August 7, 2008 - Thursday - Day 38
USA/MEXICO/CANADA
DOUBLE CROSS COUNTRY
& THE TRANSCANADA HIGHWAY
-- OR BUST - SUMMER 2008
Miles Today - 311 - Total Miles - 8992
Terrace Bay,Ontario,Canada - to Sault Ste Marie,Ontario,Canada
(-staying at The Satellite Motel-)
(Ontario)
In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert Pirsig states that riding an MC across the country is like being IN it, while riding in a car and seeing the world thru a window is like watching it on TV-not really experiencing it. (sent to me by friend, Mark Z.)
When I came out for my run there were some elderly ladies near the covered Nomad. Seems they were with a little group car touring around Lake Superior. They clucked and chuckled about the ride I was taking, and they asked a bunch of questions about the bike. When I came back and uncovered it, they expressed awe at how pretty it was.
After breakfast in the motel dining room I finally got going on the highway by an extraordinarily late 11ish. I told the room cleaning lady with a wink, “OK, OK, everyone else is out and ahead of me, but I'm finally going now.”
I navigated the gravel parking lot okay, and got out onto the main road. It was a full day of nature.
Who would have thought it was so mountainous on the northern rim of Lake Superior? Not me. So I learned something! Today was a nice roller coaster ride along all those mountains on mostly well-built clean roads. And the sun patches reminded me of the first part of the poem Kubla Khan by Coleridge:
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
“And here were forests ancient as the hills, Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.” Yup. In spades!
Saw many long distance bicyclists with full pack today. Occasionally I'd pull up next to one of them. I'd ask if they needed anything, and then if traffic allowed would engage them in a conversation about their trips, and I'd mention that seeing them touched my heart. I came up to one fellow, looked over to him and smiled, and shouted above my purring engine, “Do you want to race?” We both laughed. (When on a bicycle, I'll often toss the same joking challenge to motorcyclists!)
Along the way today were forests and lakes only, no farms. There were also a lot of outcroppings of rock. One mysterious thing was that on most all the outcroppings someone had taken the time to make a little pyramid or little building of rocks. It was very apparent that this was a purposeful activity on someone's or on many folks' part. I seem to remember hearing about this awhile ago, but darn if I can remember about it.
There were a LOT of lakes. And lakes in all manner of shape and size: lakes full to the brim lapping up on the roadside and lakes partially filled, lakes skinny and lakes hugely wide, lakes sparkly and lakes with colors muted, lakes with islands and trees, and lakes that stood seemingly empty but for the reflection of the clouds and trees above. Hundreds of the lakes dotted the landscape and roadside like odd-shaped shiny coins tossed at random to the earth.
Time after time, and for practically the whole day, there were sumptuous views of these seemingly pristine lakes. At each turn there were new vistas of wonderment in valleys below and clouds above as I tooled along today. And I began to think that I'm not looking forward to getting back to the puny clouds at home.
“Wawa” is the name of a milk company at home. There's a town I rode through today with that name (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wawa,_Ontario). The word means “wild goose” from an Indian word. And sure enough there was a huge statue of a goose at the entryway to the town. I stopped in a little general store that possessed a ton of little-general-store character down to the wooden floors and down-home friendly attitude of the employees there. I browsed happily around the store for a bit and didn't get anything other than a little bag of freshly popped popcorn. (When I came into the busy place, the cashier greeted me with, “How ya' doin' today, sir?” I replied with, “Anywhere I see a popcorn machine I'm happy.”)
I was disappointed there was no bench out on the wooden porch on which to sit and munch. So I just stood around for quite awhile watching things go by… tourists come and go, workers pumping gas, the man on the high ladder cleaning the goose statue's neck, and the wind puffing the clouds along.
There was a stuffed moose barely fitting on the porch there to keep me company. (Man, are those things HUGE!!)
Shortly after Wawa came the full forests of Lake Superior National Park.
Errata, Asides, and Confessions:
- There are no cabooses on the trains anymore. I miss them. Another casualty of the economy from what I understand. Happened a few years ago.
