Cross Canada Tour

Day 23 - June 30th - Kenora to Nestor Falls
120km

 I'm glad that I made the decision to take Highway 71 rather than 17 - not only is this a nice riding and pretty route, but most of the heavy truck traffic seems to take the other route through Dryden etc. 71 was really quiet today, but I guess with it being a holiday Sunday helped too. As expected, I had headwinds all day as I am heading south, perhaps I'll fare better after tomorrow, when I start in an easterly direction. The route definitely has more hills now and the shoulder is unpredictable, sometimes it's good, then it disappears for a while, then it returns. For the most part though, the road is in really good shape, much better than I had expected - I hope it continues that way.

 My day off in Kenora was great, It was a good rest with a chance to explore the town and its history - Yes, I went to the museum - I love the local town museums, you can get a real history lesson in a short time!

 Also yesterday, I met two more lady cyclists at the campground who are heading west. Emily and Mary are from Montreal, so I mentioned that I met two Quebec girls when I was heading up Allison Pass; it appears that one of the girls heading east is Emily's sister - small world! I also met another lady travelling around on a motorcycle with sidecar - the sidecar's for her German Shepard! She did give me some good info on road conditions and water stops for my future travels going further east.

 It was really hot again today, but yesterday evening was terrible. The wind died down and the humidity level soared. I listened to the local Kenora radio station and at 9:00 p.m. it was 32 degrees with a high humidex advisory - like I didn't know - I was sweating profusely in my tent trying to fan myself cool with a tourist brochure, sleep was just about impossible. It was still humid this morning when I left, but the sun seems to have burned some of the moisture away - it's still hot though! Well over 30. Another downfall to high humidity - mozzies love it!

 I saw a moose cow with her calf today, she kind of eyeballed me as I went past then trundled off into the bush before I could take a photo. I'm staying at Lecuney's Camp, one of many on the shores of the Lake of the Woods. This one's full of Americans. Most of these camps have a main lodge with adjacent rental cabins or space for RV's and tents. I was hoping to try a cabin for the night but with the long weekend, not possible - perhaps another time?

 It seems that I've got another day of hot weather ahead but the forecasters said the rains will come and cool things down - we'll see if they're right!

 Well I hope that I get some sleep tonight, those hot sweaty nights are a drain on my system! At least I wasn't the only one though - when I got up at 5:00 a.m. - there were all kinds of people wandering around the campground with the same bags under their eyes that I had.

 Happy 135th Birthday Canada!

Day 24 - July 1st - Nestor Falls to Fort Frances
104km

 Low miles eh? But there's not much else down the road until I hit Atikokan, which will be tomorrow's ride, so Fort Frances will have to suffice. Besides I had strong headwinds - again! Even when I turned full east onto Highway 11, I had that south-easterly in my face. Those easterlies usually mean a storm's coming, and today was true to form. I got caught in a thunderstorm about 15km out of Fort Frances - big hailstones too - another good reason to wear a bike helmet! Some places a bit further south had baseball size hailstones to contend with and funnel clouds touching down. The weather still hasn't cleared though; it's hot and humid as hell, so I think that we'll get dumped on later tonight too. Other than the headwind, the ride was reasonable with some really good scenery. I saw a fox today; he ran across the road right in front of me, scared the hell out of Basil!

 Just before my second breakfast stop at Emo, I met a fellow cycling heading west. Stan is riding to raise awareness of the D.A.R.E. program, visiting police stations etc. along the way. He hails from Brantford. ON, and started his ride in St. Johns, Newfoundland. He's hoping to be in Victoria on July 31st, so keep your ears to the ground for a sign of him. Stan's travelling light. When I asked where his bags were - this was after I questioned whether he was just out for a day ride! - I found out that he has a motor home for a support vehicle, must be nice eh?

 I wouldn't mind a motor home tonight, the mozzies are really bad at this campground. I don't know how much more blood I can donate to those suckers, they never seem satiated! I'm camped in a private RV park just east of town, the local town park would have been nicer, but it's packed with people there for the Canada Day festivities and fireworks etc. are planned for later in the evening. They probably wouldn't want me flying my dirty laundry at the park's picnic site anyway!

 Fort Frances is quite a big town - paper and pulp mill town. Smells just like Powell River, BC! Fort Frances is also a border town; the Rainy River is the border between the USA and Canada. A bridge takes one over to International Falls, USA. I passed some huge log dumps with acres of cut wood waiting for transport to the mill.

 I'll probably get a motel the next two nights as I've got two days of heavy riding, especially if the wind doesn't cooperate. Besides, it'll be nice to let some of my mozzie bites and lumps settle down! I need something like a sheep dip - filled with Deet - so that I can dip myself before I get out of my screened tent! And those big flies constantly drafting me as I ride, they bombard and bounce of me, but when I stop for a rest, they stop too! They sit on my bags and bike waiting until I take off again; I leave, and so do they! I'm sure that its the same gang of flies that's been trailing me from Manitoba - getting a free ride to the east coast I'll bet!

