Thursday September 25th

A message to call my dentist for October 3 appointment 481-9131

The morning came quickly again. The stars were bright and the temperature

was more comfortable than the previous two nights. I sat by the

waterfront and communicated with a barking dog on the other side of the

lake. He was tied up and his master had gone to town. He welcomed the

conversation and his wailing voice altered it s timbre.

We talked a little more with "Doc" on the possibilities of Sunset Lodge

including the possibilities of acquiring same as a retreat for educational

purposes. It can easily accommodate 30 people and is 2 = hours out of

Winnipeg. It reminded me of Camp Gold. There is three boats, including a

canoe, and many kids boating facilities. There is a storage room for

boating equipment a fantastic tool shed which has every tool one could

need. The dock was being rebuilt. The rooms upstairs reminded me of the

room that I slept in at Camp gold. The windows were identical and even the

curtains were hung on a similar styled curtain rod. The lock structure on

the window was also identical. In the master bedroom over looking the lake

they also had a sink. The main difference between this place an Camp Gold

was the distance from Toronto (55 minutes).

We left after convincing Mary (Doc's wife) that I was deserving of one of

her tomatoes that she was just getting ready to put into her Tomato Chutney

preserve. We were given papers regarding the details of the property and

we promised to get them copied at the local post office and return the

master copies. It appears that it may be costly to winterize the cottages

since there is no way to bury the pipes.

We left Sunset Lodge to go to downtown Kenora to get a few details looked

after. My objectives were: mail a cheque to my friend Don. 2) make

copies of the papers re Sunset lodge and 3) find a little out about the

community.

I stopped at the Post office in Keewatin, but they said it would take till

Monday for a letter to get to Toronto even if by express courier and maybe

it would get there by Tuesday if in General mail. I chose the .43 cent

route instead of the $9.80 to get it there Monday maybe. They also

informed me at the Post Office that they no longer made copies, and they

sent me down to the local library.

There, the copies were made efficiently and as I got into a conversation

with the librarian, I noticed a number of preschool children in a room off

to the side. Apparently the library runs educational programs for the

community. Reading, storytelling etc. We chatted for a bit with the

librarian and I learned that the local libraries are facing cutbacks

because they are funded through community services. We talked more and

explored the question as to why libraries are not funded by the education

system. We agreed that this makes more sense, especially in a small

community that is getting almost all services downloaded to it - except

education. Finishing off our conversation, we continued our excursion into

Kenora where I had intended to visit with the Economic development manager.

As I got into town, and had difficulty locating Mr. Hutchinson, I decided

to go and talk with the mayor - which I did. I called her on my cell phone

from the local pharmacy and found that she had a window of opportunity for

a five minute meeting if I hurried my but over to her office. Which I did.

We talked for a few minutes and I asked her to get the conversation going

on the education issue - libraries are education and should be funded by

the province. Simple - political platform for upcoming election. She

agreed to consider this amongst other issues of importance. I suggested

that our work will help her if she helps our work. End of meeting.

Picture taken.

Mrs. Joyce Chevrier (the Mayor ) suggested that I check out their library.

I went over to determine if I could use their Internet facility to connect

to my server in Toronto. After a little time there, I determined that the

equipment either was not functioning properly or I was not able to use it.

I talked with Cathy, the "second in command" at the library. Her belief is

that libraries are not educational facilities exclusively but are also

entertainment centres. I questioned her on this, but she was pretty

convinced that this is the way it is. - an obstacle to my perception, and

the initiative we have begun with the mayor.

I went from there looking for the Internet provider. First to Northern

computers (Jim Lawrence) who was very helpful and assured me that the

Voyager (Internet provider) would be able to look after me and if not to

come back and he would help me out. H e called over to the Voyager

offices, and apparently Barb had called there looking for me. She had

locked her keys in the car and needed mine to get access to her stuff.

When I arrived at the Voyager offices "Mitchell Gold" was already known to

be in town. Georgina was very helpful as we tried all the various methods

of getting into my U of T server. To no avail - Les - the owner of Voyager

came in and we talked on how we could work together. He is going to link

with our website. And assuming he sees its advantages for the community

will use our site as a sales promotion for his services. We agreed to keep

in touch - and I was off.

I went looking for Barb, but she was not where she said she would be. I

wandered around, made a few phone calls and wandered into the local

Newspaper. Talking with the editor John White, he agreed that it might be

good editorial to get the conversation going on the educational issue re

libraries. We'll see. He is leaving in six months for Calgary. I said

great, because we could get the conversation going in both places.- he

seemed to agree - I left looking for Barb.

Wandered down to where she was to be, and still - no Barbara. I waited for

a few minutes and decided to go over to a restaurant where I could keep my

eyes on the parking lot and grab a bite to eat. After ordering my food,

I noticed her pull around the corner, and she was more than a little upset.

We talked for a bit - not too positive - finished a great little lunch

and got on the road.

As we were driving - since I felt a new time limit had been put on our

adventure, I did not have time to build a gateway today. I did however

manage to take several photos of others along the way. It seems that there

are more and more each day that I look..

On the road again - Just driving - beautiful sunset as we leave Winnipeg.

(mailed Don's letter.)

At one of the stops on the way as we entered Manitoba - picture of a girl

always smiling - Tammy and met for a very short visit Ken Adam an

engineer from Winnipeg - He offered to meet with me to talk in Winnipeg

the next day, but I told him I had some timelines now and could not. He

is an engineer and had built construction sites in both the Arctic and in

the Antarctic.

Maybe we'll catch up with him later. We stopped for dinner at a diner and

I took my laptop to dinner with me to write while waiting for the food to

come. While writing my update Paul Waldner struck up a conversation with

me. He was wondering about me working on my computer. He was very polite

in not interrupting as I wrote. When ready, he told me that he was working

on building a road nearby and was finishing tomorrow. He then is going to

build a lagoon down in Minto south of Brandon. He also mentioned he used

to be a Hutterite and while he does not practice in the formal sense he

still practices in his heart.

He mentioned that some of his associates may have some information to

share. He has just got a computer and will attempt to send me information

and ideas in the future.

On the road again.

We drove until I was exhausted which was about 1:20 PM. We pulled in to

a little Motel called Moondance in a little town Whitewood. I rang the

bell and awakened the owner Andre. He came to the door in his bathrobe and

as pleasant a smile as one could expect given the time of night. After a

very short conversation he agreed to let us stay the night for "what we had

budgeted" $30. This seems to be an appropriate number for us, and it gets

us the nightly accommodation we need. We went off to a quick deep sleep.