Day 10 Wednesday May 8/13 Sault St. Marie, Ontario 4268 kms

---

---

Does anyone know of a map app on which I can plot our entire route, not just today's as in this app, and keep saving it as a picture to this blog?

Just eating breakfast at the Travellodge in Sault St. Marie. Gotta love these upscale hotel choices lol ! Actually, the Super 8 chain has treated us well thus far, and we are just 1 sleep away from earning a free night. Are you impressed George? Free breakfasts each morning, just enough to start the day. The morning routine is get up and go for a run (OK, we only did that once), eat breakfast, pack, first trip down to the bikes with 2 pannier bags. Back to the room. Second trip to the bikes with top box, lamby, and GPS, remove the bike seat and plug in the GPS. Back to the room. Third and final trip to the bikes with tank bag, GPS, helmet, gloves. Now we can leave.

It was a beautiful ride yesterday. Highway 2 as far as MacKinac Island, MI, then changed into Route 75. Very hot, light traffic on the 2-lane road. Lots of places to pass. We made our way from Escanaba to Sault St. Marie, and this last stretch through Michigan along the shores of Lake Michigan was spectacular. Miles of white sandy beaches lined the right hand side of the route, and we had endless views of the blue unfrozen lake. There were plenty of well manicured rest stops, and no shortage of campsites along the way. We'd like to return to this area on a road trip and spend more time enjoying it rather than just blasting through it. Upon approaching Sault St. Marie, we both discovered that there is a "Soo" on both sides of the Lake, i.e. US and Canada. We paid our toll to cross the bridge over to the Canadian side - $3.00 for a car, and $3.00 per bike. ????????? Must have been a Liberal decision. The bridge passes over several sets of locks connecting Lake Michigan with the waterway to Lake Huron. Border patrol is at the end of the bridge on the Canadian side, and we only had a 10 minute wait to get to the agent with about 5 cars ahead of us. I pulled forward, Ian stopped back at the red line, and he and all the cars behind had another 10 minute wait for me. Customs dude asked me a barrage of questions:

CD: where were you born

H: Scunthorpe England

CD: So why are you here

H: no chance to answer because CD left his hut to inspect bike

CD: where are you going?

H: St. John's

CD: why

H: because

And so it went for 5 minutes. Before he asked me to turn off the bike. Oh shit.

CD: how many times have you dropped the bike?

H: (really? You just HAD to bring that up...) Once, in a London Drugs parking lot

CD: yes, I can the scratches and crack on the handguard

H: whatever

CD: how do you like the bike?

H: huh? Ian in my helmet "OK, now he's coming onto you" - CD unaware that Ian can hear everything through the helmet microphones. H suppresses smile.

Anyway, 10 questions later and he gives me the go ahead to pass through. Barely had to wait 15 seconds for CD to clear Ian through. Good for a laugh over coffee a few minutes later, which was at - you guessed it - Tim Horton's ! Oh how we've missed you Tim! Bunch of Harley guys in the parking lot, friendlies, chatted for a while about our adventure. Checked into the Travellodge downtown Soo, had nice walk along the waterfront boardwalk, overlooking the Lake and locks, freighters going by before us. Not so dissimilar to Ballard, other than larger scale. Excellent restaurant right on the water called Docks. Sipped wine and enjoyed a salad on the outdoor patio. Super hot evening, great meal, great company and a great end to a great day.

---

Comments

[Janet]

Tim Horton's
The photo of you on the bike is awesome. I think you should send it to Tim Hortons for advertising. Thanks for keeping us up to date. hugs, Janet

[John Hills]

Map
Hi Helli Does your GPS upload its recording to the web. Some Garmin units do that (it\'s what I used) and that\'s nice cuz every little excursion is shown. If you could do that, I am not sure about pasting the result into your blog. Alternately, you could simply \'copy\' your route into MapMyRide and then replicate that site\'s result into your blog. I know that there is a plugin for WordPress that provides that kind of arrangement but I am not sure whether there is a similar facility in/for travelblog. I will look further when I get a minute. Yup, that Timmy\'s in the Soo sure tasted good!! J

[JOAN MUMBY]

You are in Canada!
Thanks a million Ian and Helen for you birthday greetings! - I had 11 emails this morning, the most I have ever had in one day, so I checked the calendar. I thought I had slept for 7 years, and I was already 100! I am delighted that you are in Canada and that everywhere is warm and sunny and beautiful. Enjoy your day of rest. Emma says she is coming tomorrow and Sally says, both of them are coming on Sunday. I have found more space! Norma spent several years of her childhood in North Bay, and in 1989 I travelled with her to Ottawa, Quebec City, and the Maritimes, so some of this territory is familiar to me. We didn't get to Newfoundland because the ferry wasn't running to St John's. It is a sunny day here and 20 degrees Love you lots Mum