Tuesday July 14 Riding Mountain National Park

Last week a local said to me "After a few days of east winds come rain." Woke up to rain this morning at about 2:00 am. It kept coming, at times very hard. At 6:30 am I told myself I would get up at 7:30 if it was still raining. A few minutes later it stopped so I got out of the tent at 7:00, made breakfast as usual and got going about 9:00 - after changing my watch to Manitoba time. Rode through Roblin, it looks like a great little town but it was too early to stop even though the bread at the bakery smelled great. Soon after the rain started again and kept drizzling till about 1:00 when I stopped at a gas stn for chips and a coffee. Attendant said that Douphin was a large city "malls and everything" so I thought I would get a motel for the night and dry out all my gear. When I got there it was only about 3:30, I couldn't find the Info Centre (for weather forecast and lots of other questions I had and I just got a funny feeling about the place. Decided to ride right through and into Riding Mtn Natl Park. Young girl at the booth was helpful let me in for free (I later thought maybe I should have some kind of annual pass because I will like be in a number of Natl Parks this summer) She said the camp ground was about 20 kms and warned me about the "big hills" It was about a 12 km climb and at the top was a ~6 storey look out tower that I had to run up and down. Visibility was poor so I didn't see too much.. Got to Moon Lake campground. It looks like it hasn't been funded too well. I'm now down at the lake and the sun is making appearances. There was a canoe on the like earlier but it's just me and a loon that probably doesn't know I'm here. Rough estimate says I'm two long days away from Winnipeg. I'll see how the weather helps or hinders me. I'm now in my tent hiding from the rain. I went for a short walk to the day use area and found a group in a kitchen shelter. I had heard some thunder a few minutes earlier and while talking to the now off duty girl from the booth it started pouring. I should have ran to the shelter but I thought I could make it to my tent. Well I'm a bit wet and I guess I'm in for the night now.

OD 2503.3 km, 7:53:56, 144.61 km, 18.2 km/hr ave, 40.2 max.