A True (Canadian) Hero

This was not the longest ride we have done by any means. At a total of 2,263.3 km, this is just a jaunt around the lake. However, the entire trip for Nan and me represented a lot of time on the road: total driving and riding distance was 6,682 km. Notwithstanding there were long stretches across the prairies where it took a long time for the scenery to change, I think it is still a worthwhile exercise to see what our country has to offer. For both of us, it was the first time to drive east of Saskatoon, so we saw a lot of country that we might not otherwise have had an opportunity to see.

But, before we can get on the road, we have to load the bike.

Since the bike is pretty heavy, it is helpful to have lots of hands on deck. On our rest day between arriving back at Bob and Cathy's and departing for home, while Nan and I were at the gym Bob added an insert to the ramp to keep the tire lifted enough to not get wedged, thus preventing some of the challenges we experienced while first loading the bike for the trip out. One of my brand new tie down straps fails so Bob provides me with a couple as insurance.

After we say our tearful goodbyes on Thursday morning, it is a 10 km drive to our first stop. Right in Bob and Cathy's municipality of Shuniah is the spot where Terry Fox concluded his Marathon of Hope run September 1, 1980. There is a beautiful and fitting tribute to this heroic individual near the spot on the highway where Terry Fox ran his last steps on his attempt to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

The monument looks over The city of Thunder Bay.

The view from the monument.

The following pictures are of the inscriptions on the monument. The pictures are not compressed so that you can easily expand them to see the detail.

We spent the night in Portage La Prairie, just over 800 km from Bob and Cathy's. We saw six motels in Portage and as many now do, relied on TripAdvisor to make our selection, though not without some apprehension. We went to the number 2 ranked place, and there were several favourable comments that started out with "Don't judge a book by its cover", a cinder block building close to the highway. The motel lobby has two very friendly cats so we are guessing the place is "pet friendly". Plus, we get a cat fix. We pay for the room, a relative bargain at $95 in Portage, but when go into the room, it smells very strongly of cigarette smoke. Who smokes in a hotel room nowadays? Even though we were not told to not smoke, I just figured that was a given. We ask for a different room and we end up checking out three more rooms, two of which smelled very strongly of smoke and the last not made up from the previous guests, so we would have to wait until he could get around to cleaning the room. We decide we will try our luck elsewhere, so we get our money back. At this point, we have already spent about an hour in Portage so we end up at a chain hotel that caters to curlers. In fact, there are eight sheets of ice right in the hotel. This place is not a bargain at $135 and get this: the room has no outside window but rather, a window looking out into a hallway. The king bed has queen sheets and no mattress cover (so they don't tuck under the mattress and thus, come off). The room could use a good vacuuming and the walls and switches could use a good wipe down. The air conditioner has two settings: "arctic" and "off" and while it will cycle between the two, when it is running, there is a really cold breeze blowing onto the bed and when it is off, the room gets pretty warm. The room smells, probably because it would be impossible to get fresh air in there. Initially, I thought it was cigarette smoke again but in the morning, I decided that it was just musty. When I checked out, the front desk clerk asked me how everything was for our stay. I said there were some issues. I couldn't complain about the window because, even though I wasn't told before I paid for the room, I was told when we checked into the place so I figured I owned that issue but I identified the other issues; a management type, who is over hearing my comments, without even looking at me instructs the clerk to take $25 off the room price. The front desk clerk was very apologetic and was clearly exasperated by at least some of my whining but somehow, the manager failed to make eye contact.

My last attempt to photograph some colour on the trip.

It is not a maple, but still an interesting example.

The next day we drove to Saskatoon. It turned out to be a good day's drive and we were into Saskatoon early enough to see what we were doing. We ended up at the Best Western and while it was $9 more than the place in Portage, it was a whole different world. Totally first class and clean.

Snow geese gathering for the flight south.

Our last day on the road it is pouring rain once again. Most of the way between Saskatoon and home it is raining so hard that it is difficult to pass the big trucks for all the water being thrown. I am glad not to be riding because it is cold, too.

And so, we come to that bittersweet moment: arriving home. The holiday is over but as always, we are homesick for our animals and they are excited to see us.

That is Kisura on her hind feet, Malaika on all fours.

We both get the treatment, but Nan always gets it first.

Obi gives us the treatment too. The "silent" treatment.

It's always the same: the dogs are out of their gourds for our first 20 minutes home and Obi is so happy that there is someone there to let him outside.  Then, after that initial 20 minutes, the dogs are ready to be fed but Obi can't leave us alone and uses every opportunity to find his way into a lap.

Thanks for coming along with us on the trip and reading the blog. Next year's trip is well into the planning process and starts after work on Thursday, August 17th and should be epic: The Great American Solar Eclipse Motorcycle Tour and will take us down to Oregon to see the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, then through Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. This will be the first total solar eclipse in North America since 1978. We are planning to try something different for that trip, which will be to incorporate camping, something I have wanted to do with Nan for many years. That won't be for every night but it will be a meaningful addition (as Nan keeps reminding me).

Until then, thanks again.

Howi