TOURISTY DAY

Got up a little bit earlier today, had breakfast and headed over to see Brad.  He was preparing for an auction and puppy Lucy was happy to see us for the excuse to get out of the auction barn and outside.   It was a hot day and we had a couple of visits with friends and ran some errands.  I wanted to stop and see Annette at PromoTime in Neepawa and thank her in person for designing my t-shirts.  We carried on and had coffee with some a buddy of Dad’s at McDonald’s.
 
On our way back, Dad suggested stopping at the Neepawa Museum.  By now I shouldn’t be, but am always surprised at what a good job so many small towns do with their museums.  The Neepawa Museum is no exception.  It covers three floors in the old railway station and they have a variety of exhibits from the different eras of the community.  One of my favourites was the post office boxes with the combinations and keys and the old license plates!  Then the Clothesline Rules!  Who knew there were clothesline rules!  They also had photos of the old Mountain Road church.  It had burned a couple of years before I was born, but I heard of it often.  The few photos here are just a tiny bit of what they have and not even the most interesting. 
 
Our next stop was to take a photo of the Margaret Laurence house.  Margaret Laurence was a Canadian novelist and a major figure in the Canadian literary scene.  She was raised in Neepawa and is buried there.  She is best known for her novel, The Stone Angel.
 
When we got back to Dad’s, I decided that I should do as promised and take Fury in to the car wash.  I had also said I would stop by the Farmery with my bike as well.  I had got some stickers for my sidecases from them to do a bit of promo on the rest of my trip.  They are so busy, I’m sure they wouldn’t have missed me if I hadn’t shown up, but I wanted to show off Fury anyway.  So I took her to the car wash first and got her all cleaned up and found some good spots to put the stickers on my side cases.  They looked pretty good!  Lawrence let me pull her up right close to the store so we could get a good picture with the Farmery sign. 
 
Heading back towards Arden, I stopped to get a picture of the “Main Beach Lake Agassiz” sign.  As little as 10,000 years ago, pretty much all of Manitoba and a good deal of Saskatchewan and Ontario were one gigantic glacial lake – Lake Agassiz.  As the glacier receded and the lake drained, it left behind a variety of deposits of sand and gravel.  The Arden ridge is one of these deposits. 
 
The town of Arden is small but had a steady population.  Riding into Arden, you will see its 10-foot crocus.  There are numerous historic sites around town, including the junction of Arden Ridge and the Ellice Trail that settlers used when travelling by cart to settle the west.  Arden is also home to a swinging bridge across the Whitemud river and a very nice campground and park.  For the last couple of years, there has been a biker’s gathering at Arden, welcoming something like 100 riders who gather at the campground for the weekend. 
 
Returning to Dad’s, Shirley had a fish supper ready, followed by raspberry pie.  I'm in the doghouse with Vlad for cutting it badly, but not enough that I didn't get a mudpie cookie too.

I finished the job on Fury by giving her a wax and polish before putting her to bed for the night.  Curious, the goats and llamas that were loose in the yard came over to check out the job.  They were quickly distracted by Dad and bread.  Vlad, the big white Pyrenees also came over to stick his nose under my arm and into my cheek to make sure I knew what I was doing.  At 7 months old, Vlad is hip height and not yet full grown.  He is pretty sure I shouldn’t go anywhere by myself and has to be in contact with my thigh if I’m walking around the yard – wouldn’t want to get lost!  I’m sure he loves everyone, but I like to think it’s because I’m special.  😊
 
Tomorrow it is on to Winnipeg where Fury is booked for service and will have a couple of days of rest while I head into Nunavut.