The youth hostel at Pine Falls was a great place to stay last night even though there wasn't any water. I have a small round cooler which I filled up at Tim Hyland's place before leaving Austin on the second day of the trip, and I used that water to brush teeth and clean contacts.
I stopped by the office (home of Ken and Jill) and said goodbye before leaving. Last evening I was the only person at the hostel. The place will be busy this weekend.
At 9:30 am with 55899 miles on the odometer, I left the Maskwa Project and said goodbye to Ken and Jill. Today they were sleeping in late because last night was a long night: They probably had to discuss all the modifications required by the Youth Hostel Orgnization. (The picture I took of Ken did not turn out.)
Today's destination was Wennipeg, Manitoba and hopefully stay at the youth hostel in the city. When I arrived a little after 12 pm, the hostel was closed and wouldn't open until 4 pm. So I parked the Rodeo, and strapped on my backpack and walked the downtown area.
So what was downtown like? It was relatively safe. The only things lining the sides were banks and restaurants. Every other business seemed like a big bank. What surprised me was that there were 20 something kids asking for change- generally, it's usually older or handicap people asking for money. One guy had his hair spiked up and said to me, "Sir, spare change please?" It also surprised me how polite he this sounded. That says something about society when people so young have nothing productive to contribute to society. Just like me- doing nothing.
After the trek downtown, I decided that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to stay at the hostel because it looks like it may be high in demand. I saw many younger folks with backpacks and hikingpacks. Also, I called my car insurance company, and they said that I was not insured unless I had an endorsement, which I didn't have. So I decided to head back to the United States, which wasn't too far away.
So I ended up in North Dakota, and it was not too exciting returning to America. After filling up with gas, I headed east not sure whether I should go south or keep east; so I decided to go north! There wasn't anything in North Dakota except empty roads and fields of brown dry grass. Whoever says that there isn't anything in North Dakota is right. From there I went back to Canada via Boissevein, Manitoba.
When I arrived at the Canadian customs off Highway 30, I was stopped by the customs officers, Grant and Rob, and they searched my whole truck. I told them I didn't have anything illegal, but they kept me for about an hour anyways. From experience, don't give customs a hard time, and they may not give you a hard time, just make the best of the situation. They'll ask the same questions over and over again to see if you give consistent answers (that's how to flush out liars), but if you're honest, you shouldn't go wrong. I'm not sure what the point was in going through all my personal belongings: If I was bringing narcotics into the Canada, I would hide it somewhere inside the vehicle (inside the car doors possibly) and not with my belongings. Before I left, they gave me a tourist VISA for two weeks; whereas, when I went through Saint Ste. Marie, they just asked how long I was staying, and let me on by.
As I headed north, I decided to stay near Brandon, Manitoba because the Rodeo really needed an oil change. Brandon had a Wal-mart and should have the oil filter needed for the Rodeo. They don't seem to sell Rodeos in Canadas so the small shops may not have the oil filter required.
After arriving in Brandon, I parked in a Husky truck stop parking lot just north of the city and went to bed. I'm really tired of sleeping in the back of my truck, and hopefully this will be one of the last times.
