The Marathon from Marathon to Thunderbay

Soo after warming up, and chowing down in Marathon and coincidentally meeting up with a couple of people Babs knew from Cornwall we decided to continue on our way. We didn't get a few kilometers down the road when we reconsidered our decision. In the travel lodge we noticed that everyone was comming in off the road and trying to stay put for the night because of the foggy conditions. We had two views on this situation. If the cars can't see, then they probably can't see us and thats no good, buuut if everyone is getting off the road due to the fog then that means less traffic and that's great as far as we're concerned. We went with the former state of mind and didn't get more than a few kilometers down the road before we ran into another motel and decided to shutter down. Later we found out that we actually had offers of places to stay in that very town or Marathon but our fantastic coverage from Rogers Wireless had then been gone for almost a week and we didn't find out this fact until we got here to Thunder Bay. Soo instead we spent our precious money and stayed in a motel. It was a good night though and we had some nice long hot showers and watched Jumanji.

The next day the fog had cleared and we were on our way after a tasty canned ham bagel. We stopped about 30 kilometers in at a little rest stop for some bananna dominated trail mix. We met a friendly German family who were also travelling across Canada and chatted about our trips. After they showed us some photos of a bear they saw a few kilometers back we decided to hit the road again. The day was hilly but provided some beautiful views. We continued towards Terrace Bay and stopped at Drifters Roadhouse for a fantastic plate of pork chops and mashed potatoes. While waiting for our food we met some ladies who were enjoying an episode of the Magic School Bus. Hardly able to hold back our quips, we zinged the girls for thier choice of entertainment. We chatted for a few minutes then they headed out. After a delicious bite we continued on through the hilly, windy, wet, foggy mess of a day through Schrieber and onwards to Ross Port. As the legs tired we decided to check into some camping. The camp site we popped into was asking for $27.50. So, despite the good looking camp host, we politely declined and instead settled on a fantastic picnic spot a few kilometers down the road. We were cold and wet but the spot gave us a beautiful view of Lake Superior and we decided it was right up our alley. We headed down to the beach and decided that a fire would make this the ideal camp location. So we rummaged through some garbage containers to gather some dry paper and marched through the bushy areas to rally some "dry" wood. Though soaked, the wood was dead and relatively dry on the inside. So we headed back to the beach to try our luck. Contrary to our fire starting abilities in Petawawa, this fire started up slowly but surely and despite the rain we had ourselves a nice fire glowing in no time. As we stood around the fire warming our cold and blue toes, we had the pleasure of meeting some fantastic folks, even if only for a minute. A Torontonian returning from Manitoba was gracious enough to collect a huge bundle of wood for us from the bush while his parents stopped for a pee break. Thanks Christian! An older lady from Germany asked if we could snap a phot of her and her mother, and we kindly obliged. She thanked us and then headed out. Before she departed she returned with a full camping propane tank and offered it to us. She insisted she had two other full ones and so we were greatful to accept her gift and replace our dwindling supply. After stoking the fire we decided to have a quick dip in the cold water. It was refreshing and took our breath away. We re-warmed our cold selves by our against-the-odds fire and looked out onto the glass like Superior. We thought that it'd be a fantastic time to be kayaking. Moments later a van pulled up and was ready to do just that. Toby and Chris, from Thunder Bay, were about to enjoy the water. On our way up to gather more fire wood, we introduced ourselves and chatted a bit about our trip. Soon after they decided to hit the water while it was still a bit light out. We returned to the fire and settled in for a bite of dinner: a can of beans and some bagels. As we ate, Toby and Chris returned and had to "apologize". We were slightly confused since he hadn't done anything to wrong us. Before we could figure it out, he was brandishing two beers for us lucky bikers, but was apologizing for the warmness of the beers. They joined us around the fire and we chatted about our trip and other aspects of life. As the fire dwindled, they returned to their van in which they had a mattress and we headed to bed in our beach side tent. We went to bed smiling, super content with the kindness of strangers and happy with the way things have been working out.

The next day the hills were long and arduous but we tackled them with some grunting and slight complaining and headed towards Nipigon. It was still early, so we enjoyed a couple of slices of pizza and stocked up on some Faxe 10 and Grand 9.5 for our post bike refreshments. We caught a tail wind out of Nipigon that lasted for a few minutes but we had to sit out 15 minutes to change a tire thanks to someones broken window all over the road. After a record time tire change on Skye's back tire we caught the tail wind again and ripped off another 40kms. We decided to call it quits at about 8:30 at a little picnic area beside an Esso convenient store in Dorion. The lady assured us we could throw up our tent and we grabbed a few snacks before they closed at 9:00. We set up shop and enjoyed our top of the line refreshments and hit the hay. We woke early thanks to the tent being slapped into our faces by the heavy wind, but used it to our advantage to zip into Thunder Bay. After a delicious bite at the Lakeview Inn and a nice chat with the owners daughter, who was interested to hear about our trip, we continued on. Despite riding on the stretch of Highway 17 dedicatd to Terry Fox's cross Canada Marathon of Hope we were informed by a police officer that we were actually NOT allowed to bike or run on that stretch of highway. That's interesting considering its dedicated to a man that ran himself along that very path. But, we obliged and hit an alternate route into town. We met up with Jenn Jocko, a medschool friend of Skye's sister Ceilidh, and she welcomed us into her beautiful home. She treated us to a fantastic feed of BBQ'd ribs, chicken, and corn on the cob, but insisted her husband Brad was the cook of the house. He was currently out of the house driving the kids all around Ontario attending hockey camps and camping camps while stopping in to visit some of their family. They arrived home the next day and we met Brad and the kids Logan and Selena. We had the oppertunity to "bump into" Jordan Stall at the Thunder Bay airport as he was picking up the Stanley Cup. Logan, an avid fan, was over the moon being able to catch some autographs and see one of his NHL heros. We came back and Brad treated us to a fabulous fish fry, all caught at their camp by Logan. We ate until we could eat no more. They have been treating us like kings and have made us feel super comfortable, allowing us to use their house and car as our own. The kids kept us busy with games of hide and go seek. After doing a couple of loads of laundry and learning some new bike maintenance skills in Brad's shop we're ready to hit the road again. Hopefully we'll be out of Ontario in a few days and can start flying through the western provinces. Calgary will be our next big rest area and we're looking forward to seeing many friends when we get there.

Cheers for now