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Paul Pospisil has left the
serenity of Ministikwan Lake
and hit the road on his hog.
It’s 5 a.m. and we are
up and preparing for the
road. We are leaving from
Art’s home where I spent
the night. Grasswood is
the first stop to fuel up,
have a coffee and discuss
what lies ahead with the
other riders, then start the
easterly traverse across our
vast country. Both Len and
his son-in-law Danny are
riding Harleys; Ted is on a BMW while
Art and I are sporting Yamahas.
After the meet and greet we headed
east to Yorkton. With less than a mile
under our belts it started to sprinkle, in
the next mile it was a shower, from that
it poured. Visibility for me was less than
desirable, the windshield was wet, and
my glasses were wet with spray coming
up from the road, but we forged ahead.
By the time we reached Colonsay the
sun had reappeared and mist was rising
from the blacktop.
It was a good ride across to Yorkton,
nothing too eventful, although we did
see two young moose, several coyotes
and a good deal of various road kill.
In one stretch of the highway we
passed Quill Lake then Harvard Road,
Mozart then Kandahar. It begged one to
think that “Mozart wrote with a Quill on
the Harvard Road while in Kandahar.”
I don’t think it’s a haiku – nevertheless
it’s a verse. By the time we reached the
Manitoba border the wind had picked
up and our speed was reduced to a less
than reckless rate. Ted’s BMW seemed to
have a permanent 15 degree angle into
the wind just to maintain his position on
the road. We were all pretty well in the
same boat, but Ted’s bike is the lightest
of the bunch. We arrived in Manitoba’s
capital, found a room had, a bite to eat
and called it a 900-kilometre day.
DAY TWO: WINNIPEG TO THUNDER BAY
I was not up as early as I had planned
as the front desk neglected to put
through my request for a 5:30 a.m. wake
up, so in turn I was rushed for the 7 a.m.
departure and no one else wanted to
stop at Tim Hortons. But just two days
before I had purchased a cup holder
for the bike which was now begging to
be tested. With coffee now in hand, I
headed east hooking up with the crew at
Winnipeg’s Perimeter Road.
By the way, the $8
Canadian Tire cup holder
works just fine mounted
on the handle bars. It
was now 7:25 a.m., a little
behind schedule but nevertheless
heading in the
desired direction. With the
Winnipeg skyline now well
in the rearview mirror the
Trans-Canada Highway
started to close in with
mature evergreen forest on
both sides.
The next few miles were
some of the most interesting
of the day. We were
weaving in the shadows of the morning
sun, and meandering in and out of the
sunshine the visual experience was as if
each change in the tone of the light was
another stroke on a canvas. At this point,
the Precambrian Shield started to show
up, offering dramatic visuals of rugged
outcroppings of granite, both along the
roadway and surrounding the many
blue-tinged lakes en route to Kenora,
Ont.
Over the years I have made the drive
across Canada a number of times but
what many folks don’t realize is the
vastness of Ontario. When asked about
the drive I have always tried to reiterate
that once you arrive in Kenora, Canada’s
destination for vacationing Hollywood
movie stars, your trip is just beginning
– be prepared to spend a few days on
the road. We arrived at 9:25 a.m. on the
shores of Lake of the Woods, fuelling up
on both petroleum and breakfast.
Kenora to Dryden was also rich in
scenery, which is much more absorbing
on the bike than from behind the wheel
of an automobile; it’s almost as if you are
one with nature.
From Dryden the road became less
scenic, yet begged you to consider the
vast wilderness and the people who
explored the land. With the time change
we rolled into Thunder Bay after 8 p.m.,
taking the bay view scenic road, from
the west to the east, passing up the old
and interesting part of town, down to
the Lakehead grain terminals on the
waterfront.
Thunder Bay is also home to the
Terry Fox monument where Terry
ended his monumental one-legged run
across this country raising money for
cancer research. Super 8 was the hotel
choice this evening after the check-in
we washed away the road dust with a
couple of Canadians and called it a day.
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