 OK, big wishes for tailwinds for the next two days - at least!

Day 25 - July 2nd - Fort Frances to Atikokan
148km

 Prayers were answered - I got my tail winds today, and just as well too, as the road was a roller coaster. Lots of short climbs and not much of any downhills for the effort! Virtually no shoulder either, with a myriad of logging trucks to contend with, on top of regular traffic - but still not super busy, I guess that will happen when 11 joins onto 17. The nicest part of the ride was early this morning as I left Fort Frances on the Noden Causeway that crosses Rainy Lake - very picturesque! There were quite a few washouts on the road today, from recent flooding. The most serious was a missing bridge that had been washed away by the Seine River. A single lane Bailey bridge has been installed as a temporary fix. Apart from that, loose gravel on the roadway was the only other hazard. I had been concerned about this route being open at all, as it was closed for a short while recently. A detour would have constituted returning a long distance all the way to back to almost Kenora. The motorcycle lady (and sidecar with dog) that I met in Kenora, had just travelled this route successfully on her westward journey, hence my decision to venture this way rather than the more northerly route through Dryden etc.

 I scored a motel for tonight, as I need a break from the bugs. I'll swear those mozzies had a breeding frenzy last night, because there was an extra thousand or two to contend with this morning! I had to wear my head-net, plus a ton of repellent on any exposed parts, just to get my bike packed up! Not very pleasant camping in these bug infested conditions! I've not seen too many people tent camping around here, and even the ones with RV's usually have screened gazebos for "enjoying" the outdoors. Last night there were rolling thunderstorms with heavy rain, so most of my stuff was pretty damp this morning anyway and I also discovered a leak in my tent fly. So the motel room is a good place to dry the gear out and apply some seam sealer to the troublesome area.

 One of my STI shifters went on the fritz a couple of days ago, I tried repairing it, but there's nothing to be done. The component has about 30,000km on it, so I guess that it had to give up the ghost sometime - but why now? Murphy's Law eh? Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring along a down-tube shifter that I had adapted for just such an occurrence - it's working fine, but not as convenient as the STI shifting at the brake lever. I'm going to check out the bike shops in Thunder Bay, when I get there, and see if I can come up with a replacement. Might be difficult though, as most of the stuff now is 9 speed and I'm still running 8 speed. Keep your fingers crossed!

 Atikokan's reason for being on the map is iron ore mining. I didn't have a lot of time to explore around, but it is a community of 3,500, so it's not quite the hole in the ground that I thought it was!

 By the way, I passed the 3,000km mark early this morning.

Day 26 - July 3rd - Atikokan to Thunder Bay
203km

 Yep, when the going's good, hit them pedals and keep going, and I did! Must have been that free breakfast at the motel this morning; the tailwind didn't do any harm either!

 I've got a room at the hostel here in Thunder Bay, it's at Confederation College; two nights for C$46.00, tax included. It's a private room, with its own bathroom, fridge and microwave - good deal! You noticed that I wrote "two nights." Yes, it's a day off tomorrow; it'll be a good chance to perhaps resolve my shifter problems, by visiting some of the bike shops here.

 I met a young lady triathlete (training) on the bike path system here, she kindly guided me to the College and recommended some bike shops. She was quite impressed with my day's ride and took me right to the door of the accommodations building - you do meet some nice people! Perhaps that was a repayment for my good deed today, About 20km east of Atikokan, I spotted something at the other side of the road as I was riding by - it looked like a wallet. I turned around and went over, and by George, it was a wallet. Cash, credit cards, ID, the whole works. I handed it in at the next OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) station that I came across. That should make the owner happy - when she gets that back.

 Road-wise, apart from 30km of road works, today was pretty much the same as yesterday - Rock, Bush, Swamp, Hill - Rock, Bush, Swamp, Hill - RBSH - you get the picture! I'd get the odd good view over a lake, then it was back to R(ub)B(i)SH! You can get kind of sick of "rugged scenery!" About 50km east of Thunder Bay, the scenery did improve though; it's almost like I had entered a lush valley - hard to explain? I passed a sign today, about 70km east of Atikokan, that stated that it was the actual point at which all watercourses now flowed in an eastward direction to the Atlantic Ocean. The sign stated an elevation of 1660 feet. When I came to the junction of Highways 17 and 11, just I expected, the truck traffic increased dramatically. I suppose that I'm going to have to contend with that for quite a few days after I leave Thunder Bay.

 Thunder Bay's a city of 125,000, at the head of Lake Superior, so it's quite a big place, and divided into Thunder Bay north and Thunder Bay south. Tomorrow I'll get to explore around a bit, but for tonight I found a local(ish) Boston Pizza, where I'm stuffing my face with pasta and quaffing a 32oz schooner of you know what! It's a hard life, ain't it?

 I lost another hour today; I'm on Eastern Standard Time, so I'm really jet-lagged now, I guess that I'll have to sleep in tomorrow to try and readjust!

Day 27 - July 4th - Rest Day - Thunder Bay
0km