Moving north and west, Sault Ste Marie to Marathon

Lake Superior

Another gorgeous day to be on the road. We always enjoy this drive, especially with weather like we've had.

It was another peaceful night at the SSM Walmart. It's a popular spot. This morning I counted 29 camper outfits there, 30 if you count the guy sleeping in his car:

After a token breakfast we were ready to head out early today. However, not to be. Yesterday we had a couple of red warnings that the oil level is too high in the van engine, and we need to remove some oil real soon. 

After doing some Internet research this morning, I contacted our Kitchener Sprinter dealer service dept. Automated message "all are busy, will call me back later". Long before he did, we located an oil change shop nearby, and drove there soon after they opened at 8am. 

Two very helpful guys working there this morning. We agreed the best thing would be to drain a litre or so of the oil into a clean container, and see what the level was then. We could see it was high on the dipstick, but hard to tell how high. The electronic measure just said "High" but not how high.  

So we drained a litre, and now the oil was low. After adding back 1/2 litre I used the electronic check for oil level, and it was happy now. I keep a litre in the van and will top up if needed. So off we went. When I asked how much we owed him, he said a smile and a handshake. Very good price!

The place is Victory Lube, 142 Great Northern Road in Sault Ste Marie, if you ever need oil in the area.  

When the dealer service called back later I told him the story, and he agreed it sounded like we did the right thing. Whew!

Heading north we spotted a sign advertising fresh apple fritters. After the light breakfast and van stress, we felt we deserved a treat. One was enough for both of us:

Looks like a beef roast, but was a fritter.

  

Still more construction today. Tis the season, and the improvement to the roads on this route from many years ago is amazing. No free lunch though, thus construction. It was easily and quickly navigated today:

Then more of the lake views that are both familiar and yet different every trip:

We stopped at Agawa Rocks Pictographs, a spot we've never visited. There's a short 400 metre trail to some scenic wonders. We didn't get too far though, before we decided it was too rugged for us these days:

The pictures of the worse parts didn't turn out, and things never look as steep in the pictures as in real life. Here's a pic of what awaited at the shore:

On the way in to Sault Ste Marie yesterday we stopped at another Petro Canada and filled up at $1.97.9. This morning we saw several diesel prices posted on our way out of town, anywhere from $2.19.9 to as much as $2.53.9! Glad we filled up when and where we did.

There's long stretches in this part of the world with no services, so we decided to top up our fuel again when we reached Wawa. There are gas stations outside town right on the bypass, but I wanted to check the diesel prices. The Esso on the highway didn't even display their diesel price, but their gas price was quite high. The Petro Canada in town was only $1.99.9. Good price for right now. 

We had thought we would be there too early in the day to camp at Penn Lake Park, a municipal campground in Marathon Ont. We had camped there a few years ago, and enjoyed it. What with one thing and another it was about 3 pm when we got there, and we both felt like that was far enough for today. A nice site in their unserviced tenting area worked for us:

Seagulls enjoying that large rock across the way

   

 

 

 

 

 

Killbear Prov Park to Sault Ste Marie

 

Construction was today's theme. Relatively minor construction started before we were really out of the park, followed by some major blasting on Hwy 559 back out to the main highway (400/69):

 

Placing the blast mats to muffle explosive debris

 This looked like a neat way to haul various sizes of pipe in one load:

There's quite a bit of construction between Sudbury and Sault Ste Marie:

 

Usually these were well-managed, but it was a tiring drive today, even with the fine day and a nice break in Blind River:

It was a relief to get to the Soo for the night. We'll be parking at the usual Walmart here, but first took advantage of the Tuesday special at a nearby Swiss Chalet for a couple of quarter chicken dinners.  

Oh yes, the power did come back on before bedtime last evening, maybe about 6:30ish. 

 

 

It's hard to imagine that we often did this trip that now takes us two travel days, all in one day in years gone by. Sigh...

