Day 21

Today we traveled from Moosomin to about 50kms west of Brandon, MB. It felt like we were back home today and I don’t mean this in a good way. On the highway, we had some really strong winds that were blowing against the drivers. It slowed down Kelly and Vanessa quite a bit. I wish I brought a kite with me because it would have been pretty good kite flying weather.

On our way to Brandon we reached the point in the highway where the paved shoulders were replaced with gravel ones. When we reached that point we began to be extra cautions. Kelly and Vanessa had to bike on the edges of the right hand lane while I had my driver side tires on about ¼ of the right hand lane and the rest on the shoulder with the hazard lights on. For the most part the drivers on the highway were being pretty good. They all immediately changed lanes when they saw the van. When we were about 50-60KM’s away from Brandon we decided to stop for the day. The wind was being really horrible and Kelly and Vanessa were biking around 10KM per hour.

After we stopped biking for the day, we packed up the bikes and drove to Brandon. Bob Coney, who does PR for the University of Lethbridge, arraigned for us to have dinner at his friend Cathie’s resultant. It was a really cool ice cream parlor/burger place called Tastee’s Ice Cream and Grill. Cathie was really nice. As we were eating dinner she kindly offered to house us for the night. We gladly accepted her offer.

She lived in a really nice house around 20 KM’s from Brandon. Initially, we had all set up our tents and we were all going to campout in her backyard. Then Brandon and its surrounding areas were hit with a rather severe thunderstorm. Vanessa and I decided to stay in the house while Kelly and Brett decided to sleep outside and brave the elements. Instead of sleeping in a tent outside, I will be sleeping in the lower part of Cathie’s five year old son’s bunk bed.