Aaron Provincial Park to Moosomin Regional Park, day 6

 We knew it could be a long day when we got up at 6am thinking it was 7am but we'd forgotten about the extra hour we got yesterday when we crossed into Central time. So we actually left the campground at 7.30am on our westward journey. From this point on we had not booked any campgrounds as we weren't sure how far we'd get each day.

Crossed into Manitoba at 9.50am with the original intention of overnighting at Bird's Hill Campground near Winnipeg. However as that would be a drive of only (?) 369km we thought we could get further than that, even more so after our earlier than planned start.

By now we had discovered that gas stations can be few and far between with the result that a couple of times we'd been down to the car showing we only had around 30km worth of gas in the tank and we'd better find a gas station PDQ if we weren't to run out. Naturally, when you find one gas station you find several! Getting low on gas we pulled into a Shell gas station and attempted to gas up only to find my credit card declined - oh no 🤯! We pulled away from the pumps and called the bank who told us there was no problem with the card and their system didn't even register a couple of failed attempts. The service agent was confident it was a gas station issue rather than our card giving problems. So we were able to pull forward less than 50 metres in to the adjacent Esso gas station where the card worked seamlessly. 

The countryside along the highway seemed to be opening up now, still plenty of trees but not as dense as before. Additionally, since we are now on a four lane highway (2 each direction!) there is naturally more space as well as it tending to be straighter, flatter and faster road.

As we approached Winnipeg we came across a sign indicating we were at the longitudinal centre of Canada. Parking was a little tricky as the parking lot was quite small and I couldn't park on the service road. I did manage to reverse into the parking lot and even managed to make it look like we were flying a Canadian flag from trailer roof!

We were making good progress but still had nowhere booked to stay tonight. Stopping at a Walmart to buy some batteries we took advantage of their internet to research where we might stop and made a few notes. We crossed in to Saskatchewan at 7.09 pm (note tht we crossed Manitoba in a day - took us 4 days to get out of Ontario!). Entering the town of Moosomin we spotted a sign to a campground that we though was close to the highway. After about 18km and several small, rough and winding roads later we finally arrived at Moosomin Regional Park. Fortunately the campground had vacancies although we were informed that the site was fully booked for the following night, not that that bothered us.

We checked in and headed down to our 'almost lakeside' site with electric and water hookup available.

Having driven our personal best of 704km in a day we were well pleased with the day's effort. Some nice cloud formations were on display.....

We explored the park a little and found the park store (with internet access) as well as a sizeable beach and playground but also quite a few solidly built cottages (holiday homes) making quite a sizeable summer community here. Maybe due to the late arrival at the campground, a late supper, talking with some residents or maybe just because it never seems to get dark here it was gone 11pm by the time we turned in for the night. This beach photo was early the next day, the sun was not quite high enough for a better photo......but high enough for us to be setting off again.

Rainbow Falls Provincial Park to Aaron Provincial Park, days 4 & 5

 After a good nights sleep we rose at 6.45am and set about the routine of wash, breakfast and get ready to roll.

Before leaving the site we drove to a parking lot in the campground, walked down 172 steps to get a view of the parks namesake waterfall 

before heading back to the car, dumping the grey and black tanks and heading west back on the Trans Canada Highway.

The drive was consistently interrupted by roadworks with one side of the highway completely closed, sometimes for kilometres at a time. Traffic flow was controlled by workers holding stop/slow signs. Another sign we saw of a bit more interest indicated that we were passing the smallest Canadian Tire store in Canada. A pit stop for gas in Thunder Bay was followed by a lunch an hour earlier than planned as we took the stop at the rest area where we crossed in Central Time. 

Arrived at Aaron Provincial Park (just east of Dryden, Ontario) at 4.45pm having completed almost 520km today. We had booked a two night stopover here as we anticipated we may need a break from driving too much every day. As it turned out it was a godsend to have a break as the oil change warning light came on earlier in the day and having a longer stay here would allow us to get the oil change done without adversely affecting our schedule.

Despite the employee at the park office telling us where the potable water when we arrive at the water tap there was a sign informing us that the water was not potable. We drove around the site, trailer in tow, checking out all the water taps but they were all tagged as non-potable - do not use. Fortunately we do carry potable water in a 10L container as well as a pack of 24 individual 500ml water bottles. Just after setting up we had a thunder and lightening storm. Roast beef, broccolli, new potatoes, gravy and a glass of cider for supper - just needed some Yorkshire puds and horseradish to be perfect.

After breakfast the next day we set off the 15km into Dryden to try to get an oil change done. The only place in town seemed to be the Canadian Tire store who booked the car in for 4pm that same day. Being in the same town for a whole day also gave us the opportunity to get a prescription filled as well as look around the town itself.

