Day 11, July 7, 2007

Day 11, Saturday, July 7, 2007
It was about 9:45 am before we got started this morning. The Tim Horton’s was just across the street from the Walmart where we camped for the night. Had a good nights sleep. Very quiet parking lot considering we were right in town. I had gassed up the night before so didn’t have to contend with that. We drove through to Espanola where I topped up my gas tank, got groceries and a few items from Canadian Tire. The drive to Espanola was pretty featureless. I am amazed at the different rock formations and colourings. Even the trees and ground changed from spindly trees and muskeg to hayfields then to very sandy ground. Even the rivers and creeks are different from home with beautiful smooth rock outcroppings in the middle of the creek or river. We followed Lake Heron to Manitoulin Island that is after we left Lake Superior. The weather was overcast for most of the day with a few sprinkles. Very pretty drive to Manitoulin Island, you are high in the hills and you come down to water level. There is a about a 300-400 hundred foot Iron Bridge that crossed the water that turns Manitoulin into an Island. We stopped in Little Current at the Visitor Center to find out what was happening on Manitoulin Island. The young fellow there suggested we go to the Pow Wow that was going on in Sheguiandah and he recommended the Batman’s Trailer Park. We took his advise on both and after we got our campsite we drove over to the Pow Wow. I now know what a minority feels like. Everybody was very friendly. We watched different First Nations dances and dancers. Some of them have such good rhythm and well practiced in the different dances. This was a gathering of the local First Nations people and some from the Six Nations from the USA. Willa and Tegan watched more of the dancing and I went around and looked at the different displays set up with items to purchase. Of course Willa couldn’t resist buying some of the oldest native food - - - Pop Corn. After the Pow Wow we came back to camp, had some thing to eat then went for a walk around the campsite. Tegan had a shower, and Willa and I will have one also. We want to be up early as we have reservations for the 9:15 am Ferry to Bruce Peninsula and we have to be there an hour early plus it is about a 45 min drive from Sheguiandah to the Ferry. So we can’t be late. I suppose now I have you wondering what tomorrow will bring.

Day 10, July 6,2007

Day 10, Friday, July 6, 2007
We left Rainbow Falls at about 10:00 am. The roads were generally in better condition than other days of traveling. We had lunch in a rest area just outside of the Obatanga Provincial Park. Very nice area with picnic tables and pulloffs. I got a call from Kathy at the office (so nice to be needed) but the cell phone reception was very poor so I called her back when we reached a Visitor information pull off in Wawa, Ontario. There they have a nice visitor center and a huge, maybe 40 foot goose you can see for some distance before you reach it. Touched basis with Kathy. She has been fairly busy while we’ve been away, she always does such a good job. Today was a day of driving and we managed 330 miles. We were just outside of Sault Ste. Marie with about another 50 miles to go but the gas was getting low so we stopped in Pancake Bay to get some gas. They had about 3 stores there and one had all different crafts, some made locally but most at least made in Canada. Another store had all wood carvings and some of the carving was absolutely amazing. Anything from full size Indians to smaller carvings of animals. They also had replicas of sailing boats, they were very well done, plus lots of beautiful t-shirts, jackets and pull-overs. I think what was the most amazing was the pricing. It was all very reasonably priced, which surprised me being out on its own like it was, even the gas was one cent a litre less than in Sault Ste. Marie. These were big buildings and absolutely jammed full. From there we drove into Sault Ste. Marie and found an Information Centre and found out a good restaurant to celebrate our 39th Wedding Anniversary. We ate at Docks, a real nice restaurant right on the waterfront and they gave us a window seat. Good meal. After dinner we took a walk along the water. We met people at the restaurant moving from Ottawa to Edmonton, he is being transferred, but was raised in North Van. And did Air Cadets at Abbotsford. Another couple from Sault Ste. Marie, on the boardwalk and they are going to Abbotsford in a couple of weeks to visit his brother then renting a car and traveling up through Jasper, Banff and Cranbrook. At the Visitor Centre we asked about camping and they let us phone a couple of campsites. The prices ran about $23.00 to $30.00 with electricity hookup and or water. We only wanted a place to stop because we were going to be away hopefully early in the morning so we decided to try the Walmart Parking lot. When we arrived, there were about 9 other campers. We pulled in beside a retired couple from Texas, USA. We paid our camping fee at Walmart and got some merchandise in return. So off to bed we go, Tegan is going to finish a movie on the portable DVD player, Willa is already in bed and I am about to join her. Let’s see what the road tomorrow has to offer.

