I couldn't find any water along the way and was getting dehydrated so I was very glad to find this place.

My awesome campsite at Aaron Provincial park, about 30km east of Dryden, ON.

all set up, (or so I thought), I was nervous about the huge black clouds headed my way from the west - little did I know how bad it would get.

Cue the foreboding, ominous music.

so after one of the biggest, longest rainstorms I've ever camped in I had all my soaked, mucky gear packed and was ready to make an early pre-breakfast getaway. Then the bike refused to start. I had lights, the motor turned over but wouldn't start. It's not my first time working on a KLR and there's a list of things to check if this kind of thing happens so I started taking the bike apart and checking everything over but never really felt like I found anything I could identify as the cause. Eventually it started but wouldn't run more than a few minutes - then after more troubleshooting it started and seemed to be working fine. Finally at 11AM I was able to get underway to Dryden for brunch.

After about 30km I got to Dryden, ON and decided on McDonalds - as I pulled into the parking lot the bike stopped running again and wouldn't start. At this point I don't know what else to check - do you suppose I could be out of gas?

I called CAA from McDonalds and it was going to take them 2.5 hrs to get a guy there with a can of gas so I pushed the bike about 1.5km to the nearest gas. By my mileage calcs I should still have easily 100km worth of fuel onboard and if it's not just gas I'll be taking the tank off again anyway so I only put in a few litres. Sure enough, still no start. There was no shade to work in so I pushed it to a parking area and started re-checking everything.

2nd time today I've had the bike down to the frame looking for the problem. I tweaked a few things but still no smoking gun. After 3 hours or so of fooling with it I got the bike started and it seemed to run fine. I filled up with gas and left Dryden about 3:30pm.

30km down the road there was some construction and the flagger stopped me. As I coasted to a stop the bike quit running again and wouldn't start.

At this point it's about 4:00pm and I'm 30km from the nearest anything. I'm offically out of ideas and can't figure this one out. I'd called a few places in Dryden but there wasn't any kind of motorcycle shop there and none of the snowmobile/boat places could help. So I called CAA for a tow to the nearest dealer - Winnipeg: 330km to the west. CAA said it would be 1:30am the next morning before a tow truck could even arrive to get me. The construction crew was leaving at 7 and the OPP had been alerted to come and put cones or something around me for the long wait.

with nothing but time on my hands I took the bike apart, this time I even took the carb apart on the side of the road. The carb was fine, as I had known it would be only having had it all apart just a week before. but hey, I was just sitting there. I vowed that if I could get the bike running I'd ride it back to Dryden and get a motel. Some magic combination of all the things I did allowed the bike to start and idle so I put it all together again and headed back eastward to Dryden and nothing was going to stop me. it was about 4:30.

The bike worked fine all the way to Dryden where I got a motel and I was completely exhausted - I cancelled the CAA tow, decided to put the whole business out of my mind and collapsed in bed.

the next morning the bike started right up without fail or hesitation multiple times, and it would idle reliably. I took a short "test ride" around Dryden and it seemed to be working fine. I decided I'd head for Winnipeg and see how far I could get.

This is the Winnipeg dealer I'd spoken with from Dryden. Also while I was still in Sudbury I had called these guys and ordered the missing part for the oil filter, hoping that by the time I got to Winnipeg the part would have made it's way to the dealer.. The plan worked out and I got my part - the bike seems to be working normally again, though, I still had no "smoking gun" reason for the problems I'd had the day before and remained uneasy about that.

West of Winnipeg it started raining and after about 15min I stopped for a coffee until it was finished. Skies were still looking unsettled so I found a great campsite in a little town west of Winnepeg called Armstrong, MB. It's run by the Lion's club and camping is only $20 per night with electrical at the site. It was a nice evening and rained a bit in the night but it wasn't a problem.

I'd bought a new oil filter in Wpg and put took this opportunity to put it in the bike when I put in the new part.

no picture of the part but here's the bag it came in.

Another view of my campsite at MacGregor.

the rules

ready to leave MacGregor Lions campground

I thought it might be interesting to visit Saskatoon as I can not remember ever having been there. Along the way I stopped in a couple of tiny towns that seem to have been bypassed by modern times.

Miniota, SK

Miniota, SK

miniota, SK

I made a sandwich for lunch and ate it here in this Memory Garden in Miniota.

Wapella, SK

Wapella, SK

Wapella, SK

Wapella, SK

Wapella, SK

Wapella, SK

continuing a trend, this is the view from my Broadview Lions campground, still in Sask. It was a very cold and windy day and I made an aborted attempt to go visit Saskatoon - so I didn't make much forward progress.

The afternoon got quite a bit more pleasent, but it got even colder than this forecast overnight in my location.

the campsite in golden hour light

a warm Saskatchewan evening.

yup, it was a cold night in Saskatchewan.

Morning in Broadview, SK brought mist.

Broadview, SK mist

broadview, SK mist

packed up and ready to leave, does it look like it's only 4 degrees out?

finally put on the new chain in a Regina WalMart parking lot. It was a hot, dirty job but it went well.

I added coolant too and had to fab up a paper funnel.

couldn't take it with me so I wasted most of the jug, just left what I couldn't use next to the cart corral, there really should be smaller sizes.

the lot where I did the deed, and the noisy diesel SUV that sat there idling the whole three hours.

ready to go.

My last night in SK and the firepit I never used.

My last night in SK, the damp little hole I shared with all those mosquitos