81.1Kms
Oh, how great it feels to be flying along on the Prairies with the wind at our aid. That is how we whizzed into Virden, Manitoba! We were concerned that the wind might be gusting at us for the final six days of our journey, our Prairie welcome! The day began windy at us and 2C, so we bundled in layers (including long underwear and neoprene over booties for Y and under-helmet liners for both). By 11:00am, we were peeled to our usual ride outfits. The wind situation improved greatly before lunch (pic-nic in Oak Lake, MB, augmented with our first ever deep fried pickles from Dandy Drive In) and was fantastic in the afternoon. Virden is where B's mom was born and lived until age 12. It is a very pretty town - much larger than expected and host to an award-winning indoor rodeo! We don't have the time or the means on this trip to get out and about and to visit the local farms and archives. We plan to research more before the return road trip we have been talking about together (with our canoe). We saw our first oil derrick just before arriving in Virden!

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/11059368

121.3Kms
We left Portage la Prairie early, as we had a big day of riding and thought we might need a couple extra hours due to wind. This was the case, though it was less strong than the day before. At our morning break stop we were approached by a highway worker who wanted to let us know he had seen us a few times and wanted to know about our journey. He then told us about his daughter and son, who both live near Victoria and that he has two "grand babies" by each. The landscape was lovely as we arrived on the Manitoba escarpment. We took a few photos of the ubiquitous round hay bale, including roadside bales that seemed aged, B quipped that this may be due to the Tim Hortons cup, shredded clothing and bungee cord content making them less desirable!

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/11042837

93.5Kms
The Assinaboine River's banks were flooded in places, so B had to navigate us out of Winnipeg on a route other than the path along the River, as high water had washed out the path in spots. As we were leaving the hotel in the morning time, a pair of employees, who are both transferring to Whistler and are engaged to be married in summer 2017, asked us so many questions about our journey, as they have an interest in doing a similar trip. They wanted to give us something for the road so Y said some muffins would be nice and the male dashed to the hotel kitchen and brought us some. We stopped at the south lawn of the Manitoba legislature to photograph some painted polar bears and then were on our way. We were traveling into a strong wind today, with some heavy gusts, so not a lot of photo stops today. At Tim Hortons in Elie, MB, B spoke at length with John, who produced maps from his car and recommended a nice route from Virden, MB to Regina, SK. We arrived in Portage la Prairie in time for our evening meal and with 4 minutes to spare at the laundromat - our last load of our bicycle trip!

 https://ridewithgps.com/trips/11026553

No Kms on bicycle, 6.2Kms au pied in Winnipeg
Human rights ideas, historical events, and liberators are at the centre of consideration in Winnipeg's Canadian Museum of Human Rights. We were moved and inspired by the complexity of content and how effectively it was conveyed by the exhibition curators and designers. Architect Antoine Predock designed the spaces to create a flow of experience from dark to light, from deep oppression to enlightened action. We started our day expecting to visit for an overview and ended up staying for hours. We recommend a destination visit to the Museum and for all to experience the on-line site. From the Museum observation tower we could see the dragon boat races taking place on the river below and we walked there next and then to the Sunday Public Market. We spoke with Paul, who is with Wrench and he told us the Winnipeg Tweed Ride was underway and would end near to the Food Truck Wars (Many Festival), which is where we planned to go for our mid-day food. The Festival was busy and eclectic and we made Healthy Choice our choice, as there was no line-up and the other food trucks had snaking lines of folks waiting to order. From there, we walked back to the Fort Garry Hotel (similar in style to The Empress or Hotel Vancouver) and connected with Steven, the Tweed Ride organizer! What a great, busy day we had in Winnipeg!