Today was one of our longest travel days on the trip, going the long way from Sault Ste. Marie to Fort Frances, ON. The long way means following Ontario Highway 17/Trans-Canada Hwy along the north shore of Lake Superior. The trip is over 1,000km, not counting the bits one accumulates stopping for fuel and bladder breaks.
The weather today was amazing, particularly in the morning where we had a cloudless blue sky as we drove out of Sault Ste. Marie onto The Great Northern Road (aka Hwy 17). Traffic was light and the road was a real pleasure to drive with elevation changes and gentle direction changes that made for relaxed crusing at a few kph over the the posted limit.
Cut right through Canadian Shield 
There was no texting and driving 
It might as well be the ocean 
Purrty 
We actually got a fog warning on our phone as we rolled towards this 
Beware of fog! 
You never get tired of the views 
Bridge on TCH 
A really cool cable-stayed bridge.
Our first stop was in Wawa, ON, where we visited the Giant Goose statue, which is near the intersection of the Hwy 17/TCH and the road into town. We took a quick video, but can’t seem to get at that until we resolve the memory card reader problem with the laptop. After that, we stopped at the intersection of the TCH and the road to Manitouwage, ON, home town to a certain much-loved BMW technician and Canadian Tire Carling alumnus. Going to visit family is a serious commitment!
Along the way, we noted some great and some odd place names. Topping the list for great was Desolation Lake and winner in the odd category is a tie between Fungus Lake and Wild Potato
Stopping for fuel in Terrace Bay, ON, gave us a chance to speak to some nice folks from Regina, SK, who were on their own roadtrip. Two families in a well-seasoned RV had done the northern states, coming back into Canada at Niagara Falls, ON, were now on their way home. They indicated that they had some vehicle problems on their outbound trip, noting they were relieved the US was more populated than Canada. There isn’t much happening on the north shore of Lake Superior, save the natural splendour.
Gratuitous bootie shot
Our last stop was the Thunder Bay waterfront. I’ve always wanted to visit the place and how could you not when it such a cool name — Thunder Bay, or in Lord of the Rings-speak, “The Bay of Thunder”. We spent a bit of time at the waterfront marina, took some photos and hit the road for the final leg to Fort Frances.
Thunder Bay Waterfront – Crazy plants 
Public Art in Thunder Bay 
Thunder Bay wading pool with fountains 
Averting my eyes 
More Thunder Bay waterfront 
Thunder Bay waterfront duck pond 
Thunder Bay waterfront
Hwy 11 to Fort Frances was nice, but it was no TCH. The skies got cloudier as we drove and we did get some heavy rain, but nothing like what we got yesterday. The neat bit of this leg was adjusting all of our devices to central time and discovering that the car and Garmin GPS units, despite knowing precisely where they are, do not automatically adjust timezones.
Moose warning signs were everywhere 
Dramatic skies 
More drama in the clouds 
Trish driving! This rarely happens unless it’s competition or I’m nearly dead.
That’s it for today. Tomorrow takes us briefly in the Land of the Orange Madman before we turn north to Winnipeg, where we will hopefully resolve some of our technical challenges. If you’d like to know more/different things, about our trip, please let us know in the comments, either here, on Facebook, or on Instagram.
The Canadian shield is breathtaking. My favourite geological feature in Canada.
What’s your gas mileage like?
Hi Rob, we’re getting 7.5L/100km roughly. You know how gentle I am with the throttle pedal.
WoW. What an interesting trip! Enjoy. XX
Merci, MC!