Saturday evening my new Canadian friends lead me to a very comfortable hotel in Thunder Bay, the Victorian Inn, where motorcycles are encouraged to park under the awning by the front door! And this place wasn't a dump, it was pretty darned nice! Thank you for that!
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| First day in Canada ... Saturday on Route 17 |
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| Another Saturday stop. Most of the road was blasted out. |
Unfortunately, Sunday morning had stormy weather heading in. I knew this going to bed, so I was up early and on the road by sunrise ... or actually, day break may be more appropriate as the sun never really came out for most of Sunday. It was cold and windy as the front was pushing in, and I pushed myself hard to get ahead of it, since I was running south east. I made it from Thunder Bay to Wawa by lunch time. I was starving and getting grumpy and a Snickers bar wasn't going to do the trick. I had already had road breakfast (milk and a breakfast bar during a gas stop) because the hotel's complimentary breakfast hour didn't start until 45 minutes after I hit the road. So I needed something substantial. As I waited for my meal, I logged into the diner's WiFi a pulled up the radar and went, "Oh shit, eat fast." A large green monster was headed my way and it was going on 1pm. I still wanted to run the Canadian version of the Tail of the Dragon, route 129, that runs from Chapleau to Thesselon. I wolfed down my BLT and fries and headed out. I made it about 100 Km (I'm getting used to the measurements here... more on that shortly) when I started getting rained on. It went from a drizzle, to steady rain, to an eventually down pour. Of course, I had additional warning from friends Theresa and Don in Marquette, Michigan, where it had been pouring rain and Theresa had sent me a heart felt message letting me know they were thinking of me! LOL
No pictures from the dragon, since I was getting drenched, and wouldn't you know it, that was the only time I was able to spot a moose so far, standing off to the side of a pond, under a tree, waiting out the rain. It was raining too hard for me to try to stop and get a picture. Crap! I will say that there were definitely some great sections of the road that would earn it the nick name, but I have been on equal or better roads without any names. Of the 226 Km of road, maybe 40 Km were challenging. Most of it was relatively straight or sweeping bends.
Now, as I am on my last day in Canada, I will say that I quickly figured out that 6 miles is about equal to 10 Km. So I became adept at calculating out distances based on that calculation. It also helped me determine when and where I needed to stop for fuel. There is no 93 octane here. You're fortunate to find 91. Many stations only carry regular. And where I rode, most stations are ESSO, with a few Husky, Petro Canada and alot of mom and pop stops with one or two gas pumps.
Here are some photos from last few days... remember you can double click on any one and it becomes a full size slide show of all the photos.
I am off to Michigan this morning. Looking forward to getting back to the states. Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and dry. Looking forward to meeting Theresa, wife of Don Johnson, who I knew from high school and haven't seen since then! Theresa and I are friends on FB... Don is not into the whole social media thing! LOL - They're gonna ride with me around the UP tomorrow! Yay!
Peace, my friends and family.
Bobbi
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| The Falls that my Canadian friends showed me! |
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| Lake Superior on Saturday ... Blue Skies! |
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| On my way out of Thunder Bay on Sunday. |
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| Lake Superior ... storm coming in. |
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| Bundled up on my way out of Thunder Bay. |
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| Another stop on the way to Wawa |
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| Met a German motorcycle rider here on his way to Manitoba on a dirt bike. |
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| My Monday morning view from where I stayed after Sunday ride on the dragon. |
Unfortunately, Sunday morning had stormy weather heading in. I knew this going to bed, so I was up early and on the road by sunrise ... or actually, day break may be more appropriate as the sun never really came out for most of Sunday. It was cold and windy as the front was pushing in, and I pushed myself hard to get ahead of it, since I was running south east. I made it from Thunder Bay to Wawa by lunch time. I was starving and getting grumpy and a Snickers bar wasn't going to do the trick. I had already had road breakfast (milk and a breakfast bar during a gas stop) because the hotel's complimentary breakfast hour didn't start until 45 minutes after I hit the road. So I needed something substantial. As I waited for my meal, I logged into the diner's WiFi a pulled up the radar and went, "Oh shit, eat fast." A large green monster was headed my way and it was going on 1pm. I still wanted to run the Canadian version of the Tail of the Dragon, route 129, that runs from Chapleau to Thesselon. I wolfed down my BLT and fries and headed out. I made it about 100 Km (I'm getting used to the measurements here... more on that shortly) when I started getting rained on. It went from a drizzle, to steady rain, to an eventually down pour. Of course, I had additional warning from friends Theresa and Don in Marquette, Michigan, where it had been pouring rain and Theresa had sent me a heart felt message letting me know they were thinking of me! LOL
No pictures from the dragon, since I was getting drenched, and wouldn't you know it, that was the only time I was able to spot a moose so far, standing off to the side of a pond, under a tree, waiting out the rain. It was raining too hard for me to try to stop and get a picture. Crap! I will say that there were definitely some great sections of the road that would earn it the nick name, but I have been on equal or better roads without any names. Of the 226 Km of road, maybe 40 Km were challenging. Most of it was relatively straight or sweeping bends.
2 comments:
Get back before the Canadians build a wall to keep the Yanks out! JK. Hope you are having a wonderful time, it looks like some awesome riding up there.
It was, Jeff. The Canadians were great to talk to also.
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