Support me a dollar a kilometer as I ride across Canada to raise money for water projects in Haiti. I am currently on my journey and we have raised over $7,000. Our goal is to raise $12,000!
I headed out this morning along the road to Lorrette since it eventually meets up with the Trans Canada highway. The wind was against me early and I was a little concerned because I was expecting to ride 190 kilometers today.
On the Trans Canada it was a little and before long I was averaging a pace in the high 20’s. This was when I noticed the shoulder disappearing 500 meters ahead so took a casual look around and saw a cyclist coming up the road with no gear. I decided to let them pass since there wouldn’t be any room to do so very shortly.
After Roberta set me up with some breakfast Ray and Pam showed up to take me to Winnipeg Folk Festival which is running from Thursday through until Sunday. It has be running for over 35 years and though there is not so much folk it is a well organized event with great musicians from around the world. The festival is held in Birds Hill provincial park which is a very large park and campground North East of Winnipeg.
Entering the park I was so warmed seeing young evergreens mixed with the birch and oak trees. I really miss the forests and mountains of BC. We parked and headed over to the gate where we met two of Pam’s friends who knowingly brought tarps to sit on in front of the main stage. After staking our territory we grabbed some food and walked over to a smaller stage to watch a little country and western. Normally not my style of music but this guy, Jimmy Lafav, had a great voice. The first part of the set was sad songs but when the piano guy finally showed (must have been in the beer garden) they cranked it up a notch.
Off to the beer garden we went for a cold one in the roasting hot sun. The ladies wanted to shop so Ray and I staked out some ground to watch “you gotta fight for your right” workshop which included Billy Bragg, Atomic Duo, Natalia Zukerman, Willy Porter and Emmanuel Jai. They were all very talented musicians and were the closest thing to folk music with the exception of Emmanuel Jai who had a reggae style hip hop.
Well the sleep was pretty poor last night since all of the buildings in the campground seem to illuminate the whole park at night. That however can be negligible but the security guy booting around the campground on his motorised quad until 2am was not. I wondered how long it would take me to get a sniper rifle so I could shoot him.
In the morning I ate a grapefruit and some bread with peanut butter before packing up and getting back on the road. The wind was with me again and I was making good time despite my little butt problem (your probably tired of hearing about it so I will leave it at that). Near Winnipeg there is a crop with a light purple flower that almost looks like a little lake from the distance. Very beautiful indeed when mixed with the yellow canola crops gracefully blowing in the wind.
