Saskatchewan is probably a nice place but I couldn't live there. I need to see mountains or hills or woods, not tomorrow's weather looming on the distant horizon. I suppose the northern part of the province up their near the rugged Canadian Shield with the coniferous forests, rivers and lakes would be appealing if it wasn't so darn cold. But when you are driving on the Trans Canada you only think of how far you still have before Regina, and then suddenly you're through it and counting down the kilometers till you hit the Manitoba border. We did almost 700 klicks that day and the sun was setting when we approached Brandon, looking for the Bry-Mar campground. And what a treat it was after such a long haul. The owner was probably the nicest person we had encountered on our trip and made us as welcome as if we were staying the night in his own home.
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| somewhere between Swift Current and Moosejaw |
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| Reed Lake, Saskatchewan |
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| Bry-Mar RV Park, Brandon, Manitoba |
If you look at a map of Manitoba you'll note that all roads seem to lead to Winnipeg. I'm not sure why. The next day, Sunday, the 1st of October, as we approached the outskirts of the city, we decided to look for a garage that might be open where we could get a much needed oil change. The truck had given us no problems and I wanted it to stay that way. We were just past the change oil date and still had 3000 kilometers to go so I thought it prudent to get it done at the first opportunity. We were lucky to find a Mr. Lube open and we were back on the road by lunchtime. As we crossed into Ontario later that afternoon the rain that had been threatening for the past hour began and continued all the way to Dryden, our stop for the night. The campground, the Northwestern Tent and trailer Park, was run by a Swiss couple, friendly and forever apologizing for the bad weather. It was actually only one of four days of rain we encountered on the whole trip.
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| downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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| The Northwestern Tent and Trailer Park, Dryden, Ontario |
Happily the weather improved the next morning as we made our way towards Thunder Bay and Lake Superior, stopping to view the Sleeping Giant in the distance before heading north to Nipigon where the highway split, the northern section going to Hearst, Kapuskasing and Kirkland Lake, our road going east to Sault Ste Marie where we come full circle. We crossed over the Nipigon Bridge, still being repaired after last winters failuree when, through a combination of design and installation deficiencies of several key components, the steel decking of the bridge lifted almost two feet. This caused up to 1300 trucks to detour through the US each day till it was fixed, effectively breaking our only link between east and west Canada. We were waved through and like any of the numerous other highway construction sites we encountered on this trip there seemed to be more chiefs than Indians and I wondered if anything was actually being done.
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| the Sleeping Giant, Thunder Bay, Ontario |
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| Nipigon Bridge, Nipigon, Ontario |
We continued on through some pretty rugged country, following the northern shoreline of Lake Superior, the largest freshwater lake in the world, until the town of Marathon. We found a campground (Neys Adventures) that obviously catered to the rough and tumble crowd (hunters, fishers and the like) who didn't mind a bit of dirt and dilapidation. It was mostly deserted but just off the highway (we had passed it 20 kilometres back thinking their was something better available in Marathon). So finding nothing there open (I should have guessed when all the Provincial Parks we had passed all day were closed for the season) we had to retrace our steps back another 20 klicks and hope the reviews were not as awful as they sounded. It was not to be. The washrooms, smelling of mold and God knows what else, were in need of a major cleaning and upgrading but I took the plunge and showered as best as I could without physically coming into contact with anything. Marie smartly declined.
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| Neys Adventures and Black Bear Outfitters Campground, Marathon, Ontario |
It was a fairly nice morning when we left the campground, driving back to Marathon and inland away from the lake for an hour or so until we came to Lake Superior Provincial Park, stopping near the beach at Old Woman Bay. It felt like we were by the ocean, the waves crashing on the sandy shore as we let Ben run while Marie and I enjoyed the fresh wind coming off the dark blue water. Then one more stop for lunch by the lake and we were through Sault Ste Marie and back on the route we had taken going west, following the North Channel of Lake Huron now to Sudbury and overnighting again at Carol Campsite, where we had stayed over three weeks ago. Tomorrow we were going to detour south and follow Georgian Bay to Barrie, then through the countryside and back roads to Guelph. We were looking forward to our first visit with Richard in his new digs there. gws
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| Old Woman Bay, Lake Superior, Ontario |
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| pee and lunch break, Lake Superior |
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| Carol Campsite, Sudbury, Ontario |
