The Long Haul

International Falls to Calgary

By Time2Geaux Unplugged

August 6^th, 2019

“Together, we must continue our efforts to turn our hopes into reality. The long walk continues.”

- Nelson Mandela

Summary:

We made our way into Canada with the intent of doing some boondocking and making our way to our Canadian goal as quickly as possible. We planned a few stops along the way, one in Winnipeg and one in Calgary. In Winnipeg we wanted to visit the Human Rights Museum and in Calgary we wanted to catch the Stampede, billed as ‘the biggest outdoor show on earth’.

We towed 1456 miles across Canada to get to Calgary across all types of terrain, from lakes snuggled between rocky ridges to windy open prairies with winds that can rock an 18-wheeler. The most unexpected was the miles and miles of canola fields that were in boom. The yellow blanketed the country side and was beyond description. Some canola fields backed up to barley fields that were a stunning green, any photo’s would either not capture the beauty or looked photoshopped.

Winnipeg and the Human Rights Museum

We stopped in Winnipeg for a few days with the intention of visiting the Human Rights Museum. The experience was created to start internal dialog into what human rights are and for us to examine our own beliefs. I gained a better understanding of how Germany turned the public against Jews after some had been war heroes from the first World War, and it was done in 20 years.

The building architecture is quite impressive and the symbolism used in its design is beyond anything I have ever experienced. The architect was Antoine Predock and his design was selected from 100 submissions from 21 countries. Antoine’s design was a ‘Tower of Hope’ where visitors started at the roots of the structure where lighting is darker and journeyed up, all the while rooms are more lite and open until you travel through the clouds to the tower which stands 100 feet above the seventh floor galleries overlooking the city of Winnipeg.

Winnipeg with Human Rights Museum behind

Inside Human Rights Museum - peace garden

Inside Human Rights Museum - looking up from one of the roots

Nelson Mandela exhibit - cell size he spend decades in.

Inside Human Rights Museum - among the basalt

The Long Haul

We had a long trek across Canada from Ontario, across Saskatchewan to Alberta makes for a tired behind! Once you pass Winnipeg the land becomes flat and rolling farmland much like you would expect in Nebraska or Kansas. The rolling fields of yellow canola fields went on forever! We found ourselves stopping often for pictures early into journey but became more selective ask the trek went on.

We found that crossing the border was easier than expected… we presented the agent with our passports, told him our plans and how long we planned to stay and that we didn’t have any firearms and we were on our way.

Stampede Calgary

The world-famous rodeo known as the Stampede is a 14 day long all things boots and hats being one of Calgary’s big events of the year. While we only had one day to attend the Stampede, we pushed across Canada to make it. We arrived on the Saturday, one day before the closing so tickets to the big-ticket finals like bull riding and chuckwagon races were sold out. We enjoyed watching the mini chuckwagon races which had mini wagons with a single adult rider pulled by ponies. We had a great time watching these little guys run their hearts out! We also got to watch the heavy horse pulls which featured Teamsters working a pair of large draft horses pulling a sled. After each pull they would add weight to the sled eliminating teams that couldn’t pull it until a team was crowned the winner. The top weight was 11,500 pounds. Watching these teams work was quite a treat from the bull riding we normally see at the Houston rodeo.

At the end of the evening, we discovered a wine garden with western art and entries for a photograph competition which was a nice change for all the mass of people we had been in all day. It was a nice way to finish off the evening and our Stampede experience.

What we Learned:

-The French influence in Canada is much more dominate and farther west than we expected. French is the second language on consumer items and street names as far west as the Canadian Rockies.