June 7 - Day 32 - Richer 92 km

 Another good day….now that I’m off the bike and safely in my tent before the rain storm!!!

I got up early this morning and said goodbye to the Mannitoba base, and thank you for a wonderful stay.  

Yesterday Grant Therian - the provincial director brought in Orion for a visit so that I could meet him.  Grant made an application to PADS, and Orion is a specially trained accredited facility dog.  His purpose is to provide comfort and support to the STARS team.  He has only been at the base for 3 months, and staff and crew say they don’t know how it used to be before he was there.  He will sit quietly with the crew when requested, greets people, plays fetch….but I think the best part is that he quietly waits for the crew to return from a mission, and when he sees the white helmets…he approaches them.  He has also been brought to other bases as needed for comfort.  Acquiring Orion was not easy, and keeping him also entails some work as PADS has many rules to ensure that their efforts to train the dog are not wasted, and Grant ensures that their rules are followed, as Orion is now an essential part of the STARS 7 team.  This is amazing….and I know what a difference it is to the base when the Edmonton pups are brought in by the owners…Gerbie and Juno, they just bring in a calming influence, that having a trained dog would be next level.  Congrats to Grant for not only thinking about a facility dog, but also caring for him. 

Just outside of Winnipeg is the Longitudinal centre of Canada, but not the halfway point of my ride.  Since I plan to meander through Ontario and Québec, my half way point is about 1000 km away.  Today I’m over the 3,000 km mark for my cycling!!!!  WOW!!!  It was challenging day with the winds.  Thankfully Jenna and Troy found me a way out of Winnipeg where I was mostly on bike routes….thank you!!!!  That made a huge difference this morning, plus I got to see some beautiful areas of Winnipeg.  Once out of the city, the highway is south east, and with the string south wind of 35 gusting to 55, it made for slow going.  Cycling 9-11 km/hr while trying not to get pushed around too much.  Thankfully the shoulders are wide.  Four hours of this and then the road finally turned east, and with the trees to my right, I was cycling 20 km/hr.  I stopped in the town of Richer for some lunch, and bought dinner to go, as my planned campsite wasn’t near any food.  I headed off, and received a text about some severe weather coming from Winnipeg, and moving fairly quickly….so quick change of plans and staying here for the night.  I got the tent up, and everything settled before the storm.  It was short lived but quite strong, and I was glad to be off the bike.  So that just means a few extra km added to tomorrow’s ride, but I should have a tail wind, or at least a slight cross tail wind for the ride tomorrow.  

June 6 - Day 31 - Winnipeg

 Rest day in Winnipeg.  Visited with the crew at the hangar…Grant brought in Orion to visit, then at 2 pm we had float Friday!  Yummy.  I picked up my bike this afternoon….and I’m ready to continue on tomorrow morning.  

Thanks to the Winnipeg base for hosting me the past two days and making me feel so welcome!!!!  

June 5 - Day 30 - Winnipeg 124 km

Winnipeg base 

😀😀😀

This cannot possibly be my fortune even though I opened it😂😂😂😂

 Today was a bit of a challenging day….it didn’t help that I slept in until 0730!  I was ready to roll at 0900, and I stopped to ask Scott in town where to have breakfast, and he recommended the golf course just out of town….and then he told me about his own ride when he was younger, headwind every day!  Well, today was my first real head wind.  

I rode out to the golf course where I ran into a woman who told me about her sons riding through Europe….love these stories.  They were quite busy at the golf course, so breakfast took longer than I had hoped….but eventually I was on my bike.  

It was difficult to get going very fast, especially when there wasn’t any shoulder…..I kept looking behind to see if anyone was coming, then watching to see if they had room to move over…..and if they would move over.  If they didn’t, then I would head onto the gravel shoulder until they were passed.  Need to be vigilant all the time.  Plus getting onto the gravel shoulder could be a bit challenging at times if the gravel is deep.  All this takes time and energy and slows me down.  There was a point where it wasn’t safe to move over as there was a deep ridge of gravel….so for about 25 km I just stayed on the gravel….not very comfortable, but safe! 

Finally I made it to Winnipeg….but I still had 90 min of cycling to get to the bike shop where my bike is for some TLC.  Olympia cycle and ski on Portage.  I took off a few bags of stuff I would need tonight, had a chat with the tech and then took an uber to the STARS base where I was greeted, shown around and provided with everything I needed.  A full size towel for the shower and a Murphy bed!!!!  After a late dinner with Marcel and his wife Joelle, I’m back at the base to get some sleep.  Don’t forget Marcel is fundraising for MS.  

The day was hard, but made much easier with a video of Gerbie and several texts ❤️❤️❤️. Thanks everyone.  Not sure of the plan for tomorrow….my bike should be ready around 1pm.  I’ll decide then 😀

June 4 - Day 29 - Treherne MB 122 km

 2,828 km total 😀

Well it was another glorious day…..and the pedal assist was amazing- the strong west wind!!!!  It greatly assisted getting me here in good time….. I’ve been so lucky!   It was cool this morning, and warmed up nicely not long after I was on the road, but not too hot….Goldilocks weather….it was just right!!!!

Mountie in Redvers

Campsite this morning 

Campsite in Souris

Suspension bridge model….just like the real thing!!!

