Finding this place was reminiscent of making a landfall after an ocean passage, prior to the days of GPS and SatNav. Yes, those days existed, and not too many years ago.

Although our section of the RV Park is small, it is in the middle of a huge recreation and school complex that encompasses many square blocks.

Read on for more of our experiences in rural Winkler, Manitoba. 

Saturday 26^th July 2014

We enter the parking lot and front and centre is the swimming pool, so we try that and sure enough, this is where you check-in. Next surprise is, Cash or Cheque only, no Debit or Visa – OMG this really is rural, no cell service, no Debit Cards and no Visa!! From the West Coast we are 2 hours different, but our experience so far is closer to at least 2 decades difference, bet they don’t even have a Starbucks.

Check-in complete, the young lady directed us down the road in front of the pool. This is a paved access road providing access to the sports fields, and on clearing the pool, bingo – we found the RV sites. They are located on a large gravel pad on one side of the road and have about 16 sites, each with water and 30 Amp power. Every 2 sites share a sewer connection. Except for the paved access road and gravel pad, we are surrounded by grass, what a great location. Services are good, but no Wi-Fi, regardless a great deal for $25 per night.

After dinner, we took the dogs out for a walk and got talking to another couple also walking a dog. Turns out, they were locals, so we asked questions about border crossings and shopping tomorrow (Sunday). Oh, none of the shops open on Sunday, even the new big box store (Walmart), which did petition to open Sundays, but the Council responded, NO. Andy is ecstatic, but Judi is devastated, what no shopping!!!

Sunday 27^th July 2014

We had already decided today would be our weekly cleaning and organising day, so after breakfast and walking the dogs we both got started. About 3 hrs later it was spotless, having:

• Dusted,
• Hoover and wash the floors
• Polish all the wood, and we have lots of wood
• Clean windows inside and out
• Cupboards/drawers organised
• Additional pictures hung

Yet another benefit of living in 400 square feet, as just hoovering and washing floors in the old S&B took more than 3 hours. A full house clean took days, if not weeks.

After lunch, we opted for a drive around town to find a Tim Hortons, preferably one that was open. Success, on the main highway, only a couple of blocks away we found Timmys and it even had an “Open” sign. We had a couple of cups of tea and spent a couple of hours on their Wi-Fi, as Andy had to plan tomorrow’s voyage across the border.