Sep 17 – To Our Cottage

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It was a long drive today at about 7 hours but I figured we were close enough to the end at the cottage to do it in one day and then I would rest.

I think the scenery along the eastern side of Lake Superior is better than the northern side. Unfortunately it rained most of the day meaning we didn’t get any really good pictures.

I read a poster in the campground that said there weren’t a lot of maples up here so we shouldn’t expect the vivid red leaves but a lot of yellow. There was a bit of colour as we drove out of the campground. Notice I am straddling the center line as the RV is really too wide for the road.

Until we got back along side the big lake there were a lot of very picturesque small lakes beside the highway but they either appeared too quickly for a picture or the camera focused on the rain drops on the window.

As we got farther south the maples started appearing along with their bright red leaves but on such a dull day they don’t show up very well.

Going through Lake Superior Provincial Park was especially scenic.

But right after lunch the rain started getting very heavy,

You have to use your imagination to tell how the small rocky islands and beaches would look in the sun. The trees were very colourful here as well.

Right around Sault St. Marie the rain let up a bit to see this long line of trees next to the highway.

Driving across the top of Lake Huron you don’t see much of the lake.

The rain really started again. It just came down in buckets. Cars were driving very slowly with their flashers on. And then came the lightning.

We realized we had not seen any lighting all summer. Lots of rain but no thunderstorms. I wonder if they just don’t get them on the coast.

We are now safely ensconced at the cottage. We will stay here a few days. It all depends on the weather as to when we go home. I really miss being out in the boat so hopefully we get at least one nice day.

 

And so ends the blog for this year.

I will post a final summary page as I have for the other trips when we get home. We probably tried to see too much but with the the distances involved who knows if or when we will get back so we wanted to be thorough.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip and a special thanks to my friend Mike for all the comments.

The current idea for next summer is a short trip out east and then more time at the cottage but last year at this time my plan for this summer was to go to Utah so …

Until next summer.

Sep 16 – To White Lake, Ontario

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We didn’t quite get the views of Lake Superior that I had hoped. The last time I was through was 33 years ago on a post graduation trip out west with a friend. We passed here in the middle of the night on a 24 hours straight run from the cottage to Winnipeg so we didn’t see much.

We also got a late start. The RV desperately needs an oil change. I looked in Dryden but no one could handle it. Today being Sunday the only place I could find that was open was a Mr. Lube. I had used one before so I hoped the RV would fit. They opened at 10 so we drove into Thunder Bay and parked by the bay. I climbed up onto the roof. Darn or words to that effect. The air conditioners were about 2 inches too high. I had to disconnect the car, back up, reconnect the car and move on.

The forecast had called for fog in the morning and I hoped by now that it had burned off. Nope.

We only drove through a few patches but it was pretty thick over the water.

Around noon it did clear up and we got some views of the lake but there never seemed to be a pullout to stop and take good pictures. I must say I was a bit disappointed at what we did see.

There is not a lot of colour in the trees yet either.

There were some rest stops but they were in strange places where you couldn’t see anything. There was one good one but it was too small for me to get the RV in and out. For lunch we finally got too hungry, gave up and just stopped at the side of the road.

Gas is pricey up here. We saw better prices in the wilds of the Yukon.

I picked White Lake Provincial Park because it was about halfway between Thunder Bay and the cottage. This is not a place for a big RV. The roads are very narrow with lots of overhanging branches. Some of the corners were just too sharp for me.

It is a good thing it wasn’t very busy. If I had ever met someone there would be no room to get by, even on the access road in from the highway. There are three section. One is for tents only. I went into one of the others nearer the water and I am not sure how we got out. Lots of trees scraping on the roof and sides. The last one was better but still tight.

Walking around I think I got one of the only reasonably level pull thru sites.

There are over 100 RV/trailer sites here and I think about 10 are occupied so it should be a quiet night.

We took a walk down to the very nice beach.

It was almost like the lake had tides. It looked like there was a high water mark. The dark sand was very wet and the lighter sand was dry. I think the reason was that the beach was so flat that the water could go a long way up with even small waves.

Jennie is always checking out the interesting coloured rocks.

We did get a bit of rain during the drive and I think this was the storm moving off to the east.

It was just another driving day with some nice scenery but I had hoped for more. The peaceful beach at the end made for a good ending though.

A long drive to the family cottage tomorrow.

Sep 15 – To Kakabeka Falls, Ontario

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We had to stop at Kakabeka Falls Provincial Park because I remember staying here as a kid with my family in our tent trailer. I am not sure why this place sticks out but I even have a somewhat fuzzy picture in my mind of what the falls looked like. I really did like those camping trips.

We awoke this morning to the farm sounds of a cattle truck parked beside us while the driver went and got his coffee. All in all, I would say having the Timmy’s near us was bad. Just about all night there was a truck idling somewhere within earshot. Earplugs did help though.

The drive today was very easy. Nice weather, smooth highway and very little traffic. It was just kind of monotonous and lots of bugs splattered on the windshield

I was actually a bit worried about getting in the park as it is a Saturday, near a big city and a very nice day but it was maybe 1/8 full. The parks are winding down as it was even self check in, with no one in the booth.

The falls are called the “Niagara of the North”. As usual the viewpoints could have used a bit of tree trimming. They had a nice boardwalk that went along one side, across the bridge and down the other side.

View down the gorge,

Some close ups.

A hint of a rainbow.

Then we did a very short hike down the rim of the gorge for a view back to the falls.

Keeping an eye in the proceedings.

Again I had planned to take a day off here but the forecast has changed that. Tomorrow looks OK but things deteriorate after that. I would rather see the North of Superior scenery in nice weather than miss it in the rain so onwards.

Sep 14 – To Dryden, Ontario

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I always forget just how big Ontario is. It has been 5 days since we left Jasper and if we were going straight to Toronto it would take us at least 4 or 5 days to get there from here at the Ontario border.

We went through a whole list of varying scenery today.

First we took the so called Perimeter Road around Winnipeg. I think they left a lot of room for expansion because you can barely see the city in the distance across the fields.

From the wide open fields we soon got into some trees.

Then the dreaded tunnel of trees all the way to the Manitoba border.

At the border it was like someone flipped a switch. We are now in the land of rock cuts and lakes everywhere. Lake of the Woods cottage country. It could have been Muskoka.

We found a nice spot to stop for lunch.

Then as we got closer to Dryden we moved to farm country.

And then into Dryden dominated by its pulp and paper mill.

The roads were exceptionally good today. Even the older sections were very smooth. We also hit a lot of fresh asphalt which meant construction. We waited at one spot for about 15 minutes. This was the lineup at the other end. We saw several of those huge tanks pass us.

There are a LOT of trucks on this section of highway and not a lot of passing lanes. With the nice road it was fairly easy to keep our speed up and not create a lineup.

We are “Wallydocking” again. My brother used the Apple “Find My Friends” app and then Google Streetview to send me a picture of where we are.

I couldn’t get quite the same angle.

There is a Tim Horton's across the road. Good – we can attach to their WIFI and do all the big downloads we have been holding off. Bad – all the truckers pull into the Walmart parking lot and walk across the road to get their coffee. We’ll see how bad it is through the night.