Day 20 -- you can't drive over a lake

Not much progress Eastward

Summary:

• Drove south from Northern Manitoba
• Distance Traveled: 640.5 km
• Time on the road: 9 hrs

This morning, I realized that I'd drive not quite 8000 km since picking up the CRV, which meant I was due for an oil change.  Funny thing about Northern Manitoba ... there aren't a lot of car garages and the few that are around are booked solid for weeks.  So, I gave up on going to Gimli (site of a miracle plane crash and an old Icelandic settlement) for finding a garage that could take my car today.  The google gods smiled upon me and recommended a small shop outside of Winnipeg.  One quick call and they said they could take me this afternoon ... time to make tracks south!

seriously, this is Northern Manitoba, NOT the Caribbean

But first ... I wanted to visit Little Limestone Lake ... literally the only reason I drove northward in Manitoba.  I drove 45 minutes north of Grand Rapids to take a peek, eat my breakfast of yogurt and an apple and enjoy the peacefulness before turning around and driving south.

Why don't you need a hot pink Hummer

Get your kicks ...

Hwy 6 South is a rather boring drive with alternating views of lakes and marshes with water fowl and trees and farmland, where I played the always-fun-game of trying to pass farm machinery on the highway.  

Tony, me and Darryl

They were EVERYWHERE

But I finally got to the Route 66 Auto Repair in Rosser, MB.  Darryl and Tony had been kind enough to shift things around and promised to get me on my way as soon as they could.  This auto shop was the quintessential garage with posters of half-naked women, gone fishin' signs and all of the Route 66 paraphernalia that ever existed.  But Darryl and Tony were great.  They gave me a heads up on a few issues for my upcoming safety inspection (once I finally get to Halifax), a new air filter, oil change, tried to fix a bad wire connection in my bright beams and topped off all the fluids ... for $70.  If you're ever near Winnipeg and have car trouble, reach out to Darryl!

I couldn't be this close to Winnipeg and not visit the Winnie-the-Pooh statue (sadly, the museum was closed by the time I got to town).  Because I know you are all wondering, Eeyore has been, and will always be, my favorite.  He always makes me think of my Grandpa Sam.  If you don't know, the character Winnie the Pooh was based on a bear named Winnie (after Winnipeg) that was owned by a Canadian solider in World War I; he bought the bear (as a cub) in Ontario and took it to the UK with him ... while he was away fighting (you know, in a war), the London Zoo took care of Winnie and he (the solider) eventually donated her to the zoo instead of bringing her back to Canada with him ... So, there's a very nice statue in Winnipeg ... that I just HAD to track down.  Given that there are no signs about the statue anywhere in the giant park that houses it, this was a bit harder than I imagined.  But it did give me a good stretch of the legs, much needed after the day's drive.

half way?!

I'm spending the night in a quaint little farmhouse in the middle of Manitoba farm country ... in case you were wondering, the farm smells the same up here as it does back in Iowa ... pungently of manure.  On the way here, I crossed this line ... the longitudinal center of Canada.  I wasn't sure whether to be happy or depressed that I was *only* half way done.

A country sun set