Getting to Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan August 15

Short update.  Mike and I have made it into Saskatchewan.  We got up this morning in Manitoba planning on going for a bike ride into Neepawa and even that early it was way too hot for us.  Mike said that he broke out in a sweat just standing and watching someone else fill the RV with gas.  When it is too hot to walk and too hot to bike what else can you do but drive.  It was the earliest start that we have had this trip.  Later in the afternoon Mike still wasn’t tired and there was nowhere around to camp so he just kept driving.

The other day I told Mike that I was waiting to see when we would get into a situation that we couldn’t get out of without detaching the Lincoln.  The issue is that we can’t back up the RV with the car attached.  Mike’s guess was that this wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t believe it.  Think of how many times you backup a car when you are turning in a small area.  With the car hooked up we are almost 60 feet long and need a much larger area to turn around in.  Well we found a sign for a campground today, drove into the provincial park on a very narrow road and didn’t have anywhere near enough room to turn around.  Luckily unhooking the car is quite quick now.  I could drive the Lincoln out of the way while Mike backed up the RV and got it turned around.  I knew it had to happen sooner or later.  Notice that I drive the car while Mike drives the 38 foot mobile home in a tight area.

As the driving time got longer I was really pleased that we were in the RV.  I got my drinks, sat in my recliner in the living room and read, played on my computer – basically everything I would do on a relaxing day at home except that the scenery was better.  I didn’t watch a movie on TV but I considered it.  I can watch TV with my feet up while Mike is driving if I want to.  From the back I have nice big windows to see outside, all in all it is very comfortable.  Brian Joynt says that I can’t call this camping but I figure that if we are staying in campgrounds we must be camping even if we are hooked up to electricity and town water and sleeping in a queen size bed.

Just before dinner time we saw a provincial park with camping near Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan.  We hadn’t been concerned about not finding a campground as we knew that we could camp anywhere if we wanted to.  Twice so far we have spent the night without campground facilities.  Originally I had expected to do more of that but I am finding that the campgrounds outside of southern Ontario aren’t overcrowded and are quite nice to stay in.  This park has all sorts of trails that I wanted to take the bikes around but the mosquitoes where out in full force.  They were so bad that we even gave up on barbecuing dinner outside.  We ate in the RV, watched two movies and now Mike has gone to bed.  I am hoping that the weather is better for exploring tomorrow morning.  I know that lots of people like it hot but Mike and I both prefer it warm or even slightly cool to overheated.

I don’t expect much excitement between here and Fort McMurray.  Our northerly route bypasses all the “big” cities in the area.  It is interesting to see and to talk to people when we stop but this probably isn’t anywhere that we are going to camp for too many days at a time.  Of course, some provincial parks are superb and we could easily change our mind.  Isn’t that what travelling this way is all about.