Another day of nothing

 August 4^th, 2026

Richer, Manitoba

Woke at 8am and got showered and dressed.

Loaded the bike in the cool morning air, but so far looking like it will be a dry day at least, few clouds in the sky.

Once loaded up, we checked over the room, then locked it up and dropped key in the box at the office.

Stopped at the fuel station at the entrance to the main highway to fuel up and grab a candy bar for breakfast.

Hit the highway (TransCanada 1) which is a 4-lane divided road, similar to US Interstates, but not fully controlled access, many turns right off the highway onto side roads.

Made good time and stopped to fuel up when tank was getting low, and grabbed a snack.

Later I tried to pull off at a rest area, only to find it out of order, so had to get back on the road.

Found a fuel stop bit later and as I was close enough, I fueled up again and bought another snack.

While eating it off to the side of the building, another bike was at the pumps and I noticed when I walked over to toss trash away that it was also a Suzuki V-Strom, just an older model.  Really nice color of blue as well.

Spent some time talking with owner while it fueled up.  Then walked back to my bike, he rode over and we talked a bit more.

He left and I was a few minutes behind him to get back on the highway.

We reached the area around Winnipeg and routed around the city on a bypass loop.  Traffic was still quite heavy, but still better than going through the city, I am sure.

Arrived 30 minutes later at the small town where I am staying.  The hotel is basically the back part of the fuel station and convenience store on the corner.  It appears to be fairly new in construction, and the room is quite nice.  Was not badly priced either.

I checked in, and moved bike over near the steps to the second floor.  Unloaded the bike and sorted things in the room.

I then needed food as I had not found any place to eat on the ride.

NOTE:  There were a few Subways in gas stations (like the one I am staying above), but really not what I want for food.  Saw a few A&W, but again, not what I wanted.  Few Tim Hortons, but food options are pretty limited.  Otherwise only saw a few small restaurants that would not be quick, and I was looking for a quick meal.

Oddly I found very little in services on the highway, seems in many places, you still need to drive into the town to find anything, but they do not list what is in town on the highway either.  If you pay attention, there are small billboards talking about stuff, but most are smaller, hard to read at 65mph and quite worn out in some cases, and not even sure they are accurate anymore.

So back to dinner.

I was planning to just eat at the Subway or buy something to microwave in the room.  But while I was unloading the bike, I noticed a small restaurant across the road.

When done, I checked and they were still open for a few hours, so walked over there to have dinner.

Much nice menu and enjoyed a spicy chicken sandwich and a plate of nacho fries (waffle fries instead of chips, but regular toppings).

Once done, I was going to go pay and realized I had left wallet in the riding jacket in the room.

As I had been working on the laptop, I just told them I would leave that on the table and be right back.  They seemed okay with that.

After retrieving my wallet, I paid for dinner and returned to the room.

Worked on a few things online, booked my hotel for tomorrow, and changed the route I was going to take several times.  Actually, have changed it a few times in last 3 days, dropping a long route farther north to save time and money, and then changing how far I would got into Ontario, and finally dropping Ontario completely, instead crossing back into the US not far from where I am at.

I still have to go back up to the border to stay as I booked hotel when I was going to use that crossing, but on further research, the bridge is a toll bridge and costs $10 or more and is barely 100 feet long.  The route I changed to is 45 minutes faster as well.

But the route through Minnesota works really well from that spot anyway, and no really good highway near the crossing I am using, so works out.

I then booked some flights for some travel I have coming up in September.

Then I wrote this blog entry up, but really tired and its late, so going to head to bed now and upload this tomorrow.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route