Winnipeg

We board the train for Winnipeg around 9:30pm, it is a long one estimated at about 500m. We have booked 2 lower berths and we are near the end of the train. Lucy is in car # 121 and I am in the next one. Two cars over is the end of the train with the combination dome car, bar and entertainment room. At the end of that car you look straight at the tracks, really neat. Via rail is serving complementary Canadian champagne and we have a few glasses. The beds are made already and close to midnight we move into our individual berth. I really like sleeping on the train, it rocks you to sleep and Lucy is happy to report that the train does not make her seasick. She takes a shower and tells me that it is great so the next morning I try it myself. We are 2 nights on this train and have 2 breakfasts, one lunch and one dinner. Also coffee, tea, fresh fruit and snacks are available all day long. All included in the price.

By the next morning we are in Northern Ontario, nothing but trees streams and lakes and no cellphone reception. Lucy has sent a text message to the family in Winnipeg to get the phone number of a massage therapy clinic, I want to try to get a few more treatments for that shoulder. The train stops for 30 minutes in Hornpayne and there is reception there. I manage to get through to the clinic and get an appointment for Thursday, the day we arrive in Winnipeg.

We arrive in Winnipeg one hour ahead of schedule and have to stay on the train until the station is manned. We deboard around 7:45 and the luggage is there in no time. Lucy had already contacted Leanne and she is on her way, with the 3 kids,  to pick up Nana. Grandpa has to assemble his bike and hook up the trailer before hitting the road. It is only 4.5km from the train station to get to their home. Leanne and Leif have been building their dream home on Wellington Crescent for the last 2 years and very recently moved in. When Grandpa arrives the whole family is waiting and there are lots of hugs and kisses and I meet our latest grandchild Jack for the first time and what a good baby boy he is. He smiles a lot and only cries when hungry.

We play a lot with the kids and take Jack for walks. On Sunday Wellington Crescent is closed for traffic and we take Eric and Kate for a bike ride. 

Leanne and Leif are still in the process of finding a spot for everything in their new home and are very busy. I was not able to get the whole family together to pose for a picture in front of their house. Will try again in early August. Things should have settled down by then and besides, Suzanne, Matt and Julia will be there too and we'll get them all together.  

I managed to get two sessions massage therapy for that shoulder, the last on on Sunday. Can't say that it is helping me very much. The real biking does not start until June 10. Until then I can take it easy and hopefully things will have settled down by then.

Those few days in Winnipeg flew by and on Monday May 30 Grandpa has to head for the station again to continue his trip. The sun is poking through dark clouds when I get up and by the time the bike is ready and packed it is raining again. Amazing how fast puddles form on the streets in Winnipeg. To avoid those I stay on the sidewalks and move very slowly so as not to mess up my bike and trailer. I have plenty of time to dry the bike. I have a heck of a time to fit the bike in the box though, the handlebars are too high whatever way I adjust them, I end up taking them off all together and tie them onto the frame.

The train leaves on schedule at 12:00.   I have a great night's sleep on the train and meet lots of nice people. There is a guy in the booth across from me who just finished university and is a geologist. He is on his way to the North West Territories to look for diamonds.

It is now May 31 and I am in Jasper at the public library to write the update to this blog. The train arrived 45 minutes late. I have to stay here overnight and the train for Prince Rupert will depart 12:45pm. My bike and Bob were checked through to Prince Rupert in Winnipeg, they are here, I have seen them on the platform. The train for Prince Rupert stops for the night in Prince George, everybody has to get off the train and overnight in a hotel of his own choice and expense. This makes it a 2 day trip but the advantage is that the whole trip is during daylight.