We pulled into a filling station that was connected to a Tim Hortons - nothing unusual about that. This was the last Timmies between Winnipeg and Ontario. It would be our first day in Ontario so starting out with a coffee and some timbits was mandatory. Turns out alot of other hearty Canadian travellers had the same idea. The line up for the drive through went across the parking lot, through the fillling station and onto the highway.
Ok so breakfast is done and we hit the road. Its the saturday of labour day weekend so everyone is out - we'll be doing alot of passing today.
The praries quickly fade and start turning into northern Ontario forest. It's clear that we've hit the great Canadian shield. There's granite everywhere, meandering rivers with the forest right in its midst - very special stuff.
The moose warning signs start coming up very regularly and the lakes begin to pop into the landscape. You expect to see a mountie emerge from this wilderness on horseback and ask you if you've stored your food properly so the bears don't get it.
We arrive in Kenora after a few hours and stop in for a fill up and a stretch. A friendly old timer pulls up next to us on a bumblebee yellow segway and gives a hello and asks us about our bikes. We have a great chat - we tell him about the trip and he fills us in on the local roads, cool spots and the secret back country locales where he used to go snowmobiling. We give him a sticker and part ways with a hand shake. He sticks the donkeys logo right smack in the middle of his segway and he takes off like a shot. This guy knows how to make that thing move.
Fuel pit is over. We jump back on the bikes and start cranking it. I'm so excited to see Northern Ontario and we still need to get alot of kms behind us today.
The road is fantastic - alot of it has just been repaved. There are nice big sweeping turns, mountain passes where the road has been blasted into the rock, and big straight-aways that go downhill and open up to the perfect Canadian forrest views.
It's 2:30 and we're hungry. Next town is Ignace. Low and behold there's a Timmies right ahead. We pull in and get the primo parking spot. Timmies stop number 2 of the day.
We're about 20 kms from Thunderbay when the sun turns into moon and we ride into TBay by moonlight - the forrest sillouette by moonlight is a wonderfully canadian experience. As we get into town we need some dinner and a place to lay our heads but we have no idea where to go. I stop into a Shoppers and accost a couple of ladies in the makeup section and ask them where the downtown and fun spots are. I meet Donna who is wonderfully helpful. I must have looked quite out of sorts so she took pity on us and offerred to show us around.
We followed behind her as she lead us around the town showing us the places to be and the hotels/motels where we could sleep easy and not worry about the bikes. As we thank
Her for all her help she gives us her phone number in case we have any problems.
We pick a hotel and get settled in. Now we're ready for dinner and we decide to call Donna to see if we can offer some dinner in consideraions for her kindness. Well she takes it 1 step forward - she's told Wes about us and he's a motorcycle nut so he's up for chatting bikes and routes.
They pick us up from the hotel and take us to Gargoyles for dinner. It's great conversation - we talk about bikes, trips, roads, how best to stay dry, how best to stay warm. They clue us into the history of Thunderbay and how the community is a result of 2 towns merging together. They were wonderful company and made us feel like old friends.
It used to be when someone mentioned Thunderbay I would think of Paul Shafer and the freezing cold. Now Thunderbay will be memories of Donna, Wes, and friendship.
Ps. I had a hankering for something sweet late night. Luckily there was a Timmies across the street from the hotel. Timmies hat trick on our first day in Ontario.
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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