Day 33,part 2: Winnipeg to somewhere between Elma and Rennie, MB to Kenora, ON

We had an eventful day all around. It took us 25km and just over an hour to wind our way through Winnipeg and out the eastern side. We decided to take Hwy 15, rather than the busier TransCanada that we had been travelling on for the last few days into Winnipeg.

Although the road had a less than stellar surface and only a loose gravel shoulder (though we're finding this seems to be the case for most Manitoba roads), we are quite pleased with having taken the 15. There was hardly any traffic at all, and what little there was, were mostly cars.

We are also back into treed land again. The tree-less prairies were neat to see, but I'm not sorry to see them go. The presence of the forests also help to block the wind somewhat, allowing for an easier ride.

Unfortunately, we have also entered black-fly territory, or what I assume are black-flies. They are HUGE. And they chase you. And swarm you. It's gross, eerie and unnerving. Fortunately, with the slight headwind that we had, coupled with good energy due to a rest day, we were able to ride between 28 and 30 km/h for much of the ride causing enough breeze going past us that these flies couldn't land on us. I have a feeling that drenching ourselves in bug repellant will become a new daily routine.

Near around the 3/4 mark of the day we came to flooded area. It was so neat to be riding at JusT above the water level...except in one area. The road was flooded! I admit this was worrisome for me. I'd never ridden through this much water before and didn't know what to expect. However, we had little choice, so carried on through at what we thought was the shallowest part and what FUN!! We got a little wet, but it was really cool.

We arrived in Elma and continued north on Hwy 11 heading towards Rennie. It was about 2 km north of Elma that Warren discovered he had broken a spoke. This was massively unfortunate. Although the bike is still ridable, it meant that we needed to hit a bike shop the next day. Of course, we're in the middle of no-where. On a Saturday afternoon. Our choices were to head forwards to Kenora and hope for a bike shop there or back to Winnipeg. Right or wrong, we chose forwards.

So, we are now located in Kenora, where we have found out there is one bike shop that may or may not be open today and may or may not be able to fix Warren's wheel.

On the way to Kenora in the RV, we passed Tanya and Attila!! What fun!! Joanne honked the horn and we all waved as we passed by. They ended up coming to the same campground that we are located at as well, which is really neat.

So, today will be an unexpected day off. Hopefully someone here can fix the wheel and we can spend the day exploring this beautiful area. If not, we'll be heading back to Winnipeg.

Wish us luck!