MILE 1837

Robert Frost wrote “Home is where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in”.   I add to that “Even when you’ve been wearing the same clothes for 4 days….”     Fortunately, the weather had been cool on the road and I was not as ripe as I may otherwise have been.

The goal to ride the entirety of Hwy 16 ended at Mile 1837 (2959 kms) on Thursday, July 14th.  Night Fury and I have travelled 3472 kms since leaving home on this adventure. 

As it happens, the end of my Hwy 16 journey is very close to where I have family, who seemed happy to see me in spite of the fact that I had been riding in the same clothes for 4 days (yes, I changed undies). Leaving Yorkton in good time and having less road to cover, I took a more leisurely approach to the day. Cruising along the highway, I spotted a guy fishing in a dugout in a yellow canoe.  This seemed photo-worthy, so I took one.  A little further up the road was the community of Churchbridge, whose highway sign boasted murals, so I took a loop through there too.  Next was to take a photo as Night Fury and I arrived at the Manitoba border and of course, we had to stop again to take a photo of the town statue of the bull at Russell. A prairie tailwind obligingly pushed us along and I was soon arriving at Dad’s place in Arden.

I recruited Dad to follow me to the end of Hwy 16, which is some 70 kms past his place. A rather anticlimactic locale with simply a sign indicating the junction of Hwy 16 and the Trans Canada Hwy 1.  But the moment must be documented, so we pulled over and had the picture before continuing to Portage for lunch.  In the hour or so we spent having lunch, the skies darkened and the winds picked up, so I jumped back onto Fury and we headed back up the road to Arden, the increasing winds buffeting us from the side and demanding a little more effort.

Brother-in-law Brad was off galivanting with work, but Connie was home. Their dog, Simone seemed so happy to see me I thought she was going to wiggle waggle her butt right off.  It was time for a welcome break, settling in for a good chin wag with Connie and cuddles from Simone (frankly, I'm impressed I still have a chin, we talked so much).  Mom’s place in McCreary was the destination for the night, so after a couple of hours of visiting, I suited up for the last hour of travel for the day.  Again the skies darkened to the north and the winds picked up, so I pinned the throttle and Fury and I made tracks for McCreary, hoping to arrive before any significant rain.  We did, and Fury was safely parked and unloaded before any adverse weather took place.  Mom had iced tea and snacks ready and Don helped unload Fury.

It is good to be settled for a couple of nights and in the way that Moms can’t help being Moms, I woke to find all my laundry washed, dried and folded neatly in a basket. My morning began with a visit with Harvey and Rosie, who bought the police station in my hometown. Harvey was a high school classmate and they are renovating the police station to live in.  I was jealous as I’d had my own visions for that building when I saw it for sale. I guess that ship has sailed and the best I can do now is to come and stay behind bars sometime without having to break any laws. 

The day ended with a spectacular sunset, prompting Don and I to jump in the car and toodle the back roads for photos.  Hard to beat a prairie sunset! 

Thanks for following along on this wee journey, friends. I’ll try to come up with something interesting to do on that way home!  😊