We spent a few days taking a break from the travelling and flying to spend a little time in Ontario where Valerie and I were grew up. With Canada being such a big country and people moving from place to place, it’s always worthwhile spending time catching up with friends and relatives.

Valerie’s brother Bill, and his wife Provie, live in Burlington so we spent most of the day enjoying their company. For a nostalgic tour of the Burlington area we drove past houses and neighbourhoods of years long past. It is always interesting to see how things that you remember from your youth change and evolve, and sometimes disappear.

At the western end of Lake Ontario, the lakeshore at Burlington has been nicely developed into a very enjoyable family park. From this view one is looking eastward on Lake Ontario which stretches for about 160 nautical miles. The lake is as big as some salt water seas. As a comparison, Lake Ontario is about two thirds the length of Vancouver Island. That’s a lot of fresh water.

Valerie was walking along the pathway and about 10 minutes after this photo was taken she stumbled on some raised up concrete and hurt her knees.

Let’s hope the discomfort doesn’t last too long and take away from the enjoyment of the journey.

It was then off to Mother Tucker’s where we ate far too much, again.

We are staying in Brantford, Ontario with my niece, Lyn and Randy, and today we visited the National Historic Site for Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone.

Alexander was the middle of three sons. His parents emigrated from Scotland after loosing several family members to tuberculosis; their oldest son and his son, and their youngest son.

Alexander developed his ideas and prototype for the telephone while living in this house with his parents.

We were touring the house and came across a group of people in the dining room observing a large copper plate that was being displayed by one of them. The copper plate turned out to be a family heirloom with names engraved on the face of the plate. By chance, we had the pleasure of meeting a descendent of Alexander Graham Bell who was visiting from Boston, MA; the Great, Great Granddaughter of Alexander, Elsie Myers Martin. Elsie explained her family connection and we then toured the facility with Elsie and her husband. I was very pleased when Elsie agreed to have a photo with our Canada Flag (our photographer was her husband).

Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie

Our flight was VFR and our routing was following the north shore of Lake Superior around to Sault Ste. Marie. The weather continued to be rather poorly as we passed Marathon and Wawa. With the continued poor and lower conditions I picked up an IFR clearance for the remainder of the flight to Sault Ste. Marie.

Sault Ste. Marie to Brantford

With the continued poor weather and forecast lower ceilings and visibility at our destination, I filed an IFR flight plan for our next leg. The flight was at 11,000 feet and almost entirely in visual conditions. We had a few good bumps the some rather heavy rain for a couple of minutes. Getting closer to destination we began our descent and passing through about 10,000 we broke out of the clouds and left all of the poor weather behind us. It was a welcoming sight to see the familiar cities, town and terrain of the area where I grew up. The RNAV approach into Brantford completed this leg after crossing two thirds of Canada. Time for a few day of V.F. R. – visiting friends and relatives.

After touring the Manitoba Legislature Building it was time to head to St. Andrews airport to meet with Air Cadets and plan our flight onward to Thunder Bay, Ontario.

We had been staying in a hotel in downtown Winnipeg so it was a long taxi ride from the hotel to St. Andrews Airport, which is quite a distance north-east of the city. The aircraft had been parked on a grassy/gravelly area and it had rained overnight so when we pulled the aircraft out of the parking area the tires were covered with some mud and gravel. The young man looking after fuelling the  aircraft  kindly washed the tires so that they would be clean for retracting after takeoff and not cause any problems with the landing gear mechanism. 

The flying school at St. Andrews, Harv’s Air, is training 16 Air Cadets for their Private Pilot Licence this summer and they are expect to be licenced by mid-August. I met with the group at noon for a casual briefing regarding our Canada 150 Flight across the country and their flight training, the same training I had for my pilot licence as an Air Cadet 50 years ago. They had some interesting questions so it was nice to see such enthusiasm in a keen group of future pilots. We then headed outside for a photo of the group of Air Cadets in front of the Arrow with the Canada Flag.