Day 9, July 5, 2007

Day 9, Thursday, July 5, 2007.
Not a real exciting day. We left Rainbow Falls at about 10:00 pm to have breakfast at Hoito, a restaurant that Dirk Lewis had suggested to me. He said you had to have breakfast at Hoito which is a Finnish restaurant. It was not disappointing either, very nice meal and lots of food. The pancakes Tegan had and the Omelets Willa and I had were very thin and nice flavors. The general drive was rough but ok. Tegan drove part of the way. Willa is too nervous with her driving and I am afraid my nerves are a little frayed when she drives, just not a good time to try and teach a new driver, especially on these roads. Stopped at a lookout to have our first view of Lake Superior, pretty spectacular. Looks like the ocean, it is so big and in some places kind of an emerald green. One of the things on my to-do list was to see Ouimet Canyon. We saw the sign and made a quick left towards Ouimet Canyon Provincial Park. On the way there was a place that advertised the longest swinging bridge in Canada and we decided to go in and see it also. The road in was a red dirt road for lack of a better description about 2 k off the road we turned in on. Turns out to be two bridges one short and one long but when we went inside we checked the price and they wanted about $14.50 each. Now $14.50 each doesn't sound too bad but $45.00 for 3 of us seemed just a little too much. So we headed back to Ouimet Canyon and see what it was like. There was a nice walk to the Canyon and they had built out a couple of view lookouts that hung out over the canyon. I would say we were about 300 feet to the floor. The writeups were interesting because they talked about the plants in the floor and how they were unique to the area and some of them were artic plants. In the hottest part of August in the shadows of some of the big rocks they say you can find snow or ice still there. We found it to be a nice walk and very breath taking and the price in Canadian Dollars was (the drum roll please) - - - - - - - $0.00 that’s right $0.00. The Bridge walk I think would have been interesting and I am not saying it wasn’t worth it, plus they have the cost of building the bridges and maintaining them but I thought for 3 people it was a little much. The rest of the day was spent driving although we didn’t put on many miles. Well! I know what tomorrow will bring, its our 39th Wedding Anniversary and we will try to celebrate it in Sault St. Marie, Ontario.

Day 8, July 4, 2007

Day 8, Wednesday, July 4, 2007
We got a little later start but not too bad, we were on the road about 7:45 am plus or minus a little. We headed off down the road in search of a Tim Horton’s coffee for Willa at Drydon, had a bit of a drive through town. We tried to make up a little driving time and so we whistled down the road. Road speed was 90 k and we traveled about 90-94 k. Interesting the change in the terrain from lots of grain fields to light bush then heavier bush and then to trees, rocks and muskeg. We went from being able to see for 20 or more miles to seeing maybe 200 feet on either side of the road and ahead for not more than 1/2 a mile. Interesting changes and made for a longer drive but the rock formations are very interesting to see and so little top soil, you can see why not much has developed in the area except around the towns. Willa drove a couple of times during the day and Tegan drove a bit also. Only two lane road and we had a side wind a lot of the time so threw the motorhome around a bit. We stopped at Kakabeka Falls and were going to camp there but for a no service campsite they wanted $32.00 per night plus a park fee of I forget how much. We spent $3.00 to walk to the Falls and then carried on down the road. I would sure like to know the history of the area, the Falls cut through solid rock and there are hundreds of layers which I would think means it was once a lakebed and compressed over the years. We did see one campsite before Thunder Bay with internet service but we thought there might be one closer to Thunder Bay. But unfortunately there was not until we were on the other side of Thunder Bay and by that time it was getting too late and we all were very tired. So will stop earlier from now on. We ended up at Trowbridge Campsite which is part of Thunder Bays Centennial Park which is about 141 acres. We walked down to the river and over a bridge and back again. I was just wiped from the long day and did not want to walk any further. Well if the next 500 miles is anything like the last I think I can wait to see what tomorrow brings. Just kidding, we have enjoyed the whole drive, just today was a little less enjoyable but definitely new country we have never seen before.

