August 18 - Rabbit Blanket Lake PP to Thunder Bay

The weather got cooler today, and it rained on and off, so we did not get our last swim in the lake. But it was a good day anyway. It was actually a relief that it was a bit cooler today, driving in the heat is almost as bad as cycling in it! When it is cool and rainy, it is kind of nice to just stay in the van and drive, so we covered some good ground despite a slow morning spent drinking coffee and chatting in the van.

Today’s scenery was really spectacular, just as we had remembered it. There are possibly even more great views going west, although it was a little foggy coming through so maybe we just hadn’t seen them.

The van is quite slow, especially on these hilly, twisty roads. Sometimes I feel bad holding up traffic, although there are enough passing lanes that I don’t think it’s really a problem. But we are back in Thunder Bay, which is possibly where I have seen the worst driving of all the trip, including shoulder passing and trucks passing at high speeds in construction zones right beside the workers. If you look closely in the picture above, you’ll see a white smudge at the edge of the road by the curve. This is what it looked like up close.

After seeing this, I really didn’t care about holding up traffic – these roads do demand serious attention and caution!

The truck, labelled Maritime-Ontario, was probably full of lobsters, which got loose and into Lake Superior. Hopefully they will help with the eel situation in Rossport, but it was just one more reason to not swim today.

When we came through on the way east, we spent a rest day in Thunder Bay, and now it seems quite familiar! We are staying in the same place and ate at one of the restaurants that we went to last time, and we did not need to consult any maps to get around. Where is our sense of adventure? I think I lost it in a Quizno's around Sudbury where they offered a soup described as "Scrumptuoso."