Ok, internet connections for the last two days have not been as plentiful as I would like. We left Sioux Narrows, Ontario on July 4, 2010 and drove to Neepawa, Manitoba. Then, we finished the drive to Naicam, Saskatchewan today. In total about 625 miles. We traveled 2362 miles in The Love Boat since leaving Raleigh. Well, let's get down to business.
Remember the massive rainfall that happened in Sioux Narrows, ON? Two days after that rainfall we packed up and tried to leave the campground. Notice I said "tried" to leave. The rain had turned the ground into a muddy mess, and The Love Boat got stuck. I've gotten stuff stuck many times in my life. I stopped the tire spinning before The Love Boat dug to far in, then we carried gravel and threw it under the wheels which allowed us to pull out of the mud. The Love Boat's wheels and part of the undercarriage was pretty much covered in mud, and I was a little bummed that the mud was going to harden into pottery on the wheels. About three miles after we got out on the main highway, the road was flooded with about a foot of water from the same storm. The water was 200 feet or so wide. Past readers of the blog will remember that we can't back up The Love Boat with The Crapper in tow. For those that don't know what I am referring to, let's just say the front wheels on the towed car don't respond correctly when backing. So, we approached the water, and I stopped and thought for a few seconds. There were four things goings through my mind. First, the water was deep enough for us to get stuck and do massive damage. Second, I could not back up and there was not room to turn around. Third, if we could turn around the detour was likely several hundred miles. Fourth, I wanted to wash the mud off The Love Boat. So, as we sat there, we watched a couple other idiots ford the water. So, I got brave and drove The Love Boat and Crapper into the water. The water was deep but The Love Boat was high enough to ford one foot of water with no problem--as it turned out. I've done a lot of things crazy things since we started RVing ten years ago, but I have never forded one foot of water with an RV. The Love Boat sailed through the 200 feet long, one foot deep water just fine. Might I add I knew the water did not have a current flowing over the road and would not have tried this with a current flowing. Even The Crapper made it through fine. And you betcha, the mud on The Love Boat was gone. As the saying goes, God takes care of drunks, fools, and total idiots that drive their stupid motorhomes through Lake Sioux Narrows. Good times Yall.
We stopped for the night last night in Neepawa, MB as I just mentioned. This was a nice campground in the middle of nowhere. Last year before the California trip, Walter and I installed this neat device on The Love Boat that is basically just a wifi repeater. It has a big outside antenna that I crank up and a small router style device inside that amplifies wifi signals. It is quite impressive and can pick up wifi networks from up to a mile. In some campgrounds the wifi networks are located a long distance from your campsite and the repeater is necessary. We have used the repeater several times since leaving Raleigh on this trip. Did I mention that it picks up wifi signals up to a mile? Well, I cranked up the antenna in Neepawa, turned on the amplifier, and the repeater found no networks at all. Nada. Zip. At first I thought the repeater was bad. because this campground was in town and should have picked up something. But it didn't. Then it dawned on me that Neepawa had no wifi networks. Good lord, somebody needs to bring that town into the 21 century. Which brings me to the next topic.
Since we arrived in Manitoba and Saskatchewan (yes I can spell Saskatchewan from memory) several people have walked up to me and simply stated that we were a long way from home. Actually, these folks only wanted to talk to me. Correction, they wanted to hear this Southern boy speak Southern to them. You betcha (picked that saying up in Sault Sainte Marie), I am a walking, talking, Southern dancing bear of sorts. This has happened several times mind you . But I got a little rattled today when we stopped for gas (please don't get me started on the high price of gas in Canada). I was washing the huge bug guts off the windshield, when this guy walks up to me with a paper in his hand and states, "What is your purpose for being up here so far away from home?" At home the New York Yankees all would have freaked out and their heads would have exploded or something. To be totally truthful, at home if somebody walks up to you while pumping gas, it is usually a B.O. voter wanting you to give them money. But, I checked my self-defenses long enough to think the situation through. I kid you not, I actually did not speak for an uncomfortable length of time, because I needed time to reboot my head. A system overload had occurred, and this guy upset my karma something fierce. I'll have to return to the vortexes (ggrrr) in Sedona, AZ to reset my chakra now. If you don't know what that means, go into the archives and read the Sedona, AZ posts. Anyway, after the mind reboot, I decided this guy didn't vote for B.O. and was harmless. So, I told him we were going to Deb's parent's house to which he said, "that's a good enough reason". Well I was feeling all warm and snugly that I provided this esteemed gentleman with such a worthy answer. In actuality, he didn't care about why I was sitting in Godknowswhere, Manitoba, he just wanted the Southern boy dancing bear to talk Southern to him. You betcha. So, I did and made his day. I might as well be from Mars. "Yall take me to your leaders. Beep, beep". Geez Louise.
Deb wanted to go to Neepawa's Dairy Queen. Deb loves Dairy Queen and for the life of me I can't see why. But, I went with her to Dairy Queen. Now here is where the fun starts. We pulled into the parking lot, and I had to make a decision. Should I park and let Deb run in, or do I pull up to the drive-thru? I knew that if we went through the drive-thru there was going to be some Yalling and dancing of The Southern Boy. I just knew it. Deb says that we should go through the drive-thru, and I reluctantly said fine. Did I mention that this is where the fun starts? So, we pulled up to the magic board and the kid in the store said something that I didn't understand. I asked Deb what she wanted, and she didn't know, so I told the kid, "just a moment please". Well the kid heard banjo music playing from the drive-thru lane, and he knew that a Deliverance movie character had pulled into the Neepawa Dairy Queen. He said something else really fast that I didn't catch. Regardless, while Deb decided on her poison, I told Speaker Box Boy that I wanted a small, dipped, chocolate cone. He comes back with, "You want two hot dogs?" Of course, Deb told me that Speaker Box Boy couldn't understand me. I guess I had given too many performances that day and had worn out my Yaller mechanism. I totally discounted her notion, because I had spoken to him clearly and in my normal paced voice. He just couldn't hear me over the banjo music playing in his head. Deb told me again he couldn't understand my accent and that Dairy Queen didn't have chocolate ice cream. I knew that was nonsense, so I told Speaker Box Boy that Deb wanted a medium, vanilla cone. Speaker Box Boy said something that I couldn't understand, and I drove up to the window. Guess what? In a few moments, Speaker Box Boy emerged with Deb's cone, and a small, dipped, chocolate cone. Well La De Da. He did understand me. I gave Deb the I told you so look and left.
See Yall tomorrow.
Al
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