Day7, July 3, 2007

Day: 7, Tuesday, July 2, 2007
Hot going to bed, little too warm to go to sleep. Started to rain in the early morning hours but let up about 7:30 am. We started rolling about 7:30 to 8:30 am. Now this sounds like we are sleeping-in in the morning but remember we are two hours ahead of BC time and so we are actually rolling at 5:30 to 6:30 am. We wanted to spend the day in Winnipeg, and we did. We hit the Royal Canadian Mint and did the tour, very interesting. Not only do they mint the Canadian coins but they mint for other countries all over the world and they will stamp out 750,000 coins an hour and they run 24-7. The process is unreal, from steel blanks, each blank is coated at least 3-4 times with copper, silver and nickel. My question was why not just use the steel blank and stamp the coin directly on to them but apparently the coins last much longer with the process they use, in fact the coins last 20-25 years. We also got to hold a $400,000 solid gold brick unfortunately it was very well chained down. From the mint we drove to the Forks Market right in downtown Winnipeg. The traffic was a little heavy but I am very comfortable with the motorhome in heavy traffic, in fact I even parallel parked it in one place. The Forks Market is similar to Granville Island. The Forks National Park is an old railway turnaround and is close to the old, I think, CNR or CPR Station which is a very old building. The Forks gets its name from the confluence of two rivers The Red River and The Assiniboine River. This was an old meeting ground for the Native Indians 500 plus years ago. Its about 3:00 pm and we decided to head east and get a little road time in today. We had to do a little grocery shopping and pick up a few things at Walmart. I thought the generator sounded a little funny and I got to checking and here the exhaust pipe had come off the muffler. The way the exhaust comes out of the generator it was blowing right on the wall of the m/h. This had to be fixed. So found a little shop that took us right away. He had to customize the pipe because it is an “s” shape, but they were very accommodating. Now we are off right after I fill the m/h with gas. Now we are off like a “turd of hurdles”. As we are heading east it is hotter than all get out and to offset the heat and cool the m/h down I run the generator and the rooftop a/c. Remember the horizon and how far you can see, well on the horizon you can see the big white thunder clouds forming in front of us. The road kind of scooted in between two big storm, so to the South of us rain and to the North. About 30 minutes later we hit the rain and although it was heavy it was not like the storms that hit Winnipeg the day we arrived. Now I cannot imagine this but they had 1.5 inches of rain in - - - - - - - one hour. Boggles my mind. We are camping tonight in a provincial campsite, Whiteshell Provincial Park in Falcon Lake, Manitoba. Seems like a very quiet place and with the rain it is much cooler about 64 f compared to 85 f in Winnipeg. At one stage when we came back to the m/h after sitting for several hours, it was 101 f degrees inside. Well much cooler tonight. As we drove further east the country is changing, no more horizon and just trees on either side of the road so the driving may not be as interesting as it has been. Tomorrow should be interesting, can’t wait to see what the road will deliver. Well I am off to bed, Willa and Tegan are already settling down and it’s now my turn. Well good night all.

Day 6, July 2, 2007

Day 6, Monday, July 2, 2007
We slept in! Didn’t get up until about 8:00 am Manitoba time. Then we all showered, and I got to visiting with a couple from Ontario and that took up a lot of time. He knew about the Highway 117 that I want to take heading home from Montreal. They say it is a beautiful drive. Once we got the tanks dumped we were off - - - - - to the nearest Tim Horton’s which was at least a 30 minute drive up the road. This was a hard time for Willa because she wants her coffee NOW!!!! But once we got to T/H’s and untied her and she got her coffee all was well again. Good drive into Winnipeg and after a bit of looking we found the Western Canadian Aviation Museum. We spent about 1-1.5 hours there and then we continued on to the Living Prairie Museum and spent 1-1.5 hours there. Very interesting. It is a 40 acre site and allowed to go back to the original prairie grass and other plants which can get to be 1-2 meters high (3-6 feet). The best part was the Monarch butterfly caterpillars. They maintain a certain plant that they like and there were literally hundreds of the caterpillars. Some were just getting ready to form there ?????????? Like a cocoon and one was just getting ready to form when we went for our walk and when we came back it had already formed his cocoon which apparently only takes about 2 minutes. We all found that very fascinating. The grass lands walk was not much different then we would see in our own field except for the height. From the Living Prairie Museum we headed for the Travelers RV Park to spend the night. Very hot traveling especially through town. Kept the generator running and the roof top air conditioner and it made traveling a little easier. Only burns about a gallon an hour so not too hard on gas. Got to the campsite about 5:45 pm. Nice campsite but in the middle of an open field, it took about an hour for the a/c to cool the m/h down. Not unpleasant in the shade but hot in the sun. The site faced the wrong way and we had the sunny side to the door and even the awning didn’t help. But turned around it would have been ok. Something to remember for the next campsite. Tomorrow we will head to the Forks, an old restored railyard with a food market and other sites to see. Then on to the Royal Canadian Mint. We hope to touch basis with Andrea Cooper, daughter of friends, Tom and Gwynne Cooper. But see what the day brings. Can hardly wait to see what is over the horizon tomorrow.

