Flying Along 11

Flying Along 11

Tuesday, 7 August 2007

Today it was cloudy, windy & rain threatened to affect my ride. Just in case there were problems with the road & weather, I took Silver, who is a bit better equipped for those conditions. Also, there is a bridge & causeway connecting Fort Frances to the “mainland”, and I was somewhat hesitant to ride over it with the winds blowing. Good thing, too, because there was virtually NO extra space on the roadway there for a bicycle, especially one that might be blown into the path of a vehicle coming from behind. It’s funny in a way because Bob, who’s quite skittish over high, narrow bridges, did not remember this bridge from our earlier arrival in Fort Frances, in June, and after we’d crossed a small bridge at the eastern edge of the town he was quite prepared to drop me off. But I insisted that there was another bridge farther to the east, and I was right. Once I’d left Bob & Panna I headed east down highway 11, in the direction of Atikokan, which was about 120 kilometres away.

It was cloudy & there were a few raindrops which came down, but overall it was another nice day to be out on a bicycle. The winds were favourable and it certainly wasn’t too hot, at least not till the sun came out again. The road was not overly hilly, and the transports loaded with pulp logs were heading the opposite direction from me, into Fort Frances, and those which passed me were empty and much more manoeuvrable (i.e., to get over to the other lane). The shoulders were inconsistent, but not bad on the whole - I’m quite comfortable with even wretched shoulders as long as I think I’ll be able to share the pavement with the other vehicles.

Bob has been after me to take photos of some of the inuksuks we’ve seen, especially since I seem to be so fond of pictures of the big rocks around here. But most of the inuksuks which I’ve seen so far have either been not interesting enough or they’ve been observed as I’m straining to get to the top of a hill, i.e., not where I want to stop to take a picture. But today I saw a really “cute” pair, sort of a Ma & Pa thing, or Dad & Kid - one was fairly tall, the other noticeably shorter, and they were well assembled and on a flat stretch of road. So I did get a few snaps of them. Hopefully I’ll be able to post at least on of the pics on the site here, once I get more caught up (that is, if I still have them available!).

When Bob came to meet me he pulled into what is indicated often along the highways here as a “Pulp Load Check” site. This was one of the more well-developed ones. Some are simply cleared areas along the highway where the transports carrying logs (the pulp-type logs are most common here) can pull in & the drivers adjust the load, often by trimming the ends off the logs (these logs are usually loaded across the trailer).

At this particular site, as at several others we’d seen, there are two huge drums, which can rotate, sitting on hinged pedestals. As Bob observed with one truck which drove in while he was waiting for me, the driver backs his trailer(s) between these drums. It’s an extremely close fit, the driver has to be very accurate or he’ll back into them, but if there are logs out of alignment, they will catch on the drums & cause them to spin. If that happens, he’s got to park next to a sort of ramp (at some sites) and trim off the “offending” logs, so that he can back through without causing any “reaction” by the drums. I guess the pulp mills want the logs to all be of a uniform length. Again, we have some photographs, if they have not been lost!

That night we decided to try dinner at a restaurant called “Kettles”, which some folks had recommended. In fact it was the restaurant at the divey hotel where we’d stayed in June! (if you recall, I had enjoyed our breakfast from there) Well, I can honestly say it was one of the best meals, especially for the cost, which we’ve had this entire trip! Prepared, as Bob noticed from his vantage point, by a couple of young fellows, tattooed & wearing reversed baseball caps as they worked in the kitchen - guess you never really know…

DAY 42: 65.7 km, in 3:23 hours, ave. speed 19.4, max. speed 39.8 km/hr

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