I’m posting from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I really wanted to stay in Elk Mound, but there didn’t seems to be any roadside lodging… only an adult specialty shop!

I made my way from Medicine Hat to Minnedosa Manitoba with a quick stop in Moose Jaw to return this dumb iPhone FM transmitter I bought. It sucked and TOTALLY didn’t live up to my fidelity standards. Luckily I bought it at The Source in Medicine Hat and I returned it down the road at The Source in Moose Jaw. I decided I’d spare Fernando the hamster the anguish of listening to my mixed up mish mash of music: I had the Jensen sisters playing, The Hearbroken, Ozzy, some unknown Irish music that Dave Whitla gave me, Jonsi, Bjork (gotta get those wacky Icelanders in there), The Police, Bob Marley. I cracked out the Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones. Decent isolation from road noise and superb quality! I also stopped in Grenfell, SK where my great uncles used to live (actually their farm was in the middle of nowhere but Grenfell was the closest town).

My reason for popping up north of the Trans Canada to Minnedosa was to visit and stay with my Auntie Gail and Uncle Vern. I also was really happy to see my cousin Nancy and her 2 kids whom I’d never met before. That was fun. As a kid I’d spend a decent amount of time in Minnedosa as this was where my Gramma and Grampa Southern lived when they were alive. Gail and Vern took me for a little tour around town to see all the familiar spot. They also took me to the cemetery where Gramma and Grampa are buried. It was really nice to see their headstone and say hello.

Gail and Vern run a farm with 300 acres and 30 head of cattle (I think I remember that correctly). They used to have much more but have been scaling back as time goes by. They are beautiful people: strong, hard working, content and generous. Vern uses Monsanto seed for his Canola crop. I’ll have to get into it with him next time we’re together!

I miss our friends in Banff.

Today I took some time to stop and look around. It felt good but now I have to go like crazy to get to Toronto to hang with friends. Here’s some stuff I saw:




Fernando is going to have a long day tomorrow so I’m currently letting him run around in his hamster ball in the hotel room.

Bye for now.