Dryden seems like a nice town, originally built around a paper mill industry and a paper mill is still operational there today. Having a paper mill in town of course means another river,

a small waterfall and even a suspension bridge. 

At the park adjacent to the river/suspension bridge is a very nice piece of artwork called 'Pieces of Dryden'. It's central feature is an hexagonal structure comprised of around 18000 pieces of broken pottery and glass etc. contributed by the citizens of Dryden. The structure is encircled by benches with various designs.

                           

After exploring town we headed back to the campground, packed a lunch and headed to the lakeside for lunch and a couple of hours fruitless fishing. Then it was back into Dryden for the oil change appointment and also bought some marine grade caulk for the trailer window. Back to campground for a bolognaise supper, caulked the trailer window and tidied the trailer ready for the off in the morning.

Ivanhoe Lake PP to Rainbow Falls PP, day 3

Getting used to setting up and pulling the trailer now. We seem to have taken on the various tasks that need to be done when setting up and tearing down. So breaking camp now was a routine affair and we became so efficient we managed to set off at 8am. Continuing to head west on highway 101 before joining the Trans Canada (hwy 17) again and following the shore of Lake Superior.

The first section of road proved to be quite hilly with lots of twists. It's a nice road but not one to take if you're in a hurry. I ha chosen this route instead of the more northerly route (via Cochrane) simply because there were no available campsites on the Cochrane route. I could instead have chosen the southern route through Sudbury but the plan is to take that route on the homeward leg.

Since we were travelling a less popular route traffic was even lighter than usual and rounding one curve I don't know who was more surprised - us or the black bear towards the side of the road! The bear ran on to a slope on the right hand side of the road where it stopped and gazed at us over it's right shoulder. Not for the first time we couldn't hit the brakes for a picture (well I could have done but considered it too risky with a trailer and limited visibility as to what might be behind us). 

                                I guess this will have to do 😀

Happy to see the bear, we were on high alert to make sure we got a real picture next time but on this trip there was to be no next time. We pulled into the town of Wawa where we gassed up the car and pulled into a 'no parking' zone at the side of the highway outside of another Tim Horton's for coffee and donuts. The Tim's parking lot was just to small to pull into there and we needed a coffee. We pulled up behind another trailer much to the annoyance of someone in Tim's who didn't like us parking there. A couple of minutes later though we pulled out and stopped at the visitor centre which is just a couple of kilometres along the road to enjoy the coffee and donuts. 

Wawa is of course home to the Wawa goose, which proudly stands on a rock at the tourist information office. Wawa means 'land of the big goose' in the indigenous Ojibwe language. The goose monument was the idea of local entrepreneur Al Turcott. Although not originally from Wawa, Al first came to the town in 1939 for work and became so fascinated by the area that he sent for his wife and children to join him. By the 1940s, Al began operating Turcott's Dry Goods and Clothing store and became very involved in the community. So much so, that Al played an essential role in securing the Lake Superior route of the then proposed route of the Trans Canada Highway through Wawa. Concerned because the final plans had the highway bypassing Wawa, Al and other local businessmen created the idea of the Goose Monument to stop tourists on their TransCanada trips. The original goose was made of plaster and, upon pushing a button, it could talk to you. However the plaster could not stand up to the harsh winters and was replaced in 2017 by a new goose made from steel. The current goose is 28 feet tall, 22 feet long and has a wingspan of 20 feet.

Once the coffee and donuts were disposed off we piled back in the car and set off for the town of White River. It didn't take use long to reach there and although we didn't stop on this hop we did get a few photographs of Lake Superior from the highway.

 Having stopped at White River for lunch we discovered that the town is the original home of Winnie the Pooh (named after Winnipeg, Manitoba) with the requisite larger than life model.  Hopped back into the car again at 1.55pm.

After another refueling stop at Terrace Bay we arrived at the White Lake campground area of Rainbow Falls provincial park at 4.25pm. Our site was identified as W48 on our reservation but the campground office was closed. We could find no specific site that was identified as W48 but after calls to the Ontario Parks reservation service and then to Gill who was able to get online and look at a map of the campground we decided the site was just plain old 48. Having set up the trailer we went for a walk to the lookout and captured this video and the campground beach.

 

Finlayson Point PP to Ivanhoe Lake PP, day 2

 Monday 21st June we set off from Findlayson Point PP in the rain and got as far as Temiskaming Shores to get more 'must have' trailer accessories from Canadian Tire. We were pleased that when we came out of CT it had stopped raining although unfortunately the rain soon started again and was heavier than previously. We passed a gas station named 'Corner Gas' but not the same gas station as it's more famous namesake from the TV series. The rain continued pretty hard at times and visibility was not helped by the spray coming from the passing truckers in their big rigs.

