To Kenora... and BEYOND!

We are members of Harvest Hosts, a website that connects RV travelers with small businesses who have space to spare for RVs to park, typically wineries, but farms, museums and (to our happy surprise) breweries. Once in Canada we did some research on what HHs there might be available. A few wineries popped up, but one brewery/farm (they grow their barley and hops) showed up, right along the Trans Canadian Highway. That started us down the "brewery tour" idea, which was way we stopped at Sleeping Giant yesterday.

The next stop on the tour was Kenora, a harbor town and home to Lake of the Woods Brewery. Not just beer, they also had a full restaurant, which would be perfect timing for us. We rolled into town around 3:30.

I kid you not, every Canadian this side of Winnipeg was in the small town that day. The restaurant was hopping! We managed to get a table on the deck (lovely weather, partly cloudy, 75 degrees), and ordered food (meh, nothing great here), but the beer was good. In fact, I bought a 4-pack of the beer I had, The Beer With No Name, which they made with ginger and raspberries. Just wonderful. I asked the waitress about the crowds. She said it was a slow day. Holy guacamole, it was 4 pm on a Tuesday, for heaven's sake.

We drove around town with the idea of bunking down for the night. There was an RV park (packed) and a couple of empty lots, but we decided on the Walmart, our go-to night experience. Surrounding the parking lot, however, were large signs saying NO OVERNIGHT PARKING and that violators will be towed. Our coach's nav system said we could stop here
, but I thought I'd check with the store manager. She said Walmart only leases the building, and the parking lot belongs to the city. She couldn't gurantee anything. Even though another RV was parked for the night (we could tell by the slide-outs) we decided not to risk it. We drove on.

Kenora Train Depot

Odd city. The oddest we've experience so far. It's very near a "First Nation" tribal reservation -- we'd seen a number of indigenous people -- and the homes around were quite small and run down. We couldn't help but feel that the fine folks of Kenora didn't want to welcome RVs since they believed their lower-income neighbors would take advantage and park broken down vehicles whereever. Sad, since such a clearly tourist town should have a better plan for its visitors. We did not feel welcomed.

Another dramatic lake

We continued driving about an hour or so westward toward Winnipeg. We stopped a number of places (province boundary, information booths) to be bummed by "No camping" or "No overnight parking." Ultimately, we camped in the Pine Tree campground. Got here around 7:45 pm, sun still high in the sky.

Russ remarked that he'd read a bunch of RV traveler blogs by those who have traversed Canada. They had glowing reviews about how easy it was to camp, and that you could just stop almost anywhere. They were all travels to and from Alaska, so maybe British Columbia and the Yukon have a more welcoming attitude toward RVs. So far, Ontario and Manitoba have a more "move along" vibe.

Canada, you disappoint me.