Day 5, July 1, 2007

Day 5, Sunday, July 1, 2007
Our first night in a Free Walmart parking lot. Not sure how it was going to go but I think it was one of the best nights sleep Willa and I have had so far. A little bright from the parking lot lights but one of our quietest so far. We got away about 6:45 and hit the local Tim Horton’s. That was after we dumped our holding tanks. From there we were on the road moving east. I drove for about the first 4 hours and then Willa took over for the next while. We tried to locate a relative of Willa’s near Alexander Manitoba, but when we phoned there was no answer. Hmm! even if they had call display they wouldn’t have known we were calling because it was someone else’s phone, so they truly were not home. Now in Brandon Manitoba we stopped to visit my cousin, we just waited until they came home, we could outwait them because we were on holidays and they weren’t. All joking aside we were sorry we missed Bonnie and Art Asham but on the other hand we had a real nice visit with Roger and Betty-Ann Kraft.
I’ve heard so many stories about how boring the Prairies are to drive through and I must admit I was thinking along the same lines, however have we ever enjoyed the drive so far. The things to see if you watch. The trains, I could not believe how long they are. One I measured with the speedometer and it was almost exactly 2 kilometers long and I think it had either 5 or 6 engines pulling. I don’t think I saw any short trains, no pun intended. The horizons are absolutely breath taking, I am betting you are looking 30 + miles, and in some cases that was a 360 degree view. This morning as we left Moose Jaw to the south east there was a white band on the horizon and it took the longest time to figure it out, well actually about 50-60 miles. Turns out it was a storm moving in and this was the white billow clouds of the storm. The colour of the fields and the different crops and they must have had a fair amount of rain because the crops all looked in very good shape. The roads this day have been pretty good but considering this is the Trans Canada Highway or the #1 Highway it is a little disappointing. Now to be fair there are some areas they are constructing some new 4 lane, where only 2 now exist. But even some of the existing 4 lane highway is not in very good shape. We were going to try and make it to Winnipeg today but decided to pull in a little early and then leave early in the morning and catch the Museums and other stops of interest as early as we can. We ended up in a Lions Club park in McGregor, Manitoba. Nice campsite with full hook-up and only $15.00 per night and less with less services. As I look around from the m/h there is an ice arena, tennis courts and someone playing (actually two people), a small water park for the kids, two baseball diamonds, and it looks like either a subdivision or mobile home park up the road from us. Very quiet right now but we may here a train or two in the night, mind you once the engines go by there isn’t too much noise after that. Well Willa and I are going to see what is at the end of the road, maybe a pot of gold——–sorry forgot the gold is at the end of the rainbow. All and all it has been a very nice few days, everyone has traveled well and the rotation of the driving has helped everyone to pass the time. To pass the time away Willa reads her book and does cross word puzzles and Tegan is writing her letters and doing her cross stitch, as for me I drive, do my diary, sweat a lot when Tegan is driving and relax and enjoy the scenery when Willa is driving. We try to get out for a bike ride or walk each night if we can, it helps to get rid of some of the stiffness from the days sitting. Didn’t get to bed until close to 11:30 or 12:00 pm. Well can hardly wait to see what tomorrow will bring.