We are well and truly into the home-stretch today as we pickup from Portage, loop around Winnipeg, and zoom back into Ontario!

After driving across the 5 provinces and 2 territories you have a sense of what the landscape and roads are like in each place. Coming back across the border you really do get a sense of ‘home’. It’s a combination of the types and looks of the trees, but also the subtle things like the width of the roads, the size of the shoulders, and of course the road signs!

We have one major stop today in Kenora to visit with Phil’s good friend Austin, who’s been living there for the last 20 years.

In the last few years Austin pulled together some business partners and started a no-till farming operation that sells fresh vegetables in the Kenora area. Muriel Shores Farm has 1.5 acres of land they are farming and the business is growing rapidly. The day we drove through town the Kenora Country Market was open and the farm had their booth set-up and they were having their best market day of the year.

We showed up at the end of the market, so the booths started to shut down a little while after we arrived. So we grabbed some grub and headed out.

Just around the corner was Huskie the Muskie; a sight-seeing attraction on the shores of Lake of the Woods in Kenora. We partially drove, partially walked over to it to grab some photos.

On our way over there was a deer with it’s fawns hanging around Huskie. None of them seem particularly disturbed by the number of humans around, the fawns in particular.

During this short stop, somehow Phil managed to run past a pretty aggressive plant with burrs, and managed to cover his shirt and pants with 100s of hitchhiking seeds. He then spent the next 15 minutes trying to get rid of them.

Motoring on we headed to Dryden to the Riverview Inn. Dryden is a town dominated by a massive pulp & paper factory owned by Dryden Fiber Canada. We don’t have a good photo of this, but you can seriously see the paper mill ages before you can see the town; it’s towers over the local area.

We checked into the hotel, which offered us probably the largest room we had had all trip. We then searched up for local establishments to eat. Tonight we split up and did separate things: Dad & Phil went to Masala, an Indian buffet restaurant, while Tim & Charlie went to grab a pizza at the local Dominos.

Starting Location & Time	Portage La Prairie, Manitoba – 9:16 am
Ending Location & Time	Dryden, Ontario – 4:17 pm
Total Kilometers	449 km
Total Time	7h 1m