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Published: August 15th 2006
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Supper in the Park - Blind River
This was not quite as nice as having a picnic supper on the St. Lawrence, but it is typical of what I did for suppers. I bought the food in the local grocery store and then went in search of a park. I was never disappointed. Odometer: 40455km
It is time to start the long days on the bike. There is some nice country coming up, but there are also some long, boring stretches. I have been preparing myself for this, so I think it will be all right. This first day will not see too much distance covered, but the next two will be dandys.
I started the day at Jim and Barb’s place. We were able to get to Pointe au Baril Station by 10:30am where I had to retrieve my bike and load the panniers. I asked Keith to come along in case I needed both he and Jim to help me get my bike down a very steep hill from where it was being stored. I didn’t know what shape the loose gravel road was going to be in after the storm two days previously. Thankfully, it was a non-issue and I was on the road for Sudbury by 11am.
I drove into Sudbury to have a quick look around. I didn’t want to come this far and not see it, regardless of the fact that so many had told me there was nothing to see. On the warm, sunny
A Great Lakes Commercial Fishing Boat
One of the most unique boats I've ever seen. I couldn't find out why it was built this way. There were a couple of these moored at the Blind River harbour. day I was there, it didn’t look too bad. Just an ordinary city, but there was direct access to a lake and they seemed to have all the amenities of any other big city. I did find a cyber café so I was able to work on my blog.
The country along the North Channel of Lake Superior was typical Canadian Shield country with boreal forest, outcroppings of granite, and few people. By getting to Blind River, I was able to get out of the reach of the Toronto area crowds that were going to show up on the long weekend, although the clerk at the motel said they were full the next two nights.
The only thing of note about Blind River was the commercial fishing boats I found at the little harbour. As I took a picture of one of them a truck came roaring up beside me and I expected to get some sort of lecture about being in a place I wasn’t allowed. All it turned out to be was a guy who had come to get some ice from the storage shed, was curious about my bike, and drove like a maniac. I
Typical Mom & Pop Motel
I thought I would show an example of the kind of motel I was staying at on the trip. This one was at Blind River. No pools, no sauna, no fancy service, just clean and reasonably priced. asked him about the boats. He said they were commercial fishing boats, but not much more. Another, younger fellow showed up to get the ice for the first guy and it turned out he worked on one of the boats. I tried to prise some information out of him about the boats, but I think he was more interested in getting the ice for the other fellow and then getting back to the bar. He did explain that they fish from big openings in the side of the boat and that the construction, with the little cockpit for the captain, was to handle the rough weather. He got in his truck and roared off leaving me with nothing but questions.
It was an early night and my neighbours from Texas were very quiet, so I slept like a log.
Odometer at the end of the day: 40768km
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Tot: 0.355s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 17; qc: 68; dbt: 0.1773s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
guy goodwin
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Fishing Tug
Great Lakes commercial fishing.. usually with gill nets but occasionally trawl nets.. take place in all weathers and all seasons. This design allows for complete shelter of the crew. Nets are set through the stern door.. and retrieved through a side door. On the return trip to port fish are picked from the nets in reasonable comfort. There is room in the wheelhouse for crew to sleep on matresses.. under very low headroom.. on the way to the fishing grounds.. or if they are fishing out of other than their home port. Fishing though is day fishing.. out in the morning as early as 4am and back to the dock by mid afternoon to allow the fresh fish to be shipped.