It had to happen sooner or later. After 39 days on the road, we had our first full day of rain. With very few breaks in the clouds, it rained all day today. From a mist to a downpour, we road all the way from Winnipeg to Thunder Bay in some degree of WET. On the positive side, at least it wasn’t cold; it was cool, and our liners helped a great deal. Another positive was that Jack’s driving, once again, proved to be exceptional. Vision was limited at times and the roads were challenging (although not terrible, as we’ve experienced lately) and he did a great job.
We left Winnipeg rather late – nearly noon – and it had already begun to rain. We made a stop for an early lunch, hoping the storm would push past, but it only delayed things a bit. Around 7:00, we stopped for dinner and discussed the pros and cons of stopping in Ignace for the night, or heading on to Thunder Bay, our anticipated destination for Thursday. Since we had only three hours to go and the rain had decreased somewhat, we opted to soldier on and hoped that any precip would pass over during the night and leave us with a pretty Wednesday in Thunder Bay.
Little did we know at the time that the stretch of road between Ignace and Thunder Bay is infamous for its moose population. We hadn’t been out of Ignace a full hour before we saw a huge, beautiful bull moose with an enormous rack standing at the edge of the road. It’s the first that Jack and I have seen on this trip, despite seeing a dozen or more females in AK and YT. We kept looking, and before our trip to Thunder Bay was through, we’d spotted at least eight large males and two females close enough to the road to worry us that one would step out.
In addition to the rain, the terrible visibility, and the moose, we had night-driving semis and a light fog to deal with. Keeping close behind the trucks in front of us (as blockers against the wildlife) and keeping ahead of the ones behind going 70 around fairly fast corners was a little more stress than I’d like to deal with anytime in the near future, thank you very much. I’m sure my fingers left imprints in the armrests on the bike! I don’t even recall taking a breath for a stretch of about two miles at one point. This is not an evening I’ll soon forget.
Anyway, we’ve once again lived to talk about the experience and have set up camp at a KOA in Thunder Bay. The rain let up long enough for us to set up at midnight in dry conditions and has only now, at 1:30 a.m., started up a bit again. In our little camper it is warm and dry and we are turning in. I will try to post this tomorrow if the Internet is up and running. (It seems that we have another “It works sometimes…” situation.)
Hope all’s well. We love you,
L
We left Winnipeg rather late – nearly noon – and it had already begun to rain. We made a stop for an early lunch, hoping the storm would push past, but it only delayed things a bit. Around 7:00, we stopped for dinner and discussed the pros and cons of stopping in Ignace for the night, or heading on to Thunder Bay, our anticipated destination for Thursday. Since we had only three hours to go and the rain had decreased somewhat, we opted to soldier on and hoped that any precip would pass over during the night and leave us with a pretty Wednesday in Thunder Bay.
Little did we know at the time that the stretch of road between Ignace and Thunder Bay is infamous for its moose population. We hadn’t been out of Ignace a full hour before we saw a huge, beautiful bull moose with an enormous rack standing at the edge of the road. It’s the first that Jack and I have seen on this trip, despite seeing a dozen or more females in AK and YT. We kept looking, and before our trip to Thunder Bay was through, we’d spotted at least eight large males and two females close enough to the road to worry us that one would step out.
In addition to the rain, the terrible visibility, and the moose, we had night-driving semis and a light fog to deal with. Keeping close behind the trucks in front of us (as blockers against the wildlife) and keeping ahead of the ones behind going 70 around fairly fast corners was a little more stress than I’d like to deal with anytime in the near future, thank you very much. I’m sure my fingers left imprints in the armrests on the bike! I don’t even recall taking a breath for a stretch of about two miles at one point. This is not an evening I’ll soon forget.
Anyway, we’ve once again lived to talk about the experience and have set up camp at a KOA in Thunder Bay. The rain let up long enough for us to set up at midnight in dry conditions and has only now, at 1:30 a.m., started up a bit again. In our little camper it is warm and dry and we are turning in. I will try to post this tomorrow if the Internet is up and running. (It seems that we have another “It works sometimes…” situation.)
Hope all’s well. We love you,
L
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