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.