Today we have some time to lay low here and get caught upon some work as we are only going 39 km to Bowmanville.

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We have been invited to the home of Doug and Sharon Wildeboer. They have been kind enough to ask us to spend the evening with them to talk about planning their big bike trip.We had a great time with them and their family. Sharon cooked us a fantastic meal and Doug took us on a small evening ride to the ice cream shop.

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Getting up in the morning we have just 107 km to Oakville to the home of an old friend from University. We again stuck to the highway and the 401, which near Toronto is a 14 lane nightmare. We hit some traffic on the DVP, but otherwise it was just dealing with Ontario speeders.

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So great to see Cara and we always start back as if we saw each other yesterday and not 5 years ago. She lives near the lake and so we stuck close to home for some R&R for a few days.

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From Oakville it is just a 41 km to Toronto, where we will visit with Sara’s cousins Cynthia and Ben, our friends Paula and Barry, and her sister Emily and see a few more friends from University. We headed out on the Gardner east and then on the 427 to the 401. It is much faster to go around the city than thru it. We headed south on the Allen Expressway to Maplewood.

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Then we had a 86 km ride out of the city to Alliston, on the 401, and the 400, all of which were stressful with he traffic and speeders. They really need average speed cameras here. Ontario drivers are too intense. We got off the highway and relaxed on the concession and side roads to get to Sara’s cousins Chris and Tanya.

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We are here to try out the new smoker (ribs) and visit for a few days.
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We set out at 9 south towards Oakville again as we had dinner with Dan’s cousin. They had just moved out of their house today and so we are staying at Cara’s.

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We went thru Hackley Valley and the small roads until Brampton and then hit the 427, which was mobbed with cars and only let up when we could go west away form the city.

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It is 29 degrees and very humid today. It is also pretty windy. We have had too little sleep, too much food and alcohol in the last month and are worn out from the party. Nice to arrive back to Cara’s at 11 and have the entire day to relax. She was home at 4 and she was on fire to make Tinto de verano after reading my Camino posts. We had dinner plans this evening with Dan’s cousin Brad and his wife. They are the last of our old friends we need to see here before we head west. Great to reconnect and make plans for when they move near to us in the new year.

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We had planned to stay around for a few more days and maybe go to Point Peele the southern most point in Canada. Unfortunately we have had some sad news Dan’s Uncle in Whitehorse has passed away and his uncle in Calgary is gravely ill with cancer. Both were just diagnosed. We will try to get to Calgary sooner than planned.

Today we are headed west! There are 2 options either ride to Tobermory and get the ferry to Manitoilin Island across lake Huron, or ride all the way around the lake. We will take the more scenic ferry route.


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It is Thursday of the labor day long weekend and the only ferry reservation we can get is for 340 today. We also got the last room available on bookings for the entire of Manatoulin Island. We decided it would also be faster and easier to go west to Burlington and then north on the 6 this avoided the mayhem that is Toronto traffic (voted worst in NA). We set out from Oakville at 845 and at 15 degrees and finally got to Guelph by 10.

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It is cold and windy again today. The 6 north is mostly 2 lane and with good flow except for the frequent stoppages for construction. You know you are in Canada when it is slightly cloudy day in late August and you wish you had your heated jacket on.


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We stopped for gas in Owen Sound and then went straight to the ferry dock at 130. Here you are directed to the check in where they make you sign a paper that says you will follow directions to tie you bike down (so not Indonesia, but at least you do not have to worry about the boat sinking). From here you ride to the ticket booth 40$ per bike for the 2 hour trip. We had to check in before 240 for the 340 departure and so we had time for lunch.

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There were about a dozen bikes also waiting to board. The ferry rear door opens like a big shark and you drive thru the jaws.

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You are directed to the front of the ship, asked to park between the deck tie points, and told to use the ropes to secure your bike. We used our tie down as the ropes looked greasy.

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The crossing is a pleasant 2 hours on Lake Huron with Dan singing Gordon Lightfoot’s Edmund Fitzgerald! We arrived at 530 to South Baymouth.

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The motel we booked is 30 km directly up the #6. There are several other bikers staying here.

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When we arrived after 6 the owner told us the town grocery was now closed and the next restaurant is 30 km up the road. Luckily Cara sent us off this morning with a bag of home made granola. We did walk 1.5 km into the village to see the “lighthouse” .

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We woke to a much warmer day at 18 degrees and rode up to Little Current for breakfast.

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The road is smooth, but mostly straight and with peek a boo view of the lake. You leave the island by a single lane swing bridge.

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We gassed up in Espanola and then headed west on the 17. The view is straight road and trees! It is again very windy today, but at least it is to our backs.


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We made it as far at Sault Ste Marie by 3 and again used the Mcd wifi to find a place to stay. The weather is supposed to turn bag by midnight and we will likely wake up to rain for tomorrow. This is not a very nice town actually especially the downtown and we are glad we booked into a place nearer to the TransCanada. They are super friendly here and even have designated motorcycle parking under the covered entry and where the desk staff can “keep an eye on them”. Apparently there are a lot of thefts here in the city. The staff also first thing this morning put out clean rags on the bikes in case we wanted to use them.

It was just sprinkling a bit as we left at 915 and gassed up just up the road. Looks like another day of hand warmers on high and thermal gear.


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We stayed pretty dry and even stopped to check out the view in Agawa Bay on Lake Superior. Just off the coast here is where the Edmund Fitzgerald sank.


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https://youtu.be/9vST6hVRj2A



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We only had our rain jackets of the over suits on. It was warmer today at 22 and the skies really cleared until we got about 80 km from Wawa. The sky was getting very black, but it was not raining until suddenly it was torrentially pouring.



Cars were pulling over to the side of the road and blocking the entry to the rest stop. We finally found a safe spot as it was impossible to see where we were going and there were cars all over place.



We were soaked by the time we had our rain pants on and THEN it really started to pour. A car leaving the rest area pulled up beside us to say that just down this small road there was a shelter we could hide under and so we headed there. This was a small info board with a bus shelter like frame. There was another biker there hiding too.



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https://youtu.be/R7ntA9i9lvQ


The rain was amazing and then it got even worse. It was howling sideways at times and accompanied by thunder and lightening. We waited until it settled to a light shower after about an hour. We had just pulled out on the highway and then came upon a large accident with the police just setting out the cones. Luckily the rain had almost stopped as we had to sit there for while.



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We then rode the 75 km to near to Wawa where there was the first gas in 150 km and a lineup as the next station is another 100 km west in White River.

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We had planned to get more than half way to Thunder Bay today and we knew there were a few motels in Marathon. Ont. We rode as far as White River and our rain suits had dried out and so we stripped them off to air dry our suits for the last 100 km.

We finally made it to Marathon at 330 cold and starved. We found a hotel in town that was clean and quiet. So glad they had endless hot water for us to warm up in. There was a bar/cafe 2 doors down and we had a great homestyle meal.