The weather system had moved eastward, in our direction of flight, so the conditions ahead of us included a significant area of Marginal VFR weather. Going IFR was not a viable option to head into such a system. I filed VFR to Thunder Bay.

Winnipeg is on the eastern edge of the prairies and about 15 to 20 minutes after departure the terrain transitioned from prairie to lake country. I was able to capture a screenshot of my iPad with ForeFlight showing our aircraft position on the map as we crossed the border between Indian Bay, Manitoba and Shoal Lake, Ontario.

I also took a couple of photos out the window as we crossed the Manitoba / Ontario border looking left to the north and right to the south, showing the terrain and weather conditions that we encountered.

Crossing the Manitoba / Ontario border looking north and south.

The weather was rather poorly throughout the flight with Marginal VFR conditions all along our route. ForeFlight is a great tool to add situational awareness and help pilots stay safe. About forty miles or so after crossing the border into Ontario we were about five nautical miles south-west of the Sioux Narrows VOR. There were several towers nearby so I had ForeFlight set with the “Flight Plan – Profile” view selected and the “Obstacles” feature activated.

This screenshot of ForeFlight shows our Arrow on the map and a tower depicted just in front of the left wing. The upper portion of the screenshot provides data indicating that our cruise altitude was 1,873 feet giving us a clearance above the tower of 373 feet.

This photo was taken seconds later as we passed by the tower.

An hour and a half later or so, along with some tactical navigation, we were on the ground in Thunder Bay. There was a hotel real close to the airport and with all the poor weather and challenging flying it was time to call it a day.

This morning in Winnipeg we woke to a rainy misty city so that called for a quiet breakfast at Tim Horton’s (pretty Canadian, eh).

After breakfast it was on to the Manitoba Legislature building to meet with Mr. Dwayne Marling, Special Assistant in the office of the Minister of Growth, Enterprise and Trade. Mr. Marling met us on the grounds of the Legislature then escorted us inside for photos and a tour of the legislature building.

Joining us in the photo with Mr. Dwayne Marling is one of his political counterparts from the United States. 

The legislature building was architecturally very impressive. It was quite apparent that it was constructed with a vision for the future and space to accommodate many varied government functions.

We had a good discussion with Mr. Marling regarding aviation and the plans for Manitoba moving forward in this industry. Considering the Minister that he works for, I sure that some of the plans are well on their way to coming to fruition.

With the aircraft out of the shop we were loaded and on our way by late afternoon.

The afternoon cumulus activity was growing rapidly. With lots of room between build-ups we had an easy trip, though occasionally quite bumpy.

A couple of hours later we landed at St. Andrews and it was time to tie down the aircraft. St. Andrews airport is to the north of Winnipeg by quite a distance with limited transportation options. A kind offer by Marcel was readily accepted and he drove us downtown to our hotel.

After such a late flight we satisfied our hunger with a bowl of soup at a nice delicatessen across the street from the hotel.

The iconic Canadian department store, “the Bay”.

The hydraulic power pack arrived at Prairie Flying Service at noon.

The guys had the unit installed and were swinging the gear in no time. Everything was back to normal and we were able to make plans to continue our journey eastward.

We had driven from Regina to Moose Jaw on the Trans-Canada Highway so I thought it was a good idea to take a different route back to Regina and our hotel. We headed off down the country roads and boy were they ever straight and flat. I was beginning to think that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

By chance, we came across this grain elevator and Valerie recognized it from the CBC television sit-com “Corner Gas”.

We were in Rouleau, SK!

The Dog River Hotel continues to operate as a hotel and restaurant.

The Corner Gas Dog River Hotel was an important part of the series, so significant there is a plaque recognizing this very successful CBC Television series.

We even had a quick stop at the restaurant where an old fellow was sweeping up as he likely has done so for hundreds or thousands of times.

