Because Sunday’s travel was interrupted by the U-Haul tire failure, we were not able to go as far west as we had planned on Monday. Originally we were going to get through Manitoba in a day, from Upsala, Ontario to Moosamin, Saskatchewan. Our plans and reservations were for camping in both locations: we had our camping gear, and had been in touch with the campgrounds to confirm they would allow our 24 dogs.
Manitoba does not allow camping by people from out-of-province, due to COVID-19. But because we could not make it across the whole province on Monday, we made motel plans instead. The drive from far western Ontario into Manitoba was quite nice – good roads, and lots of green scenery. Fairly flat, but with some rolling hills. The area around Quetico forest was especially nice.
At our first gas stop, we needed to put air in the tires, as recommended by the tow truck driver the night before. We used one of those gas station air stations, where you insert a dollar coin. After a few tries at different stations, we discovered they did not have enough pressure for the 110-120 PSI the truck tires demanded. In fact, after trying to add air for a minute, the tire would have lower pressure than when we started!
We found a great auto shop that was open on Thanksgiving, and the wonderful people there pumped air in all 10 of the U-Haul’s tires (6 on the truck, 4 on the trailer). We noticed that the rearmost right tire on the trailer was not staying fully inflated, and pledged to check all tires a few times per day.
We met up with Luke’s temporary dad in Dryden (he drove down from Sioux Lookout). We also got our water jugs filled, and had a nice Thanksgiving-day picnic behind a closed supermarket.
It poured rain much of Monday. At the end of the day, we found that the rain had gotten into the rear of the dog trailer, where we stored gear (it’s a big long space between the dog boxes). Much of our food was ruined, and some of our duffel bags were wet. This happened because the rear door on the dog trailer didn’t close completely, and rain sluiced into the back. We were more careful, for the rest of the trip.
Overall, our third day was successful. We had figured out on Sunday how to use the Subway app (thanks Rosie!!!) to order sandwiches in advance, and we were into a good cadence of efficient stops for fuel and dogs. Everyone was getting to know the dogs, and the team was functioning well.
We climbed into our motel rooms for the night at Richer Inn Motor Hotel, planning another early start on Tuesday.
[This is Post 5 of 11]