Passing a huge bison model (sorry going too fast or a picture), we stopped for lunch at Tim's (Horton's) in Timmins, where else?

Arrived at Ivanhoe Lake provincial park at 3.15pm. where the rain had stopped but it was cold at only 5C so tonight it would be the turn of the furnace to keep us comfortable after using the A/C last night. We discovered that some bedding had become wet as the driving rain had entered the trailer through the forward facing window. Fortunately the camp ground had a laundromat so we were able to dry the few things in the dryer. Another item we need to add to a shopping list - caulk for the window 😣

Much had been made of the campgrounds being fully booked right through the summer but we were surprised at how quiet they actually were. The camp ground was less than 1/3 full with people staying although a lot of sites were occupied by trailers that were obviously parked there for the season but the actual campers look like they only turn up on weekends or in school vacations.

We did get to talk to one camper who was from Orleans and he gave us the name of the location he uses in Cumberland for trailer storage and recommended it to us but urged us not to delay booking a storage site as the spaces fill quickly.

Later that evening the sun came out and although the next morning it was still chilly but at least the sun was shining 🌞 for the next travel leg....

Home to Finlay Point PP, day 1

 So Sunday 20th June 2021 at about 9.20am we set off on our much anticipated journey out to Stony Plain, Alberta, from Rockland, Ontario, a journey we anticipated to take until Monday 28th June to complete. We had pre-booked camp sites for our stays in Ontario provincial parks but didn't book any further ahead in case schedule/routes ending up changing. The trip meter was set to zero and off we set.

We knew that we wouldn't get a lot of mileage per tank of gas because our gas consumption would obviously be higher than usual with a 3500lb trailer behind us and the Nissan Pathfinder only has a gas tank capacity of 74 litres. So we had decided to stop at Antrim truck stop near Arnprior to gas up for the first but not last time this trip! It was not long after we pulled into a stop at Matawa for lunch before setting off again for Findlayson Point Provincial Park. A scenic drive with plenty of views of forests and lakes. At North Bay we stopped into Walmart for a few essentials as well as topping up the gas tank again.

Arrived at Findlayson Point PP at 4.45pm where our overnight camp site was quite narrow and uneven but at least it was a pull through site so no messing about reversing. The trailer A/C made the sticky evening more comfortable and the mosquito killer was put to good use.

The sky was clear and someone snapped a picture of the sky through the nearby trees.

I will just slip in here that a few days earlier we had gone to Voyageur Provincial Park on a trial run. While there we explored the park and walked to the main beach just a couple of minutes too late to get a great sunset shot but maybe this is a good sunset shot? I like this picture too much to not include it somewhere.

The next morning it was time for a quick breakfast, a snap of the lake nearest our site and back on the road.....

Trial run

 Well, less than a week has passed and I'm back here already. This past few days have been a little hectic as we try out the trailer in a 'real campsite setting' as well as get on with other things in the normal course of our lives, especially now that the provincial borders are open.

Wednesday saw us head to Voyageur provincial park on the Ontario/Quebec border where we set up camp without any trouble except to initially forget to ensure that the trailer was level side to side. A little to-and-fro-ing and a few plastic blocks later we were leveled.

We spent time re-organizing the trailer and exploring the park on a couple of walks, one of which took us to the smallest of four beaches in the park and another took us to a larger beach just a couple of minutes too late to get a perfect sunset shot.

We had managed to previously re-schedule our Covid-19 2nd shots from August to 25th June but, after booking this camping trip, then managed to re-schedule the shots 8 days earlier which fell neatly in the middle of this camping trip. So, after a leisurely morning we headed back up the highway, past home and into Ottawa for our shots then back down the highway to the campsite.

Friday morning was a walk in the woods before packing up and driving back home.

Come Saturday morning and, yes, you're right, it was time to head back down the highway, past Voyageur Park and on to watch our youngest granddaughter play her first soccer game which she proudly won (with teammates help) by 3-1. How did I not get any pictures? It was also a chance to reconnect with family on the Quebec side of the border that had been closed for a while for reasons you probably know about!

After some shopping it was time to finally get back home and repack the trailer ready for a bit longer of an adventure......watch this space :-)

 Well we've not disappeared off the face of the earth just yet! Life seemed pretty routine with work and the normal things of life but after taking retirement in Spring of 2020 we planned to travel a little. Unfortunately Covid happened so the past year has been pretty much revolved around staying at home. Now though restrictions are lifting and we are expecting to soon be able to embark on a journey or two with our travel trailer. If we can get internet service (and the inclination!) I'll try to keep this blog updated as we go. Stay safe and come along with us for the ride if you're able.