Kenora to Thunder Bay

Kenora to Thunder Bay

Kenora to Caliper Lake 129 km

Rest days are always super busy...did manage to get a trailer load of kayaks down to campsite for an evening paddle to a restaurant. 9 of us in total and the way back was moon lit complete with bats and a storm cloud following us. what a great view of Kenora from the water, Cool city! Still lots of shield country to Pedal through, I don't think we would get sick of it. always seems interesting with Blueberries, VERY interesting plants (see picture), lakes, rock outcrops, interesting towns and restaurants, and the road is full of curves and hills. Had my 4th flat. Traffic has been light which is a good thing as most times there are no shoulders. Part of the daily fun on this trip is the stops we make at cafes or pubs. Usually a few riders 'pile up' there and you can guarantee an hour of laughs. Caliper lake Had a great beach so we opted for a swim instead of a shower. The Mosquitoes at our tents were the worst yet, especially for the folks that were not used to them. Only refuge was the beach and the tents. The upside was mushrooms were all over the place so me and Jude went-a-pickin'. Judy is the ultimate finder of things, and came back with a bag full. The best prizes were the Chanterelles and the King Boletes! Several times on this tour so far I have collected a few plants, and on this day mushrooms and laid them out for nature lesson / show and tell, which seemed to go over well. We saved the mystery plant for last!! It was still very humid and hot at bed time but that make for some 'nice viewing' as when I crawled in Judy was laying on top of her sleeping bag in her under ware. In the morning I diced, washed and fried the mushrooms for breakfast with some onions...I think I ate most of them!

Caliper Lake to Taylor's Cove 138 km

Judy seems to spot a lot of critters...others on the tour wonder how we always manage to see so much. On the way out of our campsite a fox crossed the road in front of us, then further down the road we Judy again spots some sandhills cranes way off in a field. Too far for a good camera shot. 58 kms later the 'standard' 2nd breakfast in Emo, and then off to Fort Francis for a skip across the boarder to visit a coffee shop in International Falls, Minnesota for an iced coffee. Amazing long bridge across Rainy Lake on a long cause way. Made multiple long stops, and somehow we still arrived at camp fairly early. 5 star rating by our standards: 1) right on a swim-able beach,
2) restroom close by, 3)lots of space to spread our usually clumped together tents, 4) No mosquitoes, and 5) one of the better suppers of chili and salad! The whole site is booked for Tour du Canada, we have it to ourselves. Mark is playing a guitar on the dock with a few of the younger crowd there too.
Judy - "sitting on a towel, trying to even out our cycling tan, just livin' and lovin' it!"

Taylor's Cove to Quetico 161 km

Hilly day with few amenities along the way. Good day to do some PAIN TRAINS.
That is where you take turns pulling to allow the person behind you to get a bit of a free ride by drafting. Although if the person in the front is pulling too hard (judy) the poor SOB in the back (kelly) does not get very much of a break...
Canada shares Quetico park with the states, and t is one of the largest international parks in the world. Mega canoe opportunities. Some of the communities are very 'canoe' oriented to say the least. Our camp again was Mushroom heaven and Mosquito hell. Me and Jude were 1st to camp, made it by 2pm ahead of the truck. Our turn for supper duty...We wowed em with a little something our master chef whipped up (Bill) with a Banana Foster Flambe'...a little number done with bananas fried in a butter and brown sugar sauce lit up with some rum and served with ice-cream! Saw a large Snake (have to look it up yet) slither off the trail, just then I saw what it was after...a small mouse gave me a quick thank you and then scurried off the other direction. Combination of a long day coming up and the bugs driving us to our tents, it was early to bed.

