DAY 23 : July 29/22 Friday. Portage to Winnipeg

This morning Jonathan took the rig out fairly early for an oil change at Great Canadian Oil change that could accommodate at large over height vehicle, then to Kal tire to get the pressure checked and finally for a wand wash to attempt to remove most of the grasshopper carnage covering the front of the RV. 

I had hoped to meet up with Lana, my bestie back in preschool through grade 3 when I lived in P la P, but upon waking up not feeling 100% she decided it might be best not to come out. 

Around 3-4pm we had the right loaded with clean bedding and clean clothes and clean kids 🤣. We popped over to say bye to the Falks and then Tony and Fran waved us off as we headed to the island park first for sani-station. 

Then it was on to Winnipeg to see Nick and Lisa and Hayden Davis! About an hour east of Portage. 

We stopped in at Assiniboine Park to play boomerang and search for the playground. As we were throwing the boomerangs, a random guy raced over on his bike and was very excited about the boomerangs. His dad used to make them. When he learned we were heading east, he insisted we get out our phones and take notes on Rushing River just past Kenora, and Blue Lake.  

After the park we rolled up the Nick and Lisa’s place and were welcomed warmly with craft brews. Had a fantastic evening visiting with the Davis-Peters family. ❤️

 Stop at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg to throw boomerangs! 

Amelia found a neat white feather… probably a seagull feather. 

Rustic pizza from the place down the road. YUM!

Amelia and I were in heaven in Lisa’s office with all the arts and crafts items. Felt like home. 💕 Lisa generously gave Meems free range to choose some art materials to use while we visited. Chalk pastel masterpieces were created. 

Hayden brought up the tote bin of Nerf guns that instantly caught Oliver’s interest. Hayden was the sweetest and kindest guy, showing Ollie his amazing “lair” upstairs with the musical instruments and the PlayStation. We didn’t see Ollie for the rest of the evening haha. Heaven.

DAY 22 : July 28/22 Thursday. Portage La Prairie, MB

First morning in Portage, we let the kids get some screen time in while I put some laundry through and Jonathan fixed the front brake on Oliver's bike.  Then we got the bikes ready for a Koko Platz nostalgia tour of my childhood haunts. Dave and Sandra Falk (who live in the cul-de-sac across from Tony and Fran where were parked) came over to say hello. We had a nice little visit before we set off on our bikes, knowing we'd see them later in the evening. 

Dave and Sandra lived a couple houses down from our family on Radisson Avenue back in the late 70's until we moved in 1983 when I was in grade 3.  Our families are still close friends, and Mrs Falk was  also my preschool teacher back when I was five!

The old outdoor rink where I learned how to skate! Looking a little worse for wear. Apparently the clubhouse had burned down a year to more ago... I remembered lacing up skates in there, and having hot chocolates from the concession. I think I had a bright red hockey helmet, and my friend Paul had a yellow one. We had to wear thick toques under them to to keep from freezing. 

Kids enjoying the Koko Platz playground... huge upgrade from when I was a kid. This was beside the rink you can see in the background. 

The Davis residence that I remember as a kid... backs onto Crescent Lake. Lots of fun times spent here.

Radisson Avenue!! my old street where the Falks, Davis's, Kowalczycks and the Holmes' lived when I was little. 

Found my old house... very different looking now at 19 Radisson Ave. Chris' room was on the far right and mine was the left window. Behind us was all forest and undeveloped land back in the day. Our backyards all kind of flowed into one another's and lots of impromptu bbq's happened.

Riding along the side of Crescent Lake over to Island Park!

My old elementary school! still looked the same, but the grounds were quite different with new playground equipment and lots more gravel parking. 

 My kindergarten to half way through Grade 3 years were spent here!

Glad to see the old RCAF plane and the Windmill were still going strong on the Island!

Fascinated by the combine's we saw on the island park. They were wrapping up some kind of Agri consult for farmers by the sales reps for various brands of farming equipment. 

After we got back from our bike ride, we hopped in Tony's Jeep TJ he so generously lent us, and we booted into town along the main drag and ended up driving past the old Portage Mall (very worn down) where I posted Oliver's postcard he wrote, then we zipped across and had a snap at the World's largest Coke Can.

