May 13, 2017 Saturday  Last night at Millers RV, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, we had to go to the office to send out the blog. There was not enough signal to add photos even sitting in the office with the very nice host. About 10 pm Ed came down with the stomach virus that I had had earlier in the week. I thought I had food poisoning. I was up all night. Thankfully Ed and Susan slept through it, rather a feat in a space this small. Susan had a touch of real nausea a couple of days later. I began to suspect it was a virus, but Ed was OK, UNTIL last night about 10. He was very sick for most of the night but he did sleep some in between trips. I let him sleep as long as he could this morning. This all got his A-fib going too. That always tires him out. He insisted we head out and go as far as we could. There is so much unhooking and stowing that goes on that I can not do; I have not tried and he just does it. He drove over and hour and pulled into a rest area for a nap. When he woke he was good for another couple of hours until he pulled over for another nap. After that nap we drove to our newly found park for the night. He ate a few bites through the day with water and Gatorade and has gone to bed at 5:15!Now I will back up and fill you in on our sights today. We left sunny and 48*, I do not see a symbol for degrees on the keyboard anywhere! We are driving on Hwy. 16, Trans Canada Hwy, Yellowhead Hwy, a more northern route then we took before this early in the trip. It boggles the mind how flat and wide the landscape is with cultivated fields this far north. I do not know what I thought Manitoba would be, but I did expect this much tilled land. It is also covered in wetland areas that the birds use for nesting. Signs say they are working to preserve the wet lands. Many of the pools of water have bird pair visible to us. If Manitoba does not have and official bird it should have the red winged blackbird considering the total that I saw along the highway. Many of the Canadian geese have come home to nest. As we drive west we have a strong tail wind, but when we turn to the north the wind is so strong we have RV rattles we have not had before. Most of today's drive is prairie land. Grazing on part of the land with hay produced in between as we travel further west not as much cultivation. There are Paul Bunyan sized grain elevator in ever town! Farmers are out working the fields and the production plants are idle. We do see some seed trucks being loaded. I have been admiring the birch trees for days even when they changed their outfit, well it finally occurred to me the beautiful white barked trees I now see are aspen trees. Spring is at various stages as we proceed. In this trip as in many previous trips we are awed by the hearty self sufficient folks who live here and are totally dependent on the weather for planting and harvesting. There is little traffic after a while, since there is no place for them to go. They live on huge spreads with distance neighbors except for the small communities scattered along the highway. If you turn off the Hwy you are mostly on gravel roads. We cross into Saskatchewan about 3 pm. It continues to be the grain belt on the prairie.We occasionally come to hills and see the towns nestled in the valley. It surprises us. The road are pretty rough mostly along our route. Ed said they should stop working on the wetlands and start working on the highway! Gas along this route has been $.979 a liter at the cheapest! Yikes! Better than the last time we drove in Canada. Since today did not go as planned we have scrambled for a park for the night. Most are not open yet. We found in a camp book a point in Yorkton that is not too far. We had only a vague address and the gps, but we found it and it is plenty nice enough. It is Yorkton City Campground. We did not know if we would have water or electric, but Ed needed to stop and the next place is too far. There was a lovely lady host, who seems to have a yard art hoarding problem. I am thankful for our HOA right now! We have a level site with water very near the highway and RR, where all RV parks are supposed to be. A funny thing is the RR conductors seems to be talking to each other with their horns as they pass each other. Might not be funny at midnight. Amazingly we have not had to use the blocks once to level, SO FAR.I forgot to mention that when Ed stopped for his second nap in Russell I had him pull into the Esso service center. SHHHH! While he napped Susan and I went into the Tim Hortons counter! I asked for my English toffee coffee, but they don't have it! I said I came two thousand miles and you don't have it! I got French vanilla which was deliciously over sweet! Susan had her heart set on Blueberry Timbits (doughnut holes). Yep, they don't have them either. We made do with three other flavors. Poor Ed missed out. They did have free wifi so I checked my mail and set 4 photos to yesterdays blog before they cut me off for using too much juice! Another comment, since we started north the campgrounds showers do not seem to have heat! These are some tough people! 
 Sighting today: birds!  & Our first watch for moose sign
Ed  is sleeping so no mileage report
I have to sit at the office to send this so who knows if I will get it out or be able to send photos .
 To be continued.....
note: I went to office, sat on concrete out side, out of the WIND. Three photos into the blog I was logged out. Finally asked the camp hostess sitting across the road, she had to pass word me back in to finish! She even let me sit in the office. Nice! I got most photos of today and yesterday in, but do not want to wear out my welcome.