Day 40: Dunromin

We could finally use the h*** word, home, in front of the children. We started to leave the campground at 8:00 but we/I had our first and only mishap of the trip and on our last day. I pulled out of our site, turning right, should have gone left because I drove over the fire pit wheel  rim and dislodged it. It jammed up under the  chassis between an inner rear tire and compartment. We heard the noise;  I stopped immediately and fortunately did not damage the compartment or tire. We were able to dislodge the rim by raising the rear end of the motorhome on the levelling jacks. Whew! The wheel rim was badly mangled though. Another  RVing first in 23 years.  #%^#*!%  Did I feel like an idiot. We stopped at the office; I confessed what I did  and paid $79.10  with tax for another wheel rim. I felt a bit better when we were able to buy gas in Sturgeon Falls @ $ .99.9 / litre.

We stopped in North Bay at Walmart to buy groceries and drove into heavy rain as we approached Sundridge. Harvee Too's front end got a really good power wash.
We arrived home at 11:15.  Dunromin looked like an abandoned property the grass  was so tall with wild flowers everywhere.

The mosquitoes were swarming us as we unpacked the food and  most of our belongings. It rained off and on  all afternoon which didn't deter the mosquitoes. I wore full bug armour to bbq steaks for dinner.  The final  121 km made  our trip total 10,490 km.

Getting Closer

We woke to fog at 5:00 which burned off quickly with the rising sun before we even left the campground at 8:05.

It was another motoring day, 416 km to Sturgeon Falls and the K.O.A. campground. We made four stops en route: at the rest area in Iron Bridge; at Tim Horton's  in Blind River. It was only our second indulgence at a Tim's this trip. We stopped in Spanish River to have lunch.

Our next stop was at Sudbury Downs and the OLG Slots outside of Sudbury. We almost changed our minds because the road from the highway to the casino was incredibly bad. We tried our luck for  about an hour. No winners in this rig.

The farther east we drove, the cloudier it became.We chose to go beyond Sudbury and arrived at the K.O.A. around 4:45. It is a newer K.O.A. and not cheap  @  $53.39, our most expensive campground this trip. We were living it up our last night on the road which was also the closest to home we have camped out, only 117 km from Dunromin.

Algoma Country

It was another early start to our motoring day, on the road at 8:05.  Hwy. 17 continued in an easterly direction away from Lake Superior. We made good time as far as Wawa and were prepared to stop and see the iconic landmark, the goose, but it wasn't too be. The cut off into Wawa was closed for repaving. Unbelievable.
South of Wawa, the highway returned to the shoreline and entered Lake Superior Provincial Park. We made a comfort stop at Depew River rest area.
The scenery was spectacular. 
We stopped for an early lunch at Katherine Cove. The fog was thick over the lake. There was an interesting display detailing how The Group of Seven was drawn to painting in Algoma.

Patchy fog made the drive even more dramatic. We stopped to take pictures in Agawa Bay and at Chippewa Falls just west of Sault Ste. Marie.

We drove into The Soo, bought gas at The Flying J @ $ .87/litre and picked up Peg's stained glass piece at a shop downtown. We drove back out of the city, passed The Flying J selling gas @ $1.09/litre. Great timing on our part. We bought a few groceries at Walmart and stopped at Glenview Cottages and Campground. We have a water & electric  site with excellent Wi-Fi and t.v reception, one channel but hey, it's t.v. We travelled 407 km under mostly sunny skies. It reached  a pleasant 24º. I didn't walk Shadow far... lots of mosquitoes. We must be getting  close to home.

North of Superior

 We were back to our old RVing ways, up at 5:30 and on the road at 7:05 under a light cloud cover. We crossed into E.S.T. within the hour. We by-passed Thunder Bay (been there, done that) but did stop at the Terry Fox Monument and Lookout again on hwy 11/17. The site stands near the place where he ended his 5,342 km run. His  nine foot high bronze statue is set on a 45 ton granite base and overlooks a panoramic view of Lake Superior.  The highway is named Terry Fox Courage Highway east of Thunder Bay.

We saw Thunder Bay's signature landmark, The Sleeping Giant, a rock
formation that resembles the shape of a sleeping giant lying on his back.


It was a spectacular drive east as the highway hugged the north shore of Lake Superior. We pulled off  at a few lookouts for pictures. We stopped to have lunch at a roadside park near Rossport.
We drove through a few construction zones, mostly bridge repair, traffic restricted to one lane but there was one  new bridge under construction.

 We motored 408 km to Marathon

and checked ourselves in at Penn Lake Park & Campground. It remained cool along the lake, never warmer than 13º even when the sun finally burned through the haze. The fog rolled in over the lake in the evening

Northwestern Ontario

We had a beautiful drive along hwy 17 in a southeasterly direction towards Lake Superior. Impressive rocks and so many picturesque lakes. We stopped to have  lunch at the Jackfish Lake rest area.

campground

It remained mostly sunny for our 335 km drive and was just clouding over when we stopped at 2:30 at Upsala Campground located on a small lake. While Jean made a mac 'n cheese casserole for tomorrow's dinner, I cleaned the windshield which was especially  bug splattered. It was 22º but dropped to 17º when it started to rain in the evening. Two other rigs/overnighters arrived after us. No t.v.  or Wi-Fi but we were able to get on a seasonal occupant's unsecured Wi-Fi. Thank you very much.

Kenora Ontario

It was mostly cloudy when we left the campground at 9:25 but cleared gradually as we neared Winnipeg. We took the hwy 100 by-pass called the "perimeter highway"  south of the city and stopped to top up the gas tank at a Flying J, our cheapest price yet @ $ .87.4. Too bad we needed only 59 litres. Gas was $1.11.9 / litre in Ontario. Ouch!
There was more construction, reduced speeds for  badly needed repaving.
We crossed back into Ontario, stopped at the Welcome Centre only to discover that just the washrooms were open and not the information section.
We continued to Kenora, the second largest city in Northwestern Ontario with a population of  15,500. We visited  the Lake of the Woods Discovery Centre which opened in 2011, an impressive building in itself. We drove around Kenora, had to stop for a doe and fawn crossing the road before checking in at Anicinabe RV Park & Campground overlooking Lake of the Woods. Our site overlooks a beach  on the lake. It remained mostly sunny, reaching a high of 22º.

It  was another easy motoring day, 287 km. We stopped at 2:45 and enjoyed both the view and the weather the rest of the day.  Shadow and I came upon a deer near our site on one walk.

"We're back!"

There was no sleeping in this day. We were thinking 5:00 but Hunter thought otherwise.... 1:00, then 4:00 and there was no getting back to sleep...groan. We left the campground at 8:40 and drove 12 km to  Brandon, the second largest city in Manitoba with a population of 46,000, where we had an app't at Freightliner for our 150,000 km servicing. We were here ten years ago for two servicings, going and returning on that trip.
It took about two hours to do approximately half of the checklist in the servicing; the rest would have to wait until we got home. Nothing critical and there were no nasty surprises with what was inspected.
We were on our way at 11:30, stopped for gas @ $ .93.9 and parked at Walmart to have lunch and buy a few groceries.

It was  mainly sunny and 1:00 when we  left Brandon and continued east on hwy 1, the Trans-Canada. The gas tank was full but not mine. We stopped for the day at 2:45 at Miller's Camping Resort, 10 km east of Portage La Prairie  after motoring only 151 km.
I tried the heated pool but didn't find it very heated; waist deep was far enough. These Manitobans are hardy. I guess I'm just a hot tub babe. It became overcast and rained for about an hour. We remained under a severe thunderstorm warning.