August 25 Leaving L'Anse, Upper Peninsula Michigan

Starting Mileage - 49017

We spent most of the day driving across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We are determined to leave the country tomorrow, so our destination is Sault Ste. Marie. Bob has to keep correcting my pronunciation of "Sault" because I say it like "salt". When I learned to read, I didn't know this French stuff.

Today, all we did was drive. We awoke to a beautiful day after a restless night. We are camped at the Soo Locks in Michigan's UP. Tomorrow we venture into Canada.

Today Debbie made a new friend. He's Canadian. He talks. And talks and talks and talks. He talked all the way through my dinner. And then some. Debbie makes friends so easily. I am so jealous! I'll let Debbie tell you about her new friend.

I had walked to the riverbank hoping to see a big ship go by. Lots of people were out fishing. Apparently it is the start of the steelhead and salmon runs up here. This coming weekend is a fishing derby with over $35,000 worth of prizes. They take their fishing seriously. This old man was sitting in his chair watching the river. He started the conversation. Luckily after a half-hour his wife called him for dinner. Later we were eating our dinner and he wandered by our site and joined us for our dinner. I could tell Bob was not happy; he gets very quiet and does not join in the conversation. Our guest did have a tendency to repeat himself and was difficult to understand because of his thick Canadian accent.

Tonight was also special because tonight was the night we went out for dinners. No, that was not a misprint. We had dinners tonight. We had dinner in the van and then we went out and found "The Antlers" which had a nice bar and a great dinner for only $8.95. So we had one. It was great. The place was reminiscent of Fosters Big Horn in Rio Vista. Dead animal parts all over the walls and ceiling. Deb loved it. She had the best bowl of French Onion Soup she has ever had, and I had the 8 oz. Sizzling Sirloin. All this after we had dinner in Vinnie.

The Antlers is a "must do" for anyone traveling to Sault Ste. Marie. It's right across from the Edison Power Plant which is an extremely impressive stone building all by itself so you can't miss either one.

August 26 - Sault Ste. Marie, MI

Starting Mileage - 49335

We awoke to a misty morn. Lots of fog. The fog, however, turned out to be a stroke of great luck. Because of it, there were no ships going through the locks. They had to wait. So, by the time the fog cleared, we got to see the largest ship on the Great Lakes (1017 feet) going through the locks and several other "thousand footers" besides. It is an awesome sight. They maneuver these huge ships into the locks with about 2 feet to spare on either side and stop them mere feet from the end of the locks. It's quite amazing to witness.

They stack up the ships until the fog clears. There were 4 thousand-foot ships waiting to go through by the time the fog lifted. The man at the top of the tower said it is quite a rarity to see such a lot of simultaneous action.

Except, of course, in Vinnie.

After viewing several ships going through the locks, we headed for Canada… where we were immediately stopped and searched. The young guy going through the bag of Deb's underwear was a candidate for the "Hands Across The Sea" program of International Friendship and Love. I suppose they expected to find a handgun of some sort, but since all the "contraband" we had was a few bottles of booze, we were allowed to proceed. It's the first time I've been stopped at any border anywhere. I guess that now that I have Deb in tow I fit some kind of profile. I can only surmise that we fit the profile of an incredibly sexy team of international jewel smugglers. Or so I can hope.

So here we are in the land of beautiful forests, lakes, and rivers. I like Canada. It's clean and wild. There are moose, foxes, wolves, bears, and all manner of wild animals all around us. We have only to ferret them out.

Bob is still dreaming. There are no wild animals. The locals say they don't come out till after the tourists leave.

August 27 - Wawa, Ontario, Canada

Starting Mileage - 49489

Wawa means "wild goose". This town has a 30-foot stature of a flying goose to welcome visitors.

So guess who just had to have her picture taken with a thirty-foot steel goose?

So we left Wawa, which was already pretty much in the middle of nowhere and drove 95 miles east into more of the middle of nowhere to a town called Chaplaeu. This happens to be the base of "the biggest game preserve in the world". Bob is planning on a moose sighting. We stock up on groceries and head off with Vinnie down a terrible gravel road. The van is really jittering now. The 23 kilometers to our night's destination will not to be reached at a rapid pace.

We had to slow for the bear in the road. Apparently he is newly returned from his northern berry sojourn. They said he hadn't been around for a while.

The campsite is next to a pretty windswept lake. It is a much larger lake than I thought we would be on. The owner said we wouldn't be seeing any moose; they are deeper into the forest and won't be about until rutting season. He said the best time to see them is in early spring when the bugs are bothering them and they stay buried in the marshes under water (or up to their chests). So guess where I am shipping Bob next May with his bug shirt.

