June 21 - Day 46 - Weather Day

The four of us L to R

Me, Chris, Jarka and Patrick

Storing our bikes to keep them dry today. 

 Another weather day today.  We’ve had thunderstorms on and off most of the day, along with strong winds.  Things have finally died down, but it’s far too late to try and make it to Wawa today.  

I’ve been texting with the quebecois boys, they are in Iron Bridge, 110 km east of Sault Ste Marie, Marcel is almost as far.  I’ve met up with three other cyclists, Chris from Edmonton and Patrick and Jarka from Vernon.  We spent the morning visiting after we checked out of our hotel, and before we could check into a different one, as the original one was full tonight.  

It’s been a fun day visiting and telling stories, we should be good to go tomorrow morning for Wawa.  Possibly stay at a campground there.  Then it will be two long days to Sault Ste Marie, with likely limited service.  

June 20 - Day 45 - White River - 90.7 km, 635m

Celebrating over half way!!!

Winnie the Pooh 

Lunch spot

Selfie

Another day done….and it was a great day….nice and easy.  I wasn’t in a rush again today, just a fun day.  I waited just enough this morning for it to warm up just a bit, so I was comfortable the whole day.  Although it looks like I was going uphill all day, I wasn’t.  The grade was good, not too many hills.  

I did see a mama black bear and a baby cross the highway not too far ahead of me, but I was going uphill….so couldn’t go very fast.  When I got to the area where I had seen her cross, she was there, hiding behind some rocks just watching me.  Then several vehicles passed, and by that time I was a ways away, and never saw her again.  About 15 km further, I stopped at a restaurant and had an ice cream.  The server was quite chatty, we talked about the bear….her take on it is that she was showing her cub how to cross the highway.   That’s certainly a possibility.  

I was starving when I arrived in White River….being hungry is new for me, so I had a meal after washing up.  I was still hungry, but too embarrassed to order more food so I went for a walk to another restaurant where I had my celebration that I didn’t have yesterday!!!!

So I’m in White River…their claim to fame is this is where Winnie the Pooh started.  The story goes that Lt Colbourn was a vet and was looking after horses on the train.  When the train stopped in White River and he saw an orphaned black bear beside a trapper, he offered the trapper $20 for the bear.  He named the bear Winnie after his hometown of Winnipeg.  Eventually he gave the bear to the London zoo, where A.A. Milne’s son Christopher Robins Milne loved the bear and would feed it spoon fulls of honey.  And the rest is history!!!!

June 19 - Day 44-Marathon 77 km - 950 m

4135 km 41 riding days, 3 non riding days- but sort of 4 since I split one day into two,  38 sunny days,  lots of headwind days….and so many incredible views!!!!

The elevation chart for today.  It wasn’t actually as bad as it looks.  

Love it when the road disappears….downhill coming up!!!

New shirt today to celebrate….i threw away the other one.  Less to carry!!!

Nice view

Selfie 

Narrow shoulder.  Most of the time it was fairly wide, but when it’s this narrow, I get into the gravel when I see a semi in the mirror

 Half way!!!!  Whoop Whoop.  Hard to believe I’m already half way….feels like I have so much left to ride, but then looking back…I’ve ridden a lot!!!  

Another fantastic day….lots of elevation, but a relatively short day which is why I slept in this morning 😀.   This morning was grey, overcast,  cool and super windy, and not in the right direction!  Hummm….well nothing to do but get on my bike and go for it.  

The clouds broke quite quickly and I had sunny skies, and the wind did slow down a bit, but remained gusty till the end.   I didn’t have many views today, but those that I did have were spectacular.  I did make three stops today, one for a bite to eat - banana and bar, one for pictures and one at a view point.  I think these stops really help me out, rather than cycling hard all day without stopping.  

I saw a small black bear on its own - running in to the bushes, then a bit later a momma and one baby.  Glad I’m not wild camping….nor really camping.  Just never know.  So I’m in a hotel tonight, it’s on the highway, because it’s 120 meters down into town, so that means it would be 120 m up tomorrow morning….in addition to the day!  No thank you….but there’s a taxi in town for the win!!!  

June 18 - Day 43 - Terrace Bay- 111 km, 1200m

Total mileage is 4,058 km!!!!   Tomorrow is my half way point.  

 

Camping last night

Still foggy

Lake Superior 

Lake Superior part way up one of the hills

Rest stop

The beach had some sand, some small rocky area, and this area with huge rock 

Waterfalls near Terrace Bay

🤣🤣🤣

I had an amazing day…despite a challenging start.  But first an update on last night.  It rained while I was having dinner, so at the campground, I set up under the shelter.  Not long after the sky opened up…and it poured for about 30 min.  A woman and her two kids came to the shelter just before the deluge, and cooked a birthday dinner for her son….then we all had some cake after singing 😀

The campground was very basic, no shower, no running water, just an outhouse without any paper😳. I decided to change, so managed in the outhouse, without any hooks, and nothing touched the floor…. I was quite proud of my feat!!!  I washed mostly clothed at the marina, between two boat launch areas.  Clean!!!  Whew.  

