August 19 Thunder Bay to Kenora

We got our early start today, with the intention of making it to Winnipeg. However, things played out a little differently! As we were approaching Kenora, the van started running very rough, and then finally it stopped altogether. Yes, it finally happened, we were a broken down Volkswagen van by the side of the highway. However, things could not have been much more convenient for a breakdown. First of all, the van continued to run (or more like limp) until we were able to make it to a campground/gas station, which also, very conveniently, sold beer. So I called CAA, and, knowing the day was over for driving, we cracked a beer and waited for the tow.

We were only about 15km from Kenora, so the tow did not take long. We had not been planning on stopping on Kenora, being somewhat bent now on making progress westward, but the plans changed! The tow truck dropped the van off at the Canadian Tire around 5, so I went in and made an appointment for them to take a look at it first thing in the AM (they were very accomadating). We got a motel right across the street and hit the town! What party animals, we were in bed by about 9:30 (but hey, we lost an hour due to the timezone today).

Kenora really is a beautiful place. I was wondering if it would seem as nice on the way back west as it did coming east, since coming east it was the gateway to the land of lakes and forests, after so much prairie. But it did not disappoint this time through either. After a day of rain, we were lucky enough to get sun while we were waiting for the tow truck to come, and it held until after dinner. We took a walk along the water, and looked out at the boats and islands. Sure looked like summer fun!