Shoal Lake

There was a very nice parkway/bicycle route leaving Winnipeg. It was certainly better than any route that leads out of Boston. I continued on roads paralelling Hwy 1 until near Portage La Prairie, where I stayed for the night.

I did not like the short section of Hwy 1 that I had ridden on, so I decided to try Hwy 16. (Hwy 1 is the TransCanada Highway and is 2 lanes in each direction, with a full shoulder, and a 110 km/hr speed limit. It is fine for riding on, and is what many bicycle tourists use, but it's just so boring!) There were very few services on Hwy 16 until I arrived in Neepawa, where I found a gas station, a grocery store, and a really nice park with shade, a brook, and soft grass on which to sleep. It was a nice break from the featureless, sunny road. I stayed until 1pm the next day.

Today I continued on Hwy 16, after stopping in Minnedosa for some really boring poutine w/ chicken. I continued pedaling and made it to Shoal Lake around 8:30pm. (I stopped in Strathclair and asked a woman sitting in her garage if there was anything in the town, and she said no, so I left.) I found a pizza place, but when I walked inside a woman informed me they had closed at 8pm. They told me they would make me a pizza anyways, so I ordered a sausage & pepperoni pizza and it was delicious. I went and camped in the municipal campground by the lake, which was nice.

While I was setting up my tent, a man with his daughter came up to me and he told me, "My daughter is shy and wants to ask you about your trip." I told them where I was from and where I was going. The daughter asked me two questions: "Have you seen any special animals?" and "Do you ride your bicycle a lot?" These were much better questions than most people ask me :)