Saturday, November 06, 2010

Cambridge Ontario to Sudbury Ontario

Mike went in to work early this morning to get caught up on a few things before we left. Jolene, who has been sleeping until 7:30 most mornings, decided she would rise early as well and was moving around shortly after 6:00. We played with her and got our gear from the last week packed and loaded in the van. I had to work the van doors because, with the moisture and below freezing temperatures, they had frozen shut. A harbinger of the winter circumstances to come.

I had hoped for another Oscar's breakfast with Heather and Tom before leaving, but they were headed out of town as well. They stopped by to say hello as they headed out to Massachusetts for the weekend to see a concert.

I posted a couple of pictures from the past week but Mike has a lot more. You can check them out here.

We got on the road about 9:30 under bright, clear ( and still cold) skies. I took county roads to Guelph and then followed 24 and Airport Road. For a change of pace, we swung up to Alliston on Tottenham Road and then took 80 to the 400. It's nice to vary the route a little bit each time.

North of Barrie, there was a little but of snow on the upper part of one of the ski hills at Moonstone. I can hear those people who like to strap boards to their feet and challenge gravity salivating already. North of Moon River, we encountered two separate radar trap operations. None to one are the typical numbers but they are becoming more frequent. Again, I suspect Commissioner Lewis is making his presence felt. At the Tim's south of Parry Sound, almost everyone looked like they were dressed for hunting. We ran into Freedom Rider friends Ken and Helen there, headed southbound.

The new four lane past Parry Sound was down too one lane northbound with the ubiquitous orange barrels protecting the left lane where there is still some cleanup work being done. That said, I can see the light at the end of this particular tunnel.  North of Parry Sound, the road was heavily covered in salt. We arrived in Sudbury about 4:00.

With respect to those golden fir trees, my friend Doug (font of much useless knowledge) informed me they were tamarack trees. They turn golden in the fall and then lose their needles. Funny how, after almost 60 years living in the north, I never knew this. And I lived on Tamarack Street in Timmins for nine years. Oh well, live and learn.

Today's Route (284 miles):


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2 comments:

Penny said...

Hey - I knew about Tamaracks and I lived on Spruce street! But I had a nature-loving mum...
Penny

Jim "Skid" Robinson said...

I lived on Tamarack Street and I didn't know:-))