Chasing Wild Geese

The next morning was cool. No - forget that - it was downright cold! But we're tough, so we can handle it. We managed to rustle up some breakfast on our camp stove and then set out eastbound again. I'd seen enough of Hwy#1 for awhile, so we decided on the Scenic Route......north, then east, through the Q'Apelle Valley on mostly gravel roads. Scenic it was, for Saskatchewan....l..quite lush and rolling, and reminded us a lot of the Okanagan in B.C. But eventually the road led us back onto the main road (#1), through Moosomin (it was raining by now, and cousin Maryann has done the graveyards of Moosomin), so we crossed into Manitoba. In this province, we had quite a number of ancestors and relatives to find, and most of them off the beaten track! So southbound we went, through Souris and Boissevain, in search of a much smaller and less known community, Homefield. This was home to a great-uncle McKinnon, but I'm amazed he ever found it, or stayed! But with a little perseverence, we found the village (not sure what the term is if it's smaller than a village), and asked at one of the two or three occupied homes for directions to the cemetery. There we found my gt-uncle and his wife, and then continued in rain showers back northward again, to Spruce Wood Provincial Park. On the way was a very large camel marking the edge of the Manitoba semi-desert lands, so I had to get a photo (not sure if Sara the camel is purported to be a world's largest, but checked her out anyways).

Sara










The rain stopped for setting up of camp, and we managed to take a short walk around some of the park, to the lake (actually a wide turn in the Assiniboine River), and to whip up a bit of supper. Then off to bed early, to keep warm. Temperatures dropped to zero, so next morning found us again wondering if we had the date correct - it is June, isn't it??? We had more relatives to track down, so it was off to Portage la Prairie. There are several cemeteries there, and our information was sketchy on our Collins ancestors, so we went into a pioneer museum to see if that would help. They directed us to the public library, where we spent several hours looking through microfiche files of the local newspapers, at obituaries and events, and the listings of all of the local graveyards. But we turned up nada. It is possible that they are buried in Winnipeg, so perhaps; we can find them later in the trip. But......another couple of graves should be about 100 KM SE of Portage, so back we go, into Carman Manitoba. A search of the cemetery there found no trace......either they are in another site in Carman (which no-one knows about), or they are unmarked, or our information is incorrect. This family search is turning into a wild-goose chase. And a cold one, at that! The temperature has only gone up to 7C by mid afternoon, as we cruise through Headly (my gt-grandfather died here, but now it is Winnipeg suburbia) and into Winnipeg. We were able to find the Elmwood Cemetery where many of my McKay relatives are supposed to be located. Alas....the goose chase continues, and we can find no sign of them! There are many more cemeteries here, but being Friday afternoon, the chances of getting at any records on the weekend are slim.....so Winnipeg will remain on our "to do" list, for the return trip to BC. We passed the longitudinal centre of Canada in late afternoon as we cruised eastbound out of Winnipeg, and finally called it a day in Richer, Manitoba, in a small campsite. We'd managed to do fairly well on gas the last couple of days (avg. price 97.9/litre), and on campsites and food.....so tonight we treated ourselves to the local diner for perogies for dinner - a local specialty. I now sit at a picnic table on wifi, with gloves on, as the temperature is now dropping from its high of 7C, on its way to below freezing tonight.
BRRRRRRRRR. Typing on a laptop with gloves on is not quite as easy as I'd thought, with smaller keys and larger fingers.....but the delete and backspace keys help a lot. Tomorrow we will be heading into Ontario.




BRRRRRRRRR









We are hoping to eventually meet up with a buddy from Thunder Bay, but we seem to be moving a bit too fast, and he may not yet be home when we get there.....but he is heading that way, so perhaps we can camp; in Wawa or someplace nice on the north shore of Superior (Wawa has a big Goose!).