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Published: August 17th 2006
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Kenora, ON
On the edge of Lake of the Woods, Kenora offers all sorts of opportunities for water recreation. Float planes are common. The downtown section of Kenora is in the background. Odometer: 41800km
I went to bed hot and clammy and woke up freezing. Good grief, it was only 5C above this morning. The fog was heavy and the bike was dripping with condensation. I hesitated for a moment, but I really had my mind set on travelling west, so I headed out.
The first hour on the bike was not fun. I was wearing just about all the clothes I had with me in order to stay warm. My fingers were numb from the cold and I couldn’t keep my face shield clear of condensation without opening it a bit and freezing my chin. The fog in the low lying areas was thick and I could hardly see thirty meters in front of me. Thankfully there were hardly any cars on the road so I could slow down without fear of someone running into the back of me. I crawled through about five different bad spots and then it was over - thank goodness. I stopped at a little place called Upsala for breakfast and took some time to warm up. By the time I came out riding was tolerable.
During the morning, the countryside I was riding through was pretty ordinary. The towns are small and a long way apart.
Here is a summary of some of the towns:
- Upsala - don’t blink or you’ll miss it. Actually, keep your eyes wide open as the Ontario Provincial Police office is here.
- Ignas - you can blink, but not twice.
- Dryden - you need to get off the highway to see the business part of town. Ordinary working town. Looks like a one company place and that is the pulp and paper mill.
I found out from the café owner in Dryden that there was a terrible truck accident up the road yesterday where two trucks had a head on collision and both drivers were killed. The highway was closed for more than twelve hours. Thank goodness I decided to stay with Ron and Caddie another day.
The country started to be peppered with lakes as I closed in on Kenora. Kenora itself was a traffic jam with some buildings around it. For some reason there were a lot of the cottagers in town for supplies and most of the car traffic wasn’t using the bypass. Like me, they decided to come through town to see the sights. I stopped for a nice coffee and then skedaddled out of there on my final leg to Winnipeg.
West of Kenora the country still displayed the rock of the Shield, but there was some farmland showing from time to time. Most of the farming areas were too small to produce the size of crops needed today to make a living, so they were mostly covered in ordinary grasses. Once I was in Manitoba I expected the prairies to immediately unfold, but they don’t. I had to drive about 80km before the trees subsided. I found myself agonizing over the delay to stretch my eyeballs on the prairie landscape. It finally came and felt good.
Almost as soon as I was out of the trees the wind hit and I had to hold the bike in check as a gusty side wind tried to have its way with me for the rest of the ride to Winnipeg. I really do hate the wind. The roads we thick with traffic as well. All in all the last part of the day was stressful.
I was settled by 6pm, visited Subway for supper, updated my blog for a little while, and went to sleep.
I should mention that I have been trying to dry out my tent ever since it was soaked at Balsam Lake Provincial Park last week. I took it out of the bag in my hotel in Winnipeg to find it still damp. When I came back after supper it was bone dry. Back to the dry air of the prairies - thank goodness.
Odometer at the end of the day: 42546km
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Tot: 0.153s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 17; qc: 71; dbt: 0.0614s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb