Thursday, July 7, 2011

Day 39: Savanne River to Thunder Bay (110.91km)

Sorry for the delayed posting, we decided to maximize enjoyment of the wonderful company we had at Amy and Guillaume's place in Thunder Bay.

Before departing Savanne River we narrowly missed sharing our breakfast with a black bear that had been sniffing around the campground while we were busy packing up the tent. Fortunately, it seemed to be more interested in the fish hut on the grounds than our wraps. And fortunately for the bear, the campground manager said he decided not to shoot it because he didn't want to wake people up -whew, glad it wasn't later in the day!

Our trip into Thunder Bay brought us through some of the most beautiful terrain we've seen. If the roads were safer here, this area of Ontario would get my vote for best cycling in the country. As usual we were subject to a wide assortment of shoulder widths and textures. The shoulder was predominantly about a foot wide along this section of highway, though it often slivered away entirely. However, there were a few points where it broadened out to anywhere from two to eight feet wide. We loved those 'safe zones' but approached them cautiously since we were unsure how long we had before they cut out from beneath us.  Future cyclists, however, may be in luck. There is a ton of resurfacing in progress to widen and improve the highway. In the short-term cyclists passing this year must ride gravel for lengthy construction areas with one lane full of trucks and no curb. This is currently the case pretty much from Shabaqua to Thunder Bay. We were getting sore and moving slowly on this bumpy route so we decided to take highway 102 across to the east end of Thunder Bay, which connected back with highway 17 just a few blocks from Amy's door.

Our arrival in Thunder Bay could not have been more fortuitous. We happened to visit Amy's place on the exact same day as Vanessa M, another friend from Toronto, and recurring friend Emily who you may remember from our stay in Regina (although they'll be staying for a few days). It was also a night of celebrating Amy and Guillaume's first overnight in their new home. They've been working on the house for months and we can already see how gorgeous it will be. The house full of guests didn't seem to faze our amazing hosts and we felt a little guilty to be unable to contribute to the wonderful spread. We were happy to be treated to another chef Emily dinner, it's been about 1200km since we had a meal that delicious when she cooked for us in Regina, if only we could convince her to meet us another 1000km down the road ;-).

After a visit from two Thunder Bay firemen who came (truck and all) to inspect the pit in the backyard, we capped off the evening by relaxing around the fire. It was a beautiful night and we're sorry we couldn't stay longer. Thanks for the great hospitality and company you four!

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