Advertisement
Published: July 31st 2017
Edit Blog Post
It was cool last night and we slept well and awoke refreshed. We hit the road this morning at 8:15 and 63 degrees and pointed the car north then west to skirt the northern shore of the Georgian Bay. It was as difficult to leave Pat and Robin’s place as it was to leave our friends Bob and Gloria in Poland Springs, just a few days ago. Both of these homes on the lake are little pieces of heaven in an otherwise chaotic world, and we thoroughly enjoyed our respites before venturing off on another adventure.
After about an hour of driving through winding country roads carved out of thickly treed forests with little apparent civilization, we made it to Trans Canadian Highway 69. The roads up here are smooth and well managed, with extra lanes for turns and climbing hills. And the pavement allowed for note taking that is legible and clear…always an added plus.
The roadsides were lined with buttercups and black-eyed susans intermingled with ragweed and goldenrod. Robin told us that the soil up this way is very rocky and not suitable for growing crops. In spite of this, we saw one or two fields with
corn reaching for maturity. The Canadian Pacific Railroad followed us much of the day, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, and I never saw where it crossed our path, or perhaps where we crossed it’s path. But it followed us like a friend as we moved through sparsely populated areas, seldom seeing a place to stop for a rest or a gas station. I think at one point we drove at least 100 miles without seeing anything except trees and hay fields.
Occasionally we saw gray outbuildings with tin roofs or businesses and homes with what looked like Onduline roofs of shiny bright colors. I suspect the snow just slides off these roofs in the wintertime.
We drove through small towns like Spanish and Blind River and Bruce and saw Ernie’s Plumbing, Dixi Lee R-Way and the ever present Tim Horton’s, which is like Duncan Donuts but not nearly as good (sorry to my Canadian friends…but that is JMHO.)
Around 3 PM we made it to the border crossing which was located at the end of a very long bridge spanning the St. Mary’s River. Entering the country was easy and did not take much
time, although they did ask for Beamer’s passport, which is the first time this has happened to us, but we were well prepared with his evidence of rabies inoculation, and they let him back into the country. And this put us in Sault Saint Marie (and my friends told me several times it is pronounced Soo, not Salt. OK. I think I’ve got it, now.
We checked into a Super 8, not my favorite place to stay, but all that was available. Our room was about the same size as the bathroom, making the sleeping quarters quite small, but I am now thinking this is an accessible room, for the bathroom is much bigger than it needs to be and the bathroom door is very wide.
Tomorrow we head to Wausau…and that would be in Wisconsin, not Germany (for those who remember that commercial of years ago.) Hopefully La Quinta will be waiting for us with a nice upgrade.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.156s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 12; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0942s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Kelli kernkamp
non-member comment
Doggy passport
Well, we always learn something new! I had no idea dogs needed a passport in and out of Canada. Yes, I assumed proper papers were necessary, but does it really look like we human passports? Also, never knew Super 8 was so small. But if there is a bed and its clean, it works in a pinch. Til next time, good nite.