Ontario

I rode out of Ottawa on July 4th heading towards Sarnia where I would visit my sister Helen and her buddy Jack. The map of south western Ontario is very busy thus providing a number of routes to chose from for my ride that region. The large divided highways offer no appeal as there was no need for me to rush. Instead I selected secondary routes which would take me through town and villages I had never been before. I stopped in Orillia a small town north of Lake Simcoe where I camped for the night. The following morning I rode to Wasaga Beach / Collingwood resort communities on the shores of Georgian Bay. This region is definitely cottage country and the traffic through here has remarkable increased. I continue in a westerly direction towards route 21 which will turn south and follow the shores of Lake Huron. But first must I ride through community of Owen Sound a community which has named it's airport after Bill Bishop the World War II flying ace. As it turned out that wouldn't be the only item I'll remember about Owen Sound for it was here I had my first minor mishap. We were stopped in a construction zone for 15 minutes. I had lowered the bike's side stand and sat there. When traffic started to move we only proceeded three or four metres and stopped again for another five or more minutes. At some point I had assumed the side stand was lowered and simply left the bike lean to the left. Over it went... Bummer, how stupid could I have been.. The three or four vehicles behind emptied as the occupants ran to my assistance. I felt terribly embarrassed. Together we picked up the bike. I lowered the side stand and climbed on and started it up. Fortunately we were soon able to proceed. I rode on for a few KM located an area where I could pull over to inspect the damage and to lick my wounds. The engine guards and the aluminum Jesse luggage boxes suffered minor scrapes but they did their job and prevented the bike from coming in contact with the asphalt. Unfortunately when I came off the bike as it went down the buckle on my right boot came in contact with the fuel tank and left it's mark.

I arrived in Sarnia early in the evening and was greeted with a very warm welcome and an other awesome meal. Once we pushed away from the table we made our way to the downtown area for a very pleasant walk along the banks of the St. Clair River.

A couple of days later Helen and I drove (car) to the resort village of Bayfield which is located on the shores of Lake Huron. This village is the home of a very large marina which provides shelter for hundreds of boats most of which are high end quality sail boats. This was an great location for this dreamer to spend a couple of days. Chris and spouse Karen are the proud owners of the “Five Sea's” a Hunter 29.5' sailing sloop which is moored in this Marina. For two days I visited with the Campbell's - Helen and three of her sons Chris, Steve and Mark and their families. It was a wonderful visit fulled with good company, good food, cold beer, refreshing dips in the lake, evening fires on the beach c/w a marshmallow roast and a great afternoon of sailing. Special thanks to Karen, Chris and the girls for sharing the facilities, their toys and providing some great meals I thoroughly enjoyed the visit.

On July 10th I left Sarnia and headed north towards Tobermory where I would catch the ferry “Chi-Cheemaun” for the 1 3/4 hour crossing to Manitoulin Island the following day. Sister Helen had made arrangements for me to stay over night with her friend Ann who lives in Owen Sound. I reluctantly accepted the invitation. I was not comfortable because I did not know this lady - here we were asking for a bed for the night . The visit worked out very very well. I was provided with very comfortable accommodations. The surprise was Ann's daughter Nancy who now resides in Calgary was there visiting her Mom. There is another twist in this story I knew Nancy for sometime but had not seen her for 5 or 6 years. It was very nice to visit with both of these ladies. Special thanks Ann for opening up your home to this vagabond.

I arrived on Manitoulin Island early afternoon after a very pleasant crossing of Georgian Bay. The remainder of the afternoon I toured this Island choosing to ride many of the unsealed roads to remote coastal area's. That evening I set up the tent for a night outdoors.

The following morning I rode off the Island and located the Trans Canada Highway No. 17 then turn left in a westerly direction. Here the transition in the landscape became was very noticeable. I had left the fertile farm land of southern Ontario and had now entered the land of the Canadian Shield. A sparsely populated region consisted of rocks and trees. My ride towards Thunder Bay over the next two days was very pleasant through remote, rugged and very scenic regions along the North Shore of Lake Superior. It was a couple of beautiful sunny day and the cool lake air made for very comfortable riding along a very well maintained highway.

I arrived in Thunder Bay on July 13th. My plan is to spend a couple of days visiting with my nephew Jonathan a resent forestry graduate from Lake Head U who is presently employed in this region. Early in the week I will set out on the final leg of the Ontario crossing to the Manitoba border will require a day or more of riding.

Thunder Bay's Terry Fox Memorial - Running 26 miles a day, this outstanding young athlete had conquered five provinces by the time had had reached Ontario. Then at mile number 3,339 near this very site recurring cancer forced him to give up his run.

The Canadian Shield is made up of some of the planet's oldest rock largely granite and gneiss. Here are the remnants of ancient mountain ranges, once as grand as today's Rockies.

One never knows what a walk in the bush will lead to. This were the Bears shit in the wood..If you go there you'd best take along you roll of T.P.

The Great Drive through Northern Ontario will take you on a 1000 KM excursion across the North Shore of Lake Superior

Manitoulin Island is Northern Ontario’s best kept secret and the largest freshwater island in the world.

Here I sit at the helm of another quality sail boat. Life doesn't get much better then this

The sailing sloop “Five Sea's” (appropriate named for the five member Campbell Family) tied-up in the Bayfield Marina on the shores of Lake Huron.

Cottage Country - The district of Muskoka stretching from the vast wilderness of Algonquin Park in the east to the rugged windswept shores of the Georgian Bay Islands in the west.


A student of Botany I am not.. I have no idea what was growing in this field but it's natural beauty was enough for me to turn the bike around and attempt to capture the setting with my camera.