The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves...: September 2017

Canada 150 Road Trip - Day 21

ONTARIO - MICHIGAN - ONTARIO

We left the cabin early, eager to be home now despite the opportunity to enjoy the place a little longer. A short but tense drive through the dangerous gloom of pre-dawn found us in Wawa, where we loaded up on gas and coffee. Along the way, a bear ran out in front of us, before thinking better of the idea and retreating to the treeline.

From there, it was a short and pleasant run to Sault Ste. Marie, where we stopped for breakfast and another coffee. Given where we live, it makes more sense to cut through Michigan rather than go around the Great Lakes through Ontario....though the original (pre-back-problem) plan had been to cross further along at Manitoulin Island, take the Chi-Cheemaun ferry across to Tobermory, and camp at Bruce Peninsula National Park. Plans had changed, and the most direct route was chosen.

The "Day of Three Bridges" unfolded accordingly. Crossing the International Bridge at The Soo, questions were few at U.S. Customs, and we were soon on our way again. Speeding south along Interstate 75, we soon crossed the long suspension bridge at Mackinaw City, stopping eventually for fuel and lunch in Gaylord, Michigan.

From there, we traversed a busy Flint - and for a guy in extreme back pain, the Michigan roads were frequently worse than the patchy permafrost humps of the Yukon! We caught Interstate 69 East towards Port Huron, before crossing the Bluewater Bridge over the St. Clair River and into Sarnia.

We were again welcomed into Canada with minimal delay, and after one last tank of fuel, the home stretch lay before us - a quiet drive a backroads, slowed only by the occasional tomato wagon. A heat wave was ravaging southwestern Ontario, and Humidex values in the low 40's Celsius felt even worse after several weeks in The North.

We arrived home around 530 pm, and all nine fur babies were soon accounted for. Unpacking could wait., but dinner could not......so after a short breather, Jane ordered takeout from the Lucky Wok!

Despite being cut short by a full week, the trip still met the proper definition of Epic - we covered 5 Provinces and 1 Territory, plus 5 States, over 5 Time Zones - travelling a total of 14,265 kilometers along the way in a dusty golden Juke.

We visited 12 National Parks and Historic Sites, and a number of great friends. We saw bountiful wildlife across this great land, including deer, elk, moose, caribou, bison, bear, wolf, coyote, foxes, mountain sheep, prairie dogs, swans, and an eagle.....and oh yeah, we witnessed the Aurora borealis dance across the northern skies.

On an unrelated note, a total of 28 new beer bottles, cans and growlers were found in the Juke after unpacking, from craft breweries across the western continent.

3 weeks - 2 crazies - 1 great trip!

The Big Goose at Wawa

More Lake Superior scenery

Batchewana Bay

Vibrant fall colours!

Nearing the border

Sault Ste. Marie and the St. Marys River

Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge

A downbound vessel enters the Soo Locks between Lake Superior and Lake Huron

Mackinac Bridge in northern Michigan

Bluewater Bridge to Sarnia

Canada 150 Road Trip - Day 20

ONTARIO

We set off early from Kenora, where a lone wolf at the side of the highway marked our passage, a silent and spiritual sentinel of The North. We fueled up in Dryden, but the McDonald's and Tim Horton's were so crazy busy we just carried on, stopping eventually for more coffee and an early lunch at Ignace.

Having finished the latest in the "Dead Witch Walking" series, we listened to more "Game of Thrones" on Audible as we drove. Once we hit Thunder Bay, after losing one more hour on the transition back to Eastern Standard Time, we followed Highway 17 and the rugged Lake Superior shoreline for some more stunning scenery.

After ten long days of frustrating incapacity, I finally managed to take the wheel and drive for a bit, just over a one hour stretch from Nipigon to Terrace Bay. Following a very slow tanker through construction zones and hilly stretches meant a ton of unexpected clutch work, unfortunately.

Still, it gave Jane a much-needed break in the middle of a long day, and we also stopped for a nice sit-down dinner at Drifters in Terrace Bay before motoring on through Marathon and past Pukaskwa National Park, where we had planned to camp. An eagle flew across in front of us just outside White River, the one animal we had hoped to see but hadn't yet.

With daylight waning, we traversed a final moose-laden stretch of road before arriving at Catfish Lake, just north of Wawa. We secured a comfy cabin and I continued my regimen of Robaxacet at night, washed down with a beer or two. They even had the best chairs for my back we had yet to encounter, and separate beds to minimize surprises. We could have even had separate ROOMS, but you gotta draw the line somewhere......

East of Kenora

Gas in Dryden

Lunchtime in Ignace

Back on Eastern Standard Time!

Thunder Bay, Sleeping Giant and the Terry Fox Memorial

Lake Superior shoreline

Highway 17 scenery

Great view of Catfish Lake

Cozy cabin!

Canada 150 Road Trip - Day 19

SASKATCHEWAN - MANITOBA - ONTARIO

We started the day as usual, grabbing coffee and gas in Yorkton before carrying on further east. Crossing into Manitoba, we lost another hour to time zones, switching back to Central Time. We picked up a second coffee at Russell, Manitoba, before turning off the Yellowhead and following roads 45 E and 10 N to Wasagaming and Riding Mountain National Park.

We had hoped to visit the bison enclosure within the Park, but once we found out that it was about a 45 minute drive down a rough gravel road.....my back was not up to that, at least not without an awful lot of "yelping", and Jane's frayed nerves were definitely not up to THAT. We toured the main village at Clear Lake and nearby Wasagaming before continuing on our way.

We reconnected with the Yellowhead at Minnedosa, and followed it through Neepawa and along to where it hit the Trans-Canada near Portage La Prairie. After loading up on gas and snacks, we sped eastward and used the Perimeter Highway to detour around Winnipeg. We had hoped to meet Cheryl for lunch, but time was of the essence to avoid getting caught in no-man's land by day's end.

We crossed into Ontario and carried on to Kenora, and secured a room for the night at the Waterview Inn., complete with a handy Subway across the street for dinner. We toured the downtown a little bit, busy on a Wednesday night, before re-tracing our way through the roundabout and back to the Inn.

Goodbye, Saskatchewan....

Hello, Manitoba!

Manitoba morning

Main Village at Clear Lake

By-passing Winnipeg

Home....but still a long way from home!

Kenora on Lake of the Woods

Nice room at the Waterview Inn

Canada 150 Road Trip - Day 18

ALBERTA - SASKATCHEWAN

Our hosts were up to see us off, a little surprised that an inebriated Jane still managed to get up early, and with a tank of gas and two cups of coffee the journey continued. Apparently it snowed in Edmonton shortly after we left!

After regaining the Yellowhead Highway, the trek eastward resumed.We saw some more elk and bison as we passed through Elk Island National Park, before stopping for a nice sit-down breakfast at Sammy's in Vermilion, Alberta.

We crossed into Saskatchewan at Lloydminster, where Jane ran a yellow/red light rather than subject my back to sudden braking....then spent the rest of the day watching for the RCMP in her rearview mirror. From there we hammered across Saskatchewan and through a rather busy and bustling Saskatoon, following the arc of Highway 16 all the way to Yorkton, near the Manitoba border.

Stopping for the night, we made a pizza and beer run into downtown Yorkton, which was a nice town but to me and my sciatic agony seemed to have way too many railway crossings! We hunkered in for the evening at the Yorke Inn and enjoyed some great Pizza Hut along with some local beers.