MeAnd’Er - ing from Thunder Bay to Sault Ste. Marie

 

Day 32 -

6,000km and 93 hours driving time.

Heading east again / still, and the drive out of Thunder Bay was beautiful, as promised by the guy in The Cheese Encounter a cheese store on Algoma St. in Thunder Bay.  I think this is how I will remember Ontario - trees, rocks, roads, and Lake Superior!

Turned off the road here for a drive through a treed park up to the Terry Fox Memorial, and it was breathtaking.  Terry’s journey is marked all along his route on Hwy. 11-17, right up to Shuniah, Ontario where he had to end his Marathon of Hope when his cancer returned in 1980 - 5,373km, 143 straight days.

Next stop was Amethyst Mine Panorama, over 1,000 acres of quarry owned and operated by 2nd generation Lukinuk family, Steve and Lorna.  Amethyst was discovered there by accident when crews were working their way through the area to erect a forest fire lookout.  3 miners laid claim and it was later bought by Steve’s parents.  There are pieces of amethyst all over the place that we are encouraged to collect and purchase for $5. at pound, but we’re not buying anything larger than stickers on this trip.  I was swarmed by small black flies there and still have the welts on my neck to prove it!  They got caught in the soft hair around my neck and tried to chew their way out.

Stopped in Terrace Bay for a charge and lunch - they have a big lighthouse in the parking lot!  It’s been a long day but one more stop at White River for a photo with Winnie the Pooh, yes, another one.  This is where the little black bear was bought from a trapper for $20. by Lieutenant Colbourn back in 1914.

Day 33-34

Catfish Lake

We’re nestled quite comfortably in Cabin #6 at Catfish Lakefront Cabins, about 15 minutes west of Wawa on Hwy. 17.  Very Eagan Lake-ish and lovely.  I never did figure out how to get a ride in the float plane!  Roger’s blog about ‘being stuck in the middle’ & EV charging fits in here.

It’s much colder here so a bit of suitcase shuffling to pull out the jeans again.  It’s about 20* compared to the 31* we’ve been having.  No cell service, which is good and not so good, but we have lots of great books we have picked up at the many independent bookstores we have visited!

Newfoundland update from Sharon: it’s cool and rainy there too.

We met a kid on our walk who is graduating this year and he told us that the Willys Jeep in this picture belongs to his friend Dave and it still runs!  

Day 35

It’s raining!  We haven’t had rain since Lake Louise.

Wow, it’s really nice to be getting caught up with this blog, we were reminded yesterday that we’re a tad behind!

Thank you again to Natalie and Lee at Catfish Lake for letting us plug in the car - the charging station in Wawa is still down and it’s 240km to Sault Ste. Marie.  We left Catfish with a range of 325km, plenty to get us there. 

We stopped in Wawa anyway because we needed the picture with the Canada Goose!  It is there for the same reason as Sara the Camel in Glenboro!  Concerned that when plans were finalizing for the Trans Canada Lake Superior route that it would not be built through the community, Al Turcott and a group of businessmen came up with the idea of the Wawa Goose to attract tourists on their trans Canada travels, and it works!  

Al also opened Fort Friendship on the banks of the Michipicoten River upstream of the old Hudsons’ Bay Co. Post.  It comes complete with log palisade walls, a museum, gift shop, wishing well, tower of Prime Ministers, and a small church made out of glass bottles.  (Maybe the people in Treherne had some left over!)

We didn’t visit Fort Friendship in Wauwatosa because it was raining so badly, but friendship did grace our stop at the Wawa Goose.  There we met two lovely ladies, Jean and Donna, travelling from Brantford and following much the same path as we are - in particular taking pictures at landmarks and roadside attractions.  They filled us in on some we missed including the giant mosquito in Upsalla, travel tips for points and perks, and if you are planning a trip to Portugal - Madeira is a must! They even have tickets for Come From Away in Gander! that puts them high up on my well organized travellers list.  We had a great visit in the Tourist Information Centre, again the reason we are taking this trip slow and easy so we can enjoy meeting people. These two travel a lot - both retired, one navigates and the other drives the Honda Civic.  Back home they do a lot of volunteer work with seniors, including bringing their Support Cat in to visit!  How do you train a cat to be a Support Cat you might ask?  You don’t!  She just naturally purrs, gives love and snuggles, no training involved, and she even has a Service vest like their canine colleagues.  Same as Gus does when Katie brings him to work with her.
I’m sure we’ll meet Jean and Donna again throughout this trip, in fact they are at the same hotel in Sault Ste. Marie that we’re at! 

We stopped at Harmony Beach because Roger wanted to see the 3km of sandy beach just north of S.S.M.  He must be craving BC, because when we first arrived in Ontario and I mentioned the pebbles and rocks on the beaches alongside Lake Superior he said “sand’s for sissies”, and here we are, on sandy Harmony Beach!  You can take the man away from the Coast, but you can’t take the Coast away from the man.  Did I mention that it’s raining?

We went past Old Woman Bay, Rabbit Blanket Lake, Mom Lake, Baby Lake, Orphan Lake (no idea where Dad Lake is). and finally got to see Lake Superior with an uninterrupted horizon. nothing for as far as the eye can see.  There’s a formula for figuring out how far that is: height in metres x 13 and take the root of that.  For me it’s about 4.8km and for Roger about 5km (he can reach higher too).

Day 36 

Another trip across the border, this time to Michigan, on purpose.  We took a tour boat through the Soo Locks and it was amazing!  The difference is 21 feet, and you go from the boat sitting well below the lock to walking right off the deck in 15 minutes.  It uses 10 million gallons of water to make this happen, and we got to see a freighter 246 meters long and 23 meters wide go through.  The locks are on the St. Mary’s River connecting Lake Huron and Lake Superior, north side is Canadian, south is American.  You can see in this picture our little boat on the Lake Superior side and coming out on the Lake Huron side.  It is a feat nothing short of amazing.  Prior to the locks there was a 21 foot drop through rapids!  

Lots of coal going through there and Alcoma has a huge steel manufacturing plant on the waterfront.  

We were told that next time we should go further down the Michigan side to Whitefish where the historical site is for the Edmund Fitzgerald., the further down to Paradise Beach and the best fudge!

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan is a cool little town, but I really liked this litter notice posted on our tour boat - 

Michele, wouldn’t you love to see this in Mission!

Lovely dinner at Fluid on the waterfront beside the Roberta Bondar Park - Sault Ste. Marie is hometown to Dr. Bondar, Canada’s first woman astronaut .  The park is in the area historically known as Bawating, or “meeting place”. 

Finally broke down and got some cortisone cream for my neck, those flies at Amethyst really did a number on me!