July 9, 2011

Getting closer to Sault Ste. Marie...

More 2 lane highway with a passing lane (lots of these). The roads here remind us somewhat of travelling the Fraser Hwy. Lots of places where the road has been chiseled out of the rocks.

 These signs are abundant, see them every few km's. Picture of a moose... 'Night Danger'. Apparently the moose come out to play on the roadways at night.

 Small green sign... shows how many km's from the Manitoba/Ontario border. The Soo is approximately 1440 km's from the border.

 Another view of Lake Superior.

 One and only vehicle we encounter on our trip.

 Three vehicles involved.

 All the people where out of the vehicles... did not appear anyone was badly injured. The police were already on scene, in fact had passed a couple of minutes earlier.

 More construction. There was more construction in Ontario than any other province. Any delays were very short.

 Notice the 'specialized grill' on the front... many semi tractors were equipped with these. Most likely so they could drive at night, remember the 'Night Danger'. The moose here are plentiful and huge! Night driving is NOT advised.

 More views of the lake.

 Along the way where the beach was right beside the road, many vehicles would pull onto the shoulder and walk to the sandy beach.

 Suki found all the travelling very exhausting. This is one of her favourite sleeping spots. Another one was right under Phil's feet.

 One very astute, attentive driver... yup that's the Beagle behind the wheel!

 We encountered many bicyclists. Not sure I would want to bike along this highway. The closer we got to SSM, the crazier and faster the drivers got.

 We are almost there...

 We have arrived. First view of SSM.

 Called the Tull residence to announce our impending arrival.

 Need to make a left hand turn here to head of the 'Tulls'.

There they are! We are here. Time for a rest, visit, relaxing...

July 8, 2011

We are getting used to driving on a 2-lane highway. Not that we need to pass too often... seems we are the ones being passed.

 The scenery is very nice... and the dragonflies are gone, so the large splats are no longer appearing on the window.

 See... even some corners.

 We did encounter a few more construction zones, had to wait at this one as there was only one lane open for traffic. But it was a short wait.

 Took this one for Reid, but the truck is a little too far away.

 A glimpse of Lake Superior.

 Our campsite at Penn Lake, Marathon. See that tree beside us... well while putting the slide out, one of the branches got caught up in the roller. Phil had to go up on top of the MH and as the slide came back in tried to unwind it out. He had to actually cut the branch off and manually untangle it. No lasting damage was done to the MH.

 Penn Lake Campsite, this is a municipal campground and has only been in use since 2009. We also stayed here on our trip to The Soo in 2009. Liked it so much decided to stop here again.

 The lake, can you see the Loon?

 Playground across the way. There is enough shoreline to walk around the lake to it or there is a road and a pathway.

 Nice sandy beach.

 Suki enjoyed the water too.

We are in Ontario: July 7, 2011

 Today... mostly sunny, but did encounter a couple of storms along the way. The landscape continues to change, and the highway is longer no divided highway (still in Manitoba) - remember to check for on-coming traffic prior to passing!

 Speed limit has changed as well with the highway no longer divided.

 Tried to get a picture of the 'Welcome to Ontario' sign.

 Coming into Kenora, Ontario, which is situated on 'Lake of the Woods'.

Had lunch in Kenora and back on the road again.
Oh, oh... black clouds ahead... stayed tuned.

Looks like a storm brewing...

 Yup, the rain (and hail) begins... and it poured... some vehicles pulled over and waited it out.

Difficult to see well it rained (mixed with hail) so hard.

 The driver side whipper must have been hit by hail. It's not working too well here. So we were forced to pull over.

 Phil fixed the whipper and the construction crew, that we parked along side of, also picked up their signs and headed out (seeking sunshine?).

 Here we are... set up in Ignace, ON.

Alas... we did get some rain. There were thunder storm warnings when we first arrived, but were down graded. After about 10 minutes of rain, just while Phil was cooking dinner, the sun did come out to play again. All in all, a good day!