 

 

*Start* West trip to BC

Yes, we're hitting the road again, heading to BC. Once again, several reasons we shouldn't, but the overriding reasons we are: because we want to and still can (we think!). Only through Canada of course.

We had a gorgeous day to start. Later than our normal since we waited for our weekly garbage pickup, but were away to Goderich by 8am. First stop after a Goodwill dropoff was a Sausage McMuffin combo at the Goderich McDonalds, kind of a tradition of ours for the start of a trip. Nice that they are on as a $5 Value Meal right now.

Heading north, lots of power-generating windmills. It always seems like there are more windmills than last time, but maybe the sun angle helps to see them:

Many farm fields are lovely right now, the greens being very green, and some crops starting to bloom already:

Sheep in the meadow...

  

Luckily no cows in the canola

 

Along the way it looked like a fire ahead, maybe a farm building. Luckily we could see it was planned and under control when got closer. Perhaps a small farm building once:

 

Then we stopped at a Mennonite market at Conn, just north of Arthur Ont. Local products, nicely displayed.

Part of their outdoor selections

 

Nice easy driving on these rural roads. Of course the GPS wanted to get right over to Hwy 400 to head north. We did get there eventually, but mostly via secondary roads (pavement being the only requirement) to north of Barrie.

When going this way we have to stop at our previous house, just to make sure all is well. It's looking good, and a nice door on the detached garage looks much better than the mesh tarp we used when it was ours:

Then a stop at Parry Sound Canadian Tire for our first diesel fillup of the trip. Some time ago (maybe a couple of years now?) Canadian Tire gas bars switched from Shell to Petro Canada fuels. Diesel was "only" $1.99.9 / ltr here, and we get about 3 kinds of points and CTC money for a fillup. It would be really nice if this was the most expensive fuel for the trip, but likely not.

We were heading for an early stop at Killbear Provincial Park, just a few kms north of Parry Sound. It's a fair way off hwy 400, with several construction delays on Hwy 559 along the way:

Drilling for rock blasting

Blast mats to contain the explosive debris

 

No problem getting a site at Killbear, lots of choice. It's going to get chilly tonight so we opted for an electrical site:

Unfortunately I couldn't get any electrical outlets to work, and after discussing with other campers found out that there is no power at most of the sites.  So why, you may ask, did they sell us an electrical site when they knew the power was out, and not even mention it to us? Good question. 

A couple of hours later and the parks are still dark. Luckily not a major problem for us. Refunds are doubtful apparently, since they only refund once power is out for 24 hours. So we'll just enjoy our camp,  carry on tomorrow and not worry about it. 

 

 

Signs of spring - swans heading north

 

Every year about this time we look forward to the Tundra swans passing through the area on their way to northern breeding grounds for the summer. They started to arrive last week. 

So on Monday we took a drive to our regular viewing area, on Greenway Road <Info and Map link>. While not yet at their peak, at least several hundred swans were in the area, resting up on their journey. 

The swans used to congregate right beside Greenway Road, close to the road. This was in a field planted with corn usually, and runoff and rain collected in a large pond beside the road. Last year and this year the pond did not happen, so the swans are further away. There is lots of water elsewhere in the area though, so maybe the drainage was improved for that field.  

Most of the water in this picture is overflow from a creek on the left, kind of behind the trees: 

Creek on the right, flooding on the left

If you look carefully you can see swans spread out over these flooded fields:

 

A number of swans were visible from the north side of Greenway Road, opposite of where they used to hang out. I tried to get closer, with some success:

Then they got nervous and many took flight:

 

Here's short video of the mass takeoff: 

 

Guess I looked pretty scary...

  

Some other spring birds were in the area too:

The first Robins we've seen this year

A male Redwing Blackbird

 

It was just a beautiful day to be out and about. On the way home we dropped by a view of Lake Huron near where we live. The visible ice pack varies with the winds, but ice is on the way out: