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Monday 30 June 2014

Day 39 Terrace bay to Marathon

We woke up to quite a chilly morning. After seriously struggling to get out of bed, we quickly ate our breakfast and took a picture with the lovely terrace bay lighthouse. 
After a couple hours on the road we met a couple named Susan and cliff from Scotland travelling across the country on a tandem recumbent bike  which was pretty awesome to see. After having a quick chat we were on our way again. We decided to stop for lunch on top of one of the rocks by the side of the road.  And we just had to build our own innukshuk. Just after we finished our masterpiece another biker pulled up. His name was Bill and he was going across Canada too! While hearing some of his stories two more girls pulled up. 
We snapped a quick picture and decided to be on our way. 
Not too far down the road we ran into two more bikers! 
These last two bikers had been on the road for 15 months! They started biking in Europe then flew to South America biked around there AND THEN  flew to buffalo where they biked up to Toronto and then headed west. That's where we met them.  Very nice people who told us that they'd keep biking for the next 3 years... Or until the money runs out. 

We continued our day biking through very rolly hills and pretty bad shoulders. 
We made it to marathon and decided that was good enough for today. 
View of Danica changing a flat first thing in the morning 
The terrace bay light house
Cliff and Susan 
The group of bikers we found on the side of the road. 
We hit 4000 km today!!
View of superior 

The group enjoying the view
Our campsite in marathon 

Sunday 29 June 2014

Day 41: white river to Lake Superior (old woman's bay)

Day 41: white river to Lake Superior (old woman's bay)

(Danica) 6:30 am got up again. All the other cyclists were up as well. Breaky was our usual (oatmeal bread  hot choc). Kelly is actually a cheery morning friend now but apparently according to her and Laura I was too chipper today. Had to be though because A. It's Friday. B. it was sunny. C. I knew team awesome would go swimming at lunch again! And we did just that... Skinny dipped at the side of the hwy into a cold-ish lake. Got into Wawa around 3:30 where we found the big goose! It's falling apart to be honest but still cool for a photo. Then we found Tim's and thought "wifi and ice-caps" when we found out we had service!! For the last few days only Rogers phones had service and we all were out of luck being with telus. I love not having service to be honest. So after killing a lot of time with old friend Tim we got groceries and moved on down the road to our "totally legal why would you even question that" camp site. Swam in Lake Superior which is f***ing cold. Ok we washed important bits then got out. Dinner was lovely then bed again! 

I was reading the blogs of what the other girls had written an thought I'd add a story in.

On the way to Terrace Bay, Laura and I got a bit board... We started to talk in this harsh old ugly lady accent. We named this lady Ross and made our very own sitcom! She is an old crankie lady who smokes and has nothing good to say. Her husband is Herold and they have kids and the mail man visits and ... Oh. Yaaaah this goes on and on. Kelly got into it with me for season 2 as we climbed the biggest hill. About thirty mins of us climbing a hill making a sitcom out loud in our accents! We took forever to do this hill because of Ross. 

We've been following these every 2km all the way from the boarder. 

Biking with our friends!

Cliff and Susan! Funniest people ever!

Wawa!! 

Superior lake! First sunset. 

Friday 27 June 2014

Day 38: Nipigon - Tereace Bay 120km

(Veronika) Terrace bay here we come. Too bad the weather didn't seem to appreciate our enthusiasm and sent rain almost the whole day. 
We got like 10m out of the marina campground when Danica had a flat. What a good start of the day! 
After a quick breakfast at Tim hortons we took off in the rain. I gotta tell ya, we were frozen after only a third of today's route. That's when we decided to stop at this random motel in the middle of nowhere, we went in and asked if we (frozen to death) would be allowed to sit inside and have our sandwiches along with hot beverages and soup from the restaurant, the guys only response was " certainly not". So we only had soup and hot choc, I've never experienced a more rude guy in a restaurant. As the day went on we passed lots of construction zones and climbed a couple of hills. There was one which made us all remember bc very well, steep and long - worst thing is the blast channels in the road funnel the wind and make it even harder to climb it up with a bike - but the downhills though, sooo much fun. 
We stopped in Schreiber at a grocery store "costa's" and got our groceries and the people there told us a brigde we just went over earlier today got washed out and the highway 17 will be closed approximately for 7 days - we were so lucky we got through before that.
When we entered terrace bay we were told the one campground is closed but apparently people just camp at the visitor centre. So we did and after a good dinner all us of fell into bed exhausted.

Laura gets her robin's donut

Lake Superior 

See how far we got - sign at the random motel

Fun downhill 

Finally there!! 

