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The Great Canada Trip Of 1999!

Timeline of Events: (in order of occurence)

The Timeline below is split into ten 'legs' of the trip, in coordination with The Complete Pictorial History

Leg 1 - Morris, MN to Fergus Falls, MN
- Coborn's of Morris: - This was our first stop after we left UMM's east parking lot. This stop was made for gasoline, as well as to drop off the rented movies of the previous evening. Brian was driving initially, Matt rode shotgun (as navigator, having the maps and everything), and Oskar rode in the back seat. Time: 7:32 AM CST
- Due to road construction of Highway 59, we were forced to exit Morris on Highway 9 through Donnelly and Herman. This was the only section of road in Minnesota which we travelled twice (we later returned on that same stretch).
- Once in Herman, we followed the detour back to Highway 59, just south of Barrett where, although we knew how to get to Canada, we had to ask someone how to get to Canada.
- After receiving our answer and taking that nice man's picture, we left Barrett to see these shoes someone had thown out the window. So, we stopped and took a picture of them!
- We continued onward through Elbow Lake and then onto I-94, heading for Fergus Falls. Due to the information from some friends of Matt's, we stopped in Fergus Falls to find this giant beaver which we could "mount." Pictures were taken. Oskar had to pee. We also asked some greasy man how much he wanted for his old ambulance/hearse which was sitting outside his used car dealership. More pictures were taken.
Leg 2 - Fergus Falls, MN to Winger, MN
- We returned to the freeway for a few miles, until Highway 59 split apart from it, at which time we drove through Elizabeth, Erhard, Pelican Rapids, Dunvilla, Detroit Lakes, and Westbury. No stops were made; this was a somewhat boring part of the trip.
- Just after leaving Westbury, Oskar reported the need to urinate again, so we planned on stopping in the next town, Callaway. The truck in front of us (a car hauling truck) we noticed to have a CB antenna. Brian's car, equipped with CB radio, also had an antenna for such use...so we chatted with the guy driving the truck in front of us until we reached Callaway where we stopped at a gas station.
- Oskar went to pee while Brian and Matt argued that the siamese cats in the window were/weren't alive. Matt was finally proven correct when one of the cats got up and moved. Oskar returned, Brian went to pee, and we continued to Canada.
- Having driven through Ogema and Waubun, we quickly approached the Shooting Star Casino in Mahnomen. We stopped and went inside where we deposited a total of ten cents between the three of us...in a record time of about five minutes, whereupon we left the casino, having been able to say we were there.
- We continued through Bejou and approached Winger. As we slowed to 30 MPH, we noticed this cool polar bear/fish statue. We had to have pictures (and Oskar again had to pee)...so we stopped. Pictures were taken.
Leg 3 - Winger, MN to Thief River Falls, MN
- Matt took over driving at Winger, Brian rode shotgun, and Oskar remained in the back seat. Maybe that's why he had to pee so often--he had nothing to do back there. We drove through Plummer and Thief River Falls.
Leg 4 - Thief River Falls, MN to Karlstad, MN
- Newfolden was the next town. At this point, Matt had to pee (and Oskar figured he would, too)...so we stopped off on a gravel road a little ways and urinated. Pictures were taken, and yes, they're perfectly G rated.
- Brian took the wheel again and we went through Strandquist. Upon seeing this giant moose in Karlstad, we had to stop for pictures.
Leg 5 - Karlstad, MN to Canadian Border
- After that short stint (and a change of film for Matt), we continued through Halma, Lake Bronson, and the last town on Highway 59 in Minnesota (before the border), Lancaster. We shortly thereafter reached the border.
Leg 6 - Canadian Border to First Canadian Town (Tolstoi)
- When we got to the border, a nice Canadian officer came out (no, not an RCMP officer, from what we could tell) and asked us a few questions; all of which we answered truthfully. Things like where we were from (Minnesota), where we were going (Morris, Manitoba), why we were going there (just because we wanted to, coming from Morris, Minnesota), if we had any weapons in the car (of course, let me whip out my winchester rifle quick), and so forth. He let us proceed into Manitoba, Canada, where we took some initial pictures.