Quetico to Thunder Bay 171 km

Nans birthday, she turned retirement age! So we started her day off right with Toast and eggs over-easy instead of porridge and french toast. Another hilly day, Stops for water etc were again few and far between. My style is getting cramped without my usual 2nd breakfast!! 1st main stop at Shabaqua Corner yielded some tasty home made burgers pre-made, had to warm in micro. And lots of fluids Gatorade, vitamin water, and one of our faves: starbucks double shot mocha cappachino energy drink. there are some more off their rocker than us! We meet an Asian fella who could barely speak English, he was walking from vancouver to New York. He said he wanted No more bears or Snow. 2 of the hardships he had encountered. Apparently a bear tipped over his cart and he had to flee for help! (carries pepper spray on hip now). He started his trek in April. Kakabeka Falls, a worthwhile side trip that several other opted out of for a shorter route. We also caught Pierre, Serge, and Jaques, the 'French Connection Pain Train' with their secret weapon...a mid day strech and nap! Last, a much needed easy 27 km 'spin' down a small windy secondary into TB to Lakehead University Dormers where we stayed...yay fixed roof for a change, no tent to set up!
Sharing the campus with Baseball players from 12 other countries for the Junior Worlds!
Judy is happy. 2 nights in a bed, 1.5 hours at hair salon, even had time to paint her toenails! 1st real view of Lake Superior, 4 km walk to downtown for supplies, trendy cafe' lunch, and a look a Sleeping Giant (Island). Amazing campus food. Cheap, all you can eat. Most of the group will probably opt out of the breakfast out of the truck and go for the Cafeteria tomorrow.

Regina to Kenora

Regina to Grayson 161kms

Judy was woken up in the middle of the night to a twinge on the back of her neck...she knew exactly what it was and yanked it off and flung it across the tent. It was a wood tick. In the morning I examined her hairline, and sure as heck there was a small wound where the little bugger had his head buried!I have had a couple ticks in the last couple of days...none burrowing....everyone is getting them. The regular breakfast of oatmeal, cold cereal, and french toast....so jude opted to wait for something better on the road....66 kms later we were in fort qu' appelle for a great breakfast at a small bakery. Breakfast number 2 for me! I am getting used to 2 breakfast days...might be the secret to good health! The province of sask is practically shut down because of the big football game. Folk were dressed in rough rider green at breakfast.

The valleys remind me of oasis in the desert. You go for miles and miles with little change to the scenery...and then all of a sudden you drop into a beautiful valley with trees and water, and more animals. I can imagine in earlier times the feeling you would get arriving at a place like this. On the way down into the qu' appelle valley judy spotted a mule doe bedded down with a couple of spotted fawns bounding around.

Always some intereting history in these little obscure towns! Abernathy is the home of Len Thompson (the inventor of the world famous Len Thompson fishing lure)

Nuedorf is a VERY sleepy town. We stopped for PBJ sandwich on main street. That shot of judy laying in the middle of the road is at 130pm on a saturday.

Wind on our backs we made awesome time, we made it to Grayson in no time! How could a small town be full of so many interesting characters? 1st there was a large burly fellow that welcomed us...he was the local councillor, AND the fire cheif. Great sense of humor, His first comment was "Grayson has the best water around...just don't drink it!” He has worked on fished in and around lesser slave lake, small world. The next character was a young fellow, 12 yrs maybe, named Ryan (sitting with me in the tent) Had a million questions...wanted to show us the town, and race us on our bikes...works at the local butcher shop. We nick named him the ambassador of Grayson. The old fashioned butcher here makes great sausage, which will make up part of our supper tonight, “thank god real food” jude chimes in.
Our site was next to the fire hall, that is where the girls showered actually. Got to compare their fire hall to ours. Of course the siren was used to announce supper, and as a wake up call the next morning...nice. We were like the local exibit, as lots of local came to see the 'spectical' of 42 tents set up in their park adjacent to their recreation center. One interesting guy pulled up on a ATV. He was a little heavy set, smoking a cigarette, and sporting a 'mullet' for a hair cut. Maybe 40 years old. He told me a story about having too much to drink, and driving his ATV home, and then having to 'out-run' the cops with it. Then finally a long haired fellow with a hockey helmet rolled in on a home made motorized bike contraption...we will let the picture explain itself.


