Hotel Camping

Monday, June 21st, 2010

START: Birds Hill Provincial Park, Springfield MB - 2:00 p.m.

STOP:  Winnipeg MB - 3:00 p.m.

WEATHER:  Overcast and rainy all day; cleared up in the evening

Today was a pretty low-key day compared to the way things have been going so far.  Mom and I decided to head to the showers around 9 a.m. - you know, when the average camper awakens and feels the need to cleanse - but arrived only to find that they were closed for cleaning from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.  Superb planning.  However, we did see a doe (a deer, a female deer) right on the road on our way there, and came to quickly realize that they're roaming all over the campsites, so it wasn't a total waste of time.  It also turns out that the numerous rabid squirrels that I thought had infested the whole park are actually prairie dogs.  Who knew.  We eventually managed to shower, and did 42 loads of laundry that took approximately 13 hours since the dryers never actually dry your clothes and eat quarters like it's their last meal.

Before heading out, Dad replaced the fuel filter since Beuls kept taking a crap every time we tried to accelerate past 80km and now she runs like a dream.  We left the park around 2 p.m. and I took over as head navigatress to get us to the hotel and did a damn good job, if I do say so myself.  Not one wrong turn!  We made it to the hotel around 3 p.m. and proceeded to veg out for a few hours like a bunch of invalids.  As luck would have it, we ended up with a bum TV remote, so we called down to have someone bring us a new one.  Since we only booked one room for two adults, when the guy arrived, Dad and Mike both stuffed themselves into the washroom while Mom and I played it cool as the guy came right in the room and fiddled around with the TV box for what felt like three hours.  Then all was in working order, and we could flick to our hearts' content - except UH OH, WHO'S AT THE DOOR!? The repair man coming back to make sure everything was good to go.  Dad rolled off the side of the bed faster than I've ever seen him move, while me and Mom tried to block the doorway with our reassuring thank yous.  Hopefully he didn't see Dad's feet poking out from the edge of the bed or things could've gotten ugly for Mom and I pretty quick.

Ben fiiiiinally arrived around 8 p.m. so we sat around chatting for most of the night, and then it was up to the two of us to guard Beula for the night and camp out in the hotel parking lot.  Dad may or may not have packed two machetes and a shotgun, so we weren't exactly worried.  That was until we had a knock on the door from some man "down on his luck" who had locked his keys and wallet in his truck and had a running cab going to try to go get his second pair of keys and then get back to his truck.  After asking me creepy questions like, "Is your husband there?" and "Are you gonna be on the lot for the night?" he eventually left when I told him I had no money, and thankfully didn't pay us another moonlit visit.  After that, we thought it best we find out where the  His and Hers machetes were kept.  Ben: "Here they are.  Do you want yours?"  Hahaha.

Sweet dreams, y'all.

Letting the good times roll,