After the photo op, we went to Sobey's for some groceries and back to the Davis house for another delicious bbq dinner followed by a dessert/coffee/whiskey visit from Dave and Sandra. Their daughter, Stephanie, popped by as well, which was an awesome surprise. It's been decades since I'd seen her and we all had a great visit chatting about old times, travel stories, and our future travel plans. Jonathan grilled Dave on the workings of combines and the basics of farming.

It came up earlier that it was our anniversary and that evening Sandra had brought over the MOST BEAUTIFUL quilt as an anniversary gift for Jonathan and I. She's always been an incredible seamstress and quilter and this was such thoughtful gift. 

DAY 21 : July 27/22 Wednesday. Antler ND back over the border to Portage la Praire , Manitoba

 Today was the day that we were headed back into Canada for a stint. Since we ended up driving so far yesterday in search of a place to camp, we found ourselves literally blocks from the border crossing and instead of heading east a bit more and popping up, we just headed north at that crossing. 

We spend the morning in Antler Outlaw Campground giving the RV some TLC inside, wiping three states worth of dust off everything. I had laid out all our soaked towels on the grass to dry in the morning sun in hopes they wouldn't smell quite so yucky when we arrived in Portage and did laundry. 

Putting on our first two stickers of hopefully many! Never did get a Montana Sticker! But we have Idaho and North Dakota on there. 

Crossed the border at Lyleton (only crossing with wifi, we found out - which was lucky because we had to fill out the ArriveCan app.. having had no cell reception or wifi for days!)  Welcomed by the beautiful prairie scenery and bumpy roads!

Stopped in Brandon for a leg stretch, snack and play at this nice playground. 

Jonathan got the kite out for a rip. 

eek! about an hour until we reached Portage :) 

Rainbow on the way to Portage!

Our parking spot at the Davis residence in my early days hometown of Portage la Prairie, MB.

Welcomed with hugs and a delicious salmon dinner followed up with Irish whiskey and coffee. And TWO amazing desserts! xo

DAY 20 : July 26/22 Tuesday. Medora To Antler ND via enchanted highway

Our home on wheels! Two kiddos snuggled up in our bed in the back while Jonathan and I got the rig ready for moving. This was an early start for us, up at 7:15am, I threw our wet towels that got soaked the night before in the thunderstorm into the dryer at 8am and by 8:30 we had pulled up and headed down the road into town for some last minute fun before we left Medora. 

Stopped at the giant bouncy mat before leaving town this morning. Kind of like a huge air filled trampoline. Very fun and weird.

Had a rally of pickle ball in Medora also before we left town! They had raquets and balls at the courts to use. 

First stop on the Enchanted Highway : Grasshoppers!

 

Oliver loved this little frog we found and named him Hopper. 

Giant Farmer and the Farm Family. Can you spy Oliver?

Giant Pheasants! Made of metal. 

Fisherman's Dream! This one was very detailed and neat to see. 

Massage Chairs at the VERY QUIET Prairie Mall in Dickinson, ND where we went into Durham Sports to try and find some sunglasses for Jonathan and buy some OJ at the Ca$h Wi$e Foods. We didn't put money in the chairs, but somehow one of them started up with Amelia in it and both kids had about a 5 second massage each as a freebie! They were very amused. 

Durham Sports... go karts. Oliver COULD NOT BELIEVE that I wouldn't buy them for them ;-)

Last views of the Badlands before the hills started rolling again into grasslands and oil fields. We drove through New Town (we had been told that the bridge there was beautiful and the "golden gate bridge of N. Dakota", but we were very underwhelmed with the low flat plain bridge we came across and carried on driving to Minot. 

Minot was bustling with the North Dakota State Fair happening! Unfortunately by the time we rolled into town it was already 7:30 and the last action packed event (bull riding) had already started half an hour ago. The entrance price and the limited parking and time left to enjoy the exhibitions made it a poor choice to stop and check it out. 

After almost 600km driving today, we lucked upon this beautiful campsite in Antler, ND just a few blocks from the Canadian Border. Finally a place to stop after farm road after farm road with no where in sight to stop. We were the only ones there. $15/night, with an electric hook up,  and a huge field to throw boomerangs, we were happy to park and rest at 8pm.