Sault Ste. Marie Ontario to Thunder Bay Ontario

We had breakfast at the hotel this morning. This Microtel had eggs, sausages and potatoes for their hot breakfast, along with the usual continental items. Jan made a waffle in the ubiquitous machine. I have not been comfortable with this device since I really screwing one up many years ago. Plus I was not supposed to be eating waffles anyway.

I went to use one of my Shell gift cards at the Flying J/Shell station just up the road. I was informed that they are not really a Shell station, just a Flying J that sells Shell gas, and that the gift cards could not be redeemed there. They did direct me about a mile back into town to a REAL Shell station, where I got some free gasoline.

It was 59 F as we left town. Only two days until the beginning of summer, but I was not hopeful that we would see a significant change.

Highway 17 from Sault Ste. Marie to Wawa along the eastern shore of Lake Superior has been touted as one of the most scenic stretches in Canada. It was pretty good today. We did see a series of signs advertising the Esso station/restaurant/Ontario hunting and fishing licence outlet at Pancake Bay but they all said "Closed for the season". Either they had a really short season or they were out of business. When we got there, it was obvious they had closed SEVERAL season ago. That was sad because it was the place my cousin Jamie had bet me back in 1984 that I could not eat three Starving Trapper Burgers. He was right. I got through 2 1/2 before throwing in the towel.

We continued past the bays. Haviland, Harmony, Pancake, Batchawana; and then the Montreal River. The long, steep, curving southbound grade there has claimed more than one trucker.

The Mile Hill and Blueberry Flats

Low lying clouds

Many many closed signs for this place

At least somebody is open

Near Montreal River

Downgrades...

...and upgrades

Even the abandoned buildings get tagged

We stopped at the Agawa Bay Visitor Centre just inside Lake Superior Provincial Park. The power was out due to planned maintenance so navigating the bathrooms in the dark was a challenge. Still, we were able to check out most of the exhibits. There was a door to the rear deck and a sign inviting visitors to take a book from the rack so they could sit outside and read. Once I went out, the door locked behind me. Thanks to Jan for letting me back in. The blackflies and mosquitoes here were really bad. Their bites don't bother me due to an immunity I acquired during a summer working in cedar swamps, but they are just annoying. To Sandy, who swells up at every bite, they were worse.

The Group Of Seven

Members of the Group Of Seven included A.Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, Fred Varley, Frank Johnston, Franklin Carmichael and J.E.H. MacDonald. Tom Thomson was a founding influence but died before they gave themselves a name. They are an important part of Canadiana in this part of the country.

An interesting bench

Stones embedded in the bench

Railway sidecar?

Luring you into a trap like a lobster pot

Jan, Sandy, an interesting tree and a gazillion biting insects

Pictographs are different from petroglyphs. The former are paintings and, here, are found on a big rock down by the lake. Given the walk down the tricky path and the insect hordes, the ladies elected to keep going. We also did not have room for the young man heading west.

Keep on going

The lake was looking good today

Are moose only dangerous at night?

Line painting crew near Wawa

At the Wawa junction with Highway 101, we stopped at the Wawa Goose visitor centre. My mother and father met and got married in Wawa in 1950, long before there was a highway. There were only eight miles of road between Wawa and the Algoma Central Railway station at Hawk Junction. Mom had a 1950 Pontiac that was brought in on a railway flatcar. In 1975, Sandy and I had a major incident here at Magpie High Falls (the same place that my father proposed to my mother) that started our lives together.

This is true

Does the carved head look sinister to you?

Small old mucking machine

Sandy taking a picture

This is the picture she took

Panning for gemstones...

Even the chairs are creative

I'd take this one if I had room

My parents flew in Keith's Norseman many times

OK, we needed a coffee anyway

Jan and Sandy with the busy Wawa Airport in the background

Wawa means "wild goose" in Ojibway

Sisters-in-law

Wawa is kind of a nexus. We saw several interesting vehicles in the parking lot. The Westfalia van with Virginia licence plates looked like it could have been European. The Travel Van t620 was European. It was a German unit powered by a Fiat engine that had been shipped from Hamburg to Halifax and the owners were on a six month tour of Canada. The BMW rider was from Grand Rapids and was on his second ride around Superior.

