July 7, 2019
Time to pack up again, and we needed a shower before be leave. We both had that “smokey” smell and it was a welcome opportunity to use our shower again and enjoy it out in “nature”. After the shower, breakfast and then break down camp. It went so smoothly that we were ready to roll within the hour! Our next door neighbor, Dalton, came over to see our rig before we left. He had been watching us the past two days and finally came over. During our stay we had three separate sets of folks drop in to check out the Armadillo. I suggested that we charge admission but Debbie quashed that idea.
Today’s leg of our journey was taking us to Clear Water Lake Campground just north of The Pas, Manitoba. We had made reservations for two nights.
Clear Water Lake is reportedly one of the most clearest lakes in Manitoba. You can see to a depth of 30 feet because of the clear water. The lake has a series of caves and rock formations near its shores that were formed by glacier action and water erosion. The rock is quite porous and is called dolomite, often mistaken for limestone.
Hwy #10 is a secondary highway that parallels the provincial boundary between Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It also follows the shores of Lake Winnipegosis for many miles. We were entering the edge of the boreal forests
The traffic is light and it was a good time for Debbie to become confident in driving the rig. We pulled off to the side of the highway stepped out and were immediately accosted by a cloud of horseflies!! We switched places as quickly as we could and couldn’t believe the swarm around the truck and trailer. A few snuck into the truck when we opened the doors and they escaped quickly when we cracked open the windows. This was an experience we had not anticipated!! Debbie drove the rig for about 100 kms and she felt pretty confident when we arrived in The Pas.
We arrived in The Pas at about 3:00 and decided that we had time to do a couple of errands as well as use Tim Horton’s wifi to post a series of blogs that were waiting to be posted. As I started the blogging, Debbie went shopping and that is when I noticed it again. The big ole black cloud!!. It was coming out of the north toward us and looked ominous. I spent the next three hours working on the blog, and after the first hour, the rain started, lightning lit the sky and thunder rolled over us. It was a perfect time to do this work. We were able to make a few phone calls to our daughter Rina, Jeff and the girls. We knew we would be out of cell phone service for the next few days.
We finally pulled into our campsite at about 7:30, we were both tired and hungry. The rains had stopped and I quickly set up camp as Debbie started dinner. We had promised each other that we would not make an ordeal out of our trip but we certainly pushed the issue today. No time for a campfire tonight and we went to bed by 10:00, even though it was still quite light outside.
Quilting in a Kayak 