Happy bikers

Thursday 26 June 2014

Day 40. Finding Winnie.

(Cate) This morning we awoke to sunshine and gorgeous blue skies. Yesterday was our first day on this entire trip where we had sunshine and blue skies all day. So a second day of beautiful weather was well received by the group. Dry tents and dry clothes make for much happier bikers! It was so hot that we took our lunch break on a lake next to the highway. Delicious sandwiches and skinny dipping made for the best lunch break of the trip. We played tag all day with an older cyclist, Bill. He would fall behind when we biked but promptly caught up due to our frequent stops to meet the needs of 6 girls. We arrived in White River mid afternoon, home of Winnie the Pooh! In 1914, a soldier bought a bear cub here on his way to London to train and raised the cub. The bear later ended up at the London Zoo when he was deployed to fight. He named the cub Winnie after his hometown, Winnipeg. The author met the bear at the zoo and the fictional character we all know and love was born. After an ice cream stop, we headed to the popular beach and swam and drank ciders before setting up camp behind the tourist center with 5 other cyclists. Courtney and I got to try out the tandem, recumbent bicycle which a couple we met are riding across the country. They are from Scotland and due to differing cycling abilities decided a tandem bike was the way to go. 

Our lunch spot. 

With Winnie the Pooh. 

Soaking up the sun. 

White River!

Cate trying out the recumbent bicycle. Sure beats the comfort of our bike seats. 

Another stunning sunset. We spend so much time outside and appreciating nature on this trip! 



Wednesday 25 June 2014

Day 34 Nowhere to Nowhere

 Jack fish lake to Minnowan lake 160k

(Courtney) We all had a great sleep camped next to the no camping sign. The morning started with some bike troubles for Kelly. Her tire had lost a bit air over night so, naturally, she pumped it back up. Unfortunately she broke the tube stem when she pulled off the pump causing Kelly to have a rage (a little roll on the ground while yelling at her bike). Also unfortunately, this little rage broke her helmet brim which then hung down in front of her eyes. It looked hilarious but apparently she couldn't see very well. We fixed the helmet with a bit of tape and when we stopped laughing it turned out the the tire still had enough pressure. The riding to Ignace was pretty easy but it was cold and rainy. When we rolled into town the first thing we saw was a very cute and warm looking burger joint. We were sold. The sandwiches could wait till dinner. On our way out we hit up the only grocery store in town and stocked up on supplies. The plan was to just bike until we got tired and stealth camp wherever that was. Oh! Did you think Kelly's bike troubles were over earlier? Cause they weren't. Her bike kept skipping gears after lunch so we flipped it upside down and tried to figure it out. Kelly, Danica and Laura were had their faces about an inch away from her wheel spinning it around. I was watching them from a few feet away. "Hey I think it's just a tight link" said me (you can call me Eagle Eyes). Sure enough it was. Luckily we had all the tools to fix it pretty quickly. At about the 160k mark we'd had enough. There was a driveway off the highway that lead to someone's property. We decided to go in and ask if we could camp on the lawn. There was no one to ask. The windows of all the cabins were boarded up and there wasn't a car there that looked like it worked. It was pretty run down and quite creepy but it was late and the outhouse had toilet paper. We stayed. 
Kelly's breakdown. 

Day 36: Kakabeka falls to Thunder Bay

(Kelly) So we never made up that 40km! Haha we ended up staying in Kakabeka Falls which was lovely. Then we had a luxurious ride into Thunder Bay, obviously in the rain and cold. One very exciting moment, just heading out of Kakabeka, was when a FREAKING BEAR walked out INTO the road in front of us. We all skidded to a halt and all miraculously unclipped. The bear stared at us for a moment, measuring us up, then decided we weren't worth it and kept walking. It was all very exciting. Then we continued on our way into Thunder Bay, had breakfast, did a couple chores, then headed over to the campsite for a spaghetti extravaganza with Penny and Fred, Danica's family friends from the Shuswap. It was over all a great rest day. 
Kakabeka Falls

The black bear...



