August 26 - August 28 Thompson - Winnipeg, MB - 490 Miles

Following our return from Repulse Bay to Thompson by plane, we loaded up the motorcycles again and started toward Winnipeg.  We rode a full day to a tiny town called Moosehorn, near Winnipeg.  The ride was quite an easy one, with the landscape gradually returning from heavy forest to plains and large wheat fields.

Then from Moosehorn to Winnipeg was a short ride, and we spent the afternoon in Winnipeg.  

The first order of business that afternoon was to change oil and filters in our motorcycles, since we had gone 5,000 miles or more.  A motorcycle rider that we met in Moosehorn had told us about a dealer which sold both cars and motorcycles, but he thought they might be going out of business.  Sure enough, the motorcycle part of the business was two days from closing their doors.  That leaves no Honda motorcycle dealers in Winnipeg, a city of 600,000 people.  

This dealer didn't have any Honda oil that we like to use, but had filters.  So we bought the filters.  However, they called up another Honda car dealer, who has a sideline of Honda generators and lawn mowers, of all things.  That dealer had oil but was down to the last several quarts of the oil we wanted.

So, we headed for that Honda car dealer.  They had the oil.  Then we asked if we could change oil in their back lot, and by the way, could we borrow an oil drain pan.  The parts man was very helpful, and arranged all of that for us.  As we changed oil, the word evidently got around in the car dealership, and several people came, one by one, to chat with us and see what we were up to.

By the time we finished, the skies were getting black with rain, so we made it to the motel just in time to put our covers on the motorcycles and get inside before a heavy rainstorm hit.

On our second day in Winnipeg, we went downtown to see the city and to go to the Museum of Manitoba (Norm and Deane like museums).  The museum was a good one.  We had some more time, so guess what we did.  We went to an IMAX theater to see the show "Bears", since we had not seen a Polar Bear while in Nunavut.  One of the hunters there told us that "any day now" there would be Polar Bears coming up on the islands just offshore from Naujat, but they didn't come for us.

Well, Winnipeg is where Deane and Norm split up and start home.  Deane has about 1,700 miles to go, and Norm has about 1,500 miles, including doing some relative visiting on the way.  It has been a great trip for us this year, and we'll have to see what next year will bring.

Deane will keep the journal going until reaching home, and will get some input from Norm when he gets home.

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