Oh, Deer!

Here I am - obsessed with road signs again.  These signs both say "Night Danger" which conjures up a picture of a herd of deer followed by a herd of moose, down on their hind knee, front hooves on the start line just waiting for the sun to set so they can sprint off to their favourite highway.  I saw just a few too many deer beside the road in broad daylight for comfort today and would like to ask them to wait until dusk, please.

After a lovely drive through southern Manitoba this morning, I had a chance to take a close up look at the results of the Red River Flood.  I have never seen so much water and can just imagine the damage many individuals have incurred.

The rivers I passed over were just barely clearing the bridges I was crossing.  Water seems to be moving fast and is full of debris - mainly trees and branches. Little islands like the one in the picture sit sad and abandoned near the banks and many fields are chewed up and covered with what looks like mulch.  The side roads are soft and chewed up - even the one to my campground at Portage last night.

This afternoon I moved into the heart of the Canadian Shield and found the scenery breath taking!  The wonderful rock formations and the brilliant colours would be an inspiration to any artist or architect and the lovely little lakes are so unspoiled and calm.  Tonight I'm just west of Thunder Bay in a nice clean campground on a lake.  Nice!!  What a beautiful day in all ways (except for the odd black fly).  When I came through this way two years ago, the traffic was pretty heavy, but today I had the road almost to myself.  The fact that gas went from 1.21 in Falcon Lake to 1.39 just 10 km down the road may have driven a lot of truckers down through the States.

Today is the anniversary of D Day and my Dad is in my thoughts.  He landed on Juno Beach on June 6, 1944 and as engineering officer for 401 RCAF Squadron, it was his job to get a landing strip and repair depot set up in France for the allies to use.  They spent their time, between the lines, with shells zooming over them in both directions and completed the job in just 2 1/2 days. That's my Dad on top of a Spitfire at Beny sur Mere, Normandy in early June.

Tomorrow I'm off to Sault Ste. Marie and then hit Ann's sometime mid Thursday.  Get your motor running!!!