Today started sleepily at 8:05 am with 55657 miles on the odometer. My goal today was to make it to Pine Falls, Manitoba, and stay at the Maskwa Project Youth Hostel for the evening and enjoy the quiet outdoors.
Suprisingly, gasoline was cheap even in the far boonties of Manitoba. The price was pretty much consistent throughout all the cities whether it was a large city or just an intersection on the highway. In fact, Manitoba had the cheapest gasoline in Canada as far I could tell: I don't think there was a tax on gasoline if I remember one of the signs correctly.
I did one good deed for the day when I stopped at Bear Lake Park to brush my teeth. A bird was trapped in the men's outhouse, and I opened the door to let it out. It was furiously flying back and forth inside banging itself against the metal screen windows.
When I arrived at the hostel, I met Ken and Jill and their baby. There was a youth hostel inspector there since morning reviewing the hostel. Jill showed me to a shelter, a small hut with a bed and two windows. The cost to stay in the shelter was a measily $6 Canadian per night. The hut had 2 mattresses and pillows, and the guess has to provide sheets and blankets. None of the shelters were alike: They were built as a contest about 20 years ago.
The washrooms and showers were shared by everyone (but I was the only person there), but neither were working. The neat thing about the showers was they were heated by solar panels.
I got my truck stuck again...this time in some soggy ground I hadn't realized was soft until too late. Ken helped pull it out with his 350 horsepower Chevy after the inspector left. And to think I would have learned a lesson by now after the incident in upper peninsula Michigan. It felt so much better to have someone help out, rather than someone charging $50 for 5 minutes of labor.
The rest of the night was spent sitting outside the shelter, walking around in the woods, and tuning up one of the many bikes the couple had. It was just one of those moments where you could pretend the world was behind you and only a forest and a lake ahead of you as you sit and enjoy the serene outdoors. This was the first time I have ever stayed at a hostel, and it was a great experience. (I've heard not so great things about other hostels especially in the cities where there may be many drifters.)
