Day 17 and beyond...

I am happy to report that as we left Echo Valley and drove east towards Manitoba, Saskatchewan did get flatter. But still, it wasn't the miles of golden wheat fields that I had expected. Things did change pretty quickly as we entered Manitoba - while still flat, there were suddenly many more trees. The drive through this part of the country was fairly unremarkable - though a 60 km stretch of two lane highway did spice things up a bit, as it meant for some passing against oncoming traffic.

As we approached Brandon, Manitoba I noticed the first Tim Hortons we had seen since Swift Current, Saskatchewan - so of course we pulled through the drive-thru. It was funny to see the license plates in the drive-thru line - a variety of Ontario, Alberta, BC and Saskatchewan, all folks who were likely as excited to see a Timmy's as we were.

We arrive at Vone's brother's place in Winnipeg in good time, and got to enjoy a full evening with Joe and Cathy, and my 5 week old nephew, Hudson. He's a cute little guy - very quiet and content for the young babies I've seen.

From this point forward, the vacation will take a decidely mellow turn. While Vone and I are looking forward to the relaxation, and the chance to see lots of family, it won't really be that exciting to write about. So now that I've got you caught up on our travels to this point, I'll probably take a hiatus for the rest of the trip. We plan to be back in Toronto on August 10 or 11, and we'll let you all know how the drive through Ontario was then.

Thanks for reading!