Grayson to Binscarth 167km


Judy
Okay...sunny skies as I peered through the tent door. It gets better. After packing up and dressing for the day, walked over to the galley with my usual slow unexcited walk towards what I thought would be the usual lump porridge, pancakes, bran flakes, and coffee with out coffee in it. OMG!!! Coffee with coffee, "HASHBROWNS" with 'real potatoes'. I knew this day was going to rock! Started out into a head wind, but that didn't matter much for I knew what was up ahead. the 1st part of our ride took us through the beautiful Qu, Apppelle Valley. So far it is probably our favorite ride next to the final stretch into Merritt. With an amazing tailwind we cruised through the valley effortlessly. Lots of time to engage in the splendor of the valley offerings including fields and fields of flax blowing gently in the wind often at times mimmicking the waves of the lakes nearby. Deer and coyote watched as we passed by and overhead the gentle reminder of not to stop too long. The turkey Vultures kept a close count of our progress. Stopped off in those beautiful hills for a quick sandwich (avacado, cheese, onion, spinach and 'bread with stuff in it') My own private stash. Just took a moment to reflect, I was in the most perfect place in the world, the most perfect adventure partner , it just cant get any better. Shortly after our stop in the hills, we stopped in Esterhazy for a quicktour of the ptoash mining. its big here, really big and supplies most of the world. Had an amazing lunch #2 at a chinese restaurant. Loaded our plates twice! Meat! Meat! Meat! Kel experienced flat #3 shortly after our lunch stop. (maybe that extra plate was too much). Quick fix and Bill caught up! Formerly from pain train #1, the three of us created pain train #2. We were just flying at an average of 45 km /hr....I love hanging with the boys, oh yeah kel is an official member of the asshole riders of America...he was pushing gears and keeping the pelaton moving...I was sooo proud! We kept the train moving for about 30 kms and then settled into more of a touring gear. Camp this night was awesome. Grass for tenting, Volley ball net, sand and all, pool, free showers. The best part PEROGIES / GREEK SALAD for supper and to compliement this blessing from the heavens DARK BEER and RED WINE. Who needs a spa holiday, I just had one today!

Binscarth to Minnedosa 136km

Another foggy start and blessed with a tail wind once again. The mist collected on my arm hairs giving the effect of sweating profusely. Birtle a small town we got to early was still asleep. 1/2 of the group stopped at the only restaurant and overwhelmed the oriental owner, who was by himself and had to rely on some locals in there at the timed to get coffee to everyone. This town gets the cake for one of the cutest towns we have happened on yet. No chance for breakfast so we headed out for the next town 33 more kms (I love that woman of mine so much....she would pedal 72 kms for a good breakfast if her potatoes were the wrong temp....)
Yet another asian owned restaurant in shoal provided breakfast (number 2 for me!)
Hands down so far, saskatewan is the roal kill capital of canada. Lots of green gummy worms on the road (dead garter snakes), racoons, skunks, gophers, porupines, ducks, black birds, and several of dads favorites... meadowlarks :-(
Minnedosa...Horses on the hill looked staged...Mink coming out of the grass in the ditch to cross the road, took one look at us and went back in.
Tonight site was a great campsite on a beautiful lake. Right after the tent was pitched, we went for our 1st lake swim of the trip. We were on galley duty, and unfortunatly had a crappy dish to prepare..BUT we wowed the crowd with a peach cobbler for dessert. Some 'around the fire' time and I was able to challenge some of the youngsters with some puzzles...Smart little whippers figured most of them out in record time.

Minnedosa to Portage La Prairie 143 kms

Seems like everyone has been getting up earlier and earlier...breakfast is supposed to be served from 7 till 8 am. Most mornings breakfast is over by 715! Our galley crew (see picture) is standing its ground by not serving breakfast till 7am and making sure there is somthing available till 8am...hopefully the other crews will follow suit. Vetran of tour nailed it by saying, "breakfast time in the most traumatic part of my whole day"

The home town of Author Margaret Lawrence - Neepawaw - was our breakfast stop. After breakfast we stopped by her house, and the stone angel at the cemetary, which one of her books is based on.

We of course were sweep again, part of galley duty, we caught up to the group AGAIN in Gladstone for a coffee and ice cream break. Next stop Westborne. Some locals Don and Frank, they let us know that 200 yards from where we were standing was the current home of country music superstar Doc Walker! He gave up a lavish home in nashville for a meagre spot in his home town.
Flax (see beautiful blue picture) and Sunflower fields complimented each other on the prairie landscape.
Hard to believe that there is still so many Major Hyways that still have gravel shoulders. The Transcanada on the last 10kms to Portage kept us on our toes!
Camp tonight is at horse race track / exibition grounds. We got to watch some young riders jumping their horseAal golf course sipping wine and updating this blog.

Portage to Beausejour 161 km

Seemed like a long haul for everyone...prairies seem to be taking their toll. It is mostly mental. Did the 'stop' at Lower Fort Gary. Had been there before but was a good refresher. Probably one of the hottest days so far. At the restaurant, me and Jude each ordered a large salad which really seemed to hit the spot. Soon we were padding along the great Red River and got some great views of Pelicans and People catching giant 'channel cats' in the strong current. Great Woods Park was our destination, and through emails and phone calls through out the day we were able to get our good friend Brian and his daughters (young ladies now!!) to meet us at our site! Brian supplied us grub and a trip to Beausejour for icecream. (Liz had evening classes and could not make it.) Sure is fun having friends to link up with along the way.

