The lighthouse at the end of the Bruce Peninsula
We arrived in Espanola by early afternoon, and picked up some groceries for later. Then we were back on Highway 17, westbound toward Sault Ste Marie, on our first backtrack of this journey. Most of Northern Ontario will be a backtrack, at least to Thunder Bay. We found a campsite just east of Thessalon and a few km north of the highway, on Brownlee Lake. This spot was good value for the money, as their rates were reasonable, the site was very clean, quiet, and nicely laid out. They even had a sand beach and swimming area at the lake. We've been noticing the leaves on the trees are now noticeably going into autumn mode, with lots of reds and yellows evident in the forests. And the geese are definitely practising their formation flights. Just as well we're heading back - we won't be dawdling much now, until we get to Winnipeg, where we start looking for ancestors again.
Friday morning was yet another fine day - this is the longest and nicest run of summer we've seen yet, extending almost to a full week, with several more forecast to continue. The nights are cool, but our sleeping bag is warm enough to belay that problem. After a leisurely breakfast, we de-camped and headed into Thessalon, for a quick bank stop and email check (libraries often have good, free wifi). Then we continued the 60 Km westbound to Sault Ste Marie, where we set up camp again at the north end, returning to the Glenview Campground where we'd stayed on our first stop into the Soo. We'd organized a lunch visit with cousins Jarrell and Arlene, and ended up not only doing lunch, but also sharing the best part of the afternoon with them, catching up on summer happenings, and visiting. They'd taken photos of the 5 gravestones we'd missed on our first trip, so we were able to get those from them, rather than return to the Cemetery.
Cousins Jarrell and Arlene pose for a farewell picture
By late afternoon, we were stocking up on butane and UHT milk, both of which we'd found in short supply through the prairies. We also needed to replace a few refrigerables, as yesterday we'd managed to reverse-plug our plug-in cooler, and turned it into a heater - which made a bit of a mess of our butter and such (Happily, we'd been travelling reasonably light in the grocery department). Then it was time to meet up with Anna and Hal, our friends from some years back. Hal was working long hours, and decided not to join us, so Linda, Anna, and I went out for a dinner and a get-together. By 10 PM we'd said our goodbyes, and headed back to our camp for the night.
Saturday morning was a continuation of the good summer weather. We decided to get up a bit earlier, today, and break camp, and skip breakfast (still full from last night's big meal, I guess!). We parked in front of the campsite office to get our wifi, and sent a congratulatory email to Linda's sister, who is celebrating her 50th Anniversary today. As we drove along the shore of Lake Superior toward Wawa, Linda was driving, as I typed up the blog for later. Salmon seem to be running, as fishermen are casting their lines in the rivers, and boats are trolling. Panoramic vistas pass by us at Batchawana, Old Woman River, Montreal River. We stopped for brunch at Tim's in Wawa, switched drivers, and then continued westbound.
Someone with a sense of humour named this road, which leads to the Barrick Gold Mine.
I now sit at the Information Kiosk in Terrace Bay, halfway across the top of Lake Superior, where we are stretching our legs before switching drivers again and continuing toward Thunder Bay.
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