No Cell, No internet, No posted Blog
(Sorry for delay – out of our control)
SNM Tour Day #33
Started running to a stunning sunrise, thereafter it was a brooding overcast and somewhat dreary day. They had forecast 100% chance of rain and they were right, fortunately only caught me in the last 10 km. We travelled on what has been called the Terry Fox Courage Highway seeing the end of it at approx 100 km. We had planned a shorter day to Nipigon but decided to push a bit farther and ended up in Gravel at approx 145 total km. To say Gravel is a “one horse” town would be a gross overstatement – there wasn’t even a horse. The only bit of human life revolved around a combination gas station, LCBO, motel, store, “campground”. Cars and people came and went and Gravel grumbled along oblivious to us. As a point of interest, on a long car ride just after I completed my family practice residency when had done this same route and I had fallen in love with the area of Nipigon and actually called up the physicians in town to see if there were openings, but as it turned out I ended up doing a one year stint in Ile-a-la-Crosse in northern Saskatchewan – a very different landscape and part of the country indeed.
It was a bit disappointing that it wasn’t sunnier as some of the vistas overlooking Lake Superior are quite spectacular. Unfortunately it was a bit of a “blue” day all around. The weather set the mood, and we saw a blue hula hoop and later a blue sandal. We saw a surprising number of dead skunks whose smell blew (sorry for this but had to keep with the theme) by us. We passed the only “24 hour live bait vendor” that I’ve ever heard of – didn’t know that getting bait, dead or alive, was ever an emergency but I guess it is around this part of the country. As well, at the same store, you could “win bait”. So maybe the whole system worked like casino slot machine, 3 matching fish and you win a litre of water with minnows. No matches, no minnows – go figure.
B+B are flying back to Winnipeg today and Les is on the road with us for the next 9 days. She quickly got the hang of driving the RV and jumping in with all the daily scheduled things that need to be done. She loves photography, so she will now become the official photographer (when she’s not driving of course) and both she and Monique will hopefully get a bit of cycling in with me as time and weather dictates. It looks like we’ll be seeing a bit of rain over the next few days, so it may not be the most pleasant road work but we knew what we were getting into when we signed up for this.
Tour Day Sponsor is Audrey Islfeld - thanks so much for your kindness, generosity and support. It was a very pleasant surprise to hear from you again and for you to be part of this tour!
Random quote of the day
The scars you can’t see are the hardest to heal
Astrid Alaudia
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