Storyline: Westward Ho!
June 30 – Jul 2
Manitoba is at the longitudinal centre of Canada. Home of the Hudson Bay coast line and the arctic tundra to the north and large freshwater lakes and prairie grassland to the south, it joined the Canadian Confederation in 1870. We plan to visit its capital Winnipeg on our return journey.
Entering Manitoba
Kenora is the last Ontario city before Manitoba. We wanted to stop at the border and take a photo of the “Welcome to Manitoba” sign. Construction that had been dogging us all through Northern Ontario lead us to the border. With lane closures the shoulder was temporarily a traffic lane. Luckily, between watching the traffic, the machinery, the flagman waving his “stop” and “slow” lollypop, we managed to notice a side road leading to the Manitoba sign.
Just after the lane opened at the end of the construction zone and everyone sped up rushing for somewhere, there was a small strip where we could safely stop and take a few snapshots. We were in Manitoba. Immediately after that the TransCanada Highway became a divided highway. An exit lane was supposed to lead us to a Manitoba Travel Information Centre, or so a sign on the road (and on Google Maps) aid.
All we found there, was a demolished building, and a fenced off parking lot. Turning around we also noticed this sign, basically saying “Google is wrong”. Is it fake news or a mess-up of AI’s rising star? We turned around before the monster that had lured us in engulfed us. Little did we know it was to come ahead.
We didn’t have a fixed destination for the evening. Souris? Or Brandon perhaps? We thought we’d decide once we were close. However, the weather had a different idea. As Alex accelerated onto the highway (speed limit of 110km/h) the skies darkened from blue with fluffy white cumulative clouds to dark grey with a potential tornado cone reaching down ahead of us.
Then the storm hit. The winds were tossing our little home Doranya from side to side, although Alex was still managing to keep to the lane while reducing speed. When the hail began its arrhythmic drumming concert it was time to stop. Visibility was near zero as the wipers couldn’t keep up with the deluge. We pulled safely onto the shoulder behind a Bell truck and waited for the hail to stop.
Once the storm passed, we got back on the road and took the first exit south. If there was another storm, as the forecast was portended, we wanted to be on slower roads.
The nearest city was Steinbach, which is the third largest city in Manitoba. If I’d done some research on alternative roads this city would have been on my radar. It has a Mennonite community on its north end and perhaps we could have stocked our fridge with fresh produce.
But we were headed towards Souris and had to make some progress. The weather was holding off. It was still early to call it a day.
Next big town on the map south west (our general destination) was Morris. I looked on the map and found an arena where we could possibly boondock.
We arrived at a sports complex (called here multiplex) which encompassed the arena, curling club, a physiotherapy and rehab clinic. Nice big parking lot. But there was no staff to ask if it was OK to overnight there.
Alex talked to someone in the exercise room. The guy told him that no one would bother us around there. And so we put on Doranya’s PJs (all curtain and window coverings) and called it a night.
The next morning pulling out of the parking lot from the other end we noticed that we actually boondocked at the gates of an RV Campground.
Morris, in the middle of the Red River Valley, has a history of repeated floods that had created fine black soils, which are some of the best agricultural soils in the world. It hosts the Manitoba Stampede and Exhibition.
From Morris to Bradford
We still had ways to go. Not wasting any time we drove by the Timmies (for my non Canadian readers Tim Hortons, often referred as Timmies is a fast food coffee chain with Canadian flavour), got some breakfast, Alex’s steeped tea and a cappuccino for me and drove back to the parking lot to have our breakfast in quiet. We left shortly after. The city was just waking up.
It wasn’t a long drive from Morris to Souris. Not long after we started, I noticed on the map that we’ll pass by a community named Miami.
We stopped to take a photo of the sign as a prank to our Cuban-Canadian friends who recently moved to Florida. It was a “Look you didn’t have to leave Canada” sort of joke. We then parked in front of a variety store and walked around. We didn’t expect to discover a railway museum here where there is no passenger rail service.
A young and friendly lady Julia was very proud of the museum and its curated history. The panels on the walls displayed stories from the past. Interesting and often quite moving stories. The town of Miami was recognized as a local urban district in 1885.
The train station was opened in 1889 by the National Pacific and Manitoba Railway Company. One can find lots of information about its long history here:
The History (miamirailwaystationmuseum.com)
The station, following the destiny of many others, was closed in 1973. In 1974 it was purchased by Midwestern Rail Association and then in 2007 by the Miami Railway Station Museum Committee. It is currently a major tourist attraction in the area and also hosts shows and concerts.
Some facts from the museum’s walls:
- trains delivered soldiers to the WWI effort, but they also brought the Spanish flu.
- During WWI Canadian Railways moved 600,000 men and women of the Canadian Expeditionary force to the east coast to board ship for Great Britain.
- Ikea existed long before the Swedish knew it: from early 1900s catalog homes were popular in rural Canada. Kit homes (lumber, nails, paint, shingles and anything else one needs for a home) were loaded on trains and delivered to the purchaser
- On April , 1897 a train lost control and ran down the railway uncontrolled with the engine detached from the train. The engine eventually stopped at Roland, and a detached box car hit Miami station. Luckily no one was injured.
- Trains were moving grains and livestock
One can read many more stories on the museum wall. One of the best moments of a road trips is finding little places like Miami and learning about their rich history.
Our next stop was Souris. We were wondering how is the name pronounced. I’d suggest that the accent falls on the last syllable as in French, but Alex would suggest it is Anglicised anyway. Although it sounds close to the French verb sourire (to smile) its name comes from the Souris River which was mistaken by an early settler in the region for the Missouri River. If so the accent probably falls on the first syllable. As I write this, we still don’t know it.
The reason for our stop was that the town claims the longest swinging bridge in Canada. In this context, a swinging bridge is a pedestrian-only suspension bridge. Alex at first thought it would be a “swing” bridge like the one in Sault Ste. Marie that swings open and closed on a vertical axis.
We also had a recommendation for Alex’s lunch – a great clubhouse sandwich which was served at the Antlers and Oak Diner. Alex wasn’t disappointed. I loved their soup and had some of Alex’s club too. Our intention was to camp at the Souris RV campground, however the reviews were for lots of mosquitoes.
Having recently had the buggy experience in Kenora we decided to try the Meadowlark campground in nearby Brandon. We called them and booked 2 nights there, after I was assured that mosquitoes were not yet a problem.
The campground sites were probably some of the smallest ones we’ve ever experienced. The showers were even smaller and not private (this was a first for us). But we did our laundry in their facilities that were good for such. Although early in the season and mid-week the campground was extremely busy, mainly with one-nighters passing through from all over the country and the USA.
Located in the southwestern corner of Manitoba, Brandon is the province’s second biggest city. Since many streets were under construction, including the Trans Canada Highway up to and around the campground, we didn’t spend much time in the city.
There were some restaurants and stores nearby to which we walked. As in previous days, it rained again, but luckily at night. The rain and the storms will follow us through the prairies exacerbated by extreme heatwaves.
Meet us next in Saskatchewan.
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