Tuesday, 7/18 – Thunder Bay to Pye’s Landing, Clearwater, ON

The day started out very cold and overcast. We headed down the road wearing extra layers to try to keep warm. Our first gas stop was the XTR in Upsala, ON. It had a restaurant, so we had coffee and snacks and spent extra time to warm up and wake up.

The gas pumps were the old fashioned kind that pumped very fast. The attendants let us fill our tanks ourselves.

Later in the morning we crossed into the Central Time Zone.

We had lunch at a rest stop in Dryden, ON.

While we were eating, a guy came by with a water truck and watered the flowers.

We stopped a scenic pull-off for a couple of pictures of a lake.

We made a liquor run in Kenora, ON.

I stayed in the parking lot and watched the bikes and the surroundings. Several drunks were sitting near the beer store. Not far away an under-age couple dug a bunch of change out of their pockets and gave the money to another guy to go in and buy liquor for them. I guess that was just the seedier side of our adventure.

The campsites at Pye’s Landing were large gravel lots with electric, water, and sewer hookups. The bathrooms were new. The main part of the camp is for seasonal renters. These new sites were developed for transient guests.

Wednesday, 7/19 – Pye’s Landing to Yorkton, SK

The rain stopped about 6 a.m., so we were able to pack up easily. We decided we’d try making 400 miles instead of 300. We still have a long way to go to get to Dawson Creek, and the start of the Alaska Highway.

The sun came out shortly after we got on the road. Mike needed to put some air in a couple of tires on the RV, so we pulled into a shell station about 25 miles down the road. The attendant was able to top off the rear tires, but his air chuck did not reach the valve stem of the front tire and actually let some air out of the tire.

We continued and stopped at another gas station that had a pay-as-you-go air pump. This pump actually worked and we were able to fill the tire.

Also, I got some coffee and a snack.

We stopped to take a picture of the Happy Rock in Gladstone.

The bypass around Winnepeg was very crowded and the pavement was terrible.

We stopped for gas and lunch at an Esso station with a Tim Hortons.

The afternoon was overcast with a couple of brief patches of sun and a couple of showers. The most notable aspect of the afternoon was the terrible road conditions in several spots.

Mike picked up a couple of items at the grocery across the street from our gas stop.

The city campground in Yorkton, SK was just OK. The first site we were assigned was not level, so we switched to a better site. We did have a sunny evening and the nighttime rain was very brief. There were several freight trains that went by, but we were so tired they didn’t bother us. Sorry, no pictures.