The restaurant is still open for business.

A lot of good times were had at the Howler.

The television set has been torn down but several of the buildings used in production were easily identified. These signs give an idea of what was here and entertained us for several years.

An interesting bit of Canadiana for sure.

Beautiful Canola fields stretching to the horizon in all directions. There certainly is a lot of blue sky and wide open spaces across the Canadian prairies.

We decided to go for a Sunday drive to the west of Regina to visit the small prairie city of Moose Jaw. In the past we had driven across the prairies in other seasons but this was the first time driving in the prairies in the summer when everything was growing. The endless fields of canola was amazing; mile after mile of brilliant yellow.

We had heard from a few people in Regina of an interesting tourist attraction to see in downtown Moose Jaw; the tunnels under the buildings in the downtown area. There are two tours of the tunnels; one is depicting the life of the Chinese migrants working in the laundry business for a white proprietor; the other tour is depicting the life and times of Al Capone during the late 1920s when he was supposedly hiding here during the Prohibition years in the United States. We went on the Al Capone tour; very touristy. Perhaps there is some truth to the story. Take the tour and decide for yourself.

The Royal Canadian Air Force Base Moose Jaw is a few miles to the south of Regina and after a short drive we were at the main gate. The base is home to the Royal Canadian Air Force 431 Air Demonstration Squadron – the Snowbirds. 

Entrance to the base at Moose Jaw

Being a Sunday morning things were pretty quiet at the base and there was no flying activity. While taking a few photos at the entrance to the base a man came by and we started chatting about the base and about our trip across the country with our Canada Flag. It turned out that he is Sergeant J. Weber who is in charge of security at the Guard House at the entrance to the base. He offered to raise our Canada Flag on their flag pole. What a great idea!

I never would have guessed in a hundred years the we would see our flag flying at Moose Jaw. What’s more, is that his folks are from nearby Chilliwack, BC.

Our Canada Flag up the flagpole at the Moose Jaw Guard House

The on-duty Corporal A. Vallieres raised the flag in short order. Another person came by and chatted about the flag and our trip; Company Warrant Officer M. Blain who happened to be driving by. After many years in the military he is retiring and today was his last day on the base. In just a few more days he will be out of the military and back to being a normal citizen. Everyone was so pleasant to talk to and wished us a safe journey. Thank you so much to all of you.

With Sergeant J. Weber and Warrant Officer M. Blain

Moose Jaw is a training base and as such security was at an appropriate level. We were allowed a self-tour of the base so drove around to see what was there.

There is always room for an airplane or two on a pedestal.

Canadair CT-114 Tutor

North American Harvard

Home of the Snowbirds!

This hangar has been the operational headquarters for the Snowbirds for many, many years. When the team is not on the air show circuit you can usually find them here.

Home of the Snowbirds squadron aircraft

Canada has been conducting flight training for many nations since World War II. In conjunction with CAE from Montreal, Canada continues to train many NATO nations’ military pilots under the NATO Flying Training in Canada program. Part of that program is delivered at base Moose Jaw.

Even the provincial highways celebrate the Snowbirds.

Time to head home.

The city of Regina has recently build a new facility, Mosaic Stadium, to host the Roughriders and this was only the second game that they have played in the new stadium. There is no parking at the stadium and the city has devised an excellent scheme for transportation. Drive to the local shopping and park your car for free. Hop on the waiting city bus, again free, for a ride directly to the stadium. At the end of the game, buses are again waiting to take you back to the shopping mall and your car. No traffic congestion and all free transportation.

Enthusiasm for the Roughriders runs vey high in Regina. Almost everyone was wearing green to support the home team. Of course, Valerie and I were wearing our Canada 150 shirts and boy did we ever stand out from the crowd. Right nest to the stadium is Centennial Park and we went there for burgers and beer. Live country music was playing, there was a marching band and lots of folks were having a good time.

Game On!