Distance: 139km
Total distance: 2603km
Average speed: 22.4km/h
Weather: sunny
I said goodbye to the Aaron, the only one of the family who was still home when I got up (which is unfortunate that I couldn't say a proper goodbye to Pam and Kevin) and got on the road at 8:45. Yesterday I considered taking a rest day in Winnipeg but then decided that I would keep riding as long as the weather was good. I rode the 10km or so to downtown Winnipeg, stopping in the Forks National Historic Site to finally do some touristy sightseeing. The Forks gets its name from the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, and is the birthplace of Manitoba as well as considered the site of Western Canada's first settlement. I went for a walk along the river, catching site of the St. Boniface Cathedral across. There was also a cool children's playground built around historical artifacts such as trains and the fur trader's canoes, as well as the Children's Museum which I would have loved to explore with more time. I spent quite a bit of time reading the history of Louis Riel, who is also buried across the river, before taking a quick look through the Forks Market. It reminded me of Granville Island. It was almost 11 when I finally got on Highway 15 leaving Winnipeg. At the recommendation of Natalie, I was taking a longer but less busy way out of the city. Highway 15 has to be the straightest road I have ever been on. I took a lunch break just before Elma, where I turned onto Highway 11 for a bit before continuing onto Highway 44, a beautiful road with hardly any cars through the Whiteshell Provincial Forest (and later Park). After a week of the nothing but prairies, it was the weird when I was met with large slabs of rock and forests again. It was the beginning of the Canadian Shield, which is dominated by Precambrian rock and boreal forest! I also saw another white tailed deer and a contingent of Canada geese with their gooslings crossing the street. It wasn't long before I got to Rennie, where I found a spot by the Alf Hole Goose Sanctuary just down the street to set up camp. I thought about riding all the way to West Hawk Lake 33km down, but my legs were admittedly tired from yesterday and also that wouldn't leave very much riding tomorrow. I went to the tiny store and got some food as well as a 1L jug of chocolate milk, which of course I downed like water. Chatting with the man at the gas station, I found out that Rennie is home to about 85 people (86 today!) with many others living around the lakes (in the so-called cottage country). I got back and the mosquitoes were getting pretty bad, something that I am not looking forward to in Northern Ontario, so much so that I gave up going for a walk around Goose Pond and took food and everything into my bug bivy (which thank god works!). It's only 7:30 but I think I will stay in here for an early night and get charged up for Ontario tomorrow!
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