July 17, 2019
The “slow train to Thompson” stopped at a small settlement and it woke me up around 7:30 in the morning. I actually had a good sleep, but realized that we still had a long way to go. We enjoyed a breakfast in the dining car and then climbed up into the dome car to watch the scenery pass by. We joined Dave and Millie and James, a young man who is living in Churchill while his girlfriend studies at the Churchill Northern Studies Center. We chatted and discussed many topics as the train chugged along. We were expected to arrive in Thompson at 11:00pm but that had changed to 2:00pm in the afternoon so instead we enjoyed a lunch while Al, the conductor, told us little stories of the railroad to Churchill. The railroad was once owned by Hudson’s Bay Railroad, but has since been sold and now bought by a consortium of Canadian investors. Apparently the many First Nations settlements along the route to Churchill also have ownership in the railroad company.
We finally arrived in Thompson at 2:45pm and took a taxi to Sorab and Victoria’s home. Sorab was still in a meeting and Victoria was conducting a conference call so in the meantime, we quietly loaded up the trailer and did our safety checks and prepared to leave. Victoria finished her call, and we went inside to visit, Sorab came in from work, and that gave us time to visit for a short period. We had reserved a campsite in Watchorn campground that was about 450 kms south. This meant that we had to leave soon. Our visit with Sorab and Victoria was short and we felt bad that we had to leave so suddenly after all of the hospitality they had shown us. Our rapid departure was because we had to be in Winnipeg on the 19thso that we could catch a plane to fly back to Nanaimo to be at Sophie, our grandaughter’s seventh birthday, a promise that we had to keep.
We headed south on Highway #6, a highway that near Thompson, is undergoing a lot of construction, however about 100 kms further it becomes a wide open spaced highway. This road is straight south to Winnipeg, with very few inhabitants along the way. The first four hours were, in a word, dreary. Thoughts came into my mind that there was no communication service, no gas stations and if one broke down, they would be at the mercy of fate if they were not prepared. I would not want to drive this highway in winter without taking extra precautions and survival gear. Several times along the way, there were signs stating that you must have survival gear and enough fuel.
About 10:00pm the skies darkened and we watched an electrical storm roll across the sky in front of us. Then we drove right into a heavy rainstorm that lasted for another half hour. We made the turn into Watchorn campsite at 11:30pm and we wearily parked the rig and climbed into bed, exhausted.
Quilting in a Kayak 