Day 3 - and the rains came

Day 3 - July 16th.

The next morning I awoke early at 5:30 to the sound of rain pounding on my tent. Tom and David were also awake. We spoke for several minutes before I packed up, still under attack from the mosquitoes. We were also under attack by mother nature, her rains coming down hard upon our heads.

I rode to the camp office/general store to pay for my stay. It was raining hard, and I was already completely drenched. I decided in the interest of time to push on.

Tom arrived at the office.  He and David were going to ride the Greyhound from here to Winnipeg, then resume their hitchhiking.  I bid David "Bonne chance!".  He responded in kind with "Bonne chance aussie!"

As I rode from the lot, I took a look at the statue I had discovered last night. I could see clearly now what it was. It was a mosquito with a bloodied, half dead looking male maniken hanging from it's mouth. In the mostquito's right hand was a fork, in the left a knife. David had told me that Upsula is a ghost town. Well no wonder, the mosquitos probably ate every one in town!

The road to Thunder Bay was one word - wet. As I rode, I decided to tag behind a Chevy pickup truck, as it was going the speed limit and offered safe cover to me from the other cars in the rainy conditions.

After gassing up at Thunder Bay, I saw a road sign pointing to the Terry Fox Memorial. I completely forgot this existed. I took the exit to the memorial.

The Terry Fox statue was beautiful. What particularly got my attention were his eyes. They had a pained, yet hopeful look to them. The statue`s maker captured Terry`s essence perfectly.

At the statue I met two bikers from Ontario. They were riding their motorcycles across Canada to Victoria, BC. They had both retired just weeks ago, and decided to take a road trip. Riding across Canada on bikes....those crazy bastards! Wait a minute, that`s what I`m doing!

The rest of the day continued with rain, giving Ontario's richly treed landscape a bright green tinge. Although the foilage was nice, the riding was not. From the moment I broke camp in Upsula, I was completely soaked right down to my teeth. I had to make a number of stops to warm up. I even had to pull over a few times for safety, as the visibility at times was next to nothing. My day was spent riding along Lake Superior, whose effects on the weather I was told can be pretty nasty.

That evening I arrived at White River, having ridden over 500 hard km's for the day. I found a quaint little place called Paw's Cabins. David the owner checked me in. We spoke for several minutes about global warming (which he believes, in his words, is total BS), then I retired for the night. Despite my exhaustion, it took me a while to get to sleep, as my head was pounding from the long day of riding.

Below - Lake Superior

Below - Terry Fox Memorial

White River, Ontario.  Birthplace of Winnie the Pooh.