Hmmf. It’s a little weird waking up a twelve hundred miles from home, part way through a road trip, and knowing that today is not going to bring progress. Ah well. I spoke to the service folks first thing and got confirmation that the problem is indeed the oil cooler. Unfortunately, it’s not simply cracked (which could be welded) or holed (which could be rebuilt). It’s outright corroded, so a replacement part is called for. All in all, it’s just as well that it happened now rather than in some future off road adventure. So today was a time to get out exploring south central Manitoba in my exciting loaner car (a Chevy Malibu, for those keeping track).
Some kind folks told me that Brandon was a somewhat more interesting town than Dauphin, so I figured, why not? And Riding Mountain National Park was on the way, so I had a plan. And sure enough, Riding Mountain was a very pretty park. However, it was also a bit creepy. Apparently I managed to hit it in the gap between summer (hiking, camping, swimming) and winter (skiing, snowmobiling). So it was deserted. In the most literal sense: there was nobody there. At all. It was more than a little weird being in a national park where it was just me and nature.
I stopped at a few of the lakes that make up the park, but it was too cold for swimming and too warm for skiing (these Canadians are on to something, not being there this time of year). So there was nothing for it but to head on down to Brandon. Oh, and of course I stopped at the giant moose on the way out of the park. Gotta love giant meese.
An hour’s drive got me to Brandon. Right, enough about Brandon. Then I headed on to Winnipeg, since I’ll need to be there anyway either tomorrow or Thursday to drive the new oil cooler up to Dauphin (thus saving one freight day). I checked into the hotel and set about finding the best steak in town, and a goth/industrial club for entertainment. The Tao of luck was in great form: the best steakhouse in Winnipeg is two blocks from my hotel. And both of the local goth/industrial clubs closed in September. At least my curse killed the clubs; the steak was too good to miss.
I would probably complain if the national park had people in it. I personally hate going to a wilderness and tripping over people, so what you saw actually sounds pleasant.
Andre
October 17th, 2007