friends and family along the way...

One of the advantages of heading across Canada is that you can visit friends that you haven't seen for awhile... 

Literally, moments before leaving London for Thunder Bay, we get a phone call from a friend we hadn't seen in two years, who had happened to 'see' our post on FB, about heading north. Recently moving from way up north (Moosonee, ON) to North Bay ON, Figuring it wasn't much out of the way, we decided to head north via North Bay and visit our friends and their new home in North Bay. Thanks for the laughs, warm bed and good food Connie, Keith and Josh!



Connie and Josh (photo stolen from Facebook)

Outside of Ontario, we met up with 'rawkin' Cy who lives just outside of Brandon, MB – and is one of the sweetest 'tough' guys around. Although a stereotypical bachelor, Cy made sure that we were well taken care of – he had some his sister deliver a turkey dinner (homemade gravy, mashed potatoes – the works) made by his mom – who cooks a whole turkey on a random Monday evening... apparently Cy's mom.



Crazy Cy (photo stolen from Facebook again)



Fortunately for us, my aunt and uncle only lived a few hours from Brandon, across the MB/SK border in Alameda SK Driving into the wind on a cold day makes for a long and cold ride. We spent a couple of days with Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Hubert who fed us well and kept us laughing. We also learned a few things... the difference between “mineral rights” as compared to the “surface rights” of your land. Not everyone owns the 'mineral rights' to their land – as you might just strikil as they did this past fall. We took a drive out to see the oil being pumped out of the ground – they sure don't look that large from a distance but up close, they are pretty large.

Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Hubert  Alameda, SK

  

Standing in front of their oil rig