Day 37: Thunder Bay to Nipigon


Thunder Bay to Nipigon Day 37
127km
We said goodbye to Fred and Penny who cooked an amazing dinner and dessert AND provided a with delicious coffee in the morning. 
We started our day off with a detour as cyclists are not allowed on a portion of the 17 right outside of thunderbay. It was a really nice ride on a quiet road but unfortunately for us it also meant missing the terry fox memorial and the most scenic views of the sleeping giant. 
Side note :
The shoulders that we had been hearing about around Thunder Bay have definitely lived up to their name. They're very narrow, sometimes with gravel on them and definitely a single file ride. Be careful to watch out for two semi trucks coming at once. Most trucks/cars are really good at giving you room but the odd ones aren't. 
Back to our day. 
After stopping for some lunch at a scenic picnic area in Pearl we continued on our day of rolling hills. We spotted a sign for the largest suspension bridge in Canada and just had to make the detour to go see it. Little did we know that it was more hills, gravel roads, around 20km, and you would have to pay to walk on the bridge. But hey, you win some you loose some. 
After crossing that very large high bridge( some of us liked it more than others...The ones not afraid of heights ) we were back off to our intended route. 
Just outside of nipigon we ran into a man biking across Canada for the SECOND time in two years and another boy biking from Montreal to Victoria. 
After a quick chat with the biker gang we made it into nipigon where we stayed at the marina. 20 bucks, right on the river and it had flush toilets and showers! Perfect. 

Cool signs pointing in many directions! 

Freezing Foggy morning!

Terry Fox courage highway 

Biker gang!!

Nipigon! 

Swans in the lake in Nipigon. 


Sunday 22 June 2014

Day 35 Creepy Spot to Falls

Minnowan Lake to Kakabeka Falls 160km and 12 hours of biking!! 13 if you count the time change. 

Ummmm .... Well .... We biked and biked and biked. We got up early to start biking and then had a fabulous breaky at Upsala!!! We had signs going into Upsala for 80 km so we practiced saying the name for a longggggg time! I think it's "opppsaaaalllla" whereas Laura swears it's "UPsalaaaaa". Most others just wish we stopped saying any form of Upsala. Anyways... Either way by the time we got there we imagined a huge town but nope only 200 ish lived there. One store/gas/restraunt all together so there was no debate as where to go. And all of them in the town were confused as the official time change sign wasn't until after the town but yet they were changed. The time change sign was super cool as it showed all the time changes across the country. There was also a cool watershed sign that said all the water from that point flowed to the Alantic Ocean. Anyways that was all the excitement on the road. Biked along and along and along. Stopped for lunch/dinner in Shabaqua... Yes we debated how to say this too. Just a side note biking for 12 hours wasn't hard just makes the mind go insane. Me and Kelly are officially on a crazy train and everyone else doesn't know it yet but they will soon be on board!! Woot woot! 

We saw a MOOSE! Just hanging out! Then it ran away and for myself I totally have never seen a moose run! Amazing! We then saw it's brother which was not doing so good on the side of the road. Poor guy. 

Kakabeka Falls is pretty... The showers were the best part along with our tents. Stayed up wayyyy past our bed time with retarded giggle fits. First Ontario Provincal park, and they did a good job of it. (Except mabye putting our camping site on the top of a hill) 

Small shoulder of staring at each other's bums. 

Time zone!

History of the route we are on

Watershed sign

Staal Bros are from here!!!


Kakabeka Falls

Hill







Saturday 21 June 2014

Day 33 Vermillion bay to jack fish lake



After getting my retainer fixed and stopping for a quick Timmy's break we were off to find somewhere along the road to camp. After biking for another 40 km we found a spot where you could launch your boat and that had some picnic tables. There was a big sign that said "absolutely no camping from 9pm-5am" but we chose to ignore that sign and set up camp for the night. 
While doing laundry in the lake I had another fun experience of the day of getting a leech on my toe. Danica was nice enough to get the salt so he didn't stay on too long. 
We happen to meet another biker who was a bit of a nomad and was biking from Edmonton to Halifax to work for the winter in the ship yards. 
After having a healthy dinner of bean and wieners cate Courtney Danica and I played a quick game of crib ( Danica and I won) we were off to bed for a wet night in the tents. 
The lovely welcome to Dryden sign. 
Danica and I putting up our expert tarp. 




Thursday 19 June 2014

Ontario Song

If anyone was worried about not know this here's the link.

You're welcome.

Ontastic Onterrible ?! Reply to Kelly's Post

(Danica) Haha nice try Kelly with the ONTastic joke... Made me smile! 

Two significant things did happen yesterday. One... A biker going west had heard of us! Heard we were the six biker chicks going across the country!! Amazing we are a tiny bit famous... Or just a crazy warning from someone else! Second thing... A lady said to us "oh yah that was on my bucket list, but now I'm too old and it on my fuck it list!" Hahaha!

Oh and in Ontario east wind means coming from the east AGAINST us... Thanks for that!! 

All smiles at a Tim's break in Dryden!! We had a first kind of different detour coming into town... The dentist office for Laura who had her fixed retainer half pop off of her mouth. They took us immediately and were super great!!

Last nights sunset


Dryden !!!