Lake Superior

Well, after another long day we made it to Thunder Bay.  Good  job we did decide to push on through as there is really nowhere to stop between Kenora and Thunder Bay.  Settlements are few and far between and facilities virtually non existent.

The speed limits on the trans Canada change as you head east.  110 in Alberta and Saskatchewan, 100 in Manitoba and only 90 in Ontario.  As you enter Ontario, they very helpfully post the penalties for speeding.  These range from $90 and three demerits if caught doing 110 up to $10,000, car seizure and jail if caught doing 150 or more.  We took it easy.  Although it meant it took longer to get anywhere, the impact on fuel consumption was dramatic.  Instead of filling up four times on day one (we stopped and filled once the tank got down to half full or so) one tankful brought us all the way with a range of 400km left when we rolled into Thunder Bay.  That top box isn't only noisy, it's draggy too.  The other benefit of the lower speed was less noise too.

On the route, we were surprised to see a lot of snow still by the side of the road and all the lakes still frozen over.  In Alberta, virtually all the snow (that isn't on the mountains) has melted and the lakes and rivers are flowing freely.  When we arrived here, we were even more surprised to see Lake Superior still frozen over.  The locals say that it is unusual for the lake to freeze at all over the winter.  For it still to be frozen is seriously disrupting trade and there were several ships stuck in the ice waiting for a thaw.  It really has been a cold winter here.

We're going to have a fairly quiet morning before setting off for Sault Ste. Marie.  A walk down by the lake and hopefully a visit to Kakabeka Falls, an impressive waterfall.  We tried to find the waterfall on the way in yesterday but there weren't any signs to it.  It's 25km in the wrong direction but everyone says it's worth seeing.  Then it looks like it will be another eight hours driving probably much like yesterday's.  These days are feeling long...