Beausejour to Kenora 178 kms

Longest day yet! but for some reason it seemed to go very fast. This was the transition to the Shield country. It was like coming home for me. Lots to look at and the plants and trees that I am the most familiar with. Chunks of pre-cambrian shield cropping out everywhere. Hyw 44 rolly and windy, a perfect bike route. Judy notice a fox over her shoulder so we double back, and not only did he not run away, he actualy laid down and went to sleep! see picture. 70 kilometers from Kenora the thunder showers started. We though we could miss them with a well timed stop at a cafe', but no luck. Absolute pelting rain from 40 kms out had us drenched. Camp looked very soggy and it was still pouring. Note Jacques under truck eating his snacks. We again opted out of camping and had a cab pick us up and take us to a Hotel (there were about 10 others too) THAT hot shower and dry room felt very good!

Drumheller to Regina

Drumheller to Youngstown 153km
Did some more geocaching of course, Drumheller was about 10 kms from our campsite....where we had to go for fun, I never Thought I would be doing side trips after all that pedaling.
The foggy mist was so thick coming out of the red deer river valley that it was sticking to our glasses and bikes and then dripping off.
as jude put it: "blanket of fog leaving drumheller and only mistic images to view as we climbed from the valley and out to the endless plains. There is a certain magic about the prairies, you just have to wait for the winds to rest to experience it splenders." Dads favorite bird...Tons of Meadowlarks...we see them and hear them every few miles, one of the benifits of being on a bike. We were excited to see some prong horn antelope....most of the rest of the group missed out.
Surprisingly some of the toughest hills so far were in and out of this valley...up to 12%...good thing they were short. Not sure what I am going to do when we hit all the hills like that North of Lake Superior.
Youngstown tents set up beside the local rec center. (some riders just put their sleeping bags on the floor)
No Doubt the most incredible meal we have had to date!
Locals get together for a pot luck. They get gypped as we just bring a salad and they bring an incredible array of different dishes all delicious.

Youngstown to Kindersley 154kms
Beautiful day when we arrived, strong cross winds, but me and judy made mincemeat out of the ride as we practiced eschelon (a technique for riding in cross winds as a team) 30 km/hr pace! arrived in camp 2pm!
As the group arrived, we heard horror stories of torrential rains and large hail stones. Hard to believe but the thunder storms caught up to us by supper...and of course our turn to cook. Had to constantly juggle things around as they kept blowing off the tables, but we managed to pull off a hell of a pork stir fry. (and a vegetarian option too).

Kindersley to Outlook 157kms
The rain continued through the night accompanied by howling winds gusting up to 90 km per hour at times! Hardly anyone slept. Try and cook breakfast in that! the gas stoves kept blowing out. Large and heavy moving them was a chore and after 2 attempts we were unsuccessful at keeping them going. The weather was so bad with the driving winds and rain, the only upside was that the wind was from a favourable direction. There was talk of chartering a bus to the next camp.
Showing determination the group mounted up and decided to try the ride. The ride was wet and cold but with the tail wind everyone was flying! Mid day stop at Rosetown for coffee, lunch, and to drying clothes at Laundromat. A short distance later, Jude blew a shift lever, so she ended up with only a choice of 2 gear ratios. Jude was able to deal with this OK although had to really push to make it up the last climb into outlook. The camp looked pretty dismal when we got there...the prospect of tenting did not seem very attractive....still raining and windy...so a few of us 'whimped' out and got a hotel room to dry out.

Outlook to Craik 124kms
Morning started with a tire that had gone flat over night. Then after a quick trip down the hill to the campground to drop off and pick up gear for the day, I set my glasses on the hotel room heater to defog them...and melted one lens..crap...at least I could still see out of them.
But hey the sun was shining AND we had tail wind. A stop at the coffee shop across from the hotel...serve yourself coffee have not seen that too often....locals took turns refilling everyones coffees. Very friendly atmosphere.
Was worth checking out the longest pedestrian bridge in canada. (Once a railroad bridge, now part of the trans canada trail this part called the 'sky trail')
Quick stop in Kenaston, blizzard capital of Sask complete with the Snowman Statue.
VERY fast trip from there to Craik on route 11 also known as the Louis Riel Trail

