Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

bon ton \bahn-TAHN\, noun:
1. Fashionable or elegant manner or style.
2. The proper or fashionable thing to do.
3. Fashionable society; a fashionable social set.

I’ve always wondered what it was like north of Winnipeg. I’ve never been up to that part of Manitoba and I have only known one person who has lived there which was only temporarily. He spent some time in Thompson, Manitoba, I believe, for a 4-month work-term as a student.(Please correct me if I am wrong, I.J.). He was there during the winter and I recall him telling me about his first day there. He said that when the radio announcer gave the temperatures, it didn’t make sense. The highs were lower than the lows. That is until he realized that, when it comes to temperature, they don’t bother saying the “negatives” in the winter … the negative is implied!
Luckily it is the summer and besides, my curiousity is not so strong that I need to head to Thompson. But I was able to entice my family to venture out to one of the beaches along Lake Winnipeg. We decided to check out a place called Grand Beach. We were told of the beautiful white sand beaches that stretch all along the shore there. What we were not told of is what I am now referring to as the “Prairie Wind”. Believe it or not, I am just referring to the strong winds that come across the prairies. Really. The good news today is that one of the advantages of this prairie wind was that it was generating some lovely waves as it made its way eastward across Lake Winnipeg. The kids and I had a great time jumping through the waves and seeing who could crash through the biggest one. It was a lot of fun. I haven’t played in big waves in a fresh water environment for some time so I kept expecting to have that salt water taste in my mouth but it didn’t materialize. Today was also the day we had scheduled to leave our campsite so we had to leave the beach earlier than we would have liked and then proceed to fight our way back through the prairie wind. Even though we were in the Matrix, we had our bikes on the roof so the wind effect was much more noticeable. What was also becoming more noticeable was the fact that the “low gas” light was on. Grand Beach turned out to be a provincial park rather than a “Grand Bend”-type place, for those of you who are familiar with that little town on Lake Huron, so there was a distinct lack of gas stations in the area. No problem, it was the GPS to the rescue. You request that it list the gas stations closest to you. The nice thing is that it also tells you in what direction they are so that you don’t select one that is behind you if you are trying to avoid back tracking. The closest station to us was about 3 km off the main road so we definitely would not have found it on our own. Very handy!
We got back, packed up, and headed off. We weren’t exactly sure where we were heading this day. We decided to drive until we didn’t want to go any further and then just pull in at the nearest campground. On our way I had a couple of old memories surface from the only other time I ever drove on this road back in the winter of 1980. As I drove past a small sign that announced the little village of Douglas, Manitoba, I instantly remembered this place as the place where I ran out of gas in my mighty little Ford Fiesta back in ’80 (remember that Ross?). It turns out that the winter version of “prairie wind” has a habit of blowing minute particles of snow ad ice into your air filter. Then, when you park for the night the heat from your engine melts the snow and ice, and once your engine has cooled down, this liquid freezes again into an a perfectly sized chunk of ice to block most of the air from entering your engine. NOT good for gas mileage if you were wondering. So I remembered my car coasting up to the Douglas sign, turning left and still having enough momentum to get across the highway and then coast down the hill into the village. I remember being so happy to have been able to coast into town where I could get some gas. However, my nescience of rural Manitoba got the best of me that day. There was no gas station there! So we had to pay for someone to go to the nearest gas station and bring us back some fuel.Switching gears back to today, we ended up selecting a campsite in Brandon. I remember Brandon very clearly as well. When I was driving back across the prairies on my way home in that winter of 1980, I had picked up a hitchhiker somewhere in Saskatchewan. While we were talking I asked him if there were any places known for speed traps. He said he wasn’t that familiar with the area but he had heard that Brandon was a place where you’ll get a ticket if you are speeding. We continued talking all the way to Manitoba and beyond as he was on his way to Winnipeg. When we got to Brandon I started slowing down but I was distracted by our conversation and before I knew it, a police car was behind me with its lights on. That was my first speeding ticket ever. I’m sure the hitchhiker was wondering why I would specifically ask for the location of speed traps and then speed through the one and only area he recommended I not do so. But to his credit, he did not ask. So, yes, lots of “fond” memories of this area of the country!