- Never got to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Days have been too full. Sent the book home awhile ago. Plan to read it when home.
- Seem to be talking to myself a little more than usual. (But at least I'm not answering myself back!)
- On my rest day in Winnipeg I went for a 2-mile ride to the carwash to clean the bike and to dinner without my armor on. Just shorts, shirt, running shoes, and helmet. No need to scold me. I know, I know. Won't do it again.
- It's great when you love to do something and your planning, and your thinking about it, and your savings allow you to do it.
- There have only been one or two motorcyclists I've seen on the road that have had yellow on like I have. Most all the rest are in all black.
- It seems ironic on a 10,000+ mile motorcycle trip, but the time during each day that I am my most careful is when I step into and out of the motel room shower.
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I have several friends who are Canadians. I was sure disappointed that the vastness of the country, and where they live in relation to the Transcanada Highway prevented me from seeing them. Jacki, who lives far north from the route, noted some of my Canada questions and observation. She sent me a note about them. I'm sure she won't mind my sharing the information with you.
Interesting catching up on your daily travels. You mentioned seeing a bi-plane landing near you, these are what we call "Crop Dusters". Farmers around here spray their crops and the easiest and quickest way is by plane, they fly really low and sometimes catch a person off guard, especially if they weren't expecting one. One time we didn't see one coming over us from the side until he was almost over us and there was this roar, we thought something was going to blow up. lol.
Canadian money keeps changing. We haven't had $1 bills up here for quite a while now and we are used to the "Loonie" because of the "loon" (bird) pictures on the front of the coin. The Loonie was first introduced in 1987 to replace the $1 bills because it cost more to keep replacing the popular bills, the coin doesn't have to be replaced as the paper bills did.
The Toonie became the official $2 in 2006 and again, it is that they do not have to be replaced anywhere near the # of $ bills that would be unissuable (meaning return to Bank of Canada to be replaced).
The purple vegetation you saw along the prairies was Flax.
Flaxseed has many uses. Its major use has traditionally been in oil-based paints and other protective coatings but it is also used in such things as linoleum, printer's ink, soaps, putty, industrial lubricant and as a salt-resistant coating for concrete highways and sidewalks. Flaxseed contains 35%-40% linseed oil. After oil extracting, the remaining linseed meal is used as a livestock protein supplement, averaging approximately 35% protein content. The addition of flax or flax byproducts in a variety of foods has diversified this market.
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Today I traveled endless hills, some leading right up into the clouds and some heading right down to the rippling edge of Lake Superior.
Every time there was a break in the trees to the right and Lake Superior came into view there'd be a huge gust of wind. I was distracted at one point putting notes in the tape recorder, and one puff of wind practically pushed me to the other side of the road.
At 4:30pm while rolling along the highway I could tell I missed a storm by maybe half an hour because the roadway was wet. Good thing I lingered at that little popcorn break back in Wawa.
The views of deep aquamarine blues of Lake Superior were amazing to behold.
Took a short little break at 4:20pm to take a look at the Transcanada Highway mid-point plaque.
Just before Sault Ste Marie, a little black squirrel came skittering out in front of me and just made it to safety across to the other side of the road.
Sault Ste Marie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sault_Ste._Marie,_Ontario) is the biggest city I've come upon in awhile. It looked gigantic and bustling as it stretched out before me. This especially so after I had been through those scores of miles of placid lakes and trees.
After checking out a few motels I settled on the Satellite Motel because it had a wireless connection. I gathered my clothing together and hoofed it over to the Laundromat. While the laundry was spinning I hoofed it some more over to a Taco Bell about three-quarters of a mile away, and then browsed through a Staples, and a then a food store where I bought a banana and an orange.
I like walking and running through places I don't know, and will often try shortcuts where it looks like there is no way out. It's the best opportunity to find secret paths and back alleys.
Back at the room I got to work cleaning the Nomad which wasn't too tough today since there wasn't any rain. The friendly motel operator even brought me a bucket and a bunch of rags.
There's a series of locks in Sault Ste Marie which is part of the busiest canal in the world in terms of tonnage. One day I hope to come back and take tour of those locks.