This morning I woke up at 0530 to fog….pea soup type fog.  I got dressed, packed up and headed to Tim Hortons for breakfast.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do….and just as I was getting ready to order a man struck up a conversation.  What was I doing, where did I start etc.  really interested, he even bought my first breakfast!  Very nice.  As I was eating another cyclist walked in, he’s going east to west.  We discussed the road, the hills, the lack of services…I wasn’t sure what to do….and I was a bit tearful.  Because it’s so isolated out here I was thinking of renting a UHaul and just driving to Sault Ste Marie and being done with the isolation, but the cyclist said the road is good, the hills aren’t bad and he was sure I could do it.  Ok…..so I had a second breakfast, with extra to go, and off I went.  

I started at 0830, and already the fog was starting to lift, and by 1030 blue skies!!!!  Yippee!!!!  The lake was still foggy, but now I could see the vehicles and they could see me.  I didn’t feel in a rush today, so took as many stops as I wanted.  Stopped a few times for pictures, lunch was a banana and the three remaining oatmeal raisin cookies I bought in Fort Frances so long ago!  I stopped at a picnic area for more pictures….a short detour to some water falls.  Just a fantastic day, and I’m feeling really good, lots of energy.  

I did a hard reset of my phone and that has fixed the live tracking.  Sorry, didn’t mean to worry anyone as I looked like I was stuck in the middle of nowhere for hours….but after a chat with my tech support (Ted), I think we fixed it!  

I’m in a hotel tonight, as there aren’t any campgrounds near the town.  Laundry is done, dinner was amazing and all my stuff is dried out.  Another early start tomorrow to Marathon!  Thanks for all the texts and encouragement ❤️❤️❤️

June 17 - Day 42 - Nipigon

View of Lake Superior from the view point.  

 Today I’m remembering two great men who influenced me.  First is my Dad….he would have been 99 today.  A great Dad who really loved us ❤️

Second is Terry Fox.  I went to visit his memorial statue this morning.  It was 45 years ago that he was doing his marathon of Hope. I was 15 years old, running 10 km races, and really wanting to run a marathon.  Back then there weren’t any training plans, and I wasn’t sure how to increase my mileage.  Then came along Terry Fox with his iconic hop/skip/run with an artificial leg, and he was running a marathon a day…..every day!  I was inspired by what he was doing, and was devastated- like the rest of Canadians-when he had to stop.  He was a true hero.  

I continued on to Nipigon, making it here in good time.  Someone said that they saw me on the highway, and also saw another cyclist about 2 km behind me….too bad we didn’t meet up.  Although I wasn’t far from Lake Superior all day, the only view I had was from the Terry Fox memorial….there’s an excellent view point there.  

Good luck oilers tonight…..I’m going to get to bed early for an early start tomorrow.  Apparently there’s a forecast of thunderstorms tonight…..I’m setting up my tent under a shelter in the hopes on not having to pack up wet tomorrow 😀

June 16 - Day 41 - Thunder Bay

 I woke up at 0530, with the plan of going to Nipigon, but when I saw that it was 140 km, I rolled over and went back to sleep, deciding to go only to Thunder Bay today, and make the trip to Nipigon tomorrow a bit shorter.  

I went and visited with my new friends….and we chatted till 1030, then we visited the falls again. Never have enough of watching waterfalls.  Eventually I packed up and headed 1 km to a coffee shop where I sat and had breakfast while I charged up my devices.  

Eventually I made it to Thunder Bay and Lorraine directed me to the bike shop…almost entirely on bike paths.  They checked my chain, and adjusted my derailleur.  I had a smoothie for lunch then headed off to see the Terry Fox memorial statue.  It was 10 km, but when I was 1.5 km away, my chain broke.  A guy came up - I was still in a residential area, offered for me to use his garage.  I eventually repaired it, but I wasn’t sure I had done it properly, so his wife gave me a ride back to the shop.  So kind…and she wouldn’t take any money!  The best people!!!  The hostel was only 4 blocks from the shop, so instead of going to see the memorial, I had her drop me off at the hostel.  It was already 1800.  I will try to get to the memorial tomorrow even though it’s a bit of a detour. 

At the hostel I met up with Lucas, I last saw him in Creston, and Tim who is cycling west from Halifax to Vancouver.  Nice to meet fellow bike packers.  

Thanks for all the texts….I'm felling much better, ready to take those hills tomorrow and for the next 7 days. 

June 15 - Day 40 - Kakabeka falls 81 km

 Today turned out to be a really good day, but it didn’t start off that way.  

I woke up early, packed up the tent even though it was wet from dew.  I knew it was going to be a long day day.  It was 40 km to the gas station with food, so I had to ration my water, I only had one bottle as there wasn’t any eater available where I was sleeping.  

Eventually I made it to the gas station, and with the time change, only had to wait 45 min for the chill grill to open up.  I bought two bottles of juice and drank those as I waited for food.  

I kept going, with the plan of going all the way to thunder bay, but I was really tired.  I took a rest stop about 20 km from the falls, and that’s when I decided I would stop at the falls.  

I just made it to the campsite when I received a text from my SIL.  She had just texted her friends, and coincidentally they were just passing through Thunder Bay and would honk their horn when they saw me.  I texted that I was in the campground and gave my info which was passed on to her friends, I figured that they were already passed, but 30 min later, they showed up!!!!  How fun….nice people to visit with.  They invited me for dinner and we had a lovely evening together.  Perfect….just what I needed!  

Campsite