Day 3 - A few years older

Lake Superior Provincial Park - Dryden
956km-1860km
Band Of Horses - Cease to Begin
This American Life podcasts
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
RCRD LBL.com assorted selections
The Walkmen - You & Me
Coldplay - Viva La Vida
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day audiobook
Spiritualized - Songs in A&E
Beirut - The Flying Club Cup
Sigur Ros - the new one that i don't feel like typing out the name of


The weather today hasn't been so hot. It makes us happy that it was so nice yesterday, since today is just a driving day anyway. We've been driving through pockets of hard rain, then really heavy fog, mixed with sunlight and fluffy clouds. The trees have barely any red leaves on them -- it's all a mix of yellow and green now. The road is really winding now. So far though, I've only had one moment of my heart shooting into my stomach and zipping around like a manic butterfly. Our tires hit some grooves filled with rain water and we did a bit of a mini-hydroplane. Nothing to worry about really, but still. Unpleasant. Michael gave us his radar detector as a going-away gift, se we set it up for a bit, but realized we didn't really know how to use it and would wait until we could read about it online later on. Today's the first day we've encountered traffic too -- so far, two pockets of construction. But the cars and trucks are so sparse on this stretch of highway that it wasn't a big deal, and it was cool to watch the big machines picking up the giant boulders that they'd recently blasted on the side of the road. I was hoping maybe a moose would be hanging out watching the construction, but no luck so far. I also keep hoping we'll drive past one of the many ponds along the side of the road and just see a moose, deer, bear and wolf hanging out and drinking water. Colin doesn't think this is very feasible.

These tiny towns along the way amaze me. They remind me of Newfoundland, where I went with my mom a few years ago. Not as many abandoned buildings, but I just can't believe there are enough jobs in these towns to sustain the populations. I'm sure land is ridiculously cheap here, but food and gas aren't. As soon as we got off the 400 Hwy, gas prices went up a minimum of 10 cents/litre. And where do people get their clothes and stuff like that? Mail order I guess? Make their own?? I'm such a big city girl.

















So we made it to Thunder Bay around 7pm and drove around for a bit in search of the old downtown. We didn't actually have any knowledge of this actually existing, but we assumed it was more than just super centres and fast food places. After some helpful advice from the Macs Milk dude, we went to what he said was downtown. It wasn't much, but we did find the Finnish Quarter. Apparently Thunder Bay has a huge Finnish population. It wasn't too surprising that we couldn't really eat at the restaurants though, unless we wanted a side of veal with our fish. Anyhow we ended up at a decent grill called the Madhouse. Our plan was just to eat and leave anyway. Which we did, after I finally got to talk to my mom, taking advantage of the cellphone reception in this booming metropolis.

This is when shit got scary.

It was dark by then, and the Trans Canada isn't exactly lit up. It's got a few reflective signs here and there, but for the most part, it's just a lot of trucks passing with their giant lights, blinding the oncoming driver for a second. Now, a second doesn't seem very long, but when you're on a highway with nothing but giant trucks and miles and miles of forest, with some cliffs and rocky overhangs thrown in for good measure, a second seems pretty damn long. Then it started to rain. I thought back to earlier in the day when we hit the rain-filled tire ruts, and then I imagined a moose walking out in front of the car -- a car that's weakest point, I would say, is its traction on wet pavement. Now, when trucks blew past us, they brought with them sheets of water and wind to hit us. The moose warnings had been upgraded to an actual electric traffic sign. Every muscle in my lower body was so tense...it was like when you're at the dentist and you periodically realize that you're gripping the chair so hard that your knuckles have gone white.
It would seem to make sense to follow a truck at a safe distance so that you can see what's in front of you, but this becomes a problem when the trucks are leaving huge clouds of rainwater behind them, and also going about 30km over the speed limit. I know you're all thinking "but Laura, you speed all the time!" but this wasn't the case in this situation.

And then...a moose wanders out onto the highway.

Fortunately, by the time we saw him, he was in the other lane of the road. Colin was floored, as he'd never seen a moose, nor did he believe me that it was a real danger. He had thought I was just being paranoid. Moose are crazy animals...they move so slowly, almost like they're floating in the fog while they wander across the road. They are both beautiful and alien at the same time.

So now we're driving along this wet, dark, empty road and there's NOTHING around. Going the speed limit, we would arrive in Dryden around 1am. That was around 2 1/2 hours away from where we saw the moose. Part of me thinks "okay, we saw a moose, that'll be it for the drive, we're ok" but then the majority of me just keeps thinking "oh shit oh shit oh shit this is so stupid oh shit." Colin's trying to assure me that everything's fine, and offering to drive, but I don't know if this is better or worse. After an hour and a half of this hell, we get to a town called Ignace. Now you've got to understand...driving through one of these tiny "towns" means basically there might be a gas station, a co-op store and, if you're lucky, a dodgy looking motel. I pulled into a parking lot of one of these motels and asked Colin what he wanted to do. By this time the rain had stopped and the road was more flat and straight, so he decided he could do the rest of the drive, and I conceded. Somehow I even managed to fall asleep. Colin said when we arrived in Dryden that he'd seen something that he figured was a wolf on the edge of the forest, but no more moose. We pulled into the Best Western and got a room, and that was the end of that nightmare drive.

Animal Corner!!

It was a pretty lame day for animal sightings. Aside from the giant (fake) Canada Goose in Wawa, and Winnie The Pooh in White River, all we saw was that moose. No photos or anything. Sigh. I need some cat cuddling!! Please give your bebes cuddles for me. And cross your fingers that tomorrow will be a better day.