We watched the line painter and his involuntary followers continue west on Highway 17, so we went for a drive through town and stopped at the Tim Horton's for a bathroom/coffee break. Wawa has not changed a lot and still has a population of only 3,000. I passed the motel where I am supposed to meet Zeke on July 6th. Then we returned to Highway 17 and continued west.

The next stop was White River, where I topped the tank off at the Esso station. Esso gives me Optimum Points which can be used to pay for groceries at home. Then we stopped at a little park dedicated to Winnie-The-Pooh. The bear cub Winnie was named for was bought here by a soldier from Winnipeg heading overseas during WW I. She was named Winnie for Winnipeg and ended up living at the London Zoo where A.A. Milne often took his son, Christopher Robin. White River also called itself the coldest place in Canada, having recorded a temperature of -72 F. This was a myth. The temperature was correct but there have been colder places.

This is White River

The Winnie-The-Pooh story

Sandy, Jan and a honey loving bear

The Subway restaurant in White River has only been there a few months. The owner just put up signs on the highway yesterday. This is a big addition to a town that basically boasts one gas station and not much else. We ate lunch there before moving on.

There were a number of single lane bridges being worked on

The closed Golden Giant Gold Mine

Large piles of crushed mine rock

Not much traffic

Not all the hills are rock

Although most are

Some of it is red (near Red Rock)

Shift to low gear, a $50 fine my friend

Tall skinny trees

Eventually, we came to the cable stayed bridge over the Nipigon River. The bridge was located right after the Highway 17/11 intersection where both routes came together and was, therefore, on the ONLY road joining eastern Canada to the west. Shortly after it was dedicated during the winter a couple of years ago, some anchors broke and the bridge heaved up, cutting our nation in two. The only way across was to go through the US. It seemed that the fancy (and way more expensive than necessary) structure was not as well built as the contractors thought.

On the way into Thunder Bay, we stopped at the Terry Fox Memorial. Terry's brave but interrupted run to raise money for cancer research resonated with Canadians and he became an icon of the indomitable spirit we revere.

The watershed

Terry Fox

Jan and Sandy

Me getting a shot of the Sleeping Giant

The Sleeping Giant

The Visitor Centre was open after 6:00 PM

The Days Inn was not far off the Trans Canada Highway. After checking in, the lady on the desk suggested Daytona's Restaurant and Sports Bar for supper. It was a short drive away and they were able to seat us right away. Our server was very bubbly and friendly, which added to the experience. I had a mushroom Swiss burger with an absolutely great Caesar salad while Jan and Sandy had salad with beets, feta cheese, spaghetti squash and candied pecans. Then the ladies split a good looking crème brûlée for dessert.

Daytona's Restaurant and Sports Bar - Thunder Bay Ontario

Mushroom/Swiss burger and Caesar salad

The other salad

Back at the hotel, I thought we might hit the hot tub since that had been a topic of conversation. However, everyone was tired so I just did the minimum to wind up the day's notes and we all went to bed.

Tomorrow, Winterpeg.

Today's Route (436 Equinox miles):

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Sudbury Ontario to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

There was a full moon, a strawberry moon to be precise, last night. Sandy blamed her lack of sleep on that. I think her problem was just overload from all that had been going on plus preparations for the upcoming road trip taking Jan back to her place on Fishing Lake, Saskatchewan.

The day started with appointments for both Sandy and I with our GP. The quarterly visit went well and he did not prescribe any changes to our prescriptions. This was important because our Out Of Canada medical insurance has a six month stability clause on pre-existing conditions, and a change in a medication is considered an instability.

