Aug 27, 2012 - In the year 1815

Thunder Bay, ON. What a wonderful day! We spent the entire day – from open to close – immersed in the culture of 1815. Fort William Historical Park is a living history site. There are 57 historic buildings staffed with actors in period costume. The fur trade sent European trade goods and men into the interior of North America in search of the prized beaver pelt. The beaver fur was valued because it was ideal for the production of felt top hats, an essential fashion item in Europe. One of the largest and most powerful fur traders was the...

Aug 26, 2012 - Travelling on

Thunder Bay, ON. Our motel in Ignace is an old fashioned drive up to the door place with dirt for a parking lot. The dirt parking lot is filled with big puddles of water from a recent storm. The redeeming feature of the Trading Post Motel, however, is the outside décor. They feature 4 life-sized characters: Wolverine, Spiderman, a Power Ranger and a large mouse. Who could ask for more? The majority of our day was spent on the road. It turns out there is virtually nothing between Ignace and Thunder Bay so we had to drive farther than usual...

Aug 3, 2012 - Day 19 - Kenora to Thunder Bay

We left lovely Kenora shortly after 9 am this morning driving through rocky Canadian Shield. We picked up groceries in Dryden and had lunch at West Beach in Ignace. Rocky landscape is amazing with trees growing with no soil showing and lakes everywhere. We found very expensive diesel fuel in Ignace at $1.419 per liter. Found a campsite at Happyland Campgrounds about 5 km past Kekebeka Falls near Thunder Bay. Set up & went to check out the falls, called Niagara of the North. Very impressive. Found out that the provincial site has camping...

Jul 23, 2012 - Thunder Bay rest day

Day thirty-three – rest day-July 23 Thunder Bay I got up at around 7:30 EDT. We were now on a new time zone. When we get into a time zone change, the evening stays on the old time zone but the morning adopts the new time. This wasn’t sleeping in; and the sleep through the night wasn’t great. We were staying in student residence at the Lakehead University. Student residences are designed for occupancy in fall and spring, not the summer. There was no cooling in the building. There was very little air flow in the building. The rooms got hot...

Jul 22, 2012 - Thunder Bay

Day Thirty-two – July 22 Thunder Bay 170k Yesterday was a long day of riding. Today would be even longer. We would be doing a century. And the heat was still here and the winds were unpredictable. I woke up to my alarm at 6 am. There were lots of stirrings going on in camp. Again riders wanted to get out early. I would not leave until around 7:30. Most riders were in front of me. It was cool in the campground but warm out on the highway. By 9:30 my thermometer was reading 28 degrees. The road was a continuation of the previous day’s...

Sep 1, 2011 - Thunder Bay

It rained a lot overnight and it was pouring from the heavens when we got up. We had been saying how lucky we've been with not having to break camp in the rain...good news is we hadn't disconnected the Jeep so all Joe had to do was pull power, water & sewer and we were on our way. It continued to rain as we headed east. We took a couple of really quick breaks and stopped for lunch at a rest area which had a time zone marker. Much to our surprise, it indicated we were crossing into Eastern time; we never would have guessed that. I hate...

Jul 28, 2011 - Thunder Bay

We left Sioux Lookout earlier than we had anticipated. There really was very little to do except fish and we had no fishing gear. The campground owner offered to loan us fishing gear but Ross hates to borrow anything because to many times when he has borrowed something it breaks or gets damaged and he winds up replacing the item. We did price some fishing gear but the least expensive way we could outfit the two of us was going to cost us well over $300.00. On top of that we would have to purchase fishing licences and then rent a boat and...

Jul 25, 2011 - Thunder Bay - Rest Day

July 25 – Day 33 - Thunder Bay – Rest Day I was so tired that I admit to passing out until 3 am when I woke up to a room that was plus 28 c and I could not stay in the room. Well then the option to me was to get on with the day and so I sorted my hampers, cleaned the bikes, rotated the tires and did a small load of laundry before 7:30 am and then went looking for food. The resident cafeteria opened at 8 am and for $5 one could get all you could eat of a hot breakfast and lots of fresh fruits etc. Awesome to say the least and well...

Jul 24, 2011 - Thunder Bay

July 24 – Day 32 Quetico Provincial Park – Thunder Bay K’s 172 k Time 8h 20m Average speed: 20.61 k/H T to d 3398 k Breakfast went off without a hitch and many riders were on the road as early as 7 am. The cook crew are always the last to leave as they have to clean up the site and load the truck. I agreed to be last out of camp as one of the sweep team. Fred, Jean and I left well after the last rider was on the way. It was a good 4 k to the highway and there we found one of our team, Daniel, the oldest member of the group just getting...

Jul 14, 2011 - Across Ontario Canada

Canadian Border-no problems.Pass outskirts of Toronto-very heavy business & industrial then very agricultural (Hydroponic farms,vineyards, berries). We're headed N on the 400 towSudburybury. Little stacks of rocks, originally Indians used as signs but tourist make their own along the road. Very rocky and many different Indian groups (First Nation councils). Stopped ar the largest snowmobile bridge of it's type. CampingProvincialcial Parks which are quite nice. Instead of cowboys, their early settlers were Voyageurs (trappers)followed by...

Jun 25, 2011 - Thunder Bay

Destination # 11: Thunder Bay, ON Mileage: 810 k (from Gimli) Arrive: Saturday, June 25, 2011 Depart: Sunday, June 26, 2011 • Saturday, June 25  Check into Thunder Bay KOA @ 1:00 pm. Very nice family oriented park, good camp sites, heated swimming pool, driving range, fire pits at each site and lots of things to do. It’s the nicest RV park so far and obviously very popular.  Our agenda for the rest of the day is to visit the historical Fort Williams site (an award winning attraction which highlights life as it was for folks during the...

Jun 12, 2011 - Thunder Bay

I decided to leave Camp Morton early, and made it down to Selkirk with the radio cranked up. Gnorman doesn't complain about my singing, unlike my children. I heard a funny percussion instrument in a song, and was puzzled as to how it fit into the rhythm structure. After a few chimes, I realized that it was my cell phone, announcing incoming text messages. Finally, some phone service, and some very welcome messages from home. I pulled in at Lockport, and answered my messages, then returned to the highway. As I rolled along, I was transported...