Not Timmins

There is a lot of Canadian shield. It would be more enjoyable without the rain and cold.

But Rouyn-Noranda provided a warm, dry respite. 

 

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Timmins any more.  

The weather cut our ride short today, so we stopped at Val-d'or.   It has been a pleasant few hours.  Val-d'or has good food, and seems to have vitality and a sense of place. 

TripAdvisor rates the Bar Bistro l'Entracte #1. Whatever - it was very good. 

Timmins on the other hand, was a disappointment.  Although signs of wealth - lots of car dealerships and billboards for "investment advisors", the downtown is a wasteland. The London Restaurant and Tavern - decent Chinese and Canadian food, was not only a cliché but the only non-chain restaurant we found still in operation. 

Val d'Or

Holed up in Val d'Or due to the weather.   The route may be changing - looking for a south bound train.

Partially Cloudy With A Chance Of Rain

A weather announcer in Northern Ontario either has the easiest or most boring job in the world.  Just as it was 30-years ago when I spent some time up here the forecast continues to be "partially cloudy with a chance of rain".   And they were spot on today.

The rain first thing in the morning put a damper on some of the best riding today along the shore of Lake Superior.  Eventually it dried up and the the rest of the day was archetypical Canadian Shield.

Not sure if the Ontario Department of Highways is aware of what a great service they provide with their bilingual road signs.  I have been brushing up on my French all day and feel that I should have no problem carrying on a conversation as long as it doesn't veer to far from topics such as when to merge or where to check your brakes.

Tonight we are in Timmins and were able to successfully complete the Canadian Roadtrip Dining trifecta: Tim Hortons, Generic Truck Stop Diner and Chinese-Canadian Restaurant.

It wasn't all that bad.

From the Beaver Motel in Nipigon

I'm checking in a bit late. We have just completed day 5 of our Canadian coast to coast odyssey. On Sunday, through BC it was still summer.

That all changed in Canmore.  Although we saw just a trace of the snow that has gripped Calgary, the temperature has remained pretty much in single digits through to northern Ontario.   But the sun has shone from time to time and we missed the motorhomes and the bugs.

The Second Nicest Hotel In Nipigon Ontario.

Yesterday was a 3-province day.  Starting in Saskatchewan we crossed all the way through Manitoba and spent the night in Kenora Ontario.  Just to prove that we didn't hop on the first south bound train at the first sign of snow here we are at the Tim Hortons in Moosomim Saskatchewan where it had warmed up to a balmy 38 °F (3.33 °C).

As you can see the sun actually came out and we could see for miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and miles, and...

Something to think about: the town motto for Indian Head, Saskatchewan is "A Progressive Prairie Town".

We got to the hotel in Kenora just in time for the requisite sunset photos from the swanky top-of-the-tower restaurant.

Today was an easy day from Kenora to Nipigon.  Again a mostly dry day but still a bit chilly. Stopped in Dryden for coffee 

and pictures.

Just past Thunder Bay a brief visit to a place every Canadian should go.

Certainly apropos as the annual Terry Fox run is this weekend and while we were there ran into this group of cyclist making a cross-country trip.  We might have accidentally piggy-backed onto their police escort for a bit...

Eventually we ended up in the second best hotel in Nipigon Ontario according to tripadvisor.ca - I can only imagine what its like in the first best hotel in Nipigon Ontario.

Routine

Everyone needs a routine, including people riding motorcycles.  Myself for example am continuously counting, and counting everything.  I count how many seconds I am behind the vehicle ahead of me.  I count how far I am ahead of the vehicle behind.  I count down the amount of time left in 1/4-hour increments from arriving at the next destination.  I count how many miles and how many gallons used since the last fill up and compute the mileage then compare it to the on board computer data.  I count many axles each truck that I pass has.  I count how many cows there are in a field, how many are standing, how many are sitting.  I add up my phone number and make sure it equals the same thing every time (39).  Routines are good, especially when riding a motorcycle across the prairies because there is absolutely nothing else to do.

We did eventually manage to dry out in Medecine Hat.

As the weather seemed to indicate that things would be dryer and warmer to the east as the day went on we took our time getting on the road with an easily achievable destination of Regina only 5 hours away.  A lunch stop in Swift Current turned into a 50-year  time warp as we drove down main street.  We ended up at Schimmel's Dutch Bakery where we heard all about the ups and downs of living in small town Saskatchewan.  

And in case anyone hasn't heard...

Brian has orange wheels

This Is A Test, This Is Only A Test

Been awhile since we did one of these trips so have patience as old routines are rediscovered.  

Sunday started dark and early 

and soon after became just another cliche as we met at up a Starbucks in Abbotsford.  

A small ceremony was allowed as the first tracking point was sent.  And if you haven't seen it the tracking page it is pretty cool - in fact you can see that we have stopped for the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Medicine Hat.  

The ride from the Lower Mainland through the Province of BC to Alberta is one of my favorite one-day rides and Sunday was no exception.  As usual the closer we got to the Alberta border the quality of the other drivers' driving decreased remarkably.  Surprisingly a traffic jam was encountered on the Big Hill east of Field.  All traffic was being shunted down to one lane and then each direction then was alternated across a few miles of on-going paving.  Now this might not sound all that out of sorts except that for the length of Highway 1 in BC there are billboards proudly proclaiming that there will be 4-lanes all the way from Kamloops to the Alberta border.  The section we got held up at was only 3 lanes being freshly repaved but it was 3-lanes repaved from Field all the way to the Alberta border.

Arrived in Canmore without fanfare and had a fairly miserable dinner at the hotel - breakfast the next morning wasn't much better.  Overnight a nasty weather system had moved in threatening cool temperatures, wind, rain and snow.  Sure enough looking out our window the first three were observed and the fourth horseman of the weather-pocalypse was found soon enough after heading off down the road.  Bypassing Calgary to south ending up being a good idea for both avoiding Monday morning traffic and seeing the weather improved, sightly.

While drying out and trying to warm up in the Brooks Alberta Safeway deli department having lunch - have you ever been to Brooks?  There's not a lot of else to choose from - the decision was made to cut the day short and find a room in Medicine Hat instead of trying to make it all the way to Regina.