Before we get two far away, I need to tell you a few things about the part of Saskatchewan we were in.  While driving along highway 16 we noticed many fields had these large bright blue domes evenly scattered around.  They looked like what I have seen the “veal” calves live in for their poor little life, before going to market.  But these domes were taller and narrower and all seemed to face the same direction.  I couldn’t get a photo of them, but did find one on the internet when I goggled what they were for.  Well they are plastic shelters for alfalfa “leaf-cutter” bees. They are “needed for their warming abilities and a place for the bees to build their nests out of the alfalfa leaves.  One shelter for every 4 to 5 acres contains about a dozen nests”.  Well now you know!

Blue Domes

     Our last night in Saskatchewan was spent in Yorkton.  It is the 6th largest “city” in Saskatchewan and has a population of about 17,000 people, quite large for the area for sure.  It can have extreme temperatures.  Cold winters and warm summers.  “Highest recorded temperature was on July 19, 1941 and was a hot 40.6 Celsius.  The coldest ever recorded was January 20, 1943  and was a bitter -46.1 celsius”.  There are many heritage buildings in Yorkton one of which is the Hudson’s Bay Company Store.  As I said in the last blog, we were quite glad to leave Saskatchewan behind.  The highways were the worst we have seen yet.  Ray says it was the worst day he has ever driven with the trailer.  Of course that didn’t count the running out of diesel because, that was kind of funny!. 

Portage La Prairie

     We stayed at the Miller Family Campground, which we have previously stayed at.  It is about 13 kms east of Portage.  It is a cute campground, complete with little cowboy gnomes scattered here and there.  The operators are very friendly and the place is very quiet.  It was Ray's birthday, so we had some wine and cheese before dinner!! LOL

Wine and Cheese for two

Vermillion Bay Ontario

     Leaving Portage La Prairie behind we headed towards Winnipeg and took the route around the city.  Last time we were there, we ended up downtown.  That happens to us a lot!  San Fransisco and Montreal.  This time we made sure to follow the GPS to avoid the city.  The drive from Portage to Ontario was pretty good with the exception of a few good rain showers.  Crossing into Ontario the roads improved immensely.  We did however, run into a lot of roadwork.  But no major stops.  And no rain!  For anyone who has not been to Ontario, you may not have heard of the “chip trucks”.  If you are travelling in this Province and see a chip truck, stop and have some chips.  Or Poutine.  The “chips” are fresh cut and are delicious! 

Chip Truck

     When I was planning this trip, I had looked into campsites that were all about 4-5 hours apart.  Everything was up for a change if need be.  Vermillion Bay is at the tail end of the Lake of the Woods area.  Ontario is so full of lakes, small ones and large ones.  What I really like is that each lake we passed, there would be a sign post indicating what the name of the lake is.  Often when we are travelling we pass a lake and wonder what the name of it is.   The campground that I had thought we might stay in was called Jerlin RV Campsite.  They were family friendly and their web page said there was lots of dinosaurs for kids to enjoy.  There was even a photo of one on the web.  So we pull in to the campground office.  No dinosaurs to be seen.  There was a note on the door that said “B.R.B.,, I am out back”.  We had a look at the campsites, that appeared not to have been camped in for 5 years or more.  Weeds all over place!  The sites were very narrow with trees and bushes almost where you would park.  So we decided to pass on this one and go a bit farther down the highway.  

     We found one called “Blue Bird Trailer and Campsite”.  We were met by “Henry”, who had the worst BO that I have ever had to be near!  Stained T-shirt and missing teeth.  The sites were huge with some smaller ones were right on the lake. Grass was neatly trimmed.  There was laundry facilities, which I really wanted after 7 days on the road.  So we ask old Henry, how much.  $55 was the nightly rate, which is the most we had paid to date!  But Ray was tired, and I wanted to do laundry, so we said sure and forked out the cash!  THEN….. Henry tells us…. that you can’t drink the water without boiling it first and run the water for a few minutes before attaching your hose!!  OMG for $55……He already had our cash in his grubby little hand.  We do carry our own water, just for reasons like this.  Our site was very nice,,,,,with the exception of the train that roared through blasting his horn!  There was also a huge ant hill about three feet from the back of the trailer.  But we did have our Comet and sprinkled that around all the tires which kept the little buggers away! .  As it turned out, it was a nice place on a beautiful lake, and with the exception of the two trains in the middle of the night and the thunder storm, we both slept well! 

We are in Thunder Bay tonight at a KOA.  The wifi is lousy and I have been using my phone as hotspot, but even it is slow and I am trying to load photos.  It is giving me a headache!!  I will sign off for tonight and get this uploaded to Facebook and try again tomorrow to add more photos!!

Lori and Ray