Day 43 - “In the Summer of ‘69”

The night of luxury at the Canalta hotel in Moosimin (and the free breakfast) had given us such a good start to the day that we decided to run across Manitoba to Ontario and make up a day that could be spent in a great park - but first we had to re-visit some of Paul’s youth.

In 1969, as part of his 3-year ROUTP (Regular Officer’s University Training Plan) program that was paying for university and other things, Paul was sent to CFB Shilo, Manitoba.  As we were travelling just north of it for today’s trip across the prairies, we decided to zip down and take a look.

Paul’s comment was, “Doesn’t look much different - Let’s get the hell out of here!”

We saw a lot of evidence of the spring floods, especially near access points to the Assinaboine and while the river in Souris crested today, Wawanesa, just south of Shilo looked to be in danger if more rain comes.

As we got closer to Winnipeg, we saw water still in the fields - and it is clear that this has been a crazy year for these folks especially farmers, who have not been able to plant much.

Lunch was a quick in-car picnic in a ‘petite village’ about 30 k east of Winnipeg. Ste Anne is very pretty and very French with a Quebec-like cathedral built 10 years before Riel’s struggle against Engliah Canada. Sometimes, we forget about the Manitoba francophones, but in this little corner, everything, including street signs are bilingual - French first.

We arrived in Rushing River Provincial Park around 5:00 pm with the time change and found again, 27 years later that we still love this park. The campsite is great, the weather is dare I say- hot, and the services are more than acceptable.  The last time through here we had 4 little kids with us - and we can almost pinpoint the sites we had that time - and re-live the fun.

So maybe a fire tonight?