July 2 - Day 29 - Savanne Bien

Well, we have finally done it, we have arrived in the boonies……..no cell service, no wifi, no potable water, and all that inside of 120km to Thunder Bay.  Our campsite tonight is at The Savanne River Resort, just east of Upsala, and obviously a very popular fishing destination, with access to the water from every campsite, even though you would have to admit our dock has seen better days.  Everyone pulls in here with camper+boat in tow, or perhaps rents one of the many the “resort” has to offer.  A large part of the local economy on this entire stretch of highway, from Winnipeg to where we are now, relies upon attracting outdoor sportsmen, and I imagine this will only continue as we travel across Lake Superior.  If you wanna bag a moose, or catch a trophy fish, this appears to be the place to do it.  Plenty of US license plates on the road today, and here at camp.  

The Rental Fleet

 Our Campsite Dock

Billy D. has gone to Thunder Bay to drop off BS (Bill Stensson) at the airport for a business trip to Ottawa, but word is he will be back to join us shortly.  Bill also took my bike in for a tune up so have unwrapped the S5 and will ride it tomorrow while the R3 is in the shop.  Nothing for us to cook until Bill gets back with groceries, so made another batch of Hugh’s Rice Cakes……road food for the next few days…….and will probably hit the fish and chips All You Can Eat place we passed about 10 km back for dinner.  It is pretty amazing riding every day, burning oodles of calories, and eating whatever you damn well please without the risk of putting on pounds.  I am eating big every day and still managing to shed a few.

Hugh's Rice Cakes

I had huge doubts about the weather forecast for today, but good old Ignace did not let us down.  We awoke to clear sunny skies, not even a hint of precipitation, and a nice breeze that seemed to be blowing from the northwest.  It was barely double digits on the thermometer, but 10 degrees with everything else in our favour was a blessing.  The ride was a scheduled 105km to Upsala, then the additional 20km to Savanne, just so we could suffer without our techie toys for the night.  I write this now, but won’t send until tomorrow when we are somewhere around Thunder Bay. 

 Savanne River "Resort"

 Skitters

It was an extremely pleasant ride with great terrain, and good road conditions.  I don’t know if I will ever become totally comfortable with cars and trucks zipping past me at over 100km/hr just a few feet away, nor do I think I ever want to be.  You really have to focus on the highway when there is traffic around you, and even more so when there are vehicles coming towards you in the other lane at the same time.  If passing vehicles can, they will move over into the oncoming lane and give you some space, but when there is traffic approaching, it can become a jam session out there.  Many of the kilometers we travelled today were on a two lane road with three feet or less of paved shoulder, so there were a few very close passes by transports that I guess just didn’t want to slow down before passing us.  We are well lit up on the back of the bike and helmets, and the yellow outfits are pretty hard to miss.  Like I said, getting to know what to expect, but will never be 100% comfortable.

 This is what we have to ride on

Pit-Stop Ahead

Every day I am overcome by Canada’s natural beauty just how vast a country this is. I hate to say it, but it becomes boring after a while.  The mountains were gorgeous, but come on, how many picture postcards can you look at in a day……….the prairies were stunning in their own way, but the same stunning view for hundreds of miles?.......and now Northern Ontario, with endless rocks and trees and lakes and rocks and trees and lakes and rocks and trees and lakes………all stunningly vast and beautiful in good weather or bad……..I am very luck to have this chance to see it all from this perspective and will remember it forever.

Some parting shots below........will catch up again tomorrow from Kakabeka Falls, just outside Thunder Bay.........miss y'all........


LYJ

I saw this scene in front of me, and thought I have to take this for all the girls in the book club, because after all I was riding "Through Black Spruce"

 In Upsala.......I'm not sure what this place used to be, but shit I just love the sign

The only moose we have seen so far was, unfortunately, deceased in the ditch