Across the Top of Superior

I had just completed uploading the latest blog when we got in telephone contact with Brian, my buddy from old days at the Coast Guard College. He lives near Thunder Bay, but had been visiting family in Southern Ontario, and just completed a drive back from just north of Toronto - in one day. He's been in contact via email, and following the blog, and we'd been planning to meet up if possible, and here he was, almost 16 hours into a driving marathon, (covering a distance in one day more than we had in the past week!) and arriving in our Kozy Kabin. We met Marla, his wife, and replayed old times in a visit into the wee hours of the morning. They invited us to stay and see a bit more of Thunder Bay, but even though we're taking it slowly, we still have places to go, friends and relatives to see (both dead and alive), and Newfoundland to see. So we had to decline, and said our goodbyes.
The following morning found us waking to a steady rain and very cool day.





Terry Fox Memorial Thunder Bay






Off we went, first to pay homage to Terry Fox, who'd run across Canada (most of the way, until Cancer got him) on one leg and a prosthetic. Then eastbound, via Red Rock and Marathon, into Pukaskwa National Park, about halfway across the north shore of Lake Superior. The entire way was steady rain, even though the radio forecast was only for a 30% chance of showers. As Lake Superior likes to stay a numbing 4C pretty much all of the time, and since the wind was blowing freshly in from the lake, we found it quite chilly......mindful of a February day in Courtenay, instead of June in Ontario! So we opted to sleep in the car, and instead of setting up the tent, we went into car-sleep mode, and set up a tarpaulin off the back of the car for cooking. The rain at least stopped, so we were able to pull out the barbecue and do up a dinner of pork chops, potatoes, carrots and onions in foil for a camp-style dinner. A short walk to the beach after dinner, and we were cold, tired, and ready for bed.
Next morning was a bit brighter, but still cold. So again we set off eastbound, past White River, the original home of Winnie the Pooh (an orphaned bear from here who ended up in London Zoo and caught the fancy of Christopher, son of A.A. Milne). We soon found ourselves in Wawa, the home of the Big Goose (Wawa in Ojibway means "wild goose"). We found a lovely waterfall to relax beside, and had our lunch at Magpie River Falls, before turning south toward Sault Ste. Marie.




Lunch at Scenic Magpie Falls, Wawa







The scenery remains quite beautiful along this stretch, but much of it was hidden today by fog blowing in off the lake. We have invites to stay with friends Anna and Hal in the Soo, and cousins Jarrell and Arlene, but as it is very late afternoon as we pull into north Sault Ste Marie, we don't want to impose on anyone, and so we've booked into another Kozy Kabin Kampsite for this evening. There are 44 dead relatives here to investigate and find, and several live ones, as well as friends still living, so we expect we may be in this area a few days.