Looping North of Lake Superior

After we left Algonquin Park we had no more camp reservations and, for the most part, no particular idea where we would camp for the next seven nights.  We easily located a camp in Sudbury, and we were fairly sure we would camp at the casino in Sault Ste. Marie, but after that ????

We departed the Sault about 11:00 on Thursday morning and headed north and west on PH 17, the Trans-Canada Highway.  There was rain predicted.   We made a stop at a picnic area at Chippewa Falls, the half way point on the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Lower Cascade of Chippewa Falls

My two best friends at Upper Cascades Chippewa Falls

The rain finally caught up with us and lasted much of the afternoon and through the night after we parked.  It wasn't a great day to drive: Dorcas made a lot of sucky hissy sounds.  Click here for a short video clip (11 seconds).

We had hoped to camp in Lake Superior Provincial Park, but of course, we had no reservation.  No problem, eh?  It's a Thursday night and the weekenders haven't arrived yet.  NOT!  We stopped at Agawa Bay CG, and there were no sites.  They called the next park campground, Rabbit Blanket Lake, about 35 miles up the road and they had a site.  When we got there, there were no sites available, at least not one that would fit a 34' motor home.  DRAT!  It was now panic time.  It was raining and we had no home.  There was no Walmart within 300 miles, and I think the Canadians frown on roadside camping.  Dorcas went online (the internet is pretty good along the highway) and found us a site at Wawa RV Resort and Campground in Wawa, about 20 more miles further along the way..  Relief! We had a home.  We checked in and set up in the rain.  We had a nice level site, so level in fact, that no water would drain from the site.  Puddle city.  We had 30A electrical, but, as at Mine Mill CG, the voltage was terrible.  We throttled our charger, ran the fridge on LP, cooked with LP and struggled through it.  By morning the skies had cleared and most of the puddles had drained.  It looked like it was going to be a nice day with much cooler temps.

Our home in Wawa, after the rains

Check out the Airstream Base Camp

We checked out of the camp and went into Wawa and spent some time at the Visitor Center.

Everybody smile for the camera!

We love benches during a hard day of sight seeing

The famous Wawa Canada goose 

The regional airport is across the road from the Visitor Center.  The airport was closed and they were hosting the Northern Nationals Drag Races on the air strip.  It looked like a big deal. Cars, campers, RVs, vendors and race car trailers were piling through the single entrance to the track, causing a major traffic jam.  Luckily we escaped from the VC with minimal road rage.

Two different ways to see the country

We stopped for lunch at the Visitor Center in White River.  White River is where the real bear was found that inspired the Winnie the Pooh stories.  I won't repeat the story, but following is an excerpt from my post when we passed through White River last year.

We stopped for lunch at White River ON, which as it turns out, was the origin of Winnie the Pooh.  A Canadian soldier was waiting for a train at the White River station and bought a black bear cub from a trapper.  He named the cub Winnipeg or Winnie, after his home town.  The soldier carried the bear to Quebec and then to London.  Eventually he gave the bear to the London Zoo, where it became a favorite attraction.  It was at the zoo where A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin Milne met the bear, and it became the inspiration for the Winnie the Pooh stories.  You can read the whole story here.

The monument to Winnie the Pooh

About every other bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway is under construction

Really?  Where are the ruby slippers?

For Friday night we had just two camping options.  It was the beginning of the weekend, and considering our problems finding a site the night before we were worried.  Option one was Neys Provincial Park.  We tried calling and checking for a reservation online, but their system was out.  DANG!  Option B was Neys Lunch & Campground, just across the road from the entrance to the park.  We called Neys Lunch and they had a site available for 2 nights.  In fact, it was the same site we stayed on in September last year.  So we were set.  Neys Lunch had a nice grill inside the campground office, and we were looking forward to eating a few meals there again.

It's not much to look at but they served a fine breakfast 

When I walked into the office to check in I was flabbergasted.  They had remodeled and taken out the restaurant.  DANG!  No breakfast, or lunch or dinner, for that matter.  I wonder if they'll change their name.

The LCBO stands for Liquor Control Board of Ontario.  It is the only place you can buy liquor, wine and beer in Ontario.  It is much like ABC stores in NC.  Most are fairly large and have a large selection of products.

Neys Lunch & Campground is an agent for the LCBO.  Their store is probably the smallest LCBO in all of Ontario.  I doubt they have more than 25 bottles in the store.  

On Saturday we bought a day pass to visit Neys Provincial Park.

While we didn't camp at Neys Provincial Park, we did check out the campground during our visit.  There are a lot of great sites in the park. Some are right on the shore of Lake Superior and have hydro (electrical service). There are also some very nice large private sites back in the woods close to the Little Pic River.

Black bear vs cooler.

Neys Provincial Park is located on the site  of a WWII POW camp.  Click here to read more about the history of the park.

Dorcas and the big lake trout

The Group of Seven visited the area as they traveled and painted all through the Algoma region and the North Shore of Lake Superior in the 1920-30s.  We have seen several monuments such as this one, documenting the site where one of the artists painted one of his works.   We also viewed an excellent documentary showing a group of art historians traveling through the surrounding wilderness areas, locating the exact spots where many of the works were painted.

Matilda says "Come on Mommy.  It's easy!"

We did a hike on the Lookout Trail.

At the top on the Lookout Trail

What a view!

Matilda sure is tired!

Lake Superior

The mouth of the Little Pic River and Lake Superior

Sunset on Lake Superior at NPP

On Sunday we continued westward.  The skys were dark and we had a bit of rain. We have a reservation at Thunder Bay ON.

Another gorgeous picnic area on Lake Superior

Pretty beach gravel 

Matilda found some friends, but preferred barking at the gulls

Once it quit raining it was a very pretty drive

This bridge was under construction last September and still is not finished

 We are parked tonight at Trowbridge Falls Park, a city park in Thunder Bay.  This is a wonderful camp ground.  Sites are huge and well separated.  We have a long pull-through that could accommodate 3 more RVs like ours, and 50A service to boot. We're cooking, heating water, doing laundry and basically using as much power as we can, just because we can.

Our site at Trowbridge Falls

The largest pull-through site I have ever seen

Now a bit of bad news:

I had been hearing a strange chunking sound near the front suspension for some time.  At first it was subtle and infrequent. I have looked underneath on several occasions, but could not see a problem.  Recently the sound became much louder and occurred much more frequently.  Today I crawled under the coach and discovered a sway bar bracket was broken.  CRAP!  I used to have a really good suspension guy in Minnesota, and we have visited him every fall since 2007 for lube, shock, tire  and alignment service.  When I called him in June to make an appointment, I was dismayed to learn that he had retired and had just closed his shop.  I called him anyway to consult about the issue.  It turns out it's not a difficult repair if I can find the parts.  I'll call some shops in Thunder Bay in the morning and see if anyone has parts and can make repairs on short notice.  If not I will make an appointment in Duluth for a few weeks from now and get it repaired after our canoe trip in the Boundary Waters.  My guy said driving was not unsafe.  If push comes to shove the whole sway bar can be removed until parts are found.

Our plan is to cross back into the US on Monday and camp at Fall Lake Camp Ground near Ely.  We'll see how that goes.