Journey Day 7 - Kenora to Portage la Prairie

5 minutes on the road and we were again in torrential rain but it didn't last very long.
We drove on enjoying what was to be the last of the forest and lakes. This area is oddly called 'Lake of the Woods' though it is more, hundreds of lakes separated by woods. We moved easily along straight flat roads as the sky turned blue and the sun shone and after about 1 hour arrived at the Manitoba border.

Last Views of the Forest

Typical of the cuts through rock of the last few days

Manitoba

I know I said this about the Ontario border but I'll repeat for readers who may benefit from knowing that as you enter each Province, an Information Centre in the first few miles has free road maps of the Province which are better than any pre-bought maps such as Rand McNally. This also applies across states in the USA. 
We were given a lot of useful information by a helpful lady and returned to the highway.
Crossing the border we are no longer on Highway 17 but Highway 1; Trans Canadian Highway. Different Provincial laws and taxes mean that fuel is about 20 cents a litre cheaper than Ontario and that maximum speed is now 110 kph (68 mph), 10kph faster than we have been able to do so far in Canada.
Unfortunately we then hit major roadworks and went from 110 to 80, 60 and finally crawl along an as yet un-metaled new carriageway for miles.

End of The Forest

Approaching the town of Richer, it felt as if the sky was opening up and widening as the forest finally petered out and more clearings and farmed fields appeared. Flat fields of shimmering yellow quinoa, young sweetcorn and other grains.

The rest of the road to Winnipeg is summed up by 'flat'. The countryside extends in all directions and the Trans Canadian Highway scores a long straight groove across it. Sadly, the TCH is now a wide dual carriageway as I suspect will gradually become all the way but it is moving us along today; apart from the frequent 60 zones for more roadworks renewing worn out concrete panel sections of road. 

After skirting Winnipeg to the South on the 100 peripheral highway we again headed West toward Portage la Prairie. Along the section of road we passed a marker for the Longitudinal Centre of Canada. This does not coincide with halfway for us as we joined the TCH at Montreal, well to the West of the Eastern reaches of Canada.

The rest of the run was fast and smooth along wide straight roads and we arrived early at our lodging, about 1:30.Fortunately, Westgate Motel were happy to let us take our room and we dumped our luggage and walked up to 7/11 where we bought slices of pizza and muffin for lunch.

Fort La Reine Museum

The plan had been to make today a slightly shorter run between two very long drives. There was a museum 2 km from our motel that had been popular when Lynne was researching before we came away.
We approached Fort la Reine under the impression we would learn more about the portage, the transport of furs and goods in the days of the North West Company and the Hudson Bay Co, . Unfortunately, this was incorrect. The museum was a miscellany of early 21th century life, agricultural machinery, and a huge mix of not necessarily related stuff. It was entertaining at a low level but we learned nothing of the portage.

An example of a Red Barn; often seen out in rural areas 

Got any Os?

Frustrating evening

Already a little out of sorts from the museum which had left me wondering why we stopped here I had to deal with a tyre pressure warning on the vehicle. The tyre looked OK but I couldn't ignore it and worried if there was a problem. We found a garage with an airline but I couldn't work out how to set the pressure; there being no visible gauge. In the end I went into a garage and asked; the guy came out and showed me that what I thought was just a brass nut on the handset was in fact a gauge ;it works in a similar manner to to the old pen pressure gauges in which the graduated centre is pushed out and the pressure read off the side.
The front left was a little low but little different to both right tyres; only the rear left was correct. Not impressed with Thrifty's vehicle preparation. I had already had washer fluid level warnings and put 3 litres in.
To try to stave off further problems I followed the manual and reset the system after all 4 tyres had been correctly inflated.

Lynne wanted to see the "Giant Coke Tin" of Portage and we drove through the town until we spotted it behind a hotel. It's just a water tower painted with a coke tin branding; not even the same shape as a Coke Tin.

Finally, we showered and walked out for a meal. On the door of the The Greek place we had decided on was an announcement that they had gone on holiday a few days ago, until September. Probably helping run a restaurant in Greece in peak season.

No where else surfaced to eat; two offerings had even closed down. Eventually, hot and grouchy,we walked all the way back and took the car to a Pizza takeaway which we ate in our room.
The highlight of the evening has been two episodes of the Simsons!

Today's Statistics

Statistics: Miles today: 196; Miles so far: 1579 ; Fuel added so far: 112.7 litres, 24.7 gals; Provinces: Ontario, Manitoba; Time Zone: UTC-5 Central Daylight Time (CDT)