The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 12

 Not an overly exciting day as far as views or exploring.  

We left Kenora early this morning and made our way across the border into Manitoba…somewhere.  We looked for a sign so that we could take a picture but there were none to be had…..just a small sign that told us we were no longer on the 17….we were now on the TCH 1…so somewhere out there we crossed an imaginary line.

We DID, however, pass the Longitudinal Center of Canada….yup!  As Bon Jovi sings…”we’re halfway there”.

There was an increasing amount of haze as we crossed Manitoba.  As we get nearer the Saskatchewan border, it was really hazy.

We pulled into Virden for the evening, tired and hot.  Unloaded the machines, changed into our bathing suits and went for a swim in the hotel pool.  A quick shower and a walk down the road for supper at Boston Pizza pretty much sums up the exciting things we did today.  Tomorrow we’ll see what the weather brings…it is looking like sunshine, wind and potential thunderstorms……why not!

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 11

Happy Canada Day!  What better way to celebrate, riding across this great country, meeting so many people from different backgrounds….

Today was just riding…there were no real stops except for breaks.  This last stretch of Northern Ontario is really remote, except for the occasional small town.  What we have discovered since our last trip through 2 years ago is how much the roads have improved.  They have widened the roads and cleared back the woodland away from the roads so that it is easier to see wildlife..especially the bigger ones.  Fortunately today, the only wildlife was a Bald Eagle atop a tree.  This made for a great ride, with great visibility and passing lanes which were carefully used due to the other wildlife that travels the TCH…known as the OPP.  I firmly believe there are more OPP on Hwy 17 than there are RCMP in all of New Brunswick.

We arrived early in Kenora and settled in…in need of a rest, it was good to get off the road early for a change….of course the time change to Central also helped.

Tomorrow we will cross into Manitoba, early in the day….we will need to find a Manitoba sticker for Mr. G to add to his ever increasing collection.

Tomorrow, Jerry gets to see a totally different landscape than the one he has been staring at for the last 4 days……Northern Ontario, it’s beautiful….it’s a long ride.

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 10

What a spectacular day!

We left Wawa at 8 a.m. hoping to give us some time for stops along the way to Thunder Bay…that and a glance at the weather radar that indicated if we could get there by 4 p.m. we might miss some rain.

We had a lot of fog and cool temperatures for most of the morning.  The temps dropping to as low as 11C and as high as 22C….mostly 14C.  Despite the fog we were able to stop in some clear areas to see stunning views of Lake Superior.  Including today, we have travelled 1000 kms around the Lake and this only covers a small portion of the distance around.

We stopped for lunch in Terrace Bay, at Drifters.  We stayed here two years ago and knew the food would be better than good…homemade split pea soup (to go with the pea soup we rode through).  Hot and delicious, we left full and warm.

The afternoon proved to be warmer with less fog (a little when we started out again).  We crossed the bridge at Nipigon the only link between Ontario and Manitoba on the Canadian side.  Every person travelling this road must ride over this bridge. It is an amazing structure.  There is a look out tower that we are planning to stop at on our return trip.

The rest of the afternoon was sunshine and blue skies, at least until we started getting closer to Thunder Bay.  We left the last gas station thinking we wouldn’t need our rain gear only to run into a bit of rain…fortunately following that we also ran into a bit of sunshine and warmer temperatures that quickly dried up our gear. 

Before heading to the hotel, we made our way up to the Terry Fox Memorial Park.  We met a rider who pulled up next to us who was a member of the Canadian Veteran Riding Group.  His vest indicated where he served and I thanked him for his service.  We took some pictures with Lorne and enjoyed the company and chat while we were there.  Shortly after he left we were checking the skies, knowing that 4 p.m. would  be the time we could have more rain upon us…sure enough a very angry cloud was moving in our direction.  The guys suggested we gear up and try to outrun it…I suggested we out whit it…I mean wait it…seeing as it was headed in our direction and would clearly pass.  Before we could even take shelter the lightning and thunder had started.  We got under the eaves of the tourist bureau and I went inside to see if I could get stickers….Lord Thundering….I turned around and she was just teeming!…I mean teeming!…I went outside to watch the storm, then came the hail.  I headed inside (cause I know hail is never a good thing this time of the year) and had a lovely chat with the staff, and Paul, Thunder Bays resident Tourist Manager who had also ridden up to the park and was now waiting out the storm.  He gave us each a patch for riding the Lake as well as great supper suggestions close to where we were staying.

I have to say that riding around Lake Superior was amazing, but I am in awe each time we stop at the Terry Fox Park. There are so many things that are synonymous with Canada as Lorne said……Terry Fox, Red Surges and the Tragically Hip to name a few…..but as we rode through Northern Ontario, a ride we have done a couple of times before, I have to say I have a greater appreciation for not only it’s beauty, but for all of the other Canadians who have crossed this country…for whatever reason.  When I think of specific Canadians who have done it, I am inspired and humbled by Terry Fox, Rick Hansen and the many others who have challenged themselves, pushed their boundaries, to advocate for others….my little ride through is a privilege and one that I am so very grateful for, especially since I can honestly say I love this country and we are so fortunate to have a bridge that is open to all who wish to cross…..

Happy Canada everyone!

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 9

What a large day!  Before heading out, we made a stop at the Big Nickel in Sudbury.  Now that’s a nickel.

