Kilometres: 675.6
Time: eight and a half hours (ride time)
Weather:
Scheiber: Heavy rain, 13 C at 9 AM
Blind River: Cloudy with passing showers, 20 C at 6 PM
Yet another day of rain and cold. I woke up in the middle of the night because the rain on the motel’s roof was so loud.. The parking lot was flooded when I looked outside this morning. (See pic.)
In an attempt to drain the water, the hotel plugged in a water pump, that is what the electrical cord in the pic is for. I turned on the Internet and looked at the forecast. More heavy rain and the temperature will drop to 8 C by the afternoon. Hmmm, how fast can I get out of Schrieber? I packed up the bike, had a coffee and was gone in half an hour.
It didn’t long before the showers turned into heavy rain and I had to slow down just to see the road ahead of me. The one good thing is that there aren’t as many trucks on the road today. I guess all the truckers have gone home for the Labour Day weekend.
Nonetheless, my two favourite rides in Ontario were not nearly as much fun as they could have been because at times it was just too dangerous to go above 80 kph on a road that I would normally do about 100.
I stopped in Wawa for gas and a quick lunch at Tim Hortons. There isn’t any gas between Wawa and Sault Ste. Marie, which is about 230 kilometres to the south. My bike can go about 300 before dipping into the reserve, but I really like to play it safe so I try to fuel up by 225, just as I had to with my old bike.
On a motorbike, the rider can very quickly feel the change in weather. Today I knew immediately when I finally broke through the cold front. Unless you’ve experienced it, you would think I’m exaggerating when I say that the change from cold to warm is almost instantaneous. It’s like going indoors to a warm house after being out in the cool fall weather. My thermometer on the bike shot up a few degrees really quickly, and my hands didn’t feel as cold. The downside to this particular change in weather was that the wind picked up.
I’d just reached Agawa when the change in weather occurred. For those not familiar with the region, it is right on the eastern shore of Lake Superior. The wind came rushing in straight off the lake, which meant it was cold and gusty. The gusts at times were strong enough to push my bike and I had to fight against it to stay in the blocking position, which has now turned into almost the centre of the lane. I quickly figured out that the trees were blocking the wind from the lake, so when there wasn’t a line of trees, I braced for a strong guest.
This stretch of road is in a provincial park. If you recall from my blog posting from day two of my Big Trip, I really didn’t know how to describe the landscape. After seeing much of Canada, the only place I can compare the park to is the foothills of the Rocky Mountains west of Rocky Mountain House. Those foothills went on forever when compared to the foothills leading into the Crownest Pass, and into Jasper.
This is also where I saw my second 18 wheeler overturned. The first one on my way out west and happened between Terrance Bay and Marathon. It had just occurred because the OPP went whizzing by me to get to the scene. By the way,on my way home I noticed that the that truck is still there and has yellow police tape around it. You’d think that someone, such at MTO or the trucking company, would have removed it. Anyway, I saw the second overturned truck today. It was an Atlas Moving truck. I don’t know if it was hit by a gust of wind, but it had cross over into the oncoming traffic and gone into the ditch. Some poor family’s household goods were thrown out of the truck. I saw a mattress and some furniture in the ditch or halfway out the back door of the truck. I really felt sorry for these people. A couple of other 18 wheelers were there. A couple of people were clearing up the household contents and loading them into another truck.
I was soon in Sault Ste. Marie, where I filled up with gas and immediately left. The weather had pushed me behind schedule. It was almost 4:30, which was much later than I had expected to arrive in the Soo.
I rode from Sault Ste. Marie to Blind River in about an hour and a half. It rained lightly a couple of times, the wind continued to blow, and the clouds always looked threatening.
Blind River is tiny. I pulled into the hotel and almost immediately asked about food, after noticing that the motel doesn’t have a restaurant. I’d noticed the Tim Hortons, but I can’t do Timmy’s twice in one day. The guy pointed to a street opposite the motel and said, “That’s our downtown.” It looked about two blocks long and there wasn’t a person in sight.
I unpacked the bike and walked, in the rain (surprise) to downtown, which was mostly closed. I noticed only three places open, a pizza parlous, a bar, and the liquor store. Now, I may be wrong, but I usually have a good sense for this sort of thing. There was no way I was going to go in that bar. It just looked like trouble. I kept walking and went into the LCBO, picked up a bottle of Italian red and then went to the pizza parlour.
Back at my motel room I taste tested the wine and pizza. The leftover pizza will be breakfast in the morning (I wonder how cold pizza and coffee go together?)
This is my last night on the road and I am thankful for it only because I just want to be warm and for the rain to stop. I haven’t seen the sun since last Tuesday in the Okanagan Valley.
