Bugs and Books

Day 38. Dolphin to Minnedosa. 74 miles. TTD 2464. 3100 feet elevation. Weather toasty

Water is essential for life. Apparently, more water also means more life. By number, nematodes (worms) are the most common animal life form, followed closely by zooplankton and insects. In Manitoba, the abundance of water has led to a rich insect life. And most of them have wings. Yes, I got to play Nucleus again.

I stayed in Dauphin last night, so I was a little bit off route. Heading south, I reconnected with the route just as it entered Riding Mountain Provincial Park. Matthew, the guy who designed the route I’m on, likely assumed that taking the route through provincial parks would mean the most interesting and beautiful views. What he doesn’t know is that in Manitoba, the provincial parks are not made for people. The bogs, sloughs, stagnant creeks, and gigantic lakes are perfect for breeding insects. I don’t know if it’s a massive entomological experiment by some university or if they harvest the massive insects for protein.

Thankfully, after pedaling through Jurassic Park on the north side of Clear Lake, I came around to the south side and found an insect-free beach. The surrounding town could have been a beach in North or South Carolina. I don’t know if they put up signs to keep the bugs away or if they’ve passed a law. Somehow, despite it seeming to be the same ecological system, it’s pleasantly without bugs. It made for a nice lunch stop.

Heading further south, I diverted off the route once again and followed the Trans Canada Trail. This has also been called the Great Trail at one point. Gloria and I followed it across British Columbia in 2019, and it was beautiful. This section was quite lovely. Some of the metal and a spike or two on the trail suggested that this was likely a rail trail.

It was a beautiful way to travel south for many kilometers while enjoying the vastness of the surrounding farmland. The pictures don’t do it justice, but as you travel down this little trail, you feel like an insect crawling across millions of acres of farmland. The water has clearly blessed both plant and animal life in Manitoba, and it’s quite beautiful despite my whining.

The upside of the insects is that I’ve continued to listen intently to various books. Undoubtedly, I read Anne Frank’s diary as a kid, but I don’t remember it. Perhaps I just read the Cliff Notes for school. In any case, I’ve been listening to it for the last couple of days. It’s one of the 10 that my AI picked out to read. It’s an excellent, although haunting book. You feel and appreciate her bubbling-over emotions of adolescence and with her a great hope for the future, all the while knowing that she has no future. Won’t it be wonderful when one day we make plowshares from swords and pruning hooks from spears?