7/16/17 The Middle of Nowhere
When we find ourselves in he middle of nowhere, we make it a somewhere!
A Superior morning greeted us with crisp temperatures and full on blue sky as we busted loose from Schreiber. The sun dazzled us as it bounced off the lake at every spectacular turn. The two hour ride to Thunder Bay and the end of our Great Lake adventure was far too short. No towns dotted this stretch and only rock slides and road construction broke the serenity.
As we approached Thunder Bay, signs commemorating Terry Fox began to appear. After losing his leg to cancer, this amazing man decided to raise awareness and money to help combat the disease by running across Canada. In 1980 he began The Marathon of Hope starting in St. John's, Newfoundland and running the equivalent of a marathon every day. As his quest became public, donations grew. In Thunder Bay his race with life ended as his cancer returned. The legacy that his life left still remains and the annual Terry Fox run held worldwide every year contributes more money to cancer research than any other event.
Thunder Bay, a gathering spot for a large chunk of the humanity in Ontario, sprawls along route 17. Billboards advise drivers as to how many traffic lights they need to pass in order to enter the city and find the advertised business. Thunder Bay Harley Davidson was six. We do not stop at every Harley dealer, but having stopped here ten years ago on a car trip, we decided we needed to revisit on the motorcycle. The best part of our visit was an insight into living in Ontario. "Everything is far" according to a friendly saleswoman. When we asked about points up the road she answered in hours instead of kilometers. It's two hours to the next town and then six to where she used to live. They moved to Thunder Bay because it used to take her three hours to take her daughter to the dentist.
Here we left Superior and dove into the North Woods. Kakabeka Falls lured us for a late lunch. These substantial waterfalls were filled to the max. I could picture unaware trappers in flimsy canoes getting sucked into this angry torrent, losing their fortune in furs and being thankful for their lives as they struggled to the shore below! We found a quiet table away from the deafening roar and shared our meal with hundreds of mosquitos. Thank God for Deet- pairs well with Pinot Grigio.
Miles and miles of reforested and newly harvested woods paralleled the road for the next few hours. The monotony of the scene was interrupted frequently by pristine lakes, the ever present ravens sitting by the road and the threat of moose. With our tunes blasting, we rocked through our first time zone, gained an hour and found our way to Ignace, population 1,000.
To some it may seem like we are in the middle of nowhere, hours, not miles, from any substantial population. Stellar weather, friendly encounters, stunning waterfalls and deep lonely forests saw us through the day. And yes, we are definitely in the middle of somewhere - somewhere that we have evidenced together and shaped into a yet another memory.
Thunder Bay, a gathering spot for a large chunk of the humanity in Ontario, sprawls along route 17. Billboards advise drivers as to how many traffic lights they need to pass in order to enter the city and find the advertised business. Thunder Bay Harley Davidson was six. We do not stop at every Harley dealer, but having stopped here ten years ago on a car trip, we decided we needed to revisit on the motorcycle. The best part of our visit was an insight into living in Ontario. "Everything is far" according to a friendly saleswoman. When we asked about points up the road she answered in hours instead of kilometers. It's two hours to the next town and then six to where she used to live. They moved to Thunder Bay because it used to take her three hours to take her daughter to the dentist.
Here we left Superior and dove into the North Woods. Kakabeka Falls lured us for a late lunch. These substantial waterfalls were filled to the max. I could picture unaware trappers in flimsy canoes getting sucked into this angry torrent, losing their fortune in furs and being thankful for their lives as they struggled to the shore below! We found a quiet table away from the deafening roar and shared our meal with hundreds of mosquitos. Thank God for Deet- pairs well with Pinot Grigio.
Miles and miles of reforested and newly harvested woods paralleled the road for the next few hours. The monotony of the scene was interrupted frequently by pristine lakes, the ever present ravens sitting by the road and the threat of moose. With our tunes blasting, we rocked through our first time zone, gained an hour and found our way to Ignace, population 1,000.
To some it may seem like we are in the middle of nowhere, hours, not miles, from any substantial population. Stellar weather, friendly encounters, stunning waterfalls and deep lonely forests saw us through the day. And yes, we are definitely in the middle of somewhere - somewhere that we have evidenced together and shaped into a yet another memory.
Superior morning
Rock slide!
Even the rear view was breathtaking
State of the art bridge in the wilderness
Terry Fox
Kakabeka Falls
Not a bad spot for a picnic
Fall guy
Can't canoe it!
Motel serendipity in tiny Ignace
the reason we honestly speak hours and not km or miles is because not every body understands km, or miles. Most people anymore know one or the other. We too are also starting to have better weather as of today. enjoy your travels...you will get thru those prairies eventually...promise!
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