I got a phone call asking me if I would be able to go to Fort Frances, Ontario. I could, I mean if I wanted to. I told the person it would be an overnight trip. I did not want to drive 9 hours and have to come home and enter shops until 2:00am. I said I could do the shop but I would need extra money because I would be staying in a hotel overnight. I also asked if there were any other shops they had in the area that I could take care of for them. The person looked a bit, and found two other shops. I was approved over the phone for the amount I asked for, and the assignments were sent to me. I was told I could perform the shops over the weekend.
So there it was, a paid trip to Lake of the Woods for the July 3-4 weekend.
I had a look at the other companies I get shops from and managed to find a few along the way. When travelling long distances it is best to try and get gasoline shops along the way. I did manage to do this, and picked up four gas shops along with the original three shops that started the trip.
We stopped at Grunthal, Manitoba to take a picture of a huge Buffalo along the side of the road. The plaque says it was erected because of the tourisma a game farm at Grunthal brought to the area.
We took the "Moms Way" Highway down through Sprague, Manitoba into the USA at Warroad, Minnesota and back up into Canada at Rainy River, Ontario. The Highway is called MOMs way because of the Manitoba, Ontario, Minnesota connection. It is the quickest way to Fort Frances, shaving an hour off the drive compared to the Canadian route through Kenora.
We hit bad weather while still in Canada along the highway to Sprague. It started raining, then pouring so bad we could hardly see the road. It lasted about ten minutes, then blew over. By the time we were at the US Border there was no more rain.
We crossed the border with no trouble at all and went on to Warroad. We did a tour of the town and picked up some deli food from the local grocery store. Then we went down to the dock and had a picnic. On the way out of town I got a picture of the fountain along the lake.
We left Warroad and went on to Baudette, Minnesota, the border town to get back into Canada at Rainy River. While in Baudette, we took in some of the 4th of July Festivities in town. I found another statue in town, it was Willie the Walleye. He is perched in a park by the lake, at the turn off to the Canadian Border.
Again, we were able to get through the border crossing without any issues. The smaller crossings are a lot more relaxed. We got into Rainy River, and took care of a shop. Then we went down the MOMs Way Highway to Fort Frances. The town of Fort Frances was a bit of a disappointment. It was smaller than I had expected and nothing really to do or see. The shop I needed to do was listed as Highway 11 East, Fort Frances. We had quite a hard time in finding it. We traveled east of Fort Frances but came across a Reserve, so I thought we had gone too far. We went back into town and asked some of the locals where the particular business was. We were told to go past the Reserve, and over the Bridge, and it would be another five kilometers. We went through the Reserve, then to the Bridge, which was under construction. We waited until we could cross the bridge because it was down to a single lane. Then we crossed the bridge and drove on. The scenery was amazing of course. It was, after all, part of Lake of the Woods. But it was a bit annoying traveling down the road to some unknown destination, hoping the business was there, was still in business, and we would be able to find it. After traveling ten kilometers past the bridge we found it. And it was open for business, thank goodness. We took care of the shop, then turned back around. We drove the ten kilometers back to the bridge, waited for our turn to cross, then through the Reservation, and on to Fort Frances. After getting to Fort Frances we decided not to spend the night. We would keep going and see if we could find a nice place to spend the evening. We did not have to be in Kenora until the next day.
We headed north on Highway 71 believing we would find a nice tourist location to spend the night. There were a few towns, provincial parks, and rest areas along the highway, and from the map it looked like it would be very scenic. But a short while after getting on the highway it started to rain again. At it poured. It just kept coming down and was getting hard to see. Then it stopped raining and we made a few more miles. It started to pour again when we were coming up to Sioux Narrows so we pulled in to what we thought was a hotel. The hotel was closed and up for sale. But at least we got off the highway for a while and took a break. Once it stopped raining we thought we would have a look around Sioux Narrows. We started driving and the town seemed to end. We must have driven through the majority of the town when it was raining. We really could not see much when it was raining.
We ended up driving all the way to Kenora. Just before the edge of town, there was a business with a giant spider constructed out of pipes and a Volkswagon Beetle. We stopped to get a picture of it.
I checked out a few hotels in town. The Best Western was full, but they recommended the Comfort Inn, giving directions for me. At the Comfort Inn they had room, but they wanted $130.00 plus taxes. I thought that was a bit much, so we headed for one of the hotels that let you park your car in front of the door. One of the budget locations. It was a lot cheaper and boasted a wireless internet connection. So we would be able to get out of the weather and I could enter my reports. There were tornado warnings for the area so we figures we needed to get a room at a hotel for the night. Sometimes when we travel we just sleep in the van. This was not one of those nights.
We pulled up to our room and it started to rain again. We took in the important stuff, my computer and a few other essentials, and I tried to get a connection to the internet. It took a while but I managed. Then I tried to enter the reports. The connection was so bad that it was taking almost five minutes between screens. It was taking me almost two hours to get a few simple reports entered. The last one would not even work. I was trying to upload a few receipts and it just would not go. Finally, we made the decision to pack up the computer, get into the car, and drive to the parking lot of another hotel. I was going to try and get an internet connection from another source. So, we got into the car and headed for the Comfort Inn, the expensive place I did not want to pay for. I got on the internet almost instantly, and had the report entered in two minutes.
Now that the reports were done, I could focus on the next most important thing, food. It was getting late, well it was very late, and there were no restaurants open. I saw a sign for a 24 hour convenience store. We went in and had a look at the options. Everything was over priced and nothing was very good for you. We had no can opener, but there was a microwave in the hotel. We grabbed a few items that we could microwave and called it a night.
The next day we headed downtown and found the locations we needed to perform shops at. Then we went to the waterfront and checked out the tourist area for a while. There was a big bear statue in the park beside the tourist information center. We stopped in to see if we could get maps of the area and see what kind of things one does when in Kenora.
After going for a walk around the waterfront and a few of the shops we headed out of town and back to Winnipeg.
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