6 June - Thunder Bay to Winnipeg - Day 33 of TCE

The Haven Hostel had proved to be a good place to stay overnight. The room was tastefully done and the common living and kitchen areas were well maintained and stocked. The Hostel has a small library called “Book Exchange”. Here one can leave a book, take one or even exchange one. It is beneficial to those who travel because they get a new one to read when they are done with one without having to buy one. I left a copy of my book in the Book Exchange on the drives in Australia and New Zealand, “Flirting With Kangaroos And Kiwis”. Breakfast was included in the rent. I was ready for it by 7.30 am. Besides the orange juice and cereal there were boiled eggs, toasts, cut fruits and loads of coffee. Enough to start the day.

  

The start of the day promised good weather. Therefore, despite the long drive of 720 km ahead of me for the day I took a short break at Kakabeka Falls, just 35 km out of Thunder Bay. The Falls, because of its easy accessibility and size – it is the second highest waterfall in Ontario - is known as the Niagara of the North. The Kaministiquia River flows over 130 feet high cliffs into a gorge. The rock face of the Falls and the escarpments along the gorge are eroding as it is unstable shale rocks and the incessant drop of the Falls has revealed some of the oldest fossils in existence at the bottom of it. However, it is prohibited to go to the bottom of the Falls because of the fury of it. The endangered Lake Sturgeon, the temperate North American freshwater fish, spawns at the bottom of the Falls. The excellent boardwalk that wraps around the Falls and the lookouts give fabulous views of the Falls from all sides. There was a double rainbow on display which came as a bonus this morning. The water that gushed forth down the cliffs was muddy indicating rains upstream.

When I approached the car in the parking lot a group of Americans, all men, emerged from a car that had just parked. They greeted me and asked how the views were. They told me that they were on a fishing trip from Wisconsin, USA. One of them pulled out a phone and showed me the enormous pikes they had fished near Upsala. They had taken a fishing license and had to release the bigger ones back into the water and keep one that was within the approved size limits.  They stood rooted for some time in the car park when I told them about my driving trip across Canada.

I had nearly 700 km more to drive to Winnipeg from the Falls. I was worried about being late into Winnipeg as the homestay I had booked there did not have all day reception and check-in. I had indicated that I would be in the city between 3 and 5 pm. Therefore, I had that commitment to keep. The next stretch of drive was more than 300 km without a stop and I made good progress. Some distance on the Kenora byepass, after Shabaqua, was a road side plaque that indicated the change of time zone from Eastern to Central standard time. I swung over to where a monument had been erected to mark that. A massive marker to commemorate Sir Sandford Fleming's idea of standard time and the worldwide adoption of the concept is embedded in Amethyst, Ontario’s official gemstone that ranges in colour from violet to deep purple. Largely mined in North Ontario, the beauty and warmth of the quartz is said to reflect the character of the peoples of Ontario.

Another interesting piece of information there was a map that showed the old canoe routes, which were the highways of the past used by Indians, explorers, traders and missionaries, and the present day TCH. It made me feel more humble in that the risks associated with the canoe adventures in the past were far greater than driving on a paved road in modern times. Sir Fleming seemed to be a man of many parts excelling in various professional spheres, going by the plaque at the site. Not only was he recognised for the uniform concept of time he was an indefatigable inventor, surveyor, engraver, author, and above all, a brilliant engineer. He designed the first Canadian postage stamp and was responsible for setting up the Intercolonial railway. He also served as the Chief Engineer of the Canadian Pacific Railway for almost a decade up to 1880 and conducted surveys of the Transcontinental route. I saluted the plaque as a mark of respect from one humble railwayman to a great one who impacted the lives of millions of people then and now.

I gained one hour at that point, travelling westwards. The long drive was made longer by many restrictions and stoppages to facilitate road work. The condition of road in Manitoba on the TCH leaves a lot to be desired. However, in the past two weeks the countryside has had a compete changeover with green all over. Winter had truly receded. From 10 degrees Celsius in Thunder Bay it touched 29 in Winnipeg. The hot Sun scorched my hands and it started to burn. I wanted to get to the comfort of the homestay as quickly as possible. But I did not miss the marker that indicated the halfway mark of Canada, longitudinally, as I was driving into the city. Winnipeg is said to be the midpoint between the two oceans, the Pacific and Atlantic.

The homestay I had booked in Winnipeg was not a downtown property, but was alright. I was happy that it had a private car park. The attractions in Winnipeg are not walkable distance from the homestay and hence, I would have to take the car out tomorrow. However, the Legislative Assembly building was just a 15 minute walk from the homestay. Once the Sun became more merciful I did a round of the lovely building and the surroundings. Winnipeg as the provincial capital is home to the legislators. The 250 feet tall building has the “Golden Boy”, a gold plated bronze statue on top of the dome, which looks like the Roman god Mercury or the Greek Hermes. A group of commemorative statues placed by Ukrainian Canadians showed the importance the country and province placed on human rights and liberty. The contribution of Nellie McClung and four others in getting women their legitimate right to vote is recognized in bronze statue in the Assembly complex. The towering statue of Louis David Riel overlooking the Assiniboine River is striking, also because of his contribution to the naming of the province, its integration into the Confederation and the rights of the Metis people.

It was a buffet dinner in Charisma of India restaurant that set the evening on fire. When I was scouring through the menu the Punjabi lady who served there suggested that I have a look at the buffet spread. Besides lots of vegetarian options the non-vegetarian section, about which I was more interested to know, had butter chicken, spicy chicken, tandoori chicken and goat curry. After sampling some of each I took to the goat curry and had a humongous lot of it with rice, naan and roti. The goat curry was supremely tasty. The restaurant seemed to be popular with the locals as well as Indians. I saw many orders being delivered to home delivery agencies. After the large meal I still found room for gulab jamun, mango fruit custard and kheer too. At C$ 20 the dinner was paisa wasool.