After that we made a stop for coffee with a friend of Jerry’s he hadn’t seen in 10 years.  We had a great chat and a fabulous piece of pecan pie….dessert isn’t only for evening meals!  We headed out again, a little behind our scheduled time so we rode a bit longer today with shorter breaks until just before we got to Sault St. Marie.  We caught site of Lake Huron at one of the gas stops, made out way through Sault St. Marie and the real riding and scenery started…rolling hills, a few great corners but the views…the views of Lake Superior as you are cresting the top of a long hill, are breath taking.  We made a few stops to take some pictures and finally rolled into Wawa getting on 6:30 pm….we made a stop at the Big Goose….

This goose has a long history in Wawa….it was built to attract people to stop in Wawa when they built the “new” transcanada highway to go right past Wawa.  Wawa was always on the route.  It shares this history with many areas in Newfoundland, and was a reminder to at least one of our travellers as a similar experience for Corner Brook.

Wawa also has a connection to NB through Lord and Lady Dunn who helped keep the mine going for a time.

We also made a visit to Young’s General store (pictures to be posted later below).  We checked in, showered and head for supper at the Viking Restaurant…only to be turned away because they ran out of….everything!  So supper at Subway tonight…worked out anyway as we were late getting supper (8 pm) and we had a few things to sort out for our trip tomorrow……we will be on our way to Thunder Bay!

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 8

Getting out of Ottawa proved to be just as tricky as getting into….traffic even in the suburbs of Ottawa is extremely tricky given all of the traffic.

Our trusty GPS took us through what we thought was going to be downtown, in a downpour of rain and window rattling thunder.  We finally got on the 417 and as we rode THIS 4 lane, the rain at least started to subside.

Once we reached the 17, it was pretty much easy riding with occasional showers..nothing major.  An extremely nice day of riding, very little traffic, frequent passing lanes and nothing more than forest and water for your viewing pleasure.

We stoped at the Fryway 17…a quaint little outdoor rest stop.

We had a smoked meat sandwich on rye that seemed to come with a side of smoked meat as well….I don’t think I have ever seen that much smoked meat piled into two small pieces of fresh rye bread.

We continued on our way to Sudbury for the night.  Tomorrow I have heard plans of going to see the “nickel”….we will find out, if it was “worth” the trip.

The boys are full of food, empty of everything else, and happy!

 

One of the interesting sites we saw today along the 17 was a huge swath of downed trees.  It was at a high elevation and at first appeared as though hydro was cutting for a power line….as we looked a little closer it appeared that they may have been what closed the 17 near Mattawa (which is where we were) a few days ago following a freak storm….it looked like tornado damage or like some sort of giant left a footprint.  I’ll let you decide!

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 6 and Day 7

Today was a really hard day of riding…probably one of the toughest.

Once out of Lorette we headed on Route 40 towards Trois Rivière turning on to Route 138, then Route 640……all of it was highway, with multiple lanes.  We kept telling ourselves that once we hit Route 15 it would be a lot better, no highway….because it only had 2 numbers……Route 15 was even more challenging than all the other highways put together….4 lanes of swapping cars, transports, you name it…we moved to the outside lane so that we only had to worry about what was coming at us from one side…bumper to bumper traffic (and we don’t have bumpers…).  All the chaos and traffic didn’t seem to bother the two wild turkeys munching on grass on the median though…..I hope they are careful crossing the road for whatever reason.

The up side was that we would be Nepean, just outside of Ottawa for two nights, giving us a much needed down day…no riding required.  Friends from Toronto are coming to join us on the second night so we have that to look forward to.

Larry and I used the down day to get my bike looked after and to get me a new helmet.  We accomplished all of this before major rain moved in and before our friends arrived.

The night was apparently filled with crashing thunder and sky lighting illumination…none of which I saw as I slept as sound as a mouse.  We had a lovely supper at Moxie’s, got to spend some time with our very special friends.  All of the highway riding, somehow was worth it.

The Great Canadian Tour 2025 - Elbows Up Edition - Day 5

This morning we parted ways with my brothers group.  They were headed to Lac St. Jean for the night before arriving outside of Quebec City for their ECIC gathering (Indian Motorcycle Rally).  We were travelling in much the same direction as far as Saguenay however we had an additional 2 hours of riding to get to Lorette just outside of Quebec City.  They were leaving at 10 a.m., we left around 8 a.m….we both arrived at our destinations at the same time that day.

 Our route took us along the St. Lawrence River which was a pleasant enough ride and one we had done before.  We turned on to Route 172 which took us through the beautiful mountains and along the Saguenay River.  The roads were twisty and smooth, the sky was clear and blue for most of the ride.

Once we reached Saguenay, we took route 175 South through Jacque Cartier National Park.  Some of this was highway, yet even the highway was picturesque and smooth riding.

It was a long day of riding and we had to make a few stops prior to getting to our destination in Lorette, just outside of Quebec City.  It has already proven to be a long week and it wasn’t quite done yet.

A quick stop at a lovely countryside store was our last rest stop before we took a tour through Stoneham and Tewksbury, which oddly enough was supposed to be where we were stopping for the night.  We had received a call from one of the hotel operators that a huge storm in the area had taken out all the power and phone lines so we would need to find other accommodations, which is how we ended up in Lorette for the night.  The roads through Stoneham and Tewksbury are known motorcycle riding routes and we found out why……if it wasn’t for all the light and power boys fixing the lines, we would have has us some really good fun!