Day 18 Wawa to Batchawana Bay Ontario

I was determined to get out of town come hell or high Wawa so I hit the road at sunrise. I was a bit apprehensive because of the weather (it rained all night) and because of the distance I had to cover. This was by far my longest portage - it was 100 km. from Wawa to the other side of lake Superior Provincial Park and another thirty some km. before the first motel or restaurant.

In the end my day turned out fine - not a drop of rain and a decent tailwind to help me through some difficult climbs. I would rank this day as #2 in terms of energy spent, with #1 being the ride from Thunder Bay to Rossport.

The highlight for the day was a bull moose I saw about 30 km. south of Wawa. He stayed still long enough for me to take his picture but it turned out blurry.

Today's ride is dedicated to ANYBODY BUT ROGERS, because I have not picked up a signal since all the way from Thunder Bay. If I had to do this over again I would have invested in an i-Touch, since all the motels offer wireless. Live and learn.

Today's trip: 155 km.
Average speed; 21.6
Trip distance to date: 1946.9 km.

Day 8 - Rest Day in Dryden

Today is a wash-out in the town of Dryden. This logging town of app. 7000 people is struggling big-time as their gigantic Domtar pulp mill has been closed since April and there aren't too many other jobs around. This probably explains why I didn't see any pulp trucks on my ride from Kenora.

My timing was unbelievable - I arrived just in time for the annual Dryden Moose Fest and today was their big (first annual) soap box derby. They had almost 25 entries and there must have been nearly 200 fans on King street taking in the event; this town hasn't seen this much excitement in years. I thought I would be bummed out missing the 30th annual Montreal jazz fest, but this festival is really something. I understand that on July 1st they are even going to launch a firework.

The weather forecast for tomorrow is again sketchy - hoping to make a break for Upsala because although it remains wet, the winds are blowing in the right direction.