Day 29: 47.47 km

June 4, 2012

Portage la Prairie - Winnipeg

Today could not have been more perfect! Except for the flat tire. Yes, another flat, when I have no way of filling them up.

I was on the road at 7:45am, so that I could make it to Winnipeg nice and early and enjoy a nice warm afternoon off. I was really excited for today so I packed up fast! I left the campground and followed the gravel road onto the highway. 1 km down the road my tire (which was getting a little low because of my lack of pump) got pinched from the gravel and I had another flat! Because of this flat, every single one of my three tires have now had flats! I walked back to the campground and didn't really know what to do. There goes my day off. Now I have to hitchhike into Portage, pump this tire up at a gas station, and get back. Or hitch into Winnipeg and then come back in the morning. I wasn't quite sure what to do, and then the campground owner (Willy) came over and said I could lock my bike up there. So I decided to pack for a day in Winnipeg and come back either tonight or tomorrow with all my supplies from MEC. As we were parking my bike, I found out he had an air compressor! Well perfect! So I got my tires pumped up, and was off again by 8:45am.

The sky was completely blue. Not a cloud in the sky for that morning ride. It was beautiful. 

I pulled into the KOA west of Winnipeg at 11:45am and set up camp. I had an awesome shower and did my laundry. Then I was going to hitch the 10 km into Winnipeg to meet up with Garrett so he could finish his errands. I had met Garrett once before this, he played volleyball for the college I go to this year. Me, being me, I wanted to see someone that had a sort of familiar face, and he offered to take me around today.

As I was hitching in I realized it is a lot easier to hitch somewhere when your wearing bike gear and needing help on the side of the road. Annie got picked up right away, but I walked about a km. I wasn't thumbing semis I was more so aimed at the cars and trucks that looked like they had families, which are not likely to stop anyway! It was so hot out, but the city was close-ish so I didn't mind if I had to walk in, it would just take a while. Then this semi passed and honked, and as I looked at him he gave me that a-ok sign connecting his pointer finger and thumb. Creepy. But behind him was a mini van. He had just passed and I stuck out my thumb. It was obvious that it wasn't for him, but the semi pulled over right away. He was a distance up, and I stopped in my tracks, and decided a popsicle seemed like s much better idea. I turned around and walked back to the campsite for a popsicle. Today would not be ruined by a creepy man. I got back to the gas station (the main area for the campground) got a popsicle, and the manager got me a ride with one of his friends. He was a really nice guy. He dropped me off at subway and I got lunch, and then Garrett picked me up.

Garrett and I went to MEC, and then he gave me a tour of Winnipeg. He really loves this city. He wants me to have his back when we go back to school and people make fun of Winnipeg, which I'm pretty sure the one night we met it was me beaking him about it. Oops! But Winnipeg is actually a pretty neat city! I liked it! It reminded me of Saskatoon because of the river, and Europe because of some of the buildings. Its really nice. Then we went back to Garrett's place and played some basketball, and then he left for volleyball practice. I really got into reading my new book, and I got to read it sitting in the sun in a house! It was great!

The guys got back at 9:30pm and we went out for dinner at 10pm. I had the BIGGEST bowl of spaghetti and meatballs, and then we just sat and talked for a while and then he drove me back to my campground. On the way he showed me where Jonathon Toews (a hockey player) grew up. It was pretty funny when we got lost getting out.

It was amazing today to be with someone that I recognized (even from meeting him once before) and just enjoying the day in the sun without being on the bike much. Such a refreshing day! It's sad to leave because I may not recognize another face until North Bay! Which could be around 2 weeks away! So today, as random as it was, was perfect!