Thunder Bay to Winnipeg .. nope ... Brandon, Manitoba

Beautiful day for a drive!  I was taking in all the beautiful mountains, lakes, very tall trees knowing that once I got into Manitoba and then across the Prairies, it would be flat and some say, pretty boring.

Here was my route for today

A couple of pictures I meant to send with yesterday's update:

Note the trees are super tall and really skinny.  I think it gets really cold and snowy up here ... here being about 1/2 way between Timmins and Thunder Bay.

Adding to my comment yesterday that 50% of the people who live up here Timmins/Thunder Bayish... are Francophones, the store signs and road signs are bilingual.

Today's Observations:

• It appears that Moose only like Ontario.  West of Dryden (Ontario) and into Manitoba, I've only seen watch for deer signs.  And between Winnipeg and Brandon, it appears that the roads people know that there are only deer within a defined space (ie. watch for deer for next 2 km).
• Lots of cyclists on the road today.  Roads are much less mountainous with long stretches of flat both in Ontario and Manitoba.  They are crazy to be riding along the 2 lane (1 lane each way) road.  Cars are very considerate and polite; haven't seen any road rages.  People pull over if they are slow, truckers are respectful of sharing the road and don't speed at all.  
• Still lots of road construction and stopping delays while they alternate traffic.  Total of 25 minutes of stops today :(
• Driving west of Thunder Bay today, I noticed more logging trucks, tree clearing operations and saw mills.  I guess because it is pretty flat (vs hilly mountains) it's easier for them to harvest and haul.  Lots and lots of  re-foresting.
• Lots of Cows in Dryden, Ont.  Not sure if they are for milk or eat.
• Speaking of Truckers.  I'm really really surprised that there aren't more of them on the road, considering it (Transport Trucks) is a major vehicle for goods transportation across Canada.  Even on Hwy 1/Trans Canada past Thunder Bay where all traffic has to ride, there are Truckers, but not the convoy's I expected to see.
• I dipped down to Kenora to get gas.  What a beautiful place!  Allie, I said a silent hello to my Shad Buddy Joelle Thorgrimson (you met her in Montreal).  She's the brilliant Astrophysicist who decided to go to Med School with the goal of practicing in her hometown of Kenora.
• Speaking of Convoys.  West of Winnipeg where it's really really really flat (but green) I saw a grain train.  Must have been at least 100 cars of grain way in the distance.  Too far to take a quick snap from my phone, but very cool!
• Mascots today (these are all BIG):  A duck, a Blue Jay, A Horse, A Cow, A Zombie
• Just inside the Manitoba Border ... Finally back to 2 lanes each way YAY!  And back to 100km YAY YAY!   And crappy roads like Quebec ... BOO!
  
  But a bonus :) :) :) Highway 1/TransCanada West of Winnipeg is 110km!  It's also straight as a ruler for miles and miles and miles and miles...
  
   .. so now is a good time to do a comparison photo
  a)  b) c)

a) Painting Class

b) Highway between Timmins and Thunder Bay

c) Highway between Winnipeg and Brandon

• YAY Gas is (Manitoba) down to 87.9!   I paid $1.20 at the little gas station yesterday
• A really cool sight today on the road from Winnipeg to Brandon is Seed Farm Samples.  They plant huge patches (about 4'x8') of each of the seeds they sell.  Farmers can drive along the road at the Farm and stop to check out the products.   I was driving so couldn't stop to take picture (thanks Google)
• How does it rain when there are no clouds in the sky above you? These 3 motorcycle buddies got drenched in the 1 minute downpour (see how the water beads up on my RainGuard protected windows :) Oh, I didn't mention, it only rained on our side of the road!
   
• I figured out why there was a traffic jam in Winnipeg.  Tomorrow is the start of the Canada Games 2017 and Winnipeg is hosting.  I knew there was a reason why I didn't want to drive downtown :)

Well, that's it for tonite.  Maybe I'll drive to Medicine Hat tomorrow.  It's only 3 1/2 hours to Regina.  Trivia:  You can drive across Saskatchewan in under 6 hours .. about the time it takes to go from Toronto to Montreal ... go figure!

Night All... will text when I hit the road tomorrow.

Hugs, Olives oxox

P.S.  Critterish sightings?  Not much today if you don't count the one that had close encounter with the car in front of me ... was a rodent of some sort.   Weirdness... I didn't see 1 Canada Goose while I was in Ontario.  10 minutes into Manitoba a huge flock flew by.