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N-2023-E
Northern Lights & Polar Bears Caravan
Get ready for an awesome visit to the Manitoba desert. You are scheduled to arrive at Forest Hills RV Park located 82 km (50 miles) north of the Canada/USA Border from Hwy #4 in North Dakota USA to Hwy #5 in Manitoba, or 13 km south of Carberry, MB on Hwy #5. There will be a Meet & Greet at the campground on Sunday, September 10, 2023.
On Monday, we will have a driver's meeting in the morning at Forest Hills Meeting Centre. A 1 1/2 hour covered wagon ride with two regal Percheron horses as your guide will take us through the desert-like area known as the Spirit Sands, a 4 sq km tract of open blowing moving sand dunes that tower 30 metres above the surrounding prairie. You will see the Devil's Punch Bowl (an eerie pond formed by the action of underground streams) and will be able to walk in the sand dunes. The Welcome Dinner at the Forest Hills Meeting Centre will follow. Tuesday we tour the Royal Canadian Artillery Museum at CFB Shilo with lunch at Rick’s Restaurant at the Shilo Golf Course.
Then we are on our way to Neepawa, MB., where you will tour a working Dairy Farm, a working Canola Seed Farm, and the Farmery Estate Brewery. A must to see in Neepawa is the Lily Nook and the lily fields. A visit to the Dauphin Railroad Museum, a tour of the Dauphin Ukrainian Church – old and new with a wonderful, catered dinner. An afternoon guided tour of Riding Mountain National Park will be spectacular with the changing colors of autumn.
Swan River is eagerly awaiting your arrival and will feature a tour of the Swan River Valley Historical Museum followed by a catered dinner. A tour of the Spruce Products Limited sawmill and a Honey Bee farm are in the making. Then, we’re off to The Pas with a tour of the Sam Waller Museum dedicated to preserving the history and artifacts of this region of northern Manitoba. Displays include First Nations, Fur Trading Mining & Transportation. A day at Clearwater Lake will feature their purple sand and you can hike one-half mile to see the the deep crevices that formed when rock masses split away from shoreline cliffs. For those golfers in the group, prepare to go on the links at Halcrow Lake Golf & Country Club.
Next is Flin Flon -- the home of Josiah Flintabattery Flonatin, the only city named after a science fiction character. He guards the entrance to the city, so you need to be on your best behavior in order to enter. Flin Flon is the home to The Hundred Stairs/Bomb Shelter. In 1935, these stairs were built for pedestrians as a short cut to get to downtown. They were rebuilt in 1993, but is there exactly 100 stairs?? Come and count for yourself! A visit to the Rotary Wheel a log pavilion that features a center firepit that is idea for social functions. You will tour the Far North Wild Rice, a certified organic farm with OPAM and we might even get to see them harvesting the rice -- depends on good old Manitoba weather!!
The next stop is Thompson, Manitoba to McCreedy Campground. We will have a few days there before we hop aboard the VIA rail train to Churchill. For those with pets, the campground owners have volunteered to feed and care for our felines, dogs and others. You will have time to do your laundry, get your RV ready to leave it for 6 days while we are in Churchill. We’ll have a group lunch at two and then later in the afternoon we will board the VIA rail train to Churchill. Frontiers North Adventures will be our tour guides for an absolutely amazing experience. We’ll send you a list of MUST things to bring to Churchill. A full four days of activities are planned and include two days of Tundra Buggy Experience and one night on the Tundra Lodge -- the only place to see those amazing Northern Lights & Polar Bears!! We will visit a Churchill resident and dog sledding expert, and get a ride on a dog sled cart (only because there isn’t supposed to be snow when we are there, but!). Enjoy the train ride to and from Churchill as this will be a great time for viewing the Northern Lights.
We will spend another day in Thompson when we return, just to try to get things organized again and to be with our precious pets who have been lost without us. Then it’s a day’s drive to Grand Rapids for a quick overnight stay, then off to the Town & Country Campground in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
We will carpool to the amazing Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, and the newly opened Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. An amazing Finale Dinner will be served on Monday, Oct 10, 2023. Tuesday morning will be a farewell breakfast after which we will say our so longs and we’ll see you down the road.
Start Date: September 17, 2023
Start Location: Forest Hills RV Park, Carberry, MB.
Stop Date: October 17, 2023
Stop Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Total Number of Nights: 30
Number of Stops: 11
Leaders & WBCCI #: Bruce & Gail Harrower, WBCCI #4478
Cell phone: 204-781-1987
Email: northernlights.polarbears@gmail.com
Caravan Status: Standby Registrations Only
Mailing address: WBCCI Northern Lights & Polar Bears Caravan
c/o Bruce & Gail Harrower
23 Village Drive
Ste. Anne, Manitoba, Canada R5H 1H4
Maximum RV Units/With Leader: 20, or equivalent to 40 people
Minimum RV Units/With Leader: 15, or equivalent to 30 people
Kitty Fee w/2: TBD – 2022 Fee was $9,800.00 CAD or $7,800.00 USD
Kitty Fee w/1: TBD – 2022 Fee was $6,200.00 CAD or $4,960.00 USD
Guest (each): TBD – 2022 Fee was $3,950.00 CAD or $3,160.00 USD
Deposit Amount: $1,000.00 CAD or USD when requested by leaders
Make Checks (Cheques) Payable to:
WBCCI Northern Lights & Polar Bears Caravan
Dates of Payments:
1. ½ of Balance Due – check dated January 30, 2023
2. Final 50% of Balance Due – check dated March 30, 2023
Payment #1 and #2 to be made by post-dated check and both checks mailed to caravan leaders by January 15, 2023 to arrive no later than January 30, 2023. E-transfer is accepted in Canada.
Cancellation Fee:
As we are using a provider for a unique experience on this caravan and with much of the cost fixed, the economics are overly sensitive to having a full caravan. If we do not have a complete group as planned, then it makes it prohibitively expensive for the remainder of the group. Our cancellation and refund policy has been updated as shown.
Deposit Refund – refund of 50% up to March 1, 2023
NO REFUND on or after March 2, 2023
Payment #1 and #2 – full refund up to April 1, 2023
Refund less $500.00 on or after April 2, 2023 - providing a replacement has been secured
Refund less $500.00 plus any non-recoverable costs on or after April 2, 2023 if a replacement is not secured
Cancellations and refund requests received on or after April 2, 2023 will be processed after the completion of the 2023 caravan.
All cancellations and refunds are subject to caravan leader’s discretion.