Except for a short walk, we spent most of the day sitting around the campsite on the edge of the lake. It's truly beautiful. We had dinner and then went to bed around 9:30. I walked down to the water's edge before jumping into bed, and the silver full moon was rising up from the shoreline and over the lake. Quite stunning. No noise at all up here. No motors, no planes, nothing. I like it. I got up sometime in the middle of the night when I heard something howling across the lake. I don't know what it was. It didn't sound like wolves. The howls were clipped off at the end. I don't know what it was.

August 28 - Racine Lake, Ontario

Starting Mileage - 49602

We woke this morning to the stillness of the lake. No wind. I opened the back door of Vinnie. We sat in bed and listened to the stillness and the occasional cry of the loon. But no moose!

This morning Deb refused my gift of food, my gift of nutrition, my gift of pancakes. I guess this relationship is over! She just doesn't like my pancakes. I'm hurt.

The pancakes are OK. I don't like maple syrup and that is all we have. And I don't like them with jelly on them. I like Aunt Jemima with half orange juice. Plus I would rather eat French toast. Why does he make such a big deal out of it? Besides I did the dishes.

Today we did nothing but drive. It was kind of boring. Ontario has something like 250,000 lakes. I think we drove by most of them. No moose either! There are no moose in Canada.

They have road signs warning you about hitting them, but it's all to impress the tourists. There are no moose here. I don't care if the signs are in French.

Everything here is in English and French - I mean EVERYTHING! They print twice as much as they have to in order to satisfy a bunch of sniveling French-speaking rabble-rousers. It's kind of silly. And we hear it's worse in Quebec. We were told that they all speak English, but if you try to converse in English they give you a blank look and refuse to talk to you. I guess we'll see.

I tried to teach Deb French by verbalizing the French part of the road signs instead of the English part, but she became quite irate and didn't think my pronunciation was correct. This woman just doesn't like me anymore.

The reason we spent all day driving is because of Bob's moose obsession. If we hadn't had to go so far northwest to where they MIGHT be, we now would not have to go so far southeast. Ontario is beautiful, but so many miles in a row are all just the same---quivering aspens and glisteny, gurgling streams.

Tonight we're camped at the Finlayson Point Provincial Park, and it's the first Canadian government park we've been to. So far, it's very nice. Quiet and on a lake.

They have built little docks for each site. I noticed that there are no obnoxious boom boxes blaring. It is like these people went to the woods to actually savor the sounds of the wind in the trees. Can you imagine?

Every other car has a canoe on top. Bob and I are feeling kind of out of it cause we don't have one.

August 29 - Temagami Lake, Ontario

Starting Mileage - 49913

I must mention that some of the Ontario Provincial Parks have boombox-free zones (no radios, tape decks, etc in use without a headset. I like it. They also have special doggie zones or non-doggie zones.

Temagami has 1000s of miles of interwoven lakes and canoe pathways. We hit upon the canoeing motherlode. Not that we are doing it. It is too cold this AM for us. We were going to rent one, but woosed out.

Very light rain this morning. We looked around Temagami Lake Prov. Park this AM and then took off for the south. We stopped for Sunday Brunch at a truck stop outside North Bay. We decided to investigate Algonquin Provincial Park because they have the largest concentration of moose in the world. How could we miss?

Tonight I'm having crusty bread (what they call it) made by (believe it or not) Buns Master. I'm so happy.

The Algonquin Park is very nice. Moose signs everywhere. We stopped to get a campsite and then went on a 3.5km hike. Nice, but no animals. We made arrangements to get a canoe for a while tomorrow morning. This place has got to be the canoe capital of the world. All the cars have canoes on top, and there are thousands of miles of waterways up here. Canoe camping is a popular sport. There are canoe campsites at many of the lakes.

So tomorrow morning we are going to get up at 6:00AM, cycle up and down the road in a futile search for the moose that don't exist and then go paddle around for a few hours.

August 30 - Algonquin Park, Ontario

Starting Mileage - 50129

The good news - You don't have to worry about hitting a moose when you drive in Canada.

The bad news - There are no moose in Canada.

Deb and I got up at 6:00AM and drove up and down the roads of Algonquin Provincial Park for about an hour and a half to try and see a moose. We saw no moose. There are no moose in Canada. We also didn't ride our bikes or paddle a canoe. We did, however, eat as though we had.

We saw a fox. Later we saw a marten. We saw some good moose exhibits in the museum. People post moose sightings on park headquarters board, but Bob thinks it is a tourist gimmick.