Medical insurance is a major concern for anyone traveling outside Ontario. The Ontario Health Insurance Plan covers any care in accordance with their reimbursement schedule, which is much lower than what US health care facilities will charge. Travelers can buy insurance for specific trips or annual coverage based on different durations. Sandy and I had annual insurance coverage for as many trips of less than thirty days as we could manage with TD insurance, but they cut me off at 65 because someone with a heart condition, high blood pressure and diabetes was just to big a risk. I took individual trip insurance last year but that was inconvenient because it removed spontaneity as well as costing more. This year, our agent Ken Jones found an annual Blue Cross policy for both of us that had very few questions and covered 31 days at a time. A plus was that Sandy's coverage cost less than her TD policy. This policy would kick in July 1st.

On the way back to the house, we stopped and visited Sandy's Mom Janet and her roommate Pearl at the nursing home. Di and Malcolm's Jan stopped by as well.

At home, we took care of some chores and packed all our gear in one suitcase. This was a new idea to cut down on luggage. The downside was that shared space requires negotiation but I think we got it done quite well.

With everything loaded, including some items Jan was taking back to Saskatchewan, we hit the road at 1:45 PM. Right off the bat, Sandy was disappointed to find that McDonald's had discontinued her beloved cranberry-orange muffin and replaced it with strawberry. She said the strawberry was OK but not as good as her favourite.

The trip to the Soo was uneventful. Having Jan along was interesting because the discussion of various things kept me awake. Usually, Sandy nods off and I try not to follow suit.

We arrived at the Microtel Hotel on Great Northern Road around 5:30 PM. I called my brother Rabbi because I had a few legal documents I needed to give him and he met us at Wacky Wings, which was just next door.

Jan and Sandy On The Road - Day One

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Rabbi. Then again, he generally prefers to avoid the limelight and doesn't even have a Facebook account. Sandy liked the marinated breaded chicken wings at WW in Sudbury but was disappointed with them today. I had a passable chicken Parmesan sandwich. Jan had a veggie burger but they screwed up the order by adding sauce, so she sent it back. Not all franchises in a chain are equal.

After supper, we said goodbye to Rabbi and walked back to the hotel where I looked after the usual end of day chores. Transfer the photos from the cameras to the computer, sort them and delete duplicates and any others that don't pass muster. Record the daily expenditures. Transcribe the notes from my voice recorder. Copy the map of today's travels to the blog. By the time this was done, it was time for bed.

Tomorrow, we will head around the north side of Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, 440 miles away.

Today's Route (202 Equinox miles):

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Remembering Malcolm L. Jacobs

Sandy's brother Malcolm passed away on February 2nd in Vancouver. Her sister-in-law, Jan, held one memorial for him out there in May and now had brought some of his ashes east. The plan today was to have lunch with friends and family and then release the ashes in the West Arm of Lake Nipissing at the same spot we spread Harry's ashes in 2014. It's hard to believe that five years have passed since then.

Thirty-one people gathered at M.I.C. Canadian Eatery in Sudbury to remember Mal and tell some stories. These included his mother Jan, his wife Jan, Sandy and our kids and grandkids, cousins and friends. Some told some stories and shared some memories while we enjoyed lunch.

Doug at M.I.C.

Jolene and Robyn on Fiona Watching Duty

The table was rocking

Sandy and Mal's mother Janet (91)

Mal's ex Diane

Grandson Jasper's patriotic effort

Fiona and Heather

Mal's Jan addressing the room

After lunch, we proceeded to a picnic area on Highway 64 between Lavigne and Monetville. Almost all of the people showed up. After she said a few words and read a touching poem Malcolm had sent her after they first met, Jan spread the ashes over the waters as Vince Gill sand Go Rest High On That Mountain in the background. Then many of the folks threw flowers in the water.

Jan, Jan and Sandy

The clans have gathered

All quiet upriver

And downriver, too

Two fine looking ladies

The rocks make a natural grandstand

Time to begin

Jan reading the poem

Our girls

Jan, Sue and Jayne

Committing Mal to the deep

Then the flowers

Which mark the spot

Fiona and Heather

After it was all over, we returned to Sudbury via Noelville and Hagar and took Janet back to Extendicare. Then we headed for home. Our kids would not be leaving until tomorrow while we would be leaving Tuesday to take Jan to Saskatchewan.

Today's Route (126 Equinox miles):

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