KEEPING TRACK OF ERWIN & GAIL: Beginning to end.

It has been drawn to my attention that some of you really read this stuff and that some of you even look forward to reading it, a concept that seems, to me, to be absolutely inconceivable. But, alas, it is true and I am drawn to continue to pour it all out at you.

Well, OH my, it now seems, officially, to be the beginning of the end. We re-entered Canada on the 25^th of April. That is 6 days before we were required, by U.S. law to do so, a total of 176 days in the land below. We crossed the border into Canada at Emerson, Manitoba and made our way to Winnipeg where we camped in the front yard of our dear friends Dave & Delight for the next two days.

Let’s take a step back now and let me tell you about our last few days down south. When I left off last time we had just arrived in St Joseph, Missouri and had just veg’d out for a day and took the time to tell you about all that had passed before. We stayed in St. Joseph for 3 days and took in the history of the place. We visited the Pony Express Stables Museum and learned how young boys and men, of small stature, were hired to ride horses at full speed for many miles, through all kinds of terrain, all kinds of weather and through hostile neighborhoods, only stopping long enough to change horses. So that for a mere $5.00 you could send a letter clear across the country in 10 days or less. $5.00 you say! And a hundred and fifty years later we complain about a dollar, but of course it does take way more than 10 days now. We also learned that, as famous as the Pony Express was, it really only operated for 18 months, lost only one pouch of mail and one rider, so some of the stories you hear might be somewhat exaggerated. We also visited the Patee House Western Museum where we learned a lot about life in the West in a time that, I guess could only be described as the “Good Ole Days”. We learned about the early trains and telegraphs, we learned about the first cars and highways. We learned about outlaws and Indians, about Jesse James (shot at his home in St Joseph) and Buffalo Bill Cody (who started his career as a Pony Express rider). We learned about the Civil War, or at least the effects of the Civil War on the West, and about the first incident of American flag burning right there in St Joseph. The following day we took a road trip across the Missouri River into Kansas, along the Pony Express Highway then along the Missouri River up into Nebraska, if for no other reason than to add two more states to our journey.

From St Joseph we headed north to Fargo, North Dakota where we spent two more days just waiting for the weather to change to bearable in Canada before we ventured in. We left Winnipeg on Monday spent one night camping in Yorkton SK. then on to Saskatoon, where we have been since, having decided to spend one week hunkered down and visiting friends and family before we head even further north.

So, as always, all good things must come to an end. I’ll post this and a few pictures after Gail has had a chance to work her miracles with the words I have so diligently misspelled and turn them into real words.

God Bless. With love.

Erwin & Gail