny condo in Pentiction.     He said he has always wanted to walk across Canada and this was his time to do it. He had a large Thule cart he was was pushing before him, loaded down with everything he needed for the trip. He said he was loving this minimalist existence and he was making serious progress with 50-70 km a day. Walking!!!!! He said that this was the worst day so far for bugs and indeed it was. Drone-sized horseflies or deer flies dive bombed us as we moved along, darting, swirling, soaring at us from every angle. ( I bought us bug suits and put mine on. Charlie, of course, was way too cool for that, but I was undeterred. I felt much better. When you put it on it looks mostly light tan in colour and I thought nothing of it until I went into the front office at a campground. Charlie and I just wanted to buy something at the camp store and when the guy behind the counter saw me, all covered up in my bug suit, he stepped back.      I think he thought I was there to hold him up. “Gimmie all your Twizzlers. Yeah, hand ’em over, and all the Smartie boxes too! Don’t hold back! And gimme the gum! I want all the gum! Haha.)

We got to the Patrick cabin around 6:30. It has that homey, comfortable family vibe going on and we felt instantly comfortable. Dinner was simple; a salad including that perfect tomato, mashed potatoes with Campbell’s Chunky Soup over them. Not recommended but worked in a pinch. We had wonderful showers and called it an early night. 

Thank you Lisa and Danny.  We appreciate the use of your cottage. Expect a call from us when we get back to Calgary.  Your pub or ours?