Help! I’m Stuck (At A Free Campsite) In Russell, Manitoba!

After visiting Riding Mountain National Park (in July 2017), I ended up at a free campsite in Russell, MB. I stayed for about a week because there was electricity, water, a grocery store, and a couple of places with wifi… all right beside the camp. It was just too easy to keep staying! And if you’re on the road, and find a good, free place to chill for a while… make the most of it, I say! The campsite itself is basically a giant lawn, so my tent became a sauna once the sun came out (so that kind of sucked, but hey, it’s free!). I spent time relaxing (aka singing at the top of my lungs), catching up with family, computer stuff, and basically working on my blog that whole week!

 

 

Maintaining my Facebook account and blog is extremely time consuming, now that my engagement has gone up. I realized that this is not sustainable as just a hobby. I actually ended up spending money buying more data so I could respond to my Facebook comments and messages, lol. I wrote 15 blog posts in 2 days; man it feels good to be productive! Too much caffeine, maybe? When I feel inspired, posts feel easier. Writing just flows, and the enthusiasm will be obvious in my writing. I want to get better at writing and photography for my blog, and also learn how to make good videos! I really hope this blog “works out”, it would be my dream come true!

 

 

I was also greatly enjoying the alone time at this almost-empty campsite. Solitude is addictive, even though I LOVE meeting people. I did get kicked out of the nearby A&W… even though it was almost empty; the waitress simply did not want me sitting there for long. How odd! It’s the first time that has ever happened to me in my life, not that I felt like I had the right to sit there all day or anything. I even offered to buy more coffee and she said it wasn’t enough, lol! I went to the library instead, but the wifi there was so bad I wanted to throw my laptop against the wall. Even my wifi enhancer, which is usually a lifesaver, barely helped.

 

 

I felt like I started going crazy after a week at this place, I just wanted to leave so bad, and then the weather delayed me so I felt SO trapped. One of the days, the wind actually woke me up around 3 am, and when I checked the weather, I saw a hail warning! Nothing happened though, thank goodness. Another day, it rained so hard without warning and many of the things in my tent got wet, so I had to bring everything out to dry. A spider that had managed to get into my tent (to hang out with me?) drowned in a puddle too, and it actually made me SAD. I then cut my foot on a rusty piece of metal and searched the internet for advice in a panic. Fortunately, I had just gotten my tetanus shot a couple months ago. I later stepped on dog poop without realizing it, and THEN found out after I had already gotten into my tent. What a day!

 

 

One thing I realized during this time is how much I appreciate my 2 favourite groups on Facebook: MMV and MC. These groups consist of people who I feel like are similar to me, or who at least partially understand me, or why I do what I do. They are my peeps! 🙂 I’m very used to being the weird one and never being understood, to the point where it doesn’t seem to be a negative or unusual thing at all anymore? I’m proud of my weirdness now. But it’s still nice to know that there are people out there that you share things in common with. People who appreciate your values and consider your life goals actually worthy of being desired, lol. It’s funny how we are taught what things SHOULD be desired, and what things SHOULD make us happy… even though we’re all different and can’t possibly always want the same things!

 

 

An interesting thing I noticed, is because I was alone so much for the first time in my life, when I did talk to people I got SO chatty! And felt SO happy to be talking to someone! I could feel the blood rush to my cheeks just being so excited. It was really funny! I usually feel like I need copious amounts of caffeine to deal with anyone, maybe because I always felt drained since I NEVER got to be alone, ever (when I lived in Toronto/Montreal/Buffalo etc).

 

 

A random couple showed up one day. The woman used to work at Big Bend National Park, one of my favorite places in TX! A really cool thing I learned from her is that you can make a stove out of a can and rubbing alcohol! I had been so frustrated for a few days prior to this because my mini propane butane fuel canister had run out for my stove, so I was buying coffee. I checked 5 stores in Russell, I couldn’t find the one that fit my stove!

 

 

Grocery stores in Canadian small towns are quite expensive. In the US, there are Walmarts EVERYWHERE, but now, I am realizing that I will have to plan out big-town trips so I can stock up on cheap food. Small-town grocery store items in Canada (from what I’ve seen so far!) are usually DOUBLE what I would pay at Walmart! Unfortunately, the space in my motorcycle luggage is extremely limited, I can’t carry more than 4-5 days’ worth of food in general.

 

 

Anyways, I decided that I wanted to go to Prince Albert National Park in Northern Saskatchewan after this, and then possibly keep going North! But I wanted to wait until the long weekend was over because I was hoping the hikes would be less busy. Funny, I’m actually happy to be getting blisters because it means I’ll be toughening up my feet soon for some real hiking in Alberta & British Columbia! Oh! I did some research on more places to visit in Canada, and I HIGHLY recommend using the Atlas Obscura website if you’re looking for unique or bizarre places to check out.

Right before I left, I met this AWESOME couple that I hope to met again, and they actually invited me to a Pow Wow on the Waywayseecappo reserve! One of the best parts of my Manitoba experience.

 

 

Have you been to Manitoba? What do you like about it? If you haven’t been there, what would draw you to go?

 

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