Onward to Quetico
So that bone I got from the pet store in Marathon gave Jubs the runs. That meant she had to get up multiple times during the night. As a result, we lazed about until about 8am. Not one to sit about too long when it’s a travel day, I packed up the remaining bits. It still took me about an hour for some reason, I guess I was dawdling.
We hit the road just after 9am and I’d planned to pick up breakfast at this funny little restaurant I’d found last summer that made just the best club sandwich. I happened to stop there on the way back from Sleeping Giant because there were nearly no other food options. From the outside it looked sketchy as hell but inside it was actually quite nice. And man that club was good. So I decided I’d give it another go and would pick up breakfast. It was in Schreiber, about an hour from our starting point, so I’d be good and hungry by then.
An easy drive to the spot and the breakfast lived up to my expectations - not the coffee though - not good. But happy to have a full belly I was feeling upbeat to tackle the travel day.
The plan was to stop in Thunder Bay for our stretch break because there’s a nice off-leash park with trails. T-Bay is about three hours from Neys and the stretch after that is only two so it made sense.
I like T-Bay. I’m tired of the aggression of Toronto and enjoy being somewhere where people talk to you when you’re checking out your groceries or genuinely wish you a good day when you leave a place of business. I know there’s lots of underbelly to these northern Ontario cities and towns but I like them all the same.
We drove along 17 until we hit the road works that seemed to be in the exact same place as they were last summer. I know that’s not exactly true but it certainly felt like it. I often am surprised that the major artery across the country is only one lane in each direction in most places and also without much traffic. There road widening that was happening last year was still happening this year. But that also surprises me - a project that feels proactive because there definitely doesn’t seem like there’s enough traffic to need it. So is the government actually planning for the future? I wish it felt like that in Toronto.
Another observation of last summer was the volume of American visitors. Every second license plate seemed to be from south of the border. I was curious if it would be the same after the recent American election and the trade wars. There have been countless reports of Canadian tourism tanking in the States so I wondered if it would be mirrored here. Well - there are definitely very few American tourists compared to last summer. At least, as evidenced by license plates. I’ve seen a handful of American plates - a marked difference.
We finally hit T-Bay and hit up Centennial Park dog trails. A very cute husky stole Juno’s ball. Dog life is so simple.
Another beautiful day and warmer. I chatted with a woman in the park who had remarked that the weather has been cooler than usual. I wondered what it would be like away from the largest air conditioner in the world (Lake Superior if you haven’t read my previous posts). I like the cooler weather but it’s damp, which I don’t like much.
We finished our walk, got gas (which is so much cheaper this year than it was last year), checked all the tie downs and then hit the road again for the last two hour stretch.
After clearing T-Bay there is literally nothing - no roadside stores, attractions, gas stations. Nothing but trees. Hours of trees. In fact there are signs saying “check your fuel levels, limited services ahead”. Love that and was feeling good about getting gas in T-Bay.
Kept chugging along and passed a sign notifying drivers that we were changing time zones!!!!! What?????? No way. I don’t know where I thought the time zone border should be but it feels weird that I crossed it. I’m now an hour behind home - on central time. Fancy that. On top of that, the sun sets later here than at home - by almost an hour. Bright and sunny until about 10pm ish.
Also passed a sign that said all rivers beyond that point flow into the Arctic watershed. So cool! I love all these little things.
Finally reached Quetico PP! The furthest west I’ll be travelling before turning around.
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