Woke up at 5 AM to the same melody of crickets and frogs that I fell asleep to last night. I packed as fast as possible to escape the bugs, and was on my way well before 6 AM. It was a cool morning, and the skies were quite overcast, promising a cooler day today.
Not long after I started, I passed into the next time zone, putting me only one hour behind home. I saw two more moose early in the day. They turned their giant heads and ran away as soon as they glimpsed me coming; they were only young. I also watched a fox dash across the road ahead, and once I caught up to where he had crossed I saw him watching me, a dead ground hog in his mouth, before scampering away down a path with his meal.
It was a little windy today, and my back tire was a little low on air, so I felt like I was facing a huge amount of resistance, and my progress felt painfully slow after the speeds I had been achieving down hills lately. I trudged my way past Shabaqua, and eventually reached an emergency highway detour about 40 KM outside of Thunder Bay. There has been some really significant flooding in the area and a state of emergency has been announced by the city. The detour was to avoid the flooded area, and sadly it bypassed a really cool waterfall I wanted to see. The detour took me through 30 KM of heavy highway construction and torn up roads, which were hard to traverse on my laden down bike, but I eventually made my way into town.
My first priority was getting some of the Persian Cinnamon buns I talked about, so I b-lined for a bakery to get some. They were fantastic. I actually motivated myself through this frustrating day with the promise of future baked deliciousness. I had a few other errands to run, so I went a got a new tire pump, withdrew some cash, and got groceries. I got a little carried away at the grocery store as I am prone to do, and even ended up with a pineapple of all things. What am I supposed to do with a whole pineapple on a trip like this? I had to strap it to the back of my bike because there wasnt even any room for it in my bags. I also grabbed a pack of 4 pre packaged persian buns for the road tomorrow.
It was finally time to head to the house of the guy from Warm Showers who is accomodating me. His name is Greg, and he is very nice and a cool guy to talk to. We took his dog for a walk in a local park that has some cool rapids, swollen by the flood waters, and talked about biking and travelling. After we got back we grabbed some thai food at a local joint. It was fantastic and cheap. I had a nagging feeling about the food I left on the floor back at the house, but I soon forgot. When we arrived back at the house, the dog greeted us, his face covered in pink frosting; it seems he had found my road persians. He ate 3 of the 4, so he must have liked them too. It was as hilarious as it was devastating. Greg informed me that the best bakery around is on my way out of town, so I will likely indulge, I do love my junkfood on this trip.
Thunder Bay itself is rather nice. It has many old style homes on well treed streets, and it has a nice view over Lake Superior. From a spot near Greg's house you can see the whole area including the port and a few islands they call the Sleeping Giant and Pie Island.
It is time to relax and recover for the night. Tomorrow I will be heading back into the wildnerness. This next section is supposed to be extremely beautiful and difficult, with giant hills lining the shores of Lake Superior.
No comments:
Post a Comment