10/05/2026- 10/07/2026 – Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Life imitating art, or sort of…… The next stage in our journey started with a longish drive from Selkirk to Winnipeg to catch the train to Churchill. An hour of seeing hayfields after hayfields, until finally the city of Winnipeg appeared on the horizon. Back in Selkirk, Rusty and Tauni had been working industriously trying to find hay for their five horses. All they really need to do is surreptitiously drive to Winnipeg and along the way, pick one hay bale from one farm, drive to the next one and do the same, on and on and on. By the time they get from Selkirk to Winnipeg, their truck will be full and the farmers won’t miss one bale of hay. What a plan!
We met up with them at the airport and they graciously gave us a ride to the train terminal. Nice!!! They deposited us off at the doors of the terminal. Easy-peasy – all our plans from getting to the airport to the train station can just be filed away in our round filing cabinet.
Finally on the train, we were escorted to our sleeping quarters, or in train parlance – our “berth.” This berth consists of two smallish loveseats facing each other. One “loveseat” for Kathy and one for Dave – our own little niche that converts and changes at 8:30 pm. The two bottom loveseats change into a bed for Kathy on “the ground floor” and the upper bunk folds down from a hinged metal balcony and converts into the upper floor bedroom that is accessible by a ladder. Inconvenient for Kathy as it blocks her exit, but nice and easy for Dave to clamber down to the ground floor.
The first leg of the train trip in itself was not too eventful; we read our books, played some games. We watched the movie, “Strangers on the Train” – an old Hitchcock film. Which is a warning not to talk to strangers on a train trip! If you have seen the movie you know what we mean. Night came soon and we settled into our beds made up by the porter. Next morning came quickly, in Kathy’s case too quickly as the night was a bit restless.
Breakfast, more reading for Kathy while Dave – despite Kathy’s and the movie’s warning – wandered the train chatting with strangers. By mid-afternoon we arrived in Thompson, a city between Winnipeg and Churchill where we had a 2.5 hour break to explore the surroundings in the area. Hoofing it over to Boston Pizza, we ordered a snack and got dinner and dessert to take back for later. It was much better than microwaved train food.
Tonight, we plan on watching the movie, “Throw Momma from the Train.” If Kathy does not arrive back home, Dave met a stranger on the train and they threw Momma from the train!! (Spoiler alert: Kathy makes it home.)
