Canada:

Day 1 Sept 2nd: Calgary to Medicine Hat

 I know, I know, what you’re thinking Calgary to Medicine Hat isn't very far, but in our defense we just needed to take a step outa’ town and get the bus rolling.  Every journey begins with one small step.  Isn’t that what they say?  This is also compounded by the fact that I (Nick) miscalculated the amount of junk I have accumulated over my 3 ½ years in Calgary.  The sorting and boxing, when all was said and done took me three full evenings and the better part of Thursday.  Hint for the traveler: a large portion of your time can be saved if you clean your laundry in advance or don’t clean anything you don’t plan on wearing for the next week.  This may come as common sense for most but somehow slipped my mind.  Once on the road not much to note until dark when we came upon our first overnight stop.  Location specifics was of little concern as it was there is but a handful of trees and just as many hills to hide behind.  A distance away from the noise of the highway was all of our concern.  We managed to hunker down on a side road not far from a currently unused pasture.  Sleeping was not hard after an early morning and a long day of packing.  We awoke with only one shared complaint; that being, a slight slant in any direction, no matter how subtle at first becomes amplified once your eyes are closed.  We were sure to be a bit more choosy with bus positioning on the following night.

Day 2 Sept 3rd:  Medicine Hat to Winnipeg

Today we decided to put pedal down (at least farther down than yesterday).  We had plenty of motivation to drive us to Winnipeg; that being a hot shower and a (less slanty) place to sleep.  We broke up the day with a stop at (what must be) the worlds’ largest moose statue in Moose Jaw and what they claimed was the worlds’ largest suspension bridge in (must have been surpassed since the sign went up).  After many U-turns we managed to find my (Nick) sisters place and stared to settle in round 11pm.  The night ended with my cell taking a bath in the toilet, and me anxiously awaiting its diagnosis for morning.  BAH!

Day 3 Sept 4th: Winnipeg to Kekabeka Falls

Rice! Rice has saved my phone.  Amanda put the cell in a bag overnight with some common white rice.  It sucked all the moisture out of my dripping wet phone and badda-bing…good as new.  On the road at 11 (slept in a bit) and pullin’ U-turns to get out of this place as well.  Alicia, I don’t know how you do it.

Tagged (vandalized some would say by the looks of all the covered up work of our fellow travelers) our first rock today.  We have made a stencil for the trip and laid our first bread crumb on (what seems to be) the first rock we’ve seen in a while.  We are very thankful for the vents in the roof of our cross country machine while we wait for the paint to dry on our stencil.  We threw around a few solutions but without an external storage we just simply have to ventilate.

We hit Keckabeka falls about an hour into the darkness.  We soon discovered possibly the biggest disadvantage to driving a bus across the country; campsites.  There is a flat rate for cars (approx $35-45) but for a bus they can charge $117 plus.  We didn’t feel like rolling the dice to see if we fit that category and decided to try our hand at the trunk roads.  There were many roads to choose from and the first that we tried proved to be a bit narrow AND slanty (dubbed a major defect).  Our second choice however showed itself to be more than satisfactory.  We found a widening in the road and pulled off onto a flat grassy bank.  Away from the noise of the highway and lights of the city we brushed our teeth under the stars and tossed on an extra blanket as we closed our eyes and turned in.

Day 5 Sept 6th :  White Lake to Blind River

Best morning so far!  We woke with surprise to see that we have parked only meters away from the Lake itself.  We agree that it’s a great opportunity to get cleaned up.  Might we say that no coffee compares to the exhilarating powers of a Northern Ontario Lake in mid September!  After our dip we plop out the folding chairs and sit back as if on our own little porch and have breakfast.  We cruse along making good time into the Sault.  We agree that a hot meal is in order and take in some Pizza at a place called Gigi’s.  Tonight’s campsite was a little trickier to find.  It took multiple stabs in the dark until we found an abandoned camp off the side road of a side road.  We set the alarm for an early wake up to make our Toronto destination for the following day. 

     

Day 6 Sept 7th:  Blind River to Toronto

Rain through the night had made for a good sleep but difficult wake up.  Grabbed some Tim’s at the first opportunity and it carried us all the way to Parry Sound.  Here we found the local library and printed off some direction to our Toronto destination.  The librarian told us of a possibility of snagging a shower down at the docks where the cruise ships come in.  We anxiously run down and find nothing but locked doors.  This doesn’t mean we can’t brush our teeth and wash our faces.  While in the bathroom Nick somehow spidermans’ himself into a vent that is shared between the showers and the washrooms and drops down into one and opens it from the inside.  We quickly grab our shower gear and are in and out undetected.  Wandering around Parry Sound after a nice lunch at a restaurant along the peer we are caught in a downpour and rush back to the bus to be on our way.  Nick grabs some chain from the hardware store to lock the bus while in Toronto.  Pedal down. 

We find our destination with little trouble.  We are in town just in time for Wing Night and grab a couple pounds with none other than “everyone’s favorite  ginger” (Harrison Drake).  Beers were consumed and life’s problems were that much closer to being solved by the early morning.  Our nest was a futon tonight. 


                           More updates coming soon!............................