Day 38. White River to Wawa. June 4. 96 km.

We started our morning in that great suite using the leftovers from last night for breakfast. So that meant pyrogies and salad plus some peanut butter to add some stickum.

It was surprisingly cold this morning, about 1C when we started pedalling. But it was sunny and there was no wind at all.

The ride for the majority of the way was on a great smooth paved shoulder. A little while later we saw signs saying Bike Route, which we really appreciated. This is a major improvement over our experience during our first ride through this area 11 years ago, or even three years ago. Initially, much of the road had no paved shoulder or perhaps a narrow strip of asphalt 30 cm wide. We only encountered in headwind for the last 15-20 km, which facilitated our arrival in Wawa very

early in the afternoon. Distance today 96 km.

 

Paved shoulder and bike route signage. 

There was a lot of truck traffic on these roads and we have seen lots of evidence of vehicles leaving the road, such as broken guard rails. Thus, it wasn't surprising to a wreck at the roadside.

 

Evidence of truck traffic. 

On the way into town, we stopped at the Wawa goose for the umpteenth time. The sign tells about construction of the Trans-Canada Hwy, which is 7821 km long.

 

The Wawa goose. 

Day 37. Marathon to White River. June 3. 96 km.

With a room assured in White River, we looked at the weather forecast and saw that rain was expected in the early afternoon. So we made an effort to hustle along, which was facilitated by the lack of hills toy. After cycling up the hill out of Marathon, it was clear sailing into White River, which we made before 2 PM. One of the interesting sights was the Barrick Gold mine and a road nearby called the Yellow Brick Road.

 

Barrick gold mine. 

 

Appropriately named road. 

We had to take whatever room was offered to us because we really didn't have a choice. It was a bit pricy but turned out to be good for us. It was a two bedroom suite with a full kitchen as well as living/dining room. It was probably over 600 square feet. With this opportunity, we decided to cook a meal rather than eat out again. So supper tonight was ribs, pyrogies and salad. We couldn't really handle a full bottle of salad dressing so our improvised dressing became medium chain triglyceride oil with lemon juice.

On the way back from the grocery store, we saw another bicyclist ride up to the motel and started a.conversation. Alexei is a 32 y.o. Russian who started in New York and was riding to Alaska. Interesting people along the way. Distance today 96km.

 

Alexei riding from New York to Alaska. 

Day 36. Terrace Bay to Marathon. June 2. 83 km.

We started the day with a hearty breakfast of steak and eggs to ensure that we were being adequately nourished. Both of us are losing weight and we would like to limit our weight losses.

Once we got into June, I thought we would be out of the cold. Wrong. This morning it was 2C when we started in Terrace Bay. This was a challenging day because of the hills and headwinds. Our next hotel was located in Marathon about 4 km off the highway. Changing from the highway motel to one in town turned out well because we got a nice room and access to the restaurants and supplies that we need. The scenery continued to be great as expected and we had lots of time to take it in while we slogged up the hills. When you hit the downhills, you have to focus on the road and your speed and you don't dare to gawk at the scenery. Distance today was 83 km.

 

One of many great views of Lake Superior 

The Marathon Harbour Inn was still over-reacting to COVID-19 because they had cancelled their breakfasts, only opened their reception desk for 3 1/2 hours and told us to exit only by the back door.  In comparison, the restaurant people were welcoming, didn't wear masks and didn't insist on social distancing.

Our major excitement came after we were in the Marathon motel calling ahead for rooms for the next four days. Two calls to motels in White River resulted in a quandary because all the rooms were taken. For the next two hours, we brainstormed our options and were prepared to take a taxi beyond the choke point. After dinner the Continental Motel in White River called to say that they had a cancellation and we had a room. A number of phone calls later we had reservations for places all the way into Sault Ste Marie. I don't need to go through stress like that again.

Day 35. Nipigon to Terrace Bay. June 1. 108 km.

We started the day by going to the Tim Hortons next to the motel for breakfast. Then we were peddling our way eastward on Hwy 17 toward Schrieber. The road did not disappoint because it was less busy than the section before Nipigon because much of the transport truck traffic took Hwy 11 to the north. The paved shoulder was great and the hills had not changed. But most importantly, the scenery was still spectacular. We enjoyed every minute of the ride. 