Sarah the Camel in Glenboro

Windmill in the town of Holland

Glass chapel - built in mid1980-took 3 months to build

Glass house took 2 months to build

Inside the glass chapel, there have been several weddings here 

The roads here sometimes have a 12 inch shoulder, and most of the time no shoulder at all - I am on a secondary road.  Most of the time the vehicles move over, but when there’s opposing traffic, I get onto the gravel shoulder which is deep and loose gravel.  No close calls yet thankfully.   People do what they can to give me room….even slowing down until the opposing traffic has passed then they move into the other lane.  I feel quite safe….but I’m always watching ahead and behind in my mirror, as well as listening for traffic.  

Every town seems to have an attraction.  Redvers has the statue of a Mountie on horseback, Souris has the longest historic suspended bridge, Glenboro has a statue of a camel, and Treherne has a glass house and chapel!!!!  I was too late in the day to visit the suspension bridge yesterday, but was able to visit the glass house today!!!!  

Thanks for all the texts….and the weather report Jasper 😀😀.  Tomorrow I should be able to make Winnipeg

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June 3 - Day 28 - Souris MB 110 km

Elizabeth and David ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Derek ❤️❤️

Show and Tell 😀😀😀😀

 Today was the best day ever!!!!  I got to go to school for show and tell 😀. First I rode Elizabeth and David to school, then I brought my bike inside and had a wonderful session with the grades 2,3&4 from Redvers school.  I told them what my project was, and how I was getting it accomplished….then I opened it up to questions…..and what wonderful insightful questions!!!!  The ladies and gentlemen were so much fun….thank you so much for letting me come and share my story 😀😀❤️❤️❤️

After that I had a longer visit with Katy and Derek and mom and grandmother….then lunch…..a full day of visiting over at 1pm.  Such a lovely visit….wish I could have stayed longer, but I needed to hit the trail.  

Another tail wind again today!!!  Everything was going well until a gust front went through north to south.  I thought I could outride it….but 100m later I was taking cover under my bothy bag….a one persons nylon cover.  It was blowing hard….but I was comfortable inside the bag…..so glad I brought it.  

I finally made it to Souris….but I forgot about the time change….so all the restaurants except for the drive-in were closed.  Another burger for dinner 😀😀😀

The riding was good today…..with a tail wind and it being downhill I made good time getting here.  I think I’m going to head up to the transcanada tomorrow.  Although the road that I’m on is nice and quiet, the shoulders are deep gravel.  Most drivers are pulling over into the opposite lane, and most are slowing down….it is still a bit uncomfortable.  I’ll see what the wind is doing tomorrow and decide then.  

Thanks for all the texts and comments.  I’m in Manitoba, but didn’t see a sign!  Probably because I was on a secondary highway.  Two days to Winnipeg 😀😀😀

June 2 - Day 27 to Redvers - 97 km

Redcoat trail

 Today was so much fun….made it to Redvers and visiting with family.  I stayed in a hotel last night, the cleanest hotel ever, and my bike was stored in the owners garage.  A cool morning so I wore my jacket.  Just took my time and enjoyed the ride today….I just love the prairies 😀

Nice people everywhere!  I was riding and someone slowed down to chat….my nephew’s neighbor!!!  Then she went ahead to video me cycling!  How nice 😊 

Then about 10 km later a man slowed down just to chat…then he pulled over to have a longer conversation 😀.  Just a fun day.  

Now I’m sitting at a ball field watching my great niece place baseball!!!  So much fun.  

My song today was …I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles 😂😂😂.  Tomorrow Manitoba!!!  

June 1 - Day 26 -Stoughton 143.8 km, 277 m

I love the prairies

Nice old barn - it says Hill Top….because it’s at the top of a hill!!!!

 Today was a fabulous day….almost magical actually, and the easiest day so far😀

It started off slowly…. I didn’t really want to get up, so i shut off my 0530 alarm and went back to sleep.  The good breakfast restaurant opened at 0800….so thought I would do that.  I slowly packed up as I noted the wind increasing.  My plan was to get to Stoughton which is in a SE direction from Regina, and when I checked the wind direction on the weather app, it said the wind was from the SE, gusting to 30!  Yikes.  I decided to pack up from the worst campground ever, head for breakfast and assess the situation over eggs Benedict and fruit.  As I headed over to breakfast, the wind seemed to be in the right direction for me today.  The wind map showed that I would have a tail wind….and boy they were right!  My good weather charm rose to the occasion!!!!  Super windy and gusty, but because it was a tail wind, it was quiet while I was riding…. I could hear my tires on the road.  I could hear the wind through the tall trees, and of course was almost blown over when I tried to get off in the cross wind….but the cycling was amazing.  I could have ridden all day!

Stoughton was my destination, because I’m visiting family in Redvers tomorrow which is 100 km East of here and mostly flat, so unless I have a head wind I should make it by the early afternoon.  

I’m in a motel tonight, it is so windy here that unless I’m sheltered, I’m worried about the tent.  Plus the campground doesn’t have any services, just toilet, but no showers or power.  The option was to go to the next town which is 43 km East of here, they have a great campground, but no restaurant!  So I’m here, in a hotel, sitting in the only restaurant in town, and I think that everyone who lives here has come out for dinner tonight!!!!  It’s a happening place 😀😀😀