The Prairies

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Thunder Bay a very nice community located on the shores of Lake Superior. Jonathan was a first class host who had made arrangements for me to spend sometime with his extended family. It was a very nice visit. I felt very welcome there. Our Saturday morning run through the city and along the water front and marina is something I remember for sometime – thanks Jon.

An interesting stat about Thunder Bay is the thriving Finnish community. An estimated 12,000 people of Finnish origins live there, in what is claimed to be the largest established community of Finnish speaking people outside of Finland.

I rode the final section of highway out of Ontario on a hot Sunday afternoon. I had stopped for an early lunch and met Diane a sole biker who was returning to Winnipeg following a week of touring. We rode together for a couple of hours. She had recommended I check out a scenic route which headed north to Sioux Lookout approximately 65KM one way. I rode in that direction for approximately 25KM but the air was hot and heavy so I aborted that plan and followed-up on her seconded suggestion. I made my way directly to Rushing River Provincial Park in the Lake of the Woods region. Here I was provided a camp site on the lake where I set up my living quarters for the night and then went for a swim. That evening I sat out sipping wine and chatting with my neighbors. It was great to be camping and hassle free of bugs. The following morning I was awaken by the call of the loons so I crawled out of the tent and off for a run I went. This location provided one of the better camping experiences to date.

Later that day I crossed into Manitoba and rode to Brandon. This community of 40,000 residents is hoisting the 2006 Special Olympics Summer Games from July 18th to 23rd. My brother Ray who has a major role with this organization was in this city attending the games. With my luck I was passing through and he had an extra bed in his hotel room and a few cool ones in the refrigerator - bonus. It was a very nice visit. I was able to meet a number of the staff members and volunteers associated with this quality organization (Learn more about the Special Olympics www.specialolympics.ca ) And once again it would have been easy for me to stay a few days in Brandon and enjoy the festivities but I had to move on.. Thanks Bro – It was a great visit.

From Brandon I headed North to connect with the Yellowhead Trail which I would ride to Edmonton. This route lead me through rural Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. It turned out to be an amazing ride through the world's breadbasket - endless fields of colourful crops and big sky. It was great to ride by the endless fields covered with the golden and blue hues of wheat, canola and flax.

Here in the Prairies it was not unusual to ride past small community to be welcomed with a billboard proclaiming this area to be the home of a NHL hockey player or a member of a championship curling team.

Llyodminister proved to be a very intersting community.The provincial border runs north to south falling directly on Meridian Avenue in the centre of the city. Addresses east of Meridian Avenue are considered to be in Lloydminster, Sasketchewan and addresses west of Meridian Avenue are considered to be in Lloydminster, Alberta. It is actually incorporated as a single city with a single municipal administration. I would think this would cause some interesting issues for city managers.

I plan to stay in Edmonton until July 24th. I have been provided with some awesome accommadations at Steve and Patty new home. While here I will check out a few tourist locations and have the motocyle's 10,000 KM service interval completed at the local BMW dealer.

A high tech biker.. Before entering Alberta I stopped at a picnic site to download maps from my PC to the GPS..This GPS is a great tool for the urban area's. I had never been to Edmonton before so I simply entered Steve / Patty's address and this unit directed me across town directly to there door.

The nickname Big Sky Country is sure to delight with spectacular cloud formations. Their vehicle license plate says it all "Land of Living Skies".

A motorcyclist must be continuesly monitoring his / her mirrors to be aware of what is transpiring behind them. In this case I was admire the sky I left behind and fearing that the sky before me would bring rain..

Prairie farmers haul grain to a local elevator. A train will then transports the grain to a shipping port or to a mill for processing. Grain elevators like this one are slowly disappearing and being replaced by large inland terminals. In the 1930s there were over 3200 elevators. By 1999 there were only 304 remaining.

Saskatchewan - The earth meets the sky in the breadbasket of the world.
The only province in Canada whose borders are man made. A province easy to draw and difficult to spell..

These three farming components are utilized as a unit. It would be interesting to know the cost of this device. Info from Stats Canada - Over a five-year period prices farmers received for their products declined by 27.2% while prices they paid for expenses such as fertilizer and fuel increased by 8.5%. Farmers are squeezed by increasing costs and declining value of many of the products they sold. It must be extremely difficult to operate a business under these conditions.

An open road and an open sky. Saskatchewan holds the Canadian record for the most sunshine averaging 2,520 sunshine hours annually.

A touch of Prairie Colours

A sea of Canola

My place on the lake..