The Canadians put those there to try and create the illusion that there are moose in Canada. There are no moose in Canada.

It was cold, drizzly and windy this morning. The rational was that if we drove in Vinnie we could cover more territory. Most of the moose sighting are along the road. Why? Probably cause that's where people are to sight them! Most of the miles we put on today were cruising back and for the through the Algonquin Park.

Today we spent most of our time in Vinnie driving south toward our country. We were both tired since we had gotten up so early. And Deb complained about my snoring. I never heard it. I think she's fibbing so she has an excuse not to drive.

Since we are heading south again, we are back in the changing maples. Most of the terrain was rolling hills with ponds and beaver dams and some hay and alfalfa fields.

Tonight we are at a campground along the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1000 Islands section. Yes, it is pretty. But most of the campground is under the bridge or at least sound from the bridge is audible. Why did they put the provincial campground here? Was land cheap? Every little island has at least one house and dock. Bob thinks there is tidal action here. He saw a boat on mud. I need to check my topo maps. There is no way there could be tidal action this far inland.

Also it is strange for me not to think of the shore as ocean. Many of the lakes are much bigger than anything we have in the west. This river is huge!

Went back into town for a prime rib dinner Bob saw advertised. We had perfectly good salad makings and leftovers here.

It was a strange prime rib. The Canadians smother them with brown gravy. Deb got the "sizzling" prime rib that came sizzling in its own juices and smothered with mushrooms and onions in brown gravy. I got the traditional roast prime rib with regular brown gravy. I also requested horseradish, and they use pickled horseradish here, not the usual white, killer stuff we're used to. But it was all OK and a good meal.

The exchange rate is $.65 to .69 per $1.00 (Can.) so we have to do mental gymnastics when we buy something. Our dinners were about $17.95(Can.) which is only $12.50(US) so it was a good deal for a large prime rib.

August 31, 1999 - Ivy Lea, Ontario on the St. Lawrence Seaway

Starting Mileage - 50431

Cold night. It got down to 43F outside, and we turned the heater on for the first time since California or Arizona to warm Vinnie before we got up. Deb went on a 20-mile ride after getting up. I, naturally, had to make the sacrifice to drive the SAG wagon and follow her route along the St. Lawrence Seaway. It was a clear and beautiful morning and warmed up quickly.

Along the St. Lawrence 1000 Islands Parkway (also named the Loyalist Highway) from Gananoque to Brockville is a paved bike path separate from the main road. Unfortunately the road was there first, so the path is on the away side from the river and often a little bit lower than the road. Consequently, I couldn't always see the river. There were many comfortable homes and flower gardens along the way. The river was smooth and glassy. Little islands rose from the waterway.

We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant. Big mistake. It took them way over an hour to serve us fried chicken, a hamburger, and French fries.

It was the only restaurant we had passed for miles. While we were there no one else came in. Another couple was already there and had soup…probably cause they knew how long everything else would take. At another table the waitress (owner) and her husband with another friend chain-smoked and gossiped the entire time we were there. They can't be making any money.

Finally we arrived in Cornwall, Ontario and took the bridge to the USA. It was nice to be home where we could understand the money, the temperature, and distances. After 30 miles or so we found a map of New York, determined where we were, and then headed off for the Adirondacks where neither of us had ever been before. It just seemed to be a good place to go, and we wanted to see all the chairs and tables. When we get back to Sunnyvale we'll be able to see if Brian built his Adirondack chairs properly. So now we are camped at a very pleasant campground in Wilmington, NY, about 20 miles from Lake Placid, the site of the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics.

We were driving along an isolated, tree-enshrouded country lane. Ahead were blinking lights to warn us about a stop ahead. I jokingly mentioned that it was probably Border Patrol, since we were obviously in the middle of nowhere. It was. There were 5 of them taking their jobs very seriously. We were laughing and telling them we thought we had finally lost them along the Rio Grande. They kept asking us "Where were you born? Where have you been? How long were you there?" Finally, one of them said, "It's almost Miller time" and told us to move along.

This was about 30 miles south of the Canadian border. I couldn't believe it. The guy asked me if we had any Mexicans in the van. He finally started laughing and when he said that it was almost Miller time, I should have offered him a Dos Eques or a Corona.

The roads are wide and well paved. Lots of lakes and ponds. We passed through Saranac Falls and Lake Placid. Lake Placid is much too busy; reminds me of South Lake Tahoe without the casinos. We stopped in a sleepy river valley. Seems like a comfortable family summer resort area. People are friendly. Many are anticipating the end of summer this weekend and the inevitable closing up shop. Not much stays open past Labor Day.

End of week 16