From Indian Head to Canmore

A side road from Highway 1 in Saskatoon: a road to nowhere? The space of the Canadian prairies is incredible. In Indian Head I made a short visit to a farm managed by a fourth generation (a nephew of a friend who grew up at this farm).

Ian's nephew showed me around and explained several of the large farming machines to me. Most of these machines cost anywhere between half a million and a million. And he is a "small scale" farmer.

The wheat silos to store before the farmer brings it in batches to the regional wholesaler. They had this year a good harvest, but farms 40-50 kilometers away had drought and poor crops. Farming is not an easy business. This farm has now been four generations in the family, more than 100 years. They had found one of the early tractors and refurbished it; a piece of family history....

Just north of this farm is a beautiful lake called Katepwa with a cottage culture and a camping where I had an overnight stay.

I was the only camper at this time of the year (I think the camping was actually formally closed for the season). It was 21 Celcius during the day slowly cooling down during the evening and night; at 6 AM it was 7 degrees only: time to get up and get moving again. 

A nice place to rest and read a bit. Before calling it an early evening, a nice walk along the lake around sunset.

And on goes the drive through the prairies the next day......

And then - a bit westwards of Calgary - starts the region of the Rocky Mountains. Visiting friends today in Canmore for an overnight stay.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan

 

Yesterday the last 400 kilometers in the north-east of Ontario. Again a nice winding road with lots of small lakes along the way. At one moment we were held up for half an hour when road maintenance crew members had to blast some rocks for road safety. Felt sorry for the truck drivers with their time tables. Me - the retired bum - had all the time....

The truck driver behind me came over for a chat. More then 50 years in trucks all over North America. He lives in Kenmore and would be home soon after the road hold up.

Afterwards the four lane highway through the southern region of Manitoba was again a bit to get used to and I made good distance. Went around Winnipeg and stopped in Brandon for a sleep. It was a record heat yesterday for this time of the year here: 29 Celcius. Today I will be entering Saskatchewan, just like Manitoba flatland and lots of large scale farming. Might make a side trip to a lake area north of Indian Head if the weather offers again a hot day.... 

Dinner in Upsula

Along the HWY 17 between Sault and Thunder Bay there are so many beautiful views. Lake Superior, small lakes, rock formations, rivers. It is a very nice drive....

From Thunder Bay towards the provincial border with Manitoba, the landscape on scenery are less sensational but still beautiful. I ended up stopping in Upsala (must have been founded by immigrants from Sweden). A roadside motel (equivalent to the Schitts Creek environment, but an even smaller community). The only restaurant in town had liver & onions as specialty; yum....

Breakfast in Marathon

After my night of "wild camping" along Lake Wawa, breakfast in Marathon along Lake Superior. This small town had its glory days during the early 20st century with a papermill. After becoming defunct and having to let go its 230 employees, the town has been looking for new purpose, most likely the tourism during the summer period. Beautiful lakefront and nice hikes along the lake....

The Wawa goose

There are "copy-cat" geese in Wawa, but there is only one real "Legend of Wawa":

The "real" Wawa Goose was made during the celebrations of the completion of the Trans Canada Highway. The real thing overlooks the road and Lake Superior. It is a brilliant beast...

Quarter of the distance

Facetimed with Mary and she sent me my location indicating the distance from home, just under 1,000 kilometers. The total distance to Vancouver is about 4,000 kilometers, so at a quarter of the way....
 

Wawa, Ontario

Today I drove about 8 hours from North Bay to Wawa, the last few hours along Lake Superior in a national parkway with spectacular views. Not easy for me to get good pics but here are a few...

In the National Park there are lots of small lakes and rivers. At one of the stops - the halfway point on the Trans Canada Highway - I stretched the legs a bit along some waterfalls where people were fishing for river salmon

At the end of the day my first "wild camping" spot from the app that Hilary downloaded on my phone. Along the Lake Wawa as recommended by other travelers.....

Wawa is a small town with 3,000 people. Especially quiet on a Sunday late afternoon. One of the local motels hosted sport hunters and four wheel enthusiast....

Not many restaurant choices in Wawa, so I ended up in Subway. A Sub, a salad and free Wifi. It is all good. Hopefully some sleep in the car tonight...; it is certainly getting cooler at night....

Rainy day along the way

The day started with sunshine in the beautiful Gatineau area, but in the afternoon rain came down heavily near North Bay. Decided to take a night in a local Comfort Inn (and get some laundry done)

This morning we had delicious fresh bread in Wakefield, which doubled tonight as dinner (fresh bread needs to be consumed the same day.....).