We were in the Schrieber before 1 PM, so we carried on to Terrace Bay, a distance 108 km today, where we arrived before 3 PM and checked into the Driftwood Motel. Instead of another restaurant meal, we had lasgna and bean salad from the local grocery store. Accompanied by a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and fruit and carrot muffins, it made a great meal.

 

Along the north shore of Lake Superior 

I finally ran out of disposable old socks, which means that I will have to start washing socks soon. But it was a good end of life use for several pairs of old and/or mismatched socks. The new antibiotic may be working as Gramie seemed stronger. Time will tell.

Day 34. Thunder Bay to Nipigon. May 31. 110 km.

We lucked out yesterday by spending time in Thunder Bay and not on the road. The weather today was perfect for bicycling; even the wind cooperated by blowing across our path. We used streets that were designated for bikes; that worked well as the traffic was better and the road was smoother. We used streets that took us to Lakeshore Drive, which parallels the Trans-Canada Hwy almost a third of the way to Nipigon.

On the way through the city, we saw lots of high water in the streams.

After we got on the main road, we stopped at a rest stop half way to Nipigon for lunch and met Dave who was bicycling from Victoria to Nova Scotia. He was making really good time by riding about 150 percent of our daily rides. We arrived in Nipigon about 3 PM and got a great room at the Pinecrest Motel.  As the picture shows, it is done tastefully and has all the little details such as USB outlets for our electronics.

 

High water within Thunder Bay- Ferguson Creek? 

 

Fellow Cross-Canada Cyclist 

 

Nice room in the Pinecrest Motel 

Day 33. Thunder Bay maintenance day. May 30. 8 km.

We found that Petrie's Bicycle Shop in Thunder Bay was really good on a previous ride, and planned to stop there to have our bikes maintained this time around. Accordingly, we booked our motel here for two nights and called ahead to the bike shop. This morning we had a nice leisurely breakfast and left for the bike shop at 8:30 AM for their 9 AM opening. Wouldn't you know it. I had a flat front tire so we pushed our bikes to the shop. The mechanic was impressed with the dirt in the sprockets etc. As it turned out, Gramie's bike needed a good clean up of the chain and sprockets along with adjustments to the shifters. Mine needed more. He replaced the chain and rear sprocket cassette as well as the front inner tube. My bike needed everything adjusted and the brake discs cleaned. I thought that we were set for the remainder of the trip.

While we were waiting for the bikes, we went to the White Cedar walk-in clinic to have Gramie's persistent cough addressed. The doctor prescribed a different antibiotic, levofloxacin. Distance today was 8km to the shop and back.

We were fortunate to have picked today for our bike maintenance because the skies opened up a couple of times and poured buckets on the city. Had we been biking, we would have been soaked. Later a car driver told us that he had to pull off the highway for a few minutes because of the intensity of the rain. The storm appears to have moved on so perhaps tomorrow will be a good cycling day.

 

Petrie's Bicycle shop- Gramie and the mechanic who serviced our bikes. 

Day 32. Upsala to Thunder Bay. May 29. 135 km.

Our goal for the day was to get to Thunder Bay so that we can have our bikes checked over first thing Monday morning. With rain in the forecast, we left the motel about 6:30 AM and arrived at the Black Spruce Motel and Restaurant just as they were opening. We had really good bacon and eggs for breakfast and were off toward the Lakehead. There was a modest headwind in the morning, which became significant in the afternoon. By the time we rolled into Thunder Bay, Gramie was gassed.  She had to walk up most of the remaining hills and had difficulty riding up relatively gentle hills.

Today we found the official time zone sign that we looked for yesterday. It was still at its official site about 20km east of Upsala but the people here change the time well to the west, if fact a bit west of English River. Then some 12 km further east, we found the watershed sign that marked the divide of the Arctic and Atlantic watersheds.

Tonight we are in the Econolodge Motel, which is convenient to the bike shop that we have used before and our other needs.

 

Watershed sign.