- For the first ten miles or better (driving in Canada), we were quite excited to actually be there after talking about it for nearly two months. A few things we noticed about Canada: no watertowers, signs in English and French, signposts all made of wooden posts, no metal (except perhaps the nails they used to hold 'em together), and no gas station we saw had a canopy over the pumps. Canada was quite flat and barren, but we still enjoyed being there quite a bit.
Leg 7 - First Canadian Town (Tolstoi) to Winnipeg
- After passing through our first Canadian town of Tolstoi, we ended up in St.-Pierre-Jolys, where we stopped at a gas station to get some gas. As you can tell from the pictures, gas was cheap (apparently -- but by the liter)...but it was actually spendier than gas in the US.
- At this point in Canada, Matt took over driving as we headed towards Winnipeg.
Leg 8 - Winnipeg to Canadian Bacon
- Matt had not initially expected to be travelling into Winnipeg and had therefore not purchased a map which detailed Winnipeg more than the overall Canada map. Mistake number 1. Regardless, we proceeded into Winnipeg and drove around. We found a Perkins restauraunt...and planned on returning there to eat later on. So, without a map, we headed for internal Winnipeg by the seat of our pants (and hope of no left turns to be made).
- Oskar and Brian pointed out an "Adult Only" store...so we stopped (Matt didn't care because it wasn't a left turn in three-lane traffic). Oskar ended up asking the guy there how to get to the downtown area.
- We left the store and proceeded into the downtown area. Although we didn't stop anywhere...pictures were taken and it was definitely a somewhat interesting driving experience for Matt.
- Having turned around after driving in the same general direction for close to an hour, we eventually found our way back to the Perkins...where we all went to pee. Brian and Matt ordered food (Matt ordered bacon with his, more about that in a minute) and later ate it. Oskar just sat around. We had a cute waitress and explained why we were there, etc.
- The cute waitress brought Matt a small box for the leftover bacon, and we left Perkins shortly thereafter (having paid, of course). As we were preparing to leave, we took pictures of real Canadian bacon (which actually looks a lot like American bacon), the Perkins restaurant, and left.
Leg 9 - Canadian Bacon to Morris, Manitoba
- At this point, Matt continued driving and we all left Winnipeg for St.-Pierre-Jolys and, just a bit further south, the intersection to Morris, Manitoba.
- We travelled westward until we reached Morris, Manitoba. Pictures were taken (especially since we were waiting for a train to cross the four-lane highway).
Leg 10 - Morris, Manitoba to North Dakota
- Once on the four lanes of highway, we didn't stop anywhere until we got to the border area...where we looked at how extremely spendy stuff was in the duty-free shops...and also where we all quick urinated.
- We proceeded to the Canada/US border sign, where more pictures were taken.
- After the short stint at the actual border, we went over to the gate where we were interrogated and had to fill out those little US Customs forms and stuff. Questions were simple...where we were from (Minnesota), how long we were in Canada (eight and a half hours), why we went (because we wanted to, having never been in Canada before), etc. Fortunately we weren't searched (not like we were smuggling anything, anyway) or thrown in jail. We left, again back in the US (although not yet in Minnesota--since we crossed to I-29 in North Dakota).
- We continued at an average speed of just a few miles per hour over the limit until we reached Grand Forks where Brian felt it appropriate to make a call. Nobody had to pee at this point in time, so we continued.
- We decided it appropriate to get some gas in Fargo, so we drove into Fargo (past the Fargodome and got gas right across the street from the main gates of North Dakota State University). We headed back for the interstate and continued onward.
- Unfortunately, there was some road construction on the first ten miles of interstate outside of Fargo; however, it was only ten miles...and the speed limit was 60...so it didn't take too long to get through and continued on the interstate until we reached South Dakota.
- After a few miles of driving in South Dakota, we left I-29 and headed in the direction of Wheaton, Minnesota.
- Having arrived in Wheaton a little later, we drove around for a few minutes and continued through Herman, Donnelly, and eventually reached good old Morris, Minnesota.
- We drove around the back way and arrived back in the east parking lot at UMM. Time: 1:49 AM CST

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