Craik to Regina 132kms
Craik slogan is: Friendliest Town by a Damsite. We headed out from their local campsite which was quite nice....and again had a fabulous tail wind that
blew us all the way to Regina...we arrived before Noon! That was with a nice hot breakfast stop in chamberland, and a quick stop in Lumsden to eat our sandwiches and refill waters. Then again Judy had to be inhuman and pedal out of that valley in a very high gear...many were impressed. We got to pedal for a while with the "Pain Train Crew'. An affectionate name for a crew of 2 65 year olds (serge and pierre) from switzerland and one guy (bill) that pedal very fast and aggressively. Probably the fastest riders in the group! Into downtown Regina to a great little bike shop (dutches) to drop judys bike off for repair. Then we walked to a optical shop to fit me with some new glasses. Judy 'cabbed' it to the camp and I rode.
Hopefully Regina has some money now to improve there roads and local hy-ways....we left behind over a 1000 dollars on bike repairs, glasses, and supplies.
Laundry, Blog, shopping, restaurants, tent repair, and bike maintenance filled today our rest day.

Golden to Drumheller

Wow...blogs are hard to keep up on. Rest day in Drumheller...better catch up!

Sanne did end up taking us and our Australian friend Simo up to Mount 7. She rocks! What a cool place in the world that is! great view. world class 4000 ft double black diamond downhill mountain bike course from the top. they hold a very famous event called 'psychosis' and they also launch hang gliders and para gliders. We got some sweet shots and found a geocache up there. (as you can see in one picture we caught some thermals with the eagles!)

Golden to field 88 km
Got to food line at 740 and all the oatmeal and eggs were all gone...just cold cereal left...so a nice sit down bacon and egg breakfast at a cutesy cafe. On our way out, Judy spotted one of the more famous death racers...the oldest!...We had to meet him.
Turns out his name is Dag. Canadian with a Norwegian background. Turning 70 this year, he was just on his way for a 10 hour training run through the rigorous back country of Golden. Gave us some of his secrets of longevity, VERY motivational to talk to. He had us fill in our info in his journal. Judy will see him Death race 2011!

The climb out of golden seemed easier than when we did it May long. Could we be getting stronger? A side trip to Emerald Lake and then we camped just past field, our turn to cook. Judy was salsa dancing to ipod music provided by Mark. Supper on time as usual team #1 rocks! yeah baby. Surprise visit from good friends Kevin and Allison, gave them some left overs, shared some wine, and plotted our escape to Calgary in a couple days

Field to Banff 112kms
3 degrees, breakfast crew and sweep was our morning task. Took a beautiful ride up to Takakkaw falls. Everything was good till kel started whistling the tune Rhine stone cowboy. I think the air was a little thin on the ascent. (where did that song come from anyway??)
The "optional" ride was via an abandoned stretch of the 1A. We got close to the end and the road was ribboned off with Bear warnings. We chanced the ride through as it was only a few kilometers to lake louise. Tons of bear sign, we got a pic of what we think was the remains of an unlucky cyclist.
Bow valley Parkway is a terrific cycle route except every once in a while I would have to wake judy up out of her day dream to remind her that we were not doing a time trial race. Met up with crew and made frequent stops including a hike into the upper falls of Johnson Canyon. The hike took longer than we thought so we had to put head down ass up to make it to camp for supper. Finally a supper with some texture, no 'one bucket' meal tonight, and all the salad you could eat!

Banff to Airdrie 153
Starting the day we caught an amazing tail wind and were just flying! During a stop in Lake Louise, we had to stop and take pictures of small van with a cool paint job. Turns out it was a for real camper rental company called "Wicked". Maybe a cool franchise option for free spirit son Taiger!
Winding our way into Airdrie, some disappointment upon arrival...a patch of lawn in the industrial section with a 2 km round trip to shower. BUT we had an ace up our sleeve...thanks to the master plan from 2 nights ago, Kevin showed up to 'break us out' and take us to Allison's lavish hide out for Bath, Wine, and a Meal fit for a King and Queen (which judy felt like after that bath)
'Keevo' dropped us of 8am next morning back to reality.

Airdrie to Drumheller 126kms
Hot Hot Hot. Was not long ago and everyone was complaining about being cold!
Cactus in bloom, cool Badlands topography, and STEEP short hills in and out of the red deer valley. We are probably staying at the nicest campground so far! washrooms, showers, and pool are close, lots of room for the tents and they are on grass instead of dirt!