Day 90-92

Winnipeg Skyline from The Forks

Regina to Crocus Grove, MB

I’m combining days 90 and 91 into one segment because the stops were strictly overnighters.

As I was hooking up the toad to head for the Redcoat Trail and Manitoba, I noticed that the left rear tire on the Toad was low, so I stopped at Wall-Mart and had it fixed. They said that a previous patch was leaking and that they had plugged and re-patched it. I’ll probably have to replace this tire sooner or later, like the front left; it’s had a lot of nail damage. I finally had to replace the front left about 4 months ago.

So, at about 10:30 AM I’m finally on the road. Next stop Reston, MB, or there abouts.

ROAD REPORT: For this leg I took SK 48 to SK 35 and rejoined the Redcoat Trail (SK 13) at Weyburn. SK 48 was two lane, paved but very narrow at times. The edges of the pavement were crumbling so I took my half out of the middle. No traffic to speak of so this was not a problem and I was able to maintain about 80 km/h. SK-35 was still two lane but the pavement was much better so 100 km/h was possible at times. There were still a lot of stretches where the patches were bigger than the pavement. Once I crossed into Manitoba the roadway improved considerably. They were wider, smoother, and had paved or bladed shoulders.

RV PARK REPORT: When I crossed into Manitoba I also crossed into another time zone so, since it was pushing 5 PM, I stopped at the first RV park I found. It was a combination golf club and RV Park in Reston, MB. I don’t think I ever saw a name for the park but it was nice. I was able to pick a spot where I didn’t need to disconnect the toad. All they had was water and elect. but they did have a dump station ( which I didn’t use).

WEATHER REPORT: Lots of small rain cells passing through all day and windy.

On to Crocus Grove, north of Winnipeg.

BREAKDOWN!! 33 km outside of Reston I have a breakdown! I started smelling hot rubber, at first I thought it was coming from outside as I had just passed a road crew, but then I heard some squealing coming from the engine compartment. All my gauges read OK but I slowed down to see if anything changed. Once I slowed, I could see white smoke or steam coming out of the front so I pulled off the road (if I had still been in SK I wouldn’t have had anyplace to pull off) and started checking things out. When I pulled the engine cover there was some kind of fluid all over the inside of the cover and the engine. I tried starting the engine to see where it was coming from but it started squealing again so I shut it down. I’m guessing it’s the power steering pump.
I disconnected the Toad and headed down the road to find help. About a quarter of a km down the road I found a farm equipment salvage yard. They put me in touch with a tow company and the closest Ford truck shop, both of which were in Brandon, about 60 km further east.

The tow truck driver showed up about 2 hours later. He tried to set up the tow from the front but then found out that my driveshaft had Torx bolts and he didn’t have any Torx wrenches (REMINDER! GET A 45MM TORX SOCKET). Then we tried from the back, but I warned him that I had air overload bags that couldn’t be stretched. He spent about an hour figuring out how to chain the axles up to take the load off the bags. Then when he tried to lift the rear, we discovered that the only place he could pick up on was the frame for my towbar, which wasn’t strong enough to bear the weight. So it was back to the front. He would have to tow below 60 km until he got to the town of Souris (about 30 minutes away at that speed) where he could get some wrenches to disconnect the driveshaft.
I figured that I wasn’t helping so I headed for Brandon in the Toad, checked in with the Ford shop and then checked into the Motel across the street for the night.

RV PARK REPORT: No report, I stayed in a motel.

The next morning I went to the Ford shop and was told that the problem was a heater hose, about 3 inches long and buried down along side of the engine where I couldn’t see it. It was spraying on the power steering pump, causing the belt to slip and squeal. Then, when they started to reconnect the driveshaft they couldn’t find the bolts or the clamps. The tow truck driver insisted that they were inside the RV on the step but all we found were the caps. The driver went back to Souris but couldn’t find them. Luckily the Ford shop found some and put everything back together. They also billed the towing company for the parts.

So $600 ($250 for the tow, $250 for the repair, and $100 for the motel) later I’m back on the road. While at the motel I found out that, even though MB 2 was marked as the Redcoat Trail, the real trail was further south. MB 2 was the closet decent road to it. So I decided to take TC-1 the rest of the way in, especially since the motel was a block from TC-1.

ROAD REPORT: This part of TC-1 is the same as the section in Alberta, 4 lanes divided but the right lane is a mess and I won’t travel the speeds needed to stay up with traffic in the left lane (the speed limit is marked as 100 but everyone in the left lane is doing at least 120!). The right lane is badly grooved by the trucks and has cracks sealed with tar every 20 feet or so. Driving across these is like driving on a washboard so, whenever the shoulder is paved, I straddle the fog line, this gets my wheels out of the grooves and affords a reasonable ride. Of course about half of the distance doesn’t have paved shoulders. I bypassed downtown Winnipeg by taking the perimeter road, 101, to MB 59 north. Both 101 and 59 are in great shape. So was 317 to Crocus Grove.

RV PARK REPORT: Crocus Grove is a nudist park so the report is on the AANR page.

While here I spent a day at Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg and hiked three of their trails, Ancient Beach, Wild Wings, and Spirit Rock. I also visited a downtown area called “The Forks” This is an historic area where the Red and Assiniboine rivers join. It is a combination park, farmers market, specialty shop area, and café row. I had lunch at a Czechoslovakian café. Great food. There are enough different ethnic café’s there that you could eat there for a month without repeating. While there I managed to lose my cell. On the off chance that someone turned it in I went back and contacted the local police. They actually had it! They couldn’t tell me who found it or where, just that someone turned it in. I also spent the better part of a day in Osborne Village, an area known for its eclectic shops and people. In the old days they would call it the “hippy” area. I found an internet café there and caught up on my mail and paid my bills. I tried to upload my website to my site host but something was wrong. I sent the host a trouble ticket asking what I was doing wrong. I won’t get an answer until I find another internet connection.

Next stop, Musqua Meadows in